Do not use Allied
Erin
Submitted this review about
Allied Van lines
Review made Live: 8/24/2015 1:23:00 PM
I apologize for the length of this review XXXif you don't want the gory details please scroll to the bottom for a summary.
My family recently used an Allied company out of Omaha, NE to move to Lexington, KY. The Omaha company is Coleman American. Initially, I felt Coleman gave us a fast and fair estimate and that is why we chose them for our move. We utilized their packing service as well as temporary storage and moving.
The team that came to pack up our house, move some things to storage and some things to our apartment was professional and courteous.
Unfortunately, when it came time for our items to be moved and delivered to our new home in Lexington, the problems began.
We were given a delivery window and so we planned to have our children in a summer camp during this week so we could unpack in peace. Coleman knew about our closing date for our new home and our desired move-in dates 4 months in advance. One week prior to our expected delivery date I called and they could not tell me when the truck was going to be on the way. 2 days prior to the expected delivery date they told me that everything was on schedule for a Monday delivery. Monday they told me it would be Tuesday. Tuesday they told me it would be Friday. When I complained to the receptionist she transferred me to the "guy in the warehouse" and he told me that the truck wasn't even in Nebraska and he had no idea when the delivery would be made. When I questioned the receptionist she said "just because your stuff is on the truck, doesn't mean we know when it is going to be delivered". When I then spoke to the manager he informed me that the moving truck had actually broken down in another state and that was why it was going to be the end of the week.
Had they simply called me and been direct about the unfortunate truck breakdown I probably would have been more understanding, but the fact that I had to go through 3 people to find out what was really going on was very frustrating.
Thursday came and the manager called me and very apologetically told me that the broken down truck was waiting for a part to come in and NOW their other truck had broken down. He then told me that they only have 2 trucks, so we were stuck.
When our things finally arrived the team to unload was on time, however one of the men clearly smelled like marijuana (this smell was clearly present again after he came back from his lunch break). I will say the med were friendly and polite. One frustrating aspect of the unpacking was that the driver gave us the inventory list to check off items as they came into the house, so rather than being able to supervise inside we were stuck at the door with 2 clipboards trying to find the stickers on each item with the numbers as they came in.
By the afternoon it was clear that these guys were ready to go home whether the job was done or not. They did not put together one of our tables and refused to put together our treadmill when we asked, stating, "we didn't take it apart, so we can't put it together" - the driver instructed us to called the local Allied branch in Lexington and "they would send someone out".
My son's headboard was not attached to his bed - just propped against the wall. The most disturbing thing is that the children's bunk bed was put together using the wrong hardware and because of this they did not have enough screws so the top bunk was left unattached (just balanced) on the bottom bunk and it was completely unsafe, at risk for collapsing on a sleeping child below. We did not realize this until the next day.
Lastly, our sleeper sofa was destroyed. The wooden frame was fractured, the fabric stained and the spring mechanism for the bed was broken with springs missing.
There were other smaller less valuable items broken, but I understand this is the risk of a move and largely unavoidable.
In summary:
1. Poor local customer service. Unresponsive to complaints.
2. Very poor communication regarding the timing of our delivery.
3. Although I hope the intention was not to deliberately deceive, I felt like we were being lied to about the trucks being broken down. Why not just come out and tell me? I get it, things happen, just be honest.
4. Delivery men left bunk bed damaged and unsafe due to incorrect screws being used. Sleeper sofa destroyed. I have filed a claim and am waiting to hear back.
5. Late delivery (11 days after we expected it was to arrive).
6. I have tried to call the national Allied company multiple times and have not received any meaningful response from them. Not even a simple apology. I take it back - they did offer a $50 compensation for the late delivery.
7. In total, our move cost right around $16,000. Groan, I had hoped for better service.
8. Please do not choose Allied for your move.
