Wheaton Van Lines

We recently moved from Key West Florida to Santa Rosa California. Used Wheaton out of Tampa Bay. Had damage to items, missing items and most importantly $3,000 of damage to our car.. which they refused to pay for. It evident the damage to the Porsche was caused by the moving process but they will not take responsibility for it. The packing was poor causing damage to items.. such as our Lexmark high end printer/scanner. We provide pictures of the packing and pointed it out to the driver right away.. they would only pay $30.. are you kidding me? Printer was unusable! We have moved across country several times and never had problems. Avoid these crooks.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $16000

Our home furnishing, clothing etc. was in storage in Florida until we settled on our house in NC. When Wheaton came to pick up our shipment - the truck already had two other shipments and could only hold 1/2 our load. Since it was not coming directly out of our home, they could get away with this. The first shipment came on a Sunday and now, 10 days later, we're waiting for the remainder. This has been a nightmare and we'll never use Wheaton again. Their customer service reps tell us - too bad.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5800

We recently had the contents of our fathers' storage facility moved from Montana to Boston after he passed away. We repeatedly informed the company that we live on a small residential street that could not accommodate or be reached by a large moving truck. That message didn't seem to get to the actual movers, who had to rent a small truck when they got to the area and then move our things to that truck to get to our house. All that would have been fine, except they left one very important box on the big truck. We immediately realized that and informed the driver, who assured us it would be shipped in the next day or two. It is now 6 weeks later and there has been no movement. We get plenty of "we'll take care of it and it will be shipped in a day or two," but still nothing and no call backs when days go by. During the last call, we learned that the mover no longer works for the company and he still possesses the box. We have disputed the full charge on our credit card and intend to bring suit if that's what it takes for them to find the box. Our fear is that it is long gone, though, and since it was a table that was handmade by our brother, who has since passed away, no money will be able to replace it.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $2100

Moved from South Carolina to Jacksonville. Bedroom suite ruined, television broken and mover left bolts in the washer drum. Claimed I chose a higher deductible despite paperwork that said otherwise. Fought me every step of the way. The only ones who tell the truth are them, the third party inspectors and the movers. The customers are liars!! Will NEVER use them again. Stay away!! Sharon Wilson is a horrible and arrogant customer service representative at Wheaton. No compassion not belief that the customer is not trying to milk a claim but rather be made whole due to their negligence! Why purchase insurance if it can't be used appropriately.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5000

Wheaton World Wide but - Up front Shaw Moving & Storage, Inc. in Crestview, FL stated this was a local move & not a Wheaton move so perhaps we should have been more cautious in hiring them. The sales manager did a good job but the move was very poor. Serious damage done to our home on the move out, the worst of which was repaired. Movers were careless & just wanted to get the job done in a hurry. Some were trainees. Furniture not wrapped carefully resulting in scratches, mattress not boxed resulting in damage, boxes ripped & punctured, etc.. Glad that we packed ourselves. No number stickers were placed on the boxes or items, so no check off of items upon arrival. Just had to hope that all arrived & will find out when totally unpacked. They ran out of tape & blanket pads. They make you responsible for the first $500 of damage so where is the incentive to do a good job?
No acknowledgement of the damage as items were carried in.
Email apology from Sales Agent but what good does that do us now as we are left to the repairs on our own. Do not recommend, disappointing outcome. We have moved many times so this is not a new experience for us.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3700

I contracted with Wheaton World Wide Moving through a local company in Boston, MA - Olympia Moving and Storage. I received a quote from the local company and arranged for the move to Seattle. My good were picked up on 10/20/17 and to be delivered in Seattle no later than 11/2/2017. This was the move span provided and agreed to by Wheaton.
First Issue - The driver was not able to be located by the company for over a week and no one contacted me. I had to contact the van lines to tell them once I got ahold of the driver directly on his mobile. I paid $1,021.12 for move management services that I did not receive.
Second Issue - The driver scheduled work to be done on his vehicle prior to accepting the load and did not notify us or the company of this until we tracked him down on his mobile. No one at Wheaton could get ahold of the driver.
Third Issue - The drive had my goods for over a week and Wheaton could not tell me where my goods were located
Fourth Issue - The weight tickets had no verifiable information to identify the truck that picked up my goods
Fifth Issue - The good were not delivered until 11/9/17. 7 days after the 11/2/17 date provided as latest date of delivery
Sixth Issue - The final bill was not sent to me until an hour before the office closed on 11/8/17 and they demanded payment or would hold my good hostage
Seventh Issue - The final invoice was for 1,030lbs over the weight. I had very detailed conversation with the account management services about the weighing of the truck prior to contracting with he company. I was falsely led to believe that the weight I was quoted would not be over what I was charged.
Eighth Issue - I asked for a reweigh and it was an additional 680 pounds. There is no way my stuff increased in weight across the country. The only thing that changed was additional loads picked up by the driver across the country and the work done on his vehicle.
Ninth Issue - I was charged $381.97 for boxes and packing supplies I did not authorize, and the driver/ packers did not use
Tenth Issue - I already paid 12,008.24. and now they are coming after me for more money. Not one of the invoices I have been given or any documentation matches. The pricing and weights are different. Very deceptive and false business practices.
Eleventh Issue – My goods were damaged and broken and not cared for. The movers destroyed my bed frame by taking it apart more than when it was delivered by the manufacturer. The tables and the bikes were dented. At the end when everything was packed and the driver was going through the final paperwork, he scribbled all sorts of damage codes on the paperwork for items he didn’t even look at, move or touch.
Wheaton World Wide Moving and Olympia Moving and Storage falsely advertised the services that would be provided and entered into an agreement under false pretenses. This is in direct violation of the Consumer Protection Act.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $13668

This review is for Carolina Moving and Storage/Wheaton which are affiliate moving companies that were hired to move my parents from Hilton Head to Dallas in 2017. My parents were not new to this rodeo. This was their 10th across country move with professional movers but by far this is the most unprofessional group of people they have ever hired for a move. I would NEVER recommend that anyone work with this company. From the initial estimate to the final resolution of bill, incompetent and unprofessional mistakes were made by the company at each and every step. Here are the top frustrations (but I could have provided many more):
1. Deceitful Estimating – They came to the house to provide an estimate for the move. My father mentioned that he would like to insure the items being moved at Full Replacement Value. I have this in his handwriting from notes that he took that day. No documents were signed and they agreed to proceed with the move. On the day of the move, they shoved a piece of paper at my mother and asked her to sign it and crossed off Full Replacement Value which indicated that they had chosen the option for 60 Cents a Pound Replacement Value. This document was signed AFTER the truck was fully loaded, late at night, without any explanation and multiple price options on the page. Why would a company be obtaining a signature with an agreed price AFTER they have arrived with their crew and loaded up the truck with their possessions? Even after their items were shipped, we were told in writing by Wheaton that my parents had opted for Full Replacement Value….but later they informed us that they had actually signed for the “60 Cents a Pound Replacement Option”. So for example if you have a 50 pound TV that costs $4000 that gets smashed during the move, you will receive $31 compensation.

2. Beware! The initial estimate is a “non-binding agreement”. We later learned that there is no cap to what they can charge – regardless of the original estimate. We thought it was fair to have a +/- 10% contingency clause, but the total cost of the move was +19% vs. the original estimate. The only thing that changed vs. the original estimate is that my parents DID NOT TAKE a large front hall mirror and a set of golf clubs and ADDED one additional CHAIR. This is hardly enough to justify at +19% increase in price! The weight of the move was 16.5K which was also an increase of +22% vs the original estimate. And when the original estimate of the weight of your shipment is off by 22%, you will also experience a transportation charge increase of +18% and a fuel charge increase of +18%. The increases continued to accumulate.

Furthermore, the dish packing cost was +153% over estimate. When we asked about how this could be so poorly estimated, they blamed my mother and said that she had told them that she would pack up half the plates. No. My mother is in her 80s and has never packed any of her own plates for a move. When they came to prepare the estimate, she remembers being asked if she would pack any plates and replied NO. Was this part of their plan to provide a lowball estimate with a non-binding agreement?

3. Moving Day Nightmares – There was a truck that was dedicated to this move. A few days before the moving date my mother was told that there would be a truck arriving with some other items already loaded on the truck. Mom expressed concern that all her items would not fit in a truck with other items already loaded but was assured by the company that it would be fine. It wasn’t. A SECOND back up truck was required to come for the remaining items…. but was still not large enough for all of their items because they sent a smaller truck than what was required. A THIRD truck was required and this delayed the move significantly. Additionally, on the initial day of the move the drivers arrived on time, but their crew did not show up. A back up crew had to be arranged and they did not arrive until noon. Needless to say, it was an extremely long day and very dark by the time they left. (And this is when my mother was asked to sign paperwork with their “pricing” on it.)

4. Delivery Day Nightmares – The movers were specifically told to be sure the clothing and computer was on the FIRST truck. The move in date was scheduled for Monday 10/16. There was no crew available that day which delayed our move until Tuesday. On Tuesday morning we were told that if we wanted the truck weighed for verification, it would delay the delivery of the items an additional day to Wednesday. This was only for the FIRST truck delivery. When asked about the timing of the remaining delivery, we were told “we don’t know”. When the FIRST truck arrived, the computer and clothing were not on that truck as instructed. My parents had no clothes until 10 DAYS LATER when the SECOND truck arrived.

5. Nightmares with Billing Resolution – Repeated attempts for clarification on billing overages were met with vague answers, unsatisfactory explanations, lack of documentation requested, differing answers about our contractual agreement and a general answer of “non-binding agreement” to explain the overages between estimate and actual expenses.

This was a really difficult experience for my whole family. My parents are in their 80s and were moving across country to a retirement home. I only hope that by sharing our experience, it will help someone else avoid the months of hassle and heartache that our family had to endure by using this affiliated and incompetent team of Carolina Moving and Storage/Wheaton. Needless to say, we were highly disappointed by their service and hope to spare others from a bad experience.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $15000

Wheaton and their partner Bekins teamed up to make my move as difficult and bad an experience that they could. From being over promised on the pickup date to them loosing and damaging our belongings, then refusing to cover their mistake on technicalities even though I paid for the highest level of insurance they had.  When the movers pulled things off the truck that didn't belong to us they said "it's yours now you want it?" I can only imagine that the people that got our lost items decided to keep them. Their Claim Reps. (Sharon and her supervisor Michelle who cowered behind her voicemail and refused to get on the phone) were rude and completely void of any empathy or responsibility for the situation.  Not sure if its incompetence due to lack of training or just lack of care.  Stay away from this horrible company and their partners.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $13000

Do not use this company. My family's 150 year old cherry wood dining room table that I had just had refinished to send to my daughter arrived with deep gashes on one leaf and one leg broken all the way through with the driver (or someone with Wheaton) having attempted to repair using wood glue and duct tape.  I had mistakenly accepted a $500.00 deductible on the move and so my reimbursement comes nowhere near the cost of repairing and refinishing for the second time in 3 months. I had asked them at the point of move to take special care of this piece, as it was a family treasure and had just been lovingly brought to perfect condition. What did they do, toss it in the back of the truck?? .

Service cost: $1700

Horrible, horrible, horrible! From start to finish the experience with Wheaton was something I wouldn't wish on an enemy. The initial packing was haphazard at best. They were going to leave our belongings out on our lawn overnight because they were ready to quit for the day?!! Arrived in California nearly 2 weeks late. Meantime we're sleeping on a blow-up mattress we bought from Wal-Mart with no fridge, tv, chairs, nothing. The tractor trailer broke an axle in Texas is what we were told. Once our belongings arrive, the axle breaking in transit caused MUCH damage including a custom motorcycle and a computer - the list of damaged goods is too long to list here. There were things missing as well. After filling out laborious forms we received a check for $349.00 to cover all damages. I'm shaking my head as I type this out of disbelief. Needless to say, I went through more trouble to get repair estimates (as Wheaton requested) and resubmitted that claim to them (again as they requested) only to be denied the claim again. Moving is harrowing enough without the moving company throwing your belongings into boxes, arriving late with your things broken, missing, smashed beyond recognition. You will not be compensated fairly no matter what you do, and they may intimate that you're a liar, which, to me, is the most infuriating thing about the incident. Save yourself much stress and money. This review cannot relay to you the nightmare we went through because of this company. Don't make the mistake of picking Wheaton.

Service cost: $18000

HORRIBLE!! They were hired by the government to complete my military move. Multiple items damaged and destroyed including a brand new dresser and lost the screws to my desk. Initial settlement for damages gave very minimal compensation including a replacement value, which was half of what my desk was worth. Contacted Clara Barnett. I told them I didn’t just want minimal money but would like my desk repaired and my new dresser replaced. She agreed and stated they would take my old dresser for salvage. A new settlement was sent to me with no mention of replacing my dresser and exactly HALF the original settlement. Ms. Barnett denied stating they would replace my new dresser and stated the first offer is no longer available. I refused the offer again for reconsideration based on what I was told over the phone. No change. They refuse to answer the requests by Better Business Bureau and Angie’s List. Military members ARE allowed to request a different carrier. I would highly consider this incident when choosing a mover.

Service cost: $5000

I recently moved across the country (Washington, DC to California), and spent ample time researching van lines before deciding to go with Wheaton - boy did I make a mistake. I interviewed five companies (Atlas, United, Mayflower, Bekins, and Wheaton) to compare prices and policies, and as it turns out was flat out lied to by my Wheaton rep (James Gilmartin from Olympia Moving, one of their subsidiaries for the North East).

I had time constraints surrounding my move, and was concerned primarily with being able to have ample advanced warning regarding my delivery and a definitive, uncompromising delivery date. I was assured up and down that I would received at least 14 days advanced notice of my delivery date, and that as soon as my items had been placed on a truck I would be in constant contact with the driver so I would know where my shipment was and would be kept abreast of any problems.

Furthermore, I was told that even though I had to have a delivery "spread" (a window of 5 days during which time I was assured to have my delivery made) I could choose the exact date I wanted for delivery and they would back up my ship date from that to ensure it for me.

About three weeks out from my delivery spread I received a call telling me that my window had to be extended from 5 to 11 days in order to accommodate a new "company standard." Already I thought that it was unacceptable for a delivery window to be that large, but I agreed as I felt at that point that I had no other choice. That was the last phone correspondence I received from anyone at Wheaton without myself initiating contact.

About a week out from the start of my window (on a Friday) I had not heard anything from Wheaton regarding delivery dates and started calling the various phone numbers I had to try and get some answers. After some serious waffling on the part of my "move coordinator" I was finally able to get her to contact the driver who had my shipment and was given a delivery date of the following Friday, and told that my driver would be in touch with me "very early" the following week to confirm and give me details.

By Monday afternoon of the following week I had not heard a peep from anyone, so I called my move coordinator again for more information and was able to get the phone number for my driver. I began calling him with zero response.

Now, at this point I should point out that I had to make travel arrangements for myself and several family members to come down to my new home to meet this shipment, and it was becoming extremely costly for me to not be able to make any of these plans because I had not been given any confirmed dates for delivery.

The following day I spent 4.5 hours calling every number I had before anyone ever picked up the phone, at which point I was FINALLY told that several days prior the truck holding my shipment had broken down, and had yet to be repaired. No estimation of when the truck would be fixed was given, and had I not been doggedly making phone calls I never would have been given that information.

My delivery date ended up being seriously altered, and during the process as I tried to explain to Wheaton employees what had happened and that it was obvious to me that I had been lied to at various points throughout the process I was hung up on, yelled at, and given zero support or options to help accommodate the enormous cost I was burdened with because of their lack of communication and internal issues.

They are an absolutely horrible company. I started by dealing with a satellite office in Virginia for my move, then had to speak with a move coordinator who was in Boston and customer service people and dispatchers who were God only knows where, and none of them ever spoke to each other. There is no chain of communication between members of the company, and that comes back tenfold to their customers. I lost thousands of dollars because of their practices, and would do anything in my power to insure that no one else ever has to go through what I did using their service.

Service cost: $4000

Movers were late. My husband had all boxes waiting for movers in our garage. They would not use the dolly that they had in the truck and carried out one box at a time. Our house was only 1700 square feet . It took them over 5 hours to load the truck. There were 3 guys who talked and smoked cigarettes.then after milking away the time they realized that it would be dark soon they called another group of movers to help them unload it eas at least 8pm. The movers then requested further payment..it It was such awful experience that after 7 years I will never use this company and I will continue to tell everyone I know not to either.

Service cost: $2000

First off I want to point out, DONT USE WHEATON!! USE ALLIED!!
The story starts as such.
I was starting a new job in Indiana and I needed to move, I looked at a local agency that recommended Wheaton. Ok. Long story short ALL.. and I mean ALL my boxes that I packed were destroyed, as well as my Grandmaothers furniture that was willed to me when she passed away. Their total settlement, 1% of the total move. I am currently in negotiations right now and have already disputed my credit card purchase with credit company and they will be cancelling the payment. Driver used wood glue and screws to fix my antique furniture. BEST line to hear from a mover ever
 
"I've never fixed a clients furniture in front of them before."
 
SERIOUSLY??
 
I used Allied only 1 year prior and all my stuff arrived in excellent condition.
Again I will state USE ALLIED!!

Service cost: $2368

Moving with Wheaton Van Lines/Crown Moving and Storage – Indianapolis, IN Most Americans do not understand how moving companies operate and, apparently, do not care. Because of their indifference, consumers pay thousands of extra dollars pursuant to what is, at root, a near fraud. We obtained a number of quotes for a move of 700 miles. All companies said that their transportation rates are based on weight. There are other charges for packing, insurance, fuel surcharges, on and on. Wheaton’s Phil Beanblossom provided a quote under which transportation, including insurance, fuel s.c., etc. for an estimated 7300 pounds, came to $49 per hundred pounds or $5.50/mile or some factor that remains hidden. Theoretically, if the weight was actually 6300, we would expect a reduction in the transportation price of 10 x $49. Makes sense? Wheaton’s reply – No reply, no explanation. Another moving company agreed to refund $22 per 100 pounds under their estimate. They charge $49 per 100 pounds, meaning the consumer pays $27 - $49 per 100 pounds for freight not in the truck (the $49 is based on the estimated weight, thus the mover will always estimate high!) So, the statement by moving companies that transportation is based on weight is mostly hooey. Can we agree that moving a load of furniture over the road is no different from moving bags of peat moss, nuclear waste, or supplies for your local big box store? It’s all trucking and the driver drives no differently with furniture on board. Moving companies charge more than double the over-the-road per mile rate (about $2 per mile to Wheaton’s $5.50 per mile). Reason? “Transporting furniture is different.” How/why? No reply, because there is no true answer. Wheaton and other moving companies use truck trailers that can hold three or more households of furniture. Your furniture likely will not travel alone. At least two other families will be paying for the same truck/trailer at little or no additional transportation expense to the mover. Accordingly, movers essentially will be charging three families, including yours, for the same transportation cost. Near fraud such as this is protected by “Caveat Emptor” – It is supposedly your responsibility to be aware of all the cute money-making cons perpetrated by moving companies. The Wheaton salesman said that we should insure our furniture through Wheaton, even though a consumer’s renter’s or homeowner's insurance policy will cover the load.  Movers quoted $400 - $600 for insurance on our ESTIMATED valuation. Everything is estimated in favor of the mover. If true measures of anything come in lower, tough beans. We asked Wheaton to deduct their insurance fee from our quote as we would use our normal homeowner’s policy. No reply, no explanation. Note that no moving company really insures YOUR furniture. Wheaton and others likely have a blanket general term insurance policy that covers every load they move for the year. That policy may cost them $100,000 or more. However, that amount is peanuts compared to how much they charge families to insure, unnecessarily, their thousands of personal shipments. We asked Wheaton to include packing/crating in their quote. To pack one small dish box, they quoted $38 and estimated they would need eight such boxes. Total number of boxes they estimated at 57 and quoted varying prices per type of boxes, all itemized. We asked, “Would the packing charges be reduced if only 40 boxes were needed?” Seems reasonable, doesn’t it? No reply from Phil, no explanation. How long would it take you to pack/wrap one small box of dishes? Wheaton’s charge to pack boxes was $1600 (another mover’s quote for the same stuff was $2400!). After calling around, we found several packing companies that would pack all for under $500. We asked Wheaton to remove the packing/crating charges from our quote as we would hire our own packers. Phil’s only answer to our queries was, “We would like to withdraw our name from consideration.” End of our dealing with Wheaton. In sum, moving companies are in the business of befuddling consumers, knowing that almost no one understands moving freight or the residential moving business. Chose Wheaton if you want, but recall the realities and their rudeness in not responding to our seemingly reasonable queries. Again, be skeptical of all major moving companies. If you will pay for the move, arrange it yourself. We figure to save $3000.

Service cost: $5300

Furniture was taken in new condition, delivered scratched, marred, and two pieces splintered. Some items missing ie, ten baseball caps, oil painting, crockpot, that we know for sure. In the past as military officer and Air line Captain I have moved many, many times both inter and intra state, always with satisfactory results. This was totally unsatisfactory. Wheaton offered $108 without any inspection, all determined from a distant desk. Stonewalling!! We had taken the minimum insurance as we had had such good moves in the past. But .60 X weight of damaged pieces comes to several times $108. That does not count the missing items. Avoid WHEATON!

Service cost: $6000

Wheaton used subsidiary carriers since they didn't service VT, and they failed to tell us this is how they operate.  2 guys from Wheaton were good & on time; however, they (along with the Wheaton acct rep) failed to tell us we had to inspect everything for damages and missing items, etc. @ time of delivery.  Instead we were told we had 9 months to file a claim, which is what we did.  We had furniture damaged, bottom of a night stand totally destroyed, items found damaged once we removed them from the cartons, and items missing.  I've moved 6 times with all the major carriers and NEVER had an issue like this when filing a claim.  They basically do not take responsibility for anything, and I would NEVER recommend them to others.  When you consider we filled a 52' truck with all our household items and it took them a day & a half to unload everything, no reasonable company would expect the client to check every single item and open/inspect over 300 cartons while the drivers wait. By far the worse moving company I've ever used when it comes to taking responsibility for damages incurred during the move.

Service cost: $15000

The truck arrived on 5/08/14 and I contracted with the company for the goods to be delivered to FL within 5 days. I purchased insurance for the full value of the goods. The first truck arrived on May 8th and the rest of the goods were delivered on June 17. There were two cartons missing from second shipment, which have not been found. Damages to furniture were numerous which I did not claim. The items that were claimed had been mis-handled to say the least. I was not informed about the lost cartons for two months after delivery of the other items. (09/13/14). I had to pay for the entire shipment before the second truck delivered the goods. The driver of the first shipment was extremely rude and uncooperative. The second truck driver was more cooperative and did have me check the cartons as they were moved into the house-the first driver did not do that and didn't furnish me an inventory. Wheaton denied my claim for damaged and missing goods. They asserted that I hadn't filed on time. I couldn't file until I had received all the information required of them which was in September and at that time I found that I did not have claim forms nor inventory  of goods delivered. Since you are only allowed one claim I then had to get information of costs for repairs and lost goods. I paid over $980 for insurance and I expected Wheaton to pay for the items they lost and the damage to other goods.

Service cost: $14933

I moved from Upstate New York to Indianapolis in June and this was the first time I've used a moving company. The experience with Wheaton Van Lines was wonderful. Jay, the team leader, was incredibly personable and professional. The team was very respectful to me and my belongings. They worked very hard and packed up my house carefully and diligently. They arrived at the destination on time and quickly emptied the truck and placed the items in my new house where I wanted. Prior to arriving at my house, the main office kept me informed about delivery date and time. They were extremely professional and I would certainly use them again. It was a wonderful experience.

Service cost: $4000

Movers came in and damaged the floor and then said the damage was already there, and then said it was damaged after they left because it wasn't there when they left. Two different stories.
the company self insures their claims so it was denied. But I never heard from the adjustor.
Also, the actual hauler called me a couple of times to try to get $800 additional because he said the load was bigger than he anticipated. The agent told me to tell him 'no' which I did, but how many times does this happen?
The agent did a great job, but the floors were new, and they denied the claim with no investigation. I later found out that at the time the letter was written, the adjustor was just going on maternity leave so she probably just wanted to end the claim to have it of her desk. Cannot recommend. They were also higher, but I selected them because I had used them before many years ago and they were fine. No more.

Service cost: $3500

WORST MOVING COMPANY EVER! I hired Bekins agent in NJ to move me across country to AZ. They are owned by Wheaton Worldwide who I was told was the truck and crew responsible for delivering my belongings. First off they were late by a couple days. Not a real big issue for me but it set the tone for the overall experience. Upon arrival to deliver my furniture and personal belongings they lost items and they weren't little boxes that could have been misplaced, the items included a large wardrobe box that contained very expensive men's suits, a valet, golf clubs and a wicker hamper. They also damaged an expensive Cradenza. I immediately informed the driver and he said no big deal just file a claim and call the corporate office. I did just that and after a month of back and forth they agreed my items were lost and said to file a claim. I did and it was immediately denied saying I didn't have any receipts!! Are they [EDIT] kidding me!! Who keeps receipts for those things. I bought the additional insurance too in case of a screw up and it turns out for what? This company and their drivers and crews are incompetent at best and their customer service and tracking departments are antiquated and poor. Please if you value your belongings DO NOT hire this moving company as they are pathetic!

Service cost: $3500

Our move started with the driver breaking three legs on our teak dining table and promising to replace them himself with new legs. At delivery, he gave us badly glued original legs. Many furniture pieces were dented or scratched upon delivery. Some of our furniture pieces were old family items that started with some scratches. The new scratches cannot be claimed because we did not take photographs before and after. Take to time to photograph everything! Also the packers seemed to seek out boxes marked fragile and put them where they would be crushed. Most of our fragile boxes arrived crushed while the non-fragile boxes were fine. The driver hired an elderly couple to do the unloading and they struggled with the job. I would never recommend Wheaton to anyone.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10553

Worst moving experience of my life. Don't ever use:
* Aladdin Transfer & Storage
* Wheaton World Wide Moving (a.k.a Wheaton Van Lines)
* Bekins (same company as Wheaton)

And don't do business with:
* John Edward - salesman with Aladdin
* Brad Messer - owner of Aladdin

In Summary:
Contracted Pick Up Day: Fri, 7/7
Actual Pick Up Days: Fri, 7/7 & Mon 7/10

Est. Delivery Window: 7/11 - 7/17
Actual Delivery Date: 7/26 - 11 days AFTER the END of the delivery window

The Gritty Details:
We hired movers for our move from CA to CO. Aladdin was the local pick up company and Wheaton was the national company coordindating the move. Aladdin sent John Edward to do an in-home inspection of the apartment but not our 10 x 10 storage unit that we told them we had. They just estimated based on the description of the contents.

The movers from Aladdin/Wheaton were supposed to arrive on Friday, 7/7 between 8-10am for pick up. My wife and I were to leave the next morning to hit the road for CO. (In hindsight, I should have given us a little buffer between pick up day and when we left town.)

The movers showed up at 9:55am Friday morning. Unfortunately, the truck was too small to load everything so they were only able to load the apartment's contents but not the contents of the storage unit. They weren't able to get a second truck to pick everything up that same day so after some arguing with John and Brad, they assured us the unit would be picked up the next day: Saturday. So we gave them a key, the code to the storage facility, and hoped for the best.

The next morning, Saturday, my wife and I loaded up what items we were taking with us in our 2 cars and hit the road. We didn't hear from anyone all day. Late in the afternoon I made some calls but just got voicemail.

Finally, around 8pm Saturday night, I got a text--not a call--from Brad about the storage facility being "closed". The gate closes after 4pm but you can still get through that and into the building with the code I gave them. "Well I wish I would have known that" was Brad's response. This is the OWNER of the company. More texts and phone calls, during one of which Brad hung up on me for swearing at him - I guess I offended his delicate ears - until Brad agreed to pick up the storage unit stuff the next day: Sunday.

Sunday comes and goes and, once again, we don't hear from anyone. We left a few voicemails for Brad but none were returned.

Monday morning I got in touch with Tyler Greer, our move manager in the corporate office, and gave him the details of the weekend. He said he would take care of it and sounded sympathetic. Tyler was the only person in this whole mess who tried to work with us.

Brad finally called back and said the storage unit contents were picked up on Sunday. John also called and said the same thing. HOWEVER, later that day the manager of the storage facility emailed that the movers were there loading things up. So John and Brad both lied to us.

After 4 stressful days of calls, texts, and emails, our stuff was at least finally loaded up.

Several days later we were informed by Tyler that they wouldn't be able to deliver everything until 7/26, 11 days after the end of the original delivery window. He was able to give us a discount of about 15% off the final price of the move because of all the trouble.

Our stuff finally arrived on the 26th and in pretty good shape. With everything else that went wrong I was a bit worried. The movers who delivered the stuff - Colorado Hi-Tec Moving & Storage - were very professional.

Brad Messer and John Edward clearly don't know what they're doing and don't seem to care much about clients. And neither of them are men of their word.

From Brad in an email: "Sorry about the delay in getting your household goods delivered to you but this is a common practice in this industry in the summertime." During a phone call, John said something to the same effect.

Okay, first of all, knowing that other customers are also getting screwed doesn't make me feel any better. Secondly, if you KNOW you're going to have this kind of trouble, either book less work, or at least give your customers a realistic delivery window. We would have packed differently if we knew we would be waiting over 2 weeks for our stuff to arrive.

Moving is stressful enough when things go well without the added stress of dealing with incompetents.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7200