World Wide Van Lines

Not only were my movers completely unprofessional but they damaged almost all of my furniture. I filed a claim for it in May 2012 and they have yet to pay me anything. Whenever I call, which I had to pretend to be a new costumer planning a move just to get someone to talk to me, they give this happy pleasing run around. They never return my calls. I'm sure I'll never see a dime for my damaged furniture and I'd rather haul all of my own belongings on my back then ever hire them again.

Service cost: $1200

After several quotes, I decided on Worldwide,BIG MISTAKE.I was quoted $965. I wanted the pick up on 12/29. Tried contacting customer service numerous times but never actually talked to anyone. Finally contacted dispatch on 12/28, asking if they knew approximately when the pick up would be made. The agent said she would contact the supervisor to check and call me back, no return call. Couldn't get hold of anyone on the day of pickup, never got a call from the driver when they were coming. Finally got a call on the 30th, Daniel from United Van Lines saying they would pick up either the 31st or the 1st. Concerned, I asked if the delivery would be made by the 4th as requested when booked.Said he would call his supervisor and call back, never called me back. When United Van Lines finally showed up at 3pm on the 30th, they looked at the load and advised this move would cost at least $2500, 2 1/2 times what we were quoted.  WHAT!! I gave WWVL a complete inventory list, the quoted included all fuel, loading,unloading, padding, blanket wrapping was included.  Daniel advised they have to charge an additional fuel surcharge, wrapping and the quote we received was not correctly calculated and the move would cost $2500.We sent them away and never used them.NEVER USE WORLDWIDE VAN LINES. Our son is going back to school and this company really screwed things up, let alone is now going to cause us to spend alot more.  But there was no way we were going to spend that much more than quoted.  I feel sorry for anyone that entrusts this company to move anything! .

Service cost: $966

Okay, my review is about 5 months late, but this experience was so profoundly flagrant that I have to write a review.
My family (wife & baby) was moving from NJ to Indiana and after a long search, WWVL seemed to offer the best rate and the salesperson dave was very professional, cordial, and helpful. This was April 2012. I had given dave my cc# as he said they would charge $600 initial deposit within 3 weeks. 
I had about 6000 lbs of stuff, not too much furniture other than a rather major king bed, big sectional, credenza and dining table. Everything else was like ikea office desk, ikea bookshelves, futon, etc plus our 200 boxes that we packed, inventoried, and numbered, and put down in the 1st-floor garage a day or so before the scheduled pick up date at the end of July 2012. 
My concern first started when WWVL did not take the $600 initial deposit even after a month, and dave was nowhere to be reached. Came June when he finally wrote back stating he had some family situation and that I need not worry about the deposit as they will take it prior to moving. A little puzzled at the disorganization, but what the heck.. I'm sure they'll take their fees so I let it go.
Then real concern started closer to the moving date at the end of July when I got a call from some manager guy, I'll call him Keith, and we discuss the actual date. Things seem to go alright but soon sours when I do not get a response back from him. He was saying how original date looks a bit difficult and all, and knowing that they subcontract movers (I was informed by dave and at this time didn't think much of it.. Big mistake!) a little flexibility in moving date was understandable. 
But a day turned into three days without a callback. Their service number always states they're busy, but when you call them on Sunday night it says the same thing which obviously tells me that they just bring the message. I was getting a bit desperate as 7/31 was the first day of my rent in. I must've left some 30 voicemails to service, mainline, and even Keith himself. When I finally got a hold of a human being, a woman, I expressed my frustration and she seemed genuinely concerned and said she'd take care of the issue. I did get a call back from Keith later, and he heard my frustration and assured me he's working on securing movers and that he'll call me back. Again, no call for a whole day or two! 
Finally, the scheduled day came and went, we were delayed by a day and a half when Keith calls me well late in the evening and tells me some dude is near the area and could come pick us up. It was like 6 pm and when I spoke to the dude, it was a one person with some van. Not convinced, I refused and asked Keith for a team, as I lived on the 3rd floor up 2 flights of stairs and there was no way even a he-man was going to move my king bed down the stairs by himself. So another day goes by, we're just living out of our few boxes (the rest of 200 boxes were already locked in the 1st-floor garage as result of wife & my back-breaking work) and finally, we get a call, again well in the evening, from some Ramon? Character. So these 3 Hispanic men show up, looks around the apt and then I take them down to the garage to show them garage full of 200 boxes. Then never to be taken advantage of, I lay out the conditions - and ask them about the weighing after loading, and weighing after unloading and the $1800 for the 6100lbs deal. Then this guy starts talking nonsense - he goes how he deals with cubic feet, something dave himself advised me that other movers do and is a scam, and I slam it down, "No cubic feet, pounds" and they seemed a bit uncomfortable, and he just kind of murmurs over things with the guys in Spanish, and says there's a lot of stuff and that this is a really big move. And since it's late, how about they start loading up their van with these boxes? Their bigger truck would come the next day, he said. At that moment, I instinctively refused. I said let's discuss upstairs and I shut and locked the garage. 
Once upstairs, we sat in the kitchen to discuss price as there were discrepancies. He basically flat out ignored whatever contract I had with them (didn't even ask to see it when I tried to show it) and said "Ah. This is really a big move. It's going to cost $7500" 
$7500? [EDIT]? What is this guy smoking? And seriously, a big move? Just one king bed, sectional, credenza, dining table? It's pretty much just me & my wife and we didn't have much furniture in this 2 bedroom apartment. I said that is ridiculous and that I am going by the contract, nothing else. 
The main henchman talks to his minions in Spanish again then goes, "We'll give you best price - I can do it for $5500", as if he's giving me the best deal ever..! Abhorred, I just told him, "No deal, sorry for your time but I won't be using you guys. Please leave." 
At that, they seemed confused. Confused that they couldn't scam us into submission. [EDIT]. They were nothing short of thieves. They reluctantly went downstairs, and they stayed talking outside for a long time. I was nervous they might damage my car parked in front of the garage or something. Later, a big truck did come, and some driver dude got off and they stayed talking for at least 30 minutes, making my wife very nervous and I almost wanted to call the cops.
I am normally good with reading reviews and such, and I have no idea why I did not look them up first because as it turns out, there are million negative posts and warnings about WWVL. Seriously, I don't know how they still exist. The office people act like the nicest people in the world and connect us to subpar thugs.. And I can't comprehend that these office people are oblivious to what's really going on, but rather, they're just the same thugs as the contractors that show up. I am so glad that I didn't allow them to load my boxes because if I had and they left for the night, it's obvious that they would hold my boxes hostage the next morning asking me to pay up $7500! $7500! When agreed price was $1800. 
Thieves. Scumbags. WWVL needs to be shut down immediately. 
 .

Service cost: $1849

Worldwide Van Lines, through its independent contractor, attempted to scam me.  I'm in the process of reporting my whole experience to the Dept. of Transportation.  It's a long sordid story. I'll just set forth the highlights.  
The Worldwide Van Lines esimator was Leo.  Friendly, courteous, and seemed reasonable ethical.  We spent considerable time on the phone one day going room-by-room and item-by-item of the larger household goods.  Although I was skeptical of not having a live person walk through the house, he explained how the computer worked and that it builds in a "10% cushion" just in case. It all seemed okay and his esitmate of roughly 8,000 lbs. seemed reasonable.  The price was right too: $5,000.  The contract was titled "Non-Binding Etimate Form" and provided a penalty if the weight was more than agreed.  
Eventualy it was move-out time.  The driver called 30 minutes before he arrived.  He had one helper.  The driver had very poor command of English; the helper was more fluent. They continually spoke Hebrew to eachother and when on the phone.  Had they not been on the phone incessantly, I wouldn't have minded as much.  But as it was, they were entirely unfprofessional.  
My house was ready for move-out. All boxes were packed. There were few large items anywhere but on the main living floor, as my wife and I had already moved nearly everything closer to the doorways to make life easier on the movers.  The driver and his helper initially liked it too. 
The driver presented me with some forms. He asked me to sign or initial each. He then caught me totally off guard when he said, "I have to be honest with you."  That usually wakes you up, especially if you're busy signing something.  The driver went on to say that in his 4 years of experience he would esimate the household weight at "up to 20,000 lbs." Not the roughly 8,000 Worldwide Van Lines' estimator developed through the aid of his computer.  To move this house, said the driver, will cost you an additional $5,000.  What? I asked how Worldwide Van Lines' estimate could be so far off, but the driver assured me that the company intentionally underbids jobs to get business.  That seemed plausible, so I tried calling Worldwide Van Lines. No one answered. (The next day Worldwide said it's phone system had malfunctioned.)
The driver continued to advise me that no moving company could make money on the initial estimate, that everyone would require more money.  He essentially tried to strong-arm me into an 11th-hour deal while we're sitting amongst my boxes and furniture, ready for move-out.  He said that Worldwide Van Lines intentionally underbids jobs to capture business. That  seemed plausibe too. 
The driver concluded by offering me two options: Either pay the $5,000 or agree to a pricing scheme based on volume, not weight.  Neither sounded right, so I kicked them out.  The next day I called Leo at Worldwide Van Lines.  He feigned surprise and even managed a chuckle at the situation.  Utlimatey, I went with Atlas.  It was downright pleasant by comparison.  The price was roughly $6,500 for 7,000 lbs.  Their driver never had me sign additional docs, and even called with the weight: 6,700 lbs. So much for up to 20,000 lbs. 
All this to say Worldwide Van Lines, through its independent contractors, attempted to perpetrate a scam. In my opinion, Worldwide Van Lines was complicit in this scam and deserves censure.  We'll see what the Dept. of Transportation says. .

Service cost: $5000

I decided to go with these movers based on the smooth and calming voice of the salesperson, Charles. He assured me everything would be fine, that Worldwide Valued me as a customer and our relationship would be solid. It was not until we had finally hashed out the details and the contract came over that I realized that they were a broker and not the actual moving company. By then it was too late to try to find someone else. I paid for the move up front and even padded the amount of the weight to cover any unexpected problems. It took 22 days for my property to arrive. A total of 5 boxes were missing, several items were damaged, and my 37" flat screen television never arrived. A flat screen I paid an additional $100 to have crated so it would not be damaged (the movers used one of my boxes to cut open and wrap the television in a blanket). However, they did deliver a brown suitcase that does not belong to me..and I let them know that on several different occassions. I submitted my claim to Worldwide and the moving company who stated my load was 300 pounds over what I paid for. They somehow did not get the memo from Worldwide that I had actually over paid the weight. Maria, their dispatcher/customer service person all but hung up on me during one phone call. She was short and not very apethetic to my problems. I submitted my claim immediately after my move and to this date I still have not received any resolution. My advice to anyone considering using Worldwide, do yourself a favor and pay the extra money for the peace of mind of using a reputable company with their own fleet of trucks and movers.  .

Service cost: $1567

Worst possible experience in my life!  I am surprised my stuff arrived at all.  Run as fast as you can from this company.  Do some research and you will see what I mean. I can't believe I was stupid enough to use this outfit.  Please don't be a fool like me.  Once they have your stuff you are at their mercy.  They won't take your calls or answer your messages.  They will give you multiple false delivery dates.  From what I have read I am quite lucky.  I did get my stuff in the end.  It looks like many did not. .

Service cost: $6000

I had made a reservation through worldwide vanlines for a move from Reno, NV to St. Paul, MN for February 28, 2012.  I was assured during the sales call that Imy move would not be brokered out to another company since it was winter and business was slow so there were plenty of their own trucks available.  I was also told that the surcharge for moving upstairs would be waived.  I was lied to.  This move was brokered to National Movers.  I had done my research and was amazed at the great deal worldwide vanlines was able to get me.  Less than $3000 to move 10,500lbs of cargo over 1800 miles.  Every other place I tried quoted me $6-7k. That should have been my first clue I was going to get ripped off.  Even doing it myself would have been more expensive.  I estimated my weight to be about 10-11,000lbs based on their itemized listing tool as well as 2 reputable movers who actually came out to my storage unit to evaluate my items and understanding the moving industry standards to estimation.  I did my research.  Every way I calculated it came to approximately 10,000lbs.   When the mover from National Moving showed up he showed up in a Budget rental truck immediately told my sister in law that she needed to sign their agreement which quoted a $75 for flights of stairs so she called me (I was already in MN at the time).  While I was on the phone with Worldwide to see why they would be charging me since that should have been covered in my quote the mover told my sister in law that he knew we were going to be over our quote by about 25,000lbs but that he was willing to move it for $5000. I could not believe that we had that much more stuff than we had been quoted and had read an article on how to avoid scams earlier that week and heard this was a common practice in the moving industry.  To offer a low quote knowing that when moving day arrived customers were usually in a strict time crunch and desperate and that most consumers would not really know how much their stuff really weighs.  I asked the driver to weigh the truck before they loaded which they refused.   I knew did not have that much and spent the next half an hour trying to figure out what to do.  I didn't want to leave my things behind and was confident we were below the quoted weight but read enough about the moving industry to know that once they had my stuff on board they could charge me whatever they wanted and if I couldn't pay it then there was nothing I could do. They could keep my stuff, store it and charge me $300 a day until I could pay, and eventually sell it. I was still speaking with Worldwide at this time with an agent who said there was nothing in my quote about free stairs but that she would track down the supervisor I made the reservation with and call me back.  That was the last time I was able to speak to this company even after several calls over the next week.  During this time, the "professional movers" began loading my belongings.  The driver and his assistant had hired 2 local guys off the street to help with loading.  Two guys that I can guarantee were not licensed or bonded however now knew where my storage unit was located as well as the contents and that I was no longer in the area.  Hardly professional.  I had paid for full service including wrapping my furniture and packing items.  Most of my stuff was already packed and ready to go because it was in storage but not all of it.  They did not wrap anything, rolled my oak table top across the pavement scratching it severely, and broke a mirror.  By this time I had decided there was no way they were going to be allowed to move my stuff.  The "owner" I spoke to was completely unprofessional and even yelled at me for taking time to decide what to do.  I didn't trust him at all.  I called Worldwide Vanlines as well during this time and while they were prompt and professional all the way up to the move date, no one would return any of my calls once there was a problem.  I ended up cancelling my reservation by leaving a voicemail.  After I cancelled my move and asked them to put the few items they had moved back they began throwing my furniture into the storage unit.  Later that day I went back to the Budget rental truck website to look up information on their trucks.  We had considered renting one ourselves when we wanted to do a self move but remembered the max cargo weight was not very much.  Sure enough the largest truck could only accommodate 12,000lbs.  But an empty truck weighed 25,000lbs.  National Moving tried to charge me the weight of my cargo PLUS the weight of an empty truck!!  Really??!! After waiting 3 weeks, I ended up doing the move myself today. I had not seen the storage unit since their attempt to move me and had no idea exactly how much damage had been done to my stuff.  See photos below.  After seeing this I called the company to file a claim for damaged goods and immediately got the same guy I dealt with the first time.  I expressed my complaint and asked to file a claim and he began yelling at me again.  I asked to speak to a supervisor and he told me he was the owner and he was the only person I could talk to.  I asked what insurance company he filed his claims through and he refused to tell me, said I need to e-mail him photos of the damaged goods, then he would file the claim.  I already know this man is a crook and told him there was no way I was sending any photos until I had a form to fill out my claim.  My best guess is was that he would try to use my photos and say he took them BEFORE loading on moving day to "prove" they were damaged before the move.  After screaming at me on the phone again and refusing to listen I hung up.  It was by far the worst moving experience I have ever had in my life and I am SOOOO grateful that I did not allow this company to move my stuff.  However I do not know if I will ever get to file a claim and have things resolved for my damaged goods.  .

Service cost: $2945

Do NOT hire World Wide Van Lines. Dishonest and Unprofessional.
As someone else had said, I had felt comfortable with going with this company from talking to a very nice salesman named Lance. I had gotten a marketing email from him saying that it would cost $950 for a 2000 move for me. So, I thought that would be a good deal and gave him a call. He quoted me a $950 move on a 1500lb estimate and assured me that this seemed to be the best estimate to go with. Lance also said that normally they are not supposed to go below a 2000lb minimum but that he got the okay from his supervisor to do so. I did call Lance back after setting everything up a couple weeks before the move and was concerned that I may need to have my estimate weight increased as I didn't want to go over and he said that he would up it to 1600lbs no problem. But I said that maybe we should just do his orginal offer of 2000lbs for $950 just to be safe. He said that I would have to pay an extra $125 to have it at 2000lbs and so I told him that I couldn't afford to pay any more and he reassured me that I should be fine on my weight.
When the movers came on tuesday, they did come on time and were nice enough. Once they had everything loaded we took a look at the paperwork that stated an estimate of 1435lbs which was incorrect based on our signed contract which orginally said 1500lbs but I was thinking it was going to be at least at the 1600lbs that Lance said he would up it to. The mover contacted the company which said that it was 1435lbs and so I told the mover that I would just call the company in the morning (as they were now closed) and would straighten everything out.
When I called them the next day they did find that 1500lbs was on the orignal contract and I did talk to Lance and said that I thought he had uped the weight to 1600lbs and he said that there must have been some miscommunication and that all he has is 1500lbs. So..I didn't want to fight it at this time becase A) I didn't know the final weight and B) I had gotten food poisening and was sick. That evening, I received a phone call from them saying that the final weight would be 2200lbs (700 lbs over the estimate) and that I would owe an extra $351 on top of the $950. I was very dissappointed as we wern't planing on this but made plans to have the money and okay-ed the customer service woman that had told me my final balance of $1051 ($1251-250 deposit already paid). She said my things would arrive at their final desitination by tuesday or wedesday the next week.
So we waited until Monday and gave them a call to ask about arrival time and they said Tuesday night. And I asked, okay what time frame do you think? And she said 5-6pm. So my husband planned his worked around this. Also, I was reviewing the contract a little further and found a couple things as I was a little discouraged of my wieght overage: 1> The weight minimum is always supposed to be 2000lbs and 2> the final payment is to be money order or cash. So I questioned the final payment and the CS lady said it had to be cash. She was very rude and I could tell she did not want to be on the phone with me. I was not happy because 2 things within the contract were not being followed..the wieght minimum and the payment option which I also found to be really odd as no business these days does business with cash unless they are trying to pay less taxes or just be dishonest. And as I was paying such a high amount, I had to take out cash over a 2 day period.
We called on Tuesday, the day the movers were coming to confirm everything and to ask a few questions about the wieght minimum in the contract and the payment option and they said they would get back to us. But upon that first call on Tuesday, they told my husband that the final weight was not 2200 but 2600 and that we now don't owe 1051 in cash but 1213 in cash. We had only planned to have $1051 and had budgeted this, and now we had to borrow money as we were not prepared for this. We complained to the managers about this and they did not seem to care and stuck with the fact that we either pay them the 2600lb price or we don't get our things. The customer service was poor and we had to call into other departments just to get directed to someone in customer service which always seemed to be busy, go to voicemail, and then we'd never get a call back.
At first, we were going to contact a lawyer and wait on having our things delivered as we felt we needed justice, but on second thought, we just decided that we had learned our lesson, we needed to move forward, we would never make this mistake again, we would contact the BBB, and we would certainly post as many bad reviews as possible in order to hurt their business.
 
So ALL IN ALL, they were SUPER UNPROFESSIONAL, DISHONEST,  don't record phone calls so they can back up their workers or the customers themselvers, and one of that managers told us that it's nothing personal and it's all about the money and that they have lawyers to take care of getting what they are entitiled to get. So there was no room for apologies in misunderstandings and mis-given information on original quotes and certainly nothing to try have good customer service and satisfaction. We will never recommend them to anyone.we paid $500 more than we expected and it certainly could have been worse.

Service cost: $1463

They will give you a low quote and promise pickup within a 48 hour window. Their site makes it appear that they have their own trucks and drivers. They picked up two days late, lied to us on numerous occasions - when we could get them on the phone. They NEVER returned phone messages. The driver told us their quotes are never correct and charged us DOUBLE what was quoted. He refused to weigh the shipment and we were never given the actual weight. We were told en route that they had another job to do so our stuff would be put in storage and we'd get it "sometime in the next 21 days". The truck broke down twice (supposedly). It did NOT belong to World Wide Van Lines. When our stuff was delivered it was wet - even INSIDE the boxes - and there was a lot of damage. We were told that they had to change trucks in St. Louis and "it was raining". Subsequent calls to the company has yielded NOTHING. We filed a damage report and have not even been acknowledged. We have filed complaints with the Federal Trucking people who oversee truckers and with the Better Business Bureau. We plan to file a class action lawsuit if we can find others who have been taken in.

Service cost: $2200

This was the worst experience, of our lives, 1st thing they came about 5 hours late. The driver did not have a hand truck nor a furniture dolly, so he had to use minds, which I had no problem.During the loading of the truck , the driver finds out that the truck battery was dead, but he waited until he finish loading the truck,to worry about getting it started. He went to about 8 house in my neighborhood, at 10PM to get jumper cables. After getting the truck started, I had to follow the truck to a weight scale, where I found out that I had to pay another $2500.. YES that's RIGHT, $2500. After paying this, we was told that the truck would be in New Orleans on that Saturday between 2Pm and 4PM, he showed up Monday at 7AM. There is much , MUCH more I could say about this company, but one more main point that I must say, and that is, this driver had satanic tatoos all over his back, that was VERY OFFENSIVE to my family.. This was the BIGGEST NIGHT MARE in move I ever had. OH by the way, His truck need a jump in New Orlean also !!

Service cost: $3243