Wheaton Van Lines

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