United Van Lines

If you can avoid dealing with these people, try to do so as much as possible.  Here's the experience I had.  While waiting in my car at the downtown property that I manage, a large truck is pulling up so closely beside me to the point where they almost clipped the front end of my car.  I am clearly off to the side, away from anyone so I'm wondering why someone would get so close. Knowing that most of the delivery people are on site to serve one of my residents (moves, furniture delivery, etc.), I get out of my car when they get out of theirs & ask them what I can help them with.  After confirming who they are here for, I mention to the passenger that they came awfully close to my vehicle & the man said "it's all good, she's a good driver."  I didn't think much more of it, and when my assistant manager walked up, I had him get the freight elevator keys and as they are walking off & I'm getting back into my car, the passenger mover tells the female driver in a way of instigation what I said a little earlier and she looked at me and said in a voice full of hate "Did I hit it?!?!  Well then..!" moving her head side to side in a very uncaring, rude manner.  I told her I didn't need to be talked to in that manner and asked if I could get her boss's contact information in which you replied in the same fashion she did earlier "I AM the boss!" and walked away.  I mentioned she would hear about this again as I plan to notify the Better Business Bureau. The other man threw his hands up in the mix as well, so it's evident they work as a team fighting customers, potential customers and building management. If these people act like this, how do you think they are acting when they are in your home?  When you aren't home, do you think they are honest people?  Think about it. .

Service cost: $500

I cannot say enough about how wonderful the California division of this company conducts business. Golden Eagle Moving Services out of Upland CA are simply the BEST! The driver we had, Victor Munoz, was just wonderful. Professional, courteous, prompt, caring and efficient. The load arrived as promised, at the time promised and was unloaded here in Philadelphia with no damage. The crew in Glendora was amazing, I am a glass artist and had 18,000 lbs. of equipment and glass to move. They worked incredibly hard. They were careful and respectful of our items. Here on the Philadelphia side, the crew was not quite as good. They had one surly, lazy kid but the other two were just wonderful. I will absolutely use Allied again as we will be moving within 6 months. (I will just be sure to tell them not to send Mr. Bad Attitude!).

Service cost: $10500

 
While this was a relatively small move, a lot of things arrived broken or crushed. Our dining room table arrived with a broken leg, a chair had a broken leg and arm, a lamp was broken, all the boxes were crushed. The vault was very poorly packed. The movers put heavy boxes on top of the chair. We had ordered a special box for a tall delicate lamp which they forgot to bring. They wrapped it in blankets and promised to put it in a box at the warehouse. It arrived still just in the blanket and was broken. The Florida company, McCollister's Transportation Group of Sunrise, FL provided very incompetent people to pack the truck. Because this is a United Van Lines Co. they handled the repairs and did repair most everything, however, the repairs were mediocre. After the shock of how much broke, the current rub is that they are refusing to repair the arm of a chair that also had a broken leg. They are saying that because it is an old chair, even though the leg was broken (they repaired that), the dislodged arm wasn't due to mishandling, but age and won't cover that part of the claim. The arm was fine before the move. Clearly the movers were incompetent and yet they keep insisting that the arm of the chair broke because it is old. The claim department is under the larger corporation UniGroup which is United Van Lines and Mayflower. They are the ones who are denying the claim. I'm continuing to address this up the chain of command. What a waste of my time after paying so much money. Very aggravating and frustrating. I would not recommend any of the companies mentioned in this review.
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Service cost: $2100

My family and I have moved 5 times in the last 11 years. All of these times we have used various moving companies. Our fist experience 11 years ago was with United Van Lines. It was outstanding and everything just shy of being perfect. Since that time we used many other companies as a result of the concern for cost. All of those experiences were decent but pretty much mediocre.

This last move was from West Palm Beach to San Antonio. We paid $10K out of our own pocket to have United to move us. They were not the cheapest but our first experience was such a positive one that we wanted to have that same experience again.

The packing experience was a JOKE! We were sent 2 packers for a 5 bedroom home (3700+sq ft) that was short on the actual packing supplies and had to have one of the packers leave early in the day to get more and they STILL ran out! After 8pm they simply threw items in boxes without any sort of padding or wrapping.

I cannot even tell you how many items were damaged in the move. As items came off the truck we saw item after item damaged. The final straw was when we noticed my husband's MV Agusta damaged. This is a showpiece motorcycle that he had shipped directly from Italy (it's only 1 of 57 in the entire US).

We immediately called to let them know that we would have to be putting a claim in on this move (which we have NEVER done in all of our years of moving). We followed every single detail we were told to do to ensure the claim was handled properly. We were told it would take 3-4 weeks to have the claim resolved once it was submitted.

We submitted everything on our end June of 2018. Here it is the week of Thanksgiving and we are just getting it settled. That might sound great, however, they have not only denied items (which we expected to some degree) but they are only paying for 1 item that was damaged on the motorcycle. I was SPECIFICALLY told to break down all of the items on the motorcycle since this was such a unique and specialty item and they would handle it as a separate claim even though it was all in the same original claim.

NOW I'M BEING TOLD THAT IT WASN'T TO BE BROKEN DOWN AND WAS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE ITEM?!?!?! How is that my fault that I followed your orders??

If I want this resolved I will have to take it to arbitration in order to get the additional couple grand that they destroyed out of my bike and how ever many months this will all take to resolve!!

Trust me - this isn't over! I'm not just rolling over. Arbitration is definitely worth it for all of the hassle and headache they have put me and my family through.

We were insured for 80K yet they can't fork over what they screwed up? We are the ones to suffer and we are the ones that will now have to come up with the funds to fix THEIR mistakes and mishandling. And yes, we have pics and documentations for everything so this is by no means fabricated.

We will NEVER use United again and I would advise you to do the same!!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

Moved from Massachusetts to Florida after retiring in May. This company was to take my furniture April 26th and expected delivery in late June. When it was delivered, several items were missing. Many other items were damaged. Worse, they “lost” a dining room chair along with a headboard for one of the beds.

I told them the chair was my top priority as it rendered a $5000 Thai Rosewood dining room table and chairs worthless. I am now 73 and retired on a fixed income and don’t have the money to buy new furniture. A week later, they found the dining room chair and headboard (around July 8th). In spite of weekly calls, emails - pleading, cajoling, they kept telling me my chair would be “coming next week” then transferred me from person to, obviously trying to hand me off to others.

Finally, in desperation, I agreed to forgo the rest of my claim down to $500 if they could just PLEASE get me the dining room chair. Finally, they shipped my chair to me UPS Freight, FIVE months after they found it. They had just thrown the chair in a flimsy card board box with no protection. Due to this, it was destroyed in shipment. The mover’s adjuster come out to assess the damage and took pictures of the dining room chairs.

He confirmed all of the damage and took pictures of the broken chair. Three weeks later they had still not responded to the claim. Finally, when I called threatening a lawyer and contacting the better business bureau, they sent me a “settlement letter” saying the chair was only worth $200 and included a link to a web site to some other chair. It was a different color, cheaply made, and the only thing it had in common was they were both chairs. Regarding the rest of the damage, they said I couldn’t prove it was not damaged before after the move.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7000

I recently hired United Van Lines to complete my move from PA to GA on May 22nd. United sub contracted the move out to Parks Moving Company out of Pittsburgh. Overall the move went well however there were some damages to my property. I have moved many times so I understand this happens but it is how claims are handled that demonstrates the quality and reputation of the company. In this case, downplayed the damages and has suggested unsafe repairs which would create a safety hazard to my family. The individual has suggested that load bearing items or delicate china should be glued together. The individual stated that 2" wide shims could be inserted into a 500# china cabinet so it would lean backwards (then the damaged base wouldn't be noticeable). He stated that the floor wasn't level even though he has photos documenting the fact that the china cabinet is the only thing that is leaning. The individual actually stated that destroying a custom china set didn't obligate the company to it since cracked china could still be used. I identified all my high value merchandise which included the china, china cabinet, piano and tables. Several of the items had custom shipping containers which were also destroyed (The adjuster did not propose a settlement for the shipment containers despite receiving numerous pictures of the damage.) I have over $3000 in damages and he has proposed a settlement of $150.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $7500

Armstrong Relocation/ United Van Lines moved my household goods from New Orleans, LA to Pittsburgh, PA on May 28th and 29th this year (2021). They lost 2 pieces of furniture - an antique french fruitwood chair and a black lacquer table with fretwork legs that I have had for the last 20 years and moved with several times in the past. They also lost my bedroom rug- an 8x10 wool rug. They broke the marble top of my french secretary into three pieces; they broke the legs on two Windsor chairs which have now been repaired by the company who made them in Maine for $750 ( shipping costs both ways was $1,404); they broke the bow on a gold leaf mirror and on one of two car ed, wooden wall hangings. They never contacted me regarding the missing items. I had to telephone them. Their attitude has been dismissive from the beginning. The move was a disaster. They are now trying to not pay my claim .which is miniscule in regard to the loss and damage. This is one company to avoid at all costs. They told me the move was covered by their insurance for $70,000. Linda Monroe

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $15000

Liberty Transportation/United Van Lines has lost two boxes that were most precious to me during my move from NYC to France. They contained notes that my father wrote in the hospital before passing away, and unique family pictures, letters and documents of which we have no copies. Losing these boxes meant losing our father's only memories and has caused profound distress to my siblings and myself. It also means that my children and baby niece will have no trace of who their grandfather was.

The loss of these boxes is the result of a series of mistakes on Liberty Transportation's part, including the following ones:

(1) The container with my belongings was un-sealed and unloaded without authorization before reaching my house and its content transferred into 2 vans, due to an incident with the driver.

(2) The movers did not have an inventory list for me to check off upon delivery and were very much in a hurry to leave, with no time to go through everything with me. They did not know how many items they had delivered and had obviously not counted them.

(3) Some inventory numbers did not correspond to the content of the boxes, which seems to indicate that the inventory was not accurately done in NYC. Boxes from previous moves were not re-packed in Liberty boxes, as they should have been as per regulations in this matter. Some items were broken and pieces left behind in the apartment.

Liberty Transportation and their affiliates in France have both admitted in writing to the facts as listed above. Here is a quote from Liberty Transportation's President: "It is apparent that there was a breakdown of our processes which document the chain of custody of your shipment - both here in the US and also in France". A very worrying statement for customers, obviously.

In addition to these mistakes, Liberty Transportation handled the follow-up of the case in the most careless manner: not responding to emails, not answering to phone calls, not sending the requested information, reporting very poorly on action taken to locate the boxes, etc.

This was my 5th overseas move and I never came across such an unprofessional handling. Keep away.

Service cost: $7400

This has been the worst move we have had and we are professionals who have to relocate every five years.   Broken, missing items and square boxes are now round.  The storage facility they use is basically an unorganized mess even according to their claims person.  We paid 2k more to use who we thought was a reputable company only to have about 5700 in damage and missing items. Customer service doesn't care and you must make contacting them your full time job. I don't expect anything from them except learning a valuable lesson about if you want your household goods in shape and all there - do it yourself. United Van Lines is nothing but a rip off and horrible company.  They contracted fine loaders and unloaders but after your things leave your presence, they use a very bad storage company and I think all our things were riffled through and then tossed in a corner based on appearance of the boxes. They are thieves in the Oakland, Ca storage unit and I guess I will look on Ebay for my dining table, kitchen aid, expensive cookbooks, cracked TV and other items they stole. United does not care one bit about your goods or service. They are only there to take your money and that is it. Cross your fingers and hope your stuff arrives and isn't trashed.

Service cost: $5500