Terrible Experience with Coleman American/Covan via Budget Van Lines
Brooke S.
Submitted this review about
Budget Van Lines
Review made Live: 7/9/2010 8:19:00 PM
We recently moved across country and needed our belongings shipped from our home in Iowa and stored for four weeks while we made our move to Florida (then delivered once we arrived). After being given a moving allotment from the University I am working for, I decided to enlist the help of a moving company - and ended up working with Budget Van Lines (they book the move and then contract a moving company to pick up and deliver household items and family belongings). The initial experience with Budget Van Lines went well at first, however quickly went south after I signed contract papers. Not only did the rep from BVL fail to tell the contracted moving company that we were going to need storage for our belongings (almost causing the cancellation of our pick-up), but he clearly wanted to make a sale, failing to tell me charges would be incurred to both put our items in storage ($4/per 100 lbs) and to have them taken back out of storage ($12/ per 100 lbs). Our belongings weighed almost 8,000 lbs!!!!!!!! That didn't include the storage fee, which was also charged by the 100 lbs... The rep from BVL knew we had a limited budget to work with and failed to give me that additional information when booking (again, I think he was withholding that info because he wanted to make the sale...). Therefore, we ended up paying an additional $2,500 out-of-pocket for our move. The contracted moving/storage company was Covan/Coleman American, which I found to be helpful in working with me and returning my phone calls/emails - **only when they needed something from me**. However after they initially got what they needed, I was never able to get anyone to contact me or return phone calls/emails again. I needed them, but clearly wasn't going to be dealt with. The pick-up of our items seemed to be the only positive experience of this whole ordeal - my husband was around to oversee that and was very pleased with the service. However, the movers who dropped off our items in Florida were extremely careless (I watched as they pushed my boxes down a ramp and the boxes crash to the ground), and they left so many scratches on the (very) expensive laminate flooring in my new home that it makes me sick to my stomach to look at. Many of my items have been damaged or broken, and I cannot get anyone to help out with the claims I have made with my flooring (even when telling them I would go to the BBB if they do not fix the problem). Furthermore, the guys moving the items into my home made themselves "at home," going through my fridge, helping themselves - which pretty much left me speechless. The professionalism and care for us, our belongings, and our satisfaction has been less than acceptable and I will NEVER use any of these companies again - nor will I ever recommend them to anyone. We originally had a POD reserved for the move (we have used PODS before) - and aside from us having to move everything ourselves, that should have been the way to go. At least I know I could have stayed within budget and my items would have arrived in the condition in which they left. Take it from me, go the PODS route. Do not trust movers with your belongings and your personal property, or moving companies to be honest, helpful, or caring of you and your experience.
