Worst moving experience ever
Scott P.
Submitted this review about
Colonial Van Lines
Review made Live: 9/1/2014 11:29:00 AM
This is our eleventh move and if we combined the disappointments of the first ten and multiplied that one hundred fold it wouldn't come close to how awful an experience this has been. Our salesperson was Daniel Mattson and we are still waiting for anything he said to actually materialize the way he said it would. For example:
We had an onsite inspection by a competitor company. Daniel indicated that company always came in too high with their estimate of weight but based on their estimate we could do a walk through over the phone. I detailed all of our furniture and the associated items such as books, CDs, dishes, wine glasses, clothes, etc. Based on that Daniel's estimate came in roughly 4,000 pounds lower than the competitor's onsite estimate. Colonial has now established the actual weight and it turns out to be close to what the competitor had estimated. It appears that Daniel lowballed the estimate to get the job and based on other reviews this isn't the exception. It's disconcerting that the "professional" could be so far off in his estimate.
We were told, by Daniel, that the packing would take one day and that as many people as necessary to accomplish that would be provided. The crew consisted of two people who arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon. They did a great job packing however were at least two people too few. They both stated that they needed additional packers as soon as we did the walk through of our house. No additional packers were ever provided. The packing was not done in a day and never was completed even though they spent the better part of 25 hours at our house.
Daniel told us that the loading would take one day and that by 5:00 the second day all would be loaded and my family and I could start our drive to Florida. The loaders were still at our house at midnight on the second day and with no more room for over 100 boxes, forty pictures and mirrors (which never got packed) and a dozen furniture items.
Daniel indicated that the Michigan to Florida route was a very common one for Colonial and that because Colonial was domiciled in Florida this would expedite the shipment of our belongings. We were given a window of August 8-14 and Daniel stated that it would be closer to the 8th. Today is August 14, we don't have our belongings, which are in a warehouse in Maryland, and we have yet to receive a firm arrival date.
The contract with Colonial was to move all of our belongings from Michigan to Florida. Close to sixty items were not put on a truck and remained in Michigan.
When I called Daniel on the second day to ask about a bigger truck, more workers and how the items being left behind were going to be handled, he never responded. I placed over a dozen calls that day to every contact I had at Colonial and did not hear back from them. Aleisha, a manager, called me and asked to speak with the truck driver. Chad, another manager, called me and proceeded to tell me that there was an overage which was my fault, that I hadn't detailed all of our furniture in my conversation with Daniel and that they would make sure that the furniture listed on the estimate did get into the truck. The balance of the items were in essence my problem. The driver confirmed that there were no additional pieces of furniture beyond what was listed on the estimate and that the shortage came in the number of boxes. The number of boxes needed was established by Daniel. Over a dozen of the furniture items listed on the estimate were left off the truck that night.
Thanks to Route 66, the company actually transporting our items, the two man crew came back to our house the next day. All of the furniture was loaded onto a different truck along with most of the boxes. The crew indicated they did not have room for forty pictures and mirrors, an outdoor set of table and chairs and a food processor. That remained in Michigan. A supervisor at Route 66, Kal, took ownership of the situation and eventually all of our belongings were picked up.
Given that nothing Daniel told me during the sales process has been true, I don't know whether to think I've been conned, lied to or am dealing with someone who isn't at all effective in his role. Perhaps all of the above.
I've attempted to share my frustrations and concerns with Kelvin Abreu, my contact in the Customer Care Unit (a misnomer if ever there was one). My repeated calls are never answered in person and instead go to his voice mail. It is a rarity when Kelvin actually returns a call and when he does he provides little information other than what I owe them. We were left not knowing know when our belongings will actually arrive. We were left not knowing what was happening with the items left behind in Michigan. For three weeks I have asked for the transcript of the recording of the conversation with Daniel when we did the walk through over the phone. None of my requests were responded to and all that Kelvin could definitively tell me is what they were owed. Any other questions necessitated Kelvin going to "management" for an answer. I never got an answer and each time I ask the same questions, Kelvin responds as if it's the first time I've asked the question. On August 20, Kimberly W., one of Kelvin’s supervisors called. I asked her for the call transcript and she said I would hear from her within two days. Two weeks later Kimberly has still not called and subsequent calls to her have gone unanswered and not returned. Apparently Kelvin was trained by Kimberly as her modeling of a no follow through, non-existent professionalism and no level of customer care has been emulated by Kelvin. Thoroughly frustrating and I've yet to communicate with anyone at Colonial who has taken any ownership of this situation. Kelvin promised me a revised invoice almost two weeks ago. I’ve called almost every day (straight to voice mail) and have yet to hear from Kelvin. The billing department’s voice mailbox is full and so I am unable to leave a message with them.
It is hard to effectively articulate how awful this experience has been. I have yet to witness professionalism, customer care or even common courtesy from anyone at Colonial. From frontline to management there is nobody that has exhibited taking ownership, concern for the customer or quite frankly any integrity. So if you're looking to highly exacerbate the inherent stress of a move, have a desire to be incredibly frustrated and want to be terribly treated then Colonial is the company to use for your move.
