Beware of Northern Van Lines
Dave
Submitted this review about
Northern Van Lines
Review made Live: 1/22/2013 1:50:00 PM
Before they ever picked up our furniture they changed the original estimate from about $7800 to almost $9500, and then after our furniture was loaded it was even more, almost $13000 because we had too many bulky items. Items they knew about ahead of time.
This company was late picking up my furniture in Oregon and we were supposed to have received it in Florida on September 24th. They claimed it was on the road or it still might be in storage in Oregon. They couldn't seem to find it and when pressured all the customer support folks do is blame their dispatch. They would not call back when they say they will and they ignored voice messages. They don't seem to care about their customers. I am convinced that when their lips are moving they are lying. Their customer support guy "Brad" even told me he wouldn't use his company after the issues we've had with them. I told them I was ready to file a theft report when they finally found our furniture and after I got a phone number for the delivery driver I got a date for delivery.
Our furniture finally got to us but very late. They showed up at 5:30 in the evening on October 13 and were gone by 11:00 that night. When they left they told us they would be back the next morning to assemble the items and take items from the garage, where they unloaded them to, and put them in the correct rooms. They didn't have time that night to put everything together and in the rooms they were supposed to. Well guess what? They never showed back up. We were stuck moving items and assembling our own beds, tables and dressers, as well as putting our washer in the laundry room. They even lost parts for our custom made table.
Of course there were damaged items! The big screen TV was DOA. dining room chairs had broken spindles, the dryer was damaged and a computer desk was broken beyond repair. When contacted about the damages they gave me a phone number and a website for a company that was "handling our claims". This company told me that they had severed all ties with Northern Van Lines. When I called Northern back and finally got ahold of someone, they told me they had forgot about that and were now handling all claims in house.
Even though I have asked many times for a contact person and number for their claims department, I have never got anything back. The last thing I heard was "be patient". Well 3 months is plenty patient and when I sent an email requesting information on my claim I never heard a word. On 1-21-13 I called and after trying every number I had for Northern finally got a live body. Guess what? Now I am told that Northern was filing bankruptcy and going out of business and so would not be paying my claim. Do I believe them? NO! Their lips are moving and they are lying.
The best thing to come out of this is the fact that I was able to put the $5000 delivery charge on my credit card and then I disputed it. The credit card company found in our favor and Northern never challenged the dispute. In the long run it's a small victory, but it was fun to stick it to Chris, Amy and the rest at Northern.
As part of our delivery we got a box that did not belong to us. It has some person items that I'm sure the owner would like to get back. Northern is making no effort to help identify the owner of the box. It has a sticker with Lot #DB1446 and is Box # 080. Inside there is one framed certificate with the name "Cynthia Stokes" on it. I have tried to locate the person on line and have had no luck. If you think this box it yours, email me and we'll work out the details of contacting each other so you can identify the contents and we'll get the box to you. If you think you know Stokes, let her know so she can contact me.
