B52 Van Lines

Terrible experience for both my friend and me. We both used them. Not only did they do the bait and switch tactics big time, which cost me nearly twice as much as what they originally quoted – then they damaged & lost a few things and never paid me a dime, despite my taking photos and filling out the claims they asked me to. Same experience as many other people had on here. It appears to me now that this company has “conveniently” gone bankrupt or out of business, and I understand have actually taken people‘s belongings and now cannot even be found. I feel like I got off easy compared to these other poor customers. If you ever see these peoples’ name come up again anywhere—RUN. Do not use! And it would also not surprise me if they pop up under some other company name. Do your homework, don’t do what I did. Make sure you get a binding estimate from someone and have them come to your house. Lesson learned for me!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7000

I had a horrible experience with B-52 Van Lines. In need of a company for a cross-country move, I signed up with an online service that gives your information to moving companies so they can contact you. I was initially hesitant to go with B-52 because of the multiple reviews I read claiming they used bait-and-switch tactics with their pricing. Before I signed anything, I wanted something in writing guaranteeing my quoted price as long as I stayed below the listed volume. I called the company on a Monday and was told they would send this guarantee over immediately. I did not receive anything that day, so I called again on Tuesday and was told once again that it would be sent right away. I finally received my requested document after calling for a third time on Wednesday. Despite this frustrating and unprofessional delay, I still signed the offer and paid a deposit with B-52 to “guaranty” my reservation. The email with the offer also stated that B-52 is an “A rated business.” This is a lie and can easily be checked on the Better Business Bureau website. A few weeks later (the week of my scheduled move), my fiancé received a call on Wednesday (3 days before the scheduled pick-up day of Saturday) from Max, an extremely gruff "sales representative," saying that the truck had broken down and they would not be able to pick up our belongings on Saturday as scheduled. When she asked when our items could be picked up, Max said that he “did not know." B-52 had no plan in place for what to do if a truck is out for repairs. We immediately called B-52 to get more information about the situation and spoke to Kelly, who had been our agent through this process (my mother was actually the one who made this call, as she was free that day and my fiancé and I were both too busy with work at that moment to take the time to deal with the moving company). Kelly apologized and swore repeatedly that the truck would be there on Monday. While this was still an inconvenience, it was not the end of the world. Then that Friday, we received an e-mail from Chris, the manager, saying that there was actually no way they could get a truck there on Monday due to “logistics issues”. This email was extremely unprofessional as it did not include a subject line and contained very blatant errors (such as omitted words) in nearly every sentence. Keep in mind, this is literally 3 days before we were scheduled to move across the country and after the company had already reassured us that everything would be taken care of after the initial scare on Wednesday. I stepped outside my office and immediately called Chris. He apologized, but said that it was not the company’s fault and refused to take any accountability. When I asked what my options were at this point, Chris said there was nothing the company could do and I was on my own. He offered to "help" by signing me back up for the online service where I had originally found B-52. After looking into other companies, I found that the few who could make it work with the late notice would cost 150% of our agreed-upon price with B-52. When I called Chris to inform him of the additional cost I would incur because of their fall-through, he had an attitude of "so what? Why are you telling me this?" I calmly asked if B-52 would be able to pay me a portion of this cost difference because I had signed a document to guaranty my pickup and was in this situation because of them. Chris then outright lied to me about the terms I had agreed to, saying that the document states they can cancel at any time. I read every word of the offer, and the cancellation policy only discusses what happens if I were to cancel on them, not the other way around. When I said this, Chris insisted I was wrong despite me having it pulled up on my computer in front of me. At this point, Chris became completely belligerent and hung up on me. Now frustrated, I called Chris back and he proceeded to insult me and said I was "17 years old." Chris then informed me these conversations were all being recorded. California is a 2-party consent state, meaning both parties must be aware of any recording. I had not been informed of any recording prior to this, so B-52 either broke the law by recording the conversation without my knowledge or Chris was lying to me once again. When I suggested I would be in contact with a friend who is a lawyer to see what my legal options were, he said that I was liar and excused me of "extortion." Chris then said he would call my mother, whose phone number he had from when she called when I was busy with a deadline for work. This is NOT how professionals do business and no manager should act this way. Chris did offer a meager $100 compensation, but threatened to revoke it if I posted this completely honest review. However, I felt passionate enough about this that I turned down his offer. When you call someone 3 days before a scheduled cross-country move to inform them you are not going to make it, saying "sorry" is not quite enough. Because of B-52's last-minute cancellation, I ended up spending much more than I had budgeted for this move and was forced to take additional vacation days from work due to leaving on Monday instead of Saturday as originally planned. I am going to be moving back to my home state in 2 years, and might have considered giving B-52 another chance had Chris not raised his voice, insulted me, and then threatened to call my mother. B-52 is horribly unprofessional and is not above lying to you. I strongly discourage anyone from using B-52 for their move.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1500

There are so many problems, I'm going to bullet point many of the issues:
1. The movers stole several nice articles of clothing from my wife's wardrobe.
2. They stole my framed picture of St. Andrews golf course in Scotland. Will I ever get back to Scotland to get a new one..probably not.
3. I wish I could show you pictures of how they left one room in complete disarray.
4. Bait and switch tactic on the price..very clever in deed, I was warned by our prior mover who was fantastic.
5. If you start to work with Amanda..hang up immediately.
6. Amanda told us they had professional piano movers..lie! They had five people who couldn't get the piano in the house so I had to hire a professional team of two and spend another $600 to get the piano in the house and fix what they couldn't do. NOTE, it only took two PROFESSIONAL piano movers to get my piano into our new home (see pic below) and B52 couldn't do it with five guys.
6. My son's mountain bike and mine were both smashed during the unloading and the repairs were $95ea. The driver assured me they would pay the full repair cost, LOL, they only offered me 60 cents per pound, not the true cost to repair.
7. They threw our stuff in boxes without wrapping breakable items with paper or bubble wrap. Yes, it was a disaster! (one example in the pic below)
8. They damaged a wall and floor in our old home in California. Total repairs to the old home around $400.
9. So many other items too many to list. My list of issues totaled around $1700.

Initially, they offered me $75 through their insurance company, I simply laughed. When I called B52 multiple times several months later I was offered $576 and they expected me not to post reviews.
After much thought, I signed a release for $976 on 8.25.17 and as of today, 9.17.17, I've seen no payment from them.
I did get a threatening phone call from Amanda..hmmm?
Never forget this phrase; STAY AWAY FROM B52.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $14000

B-52 Van Lines is the most dishonest company I have ever done business with. Every step of this move was a nightmare. They did not come to pack and load on the day requested. They changed the estimate by $3800 without any change in the size or services attached to the move. They failed to deliver on the date they gave us without even a phone call to warn us of a delay, this happened 5 times before our things were finally delivered. Many of our things arrived with considerable damage, or just plain broken. We paid this company for full packing services and many breakables were packed with extreme negligence. This company also brokered the move out to contractors, even though they are registered as a carrier and promised they do the job themselves every step of the process. If you are looking for a mover I suggest going to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website. They have a list of moving companies they have received complaints against. Don’t bother with the BBB, as this company has an A- yet shows no sign of any business ethics. They are basically a licensed and insured company that is practicing as many rogue moving tactics as they think they can get away with. If you have already used them and are having a bad experience please file a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, they are the agency with the power to audit and shut down the company. I will also say customer service at this company is terrible, if you want to be called names and threatened, this is the company to hire.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $11500

I can't even call this company a "moving" company! What a rip off. After researching a lot of movers in the Los Angeles area I chose this company based on reviews. They were neither the cheapest or most expensive. Move was a disaster from beginning to end - and still is as they refuse to respond to my claim for damages.
1. The quote: I submitted an extensive list of my belongings and even overestimated what I was taking on my move from California to Colorado. When the "movers" showed up suddenly my quote went from $2170 to $3800. I was told the supervisor that was on site was their "best" and most "honest" supervisor. Yeah right. I finally agreed to pay $3000 because I HAD to be out of my house that day and had no other option. (Note that when my belongings arrived in Colorado the Bekins driver told me I had 770 cu ft of goods not the 1020 cu ft that the B52 "supervisor" had said so the original estimate was almost right on point).
2. The "movers" that put my goods on their truck were day laborers. They are NOT movers!!
3. I was not told my goods would be taken from my house to a warehouse and stored until a larger truck was ready to move my goods to Colorado. To me this just lends itself to the potential for damage and/or lost goods.
4. I was asked when I would be ready for my belongings to be delivered and I estimated we would reach Colorado on Labor Day. Figuring it was a holiday I did not anticipate that the truck driver would want to deliver my things that day and I didn't anticipate arriving at my home until the afternoon. The truck driver kept insisting that the he needed to deliver my things that day and he would arrive in the morning. It took numerous calls back and forth with B52 to get someone to understand that we weren't going to be available in the morning as we were not even arriving until later that day.
5. I was then told the driver would arrive on Tuesday morning - he showed up in the afternoon. Waiting for him at my house was a van with a group on "day laborers" (again NOT MOVERS) ready to unload the truck. The truck driver was unable to assist with anything as he told me had a hernia and could not help with lifting or moving anything. The laborers began moving items and at some point I heard a scream and found 2 laborers on the stairwell to the basement with my couch stuck between them. The man at the top of the stairs started pushing the couch causing a lot of damage to the walls and the banister and eventually pushed the couch so hard that he knocked the second guy down the stairs and then he got lodged under the couch causing an injury. When the truck driver came in and saw what happened he immediately fired the guy at the top of the stairs and his "buddies". That left the injured worker and the driver, who remember could not lift or move anything. What probably should have taken a few hours took almost the entire afternoon as the injured man (who by the way was extremely nice and accommodating but was in fact a local laborer), my daughter and her boyfriend finished moving boxes into the garage. Furniture that was supposed to be assembled was left in pieces (couch and bed) and we had to assemble those things ourselves.
6. I asked the truck driver how many cu ft of belongings I had on the truck and he showed me how they measured the items, and my belongings added up to 770 cu ft. I took photos of how that was determined and even video taped the driver as he explained it so I would have evidence in the event I needed to pursue any action against B52 (more on this later).
7. After the driver and laborer left we got to unpacking. We found numerous items broken including a $400 vacuum cleaner. There were many broken large pictures including 2 museum quality pictures, along with dishes, and other items. Some furniture was scratched and there was extensive damage to the walls in the house, especially where the couch was dropped. After taking photos of all the broken items and damage I filed 2 claims - one for the damaged goods and one for the home damages.
8. I filed two claims within the timeframes noted on the company paperwork. After about 2 months I received notification offering me $33 for all the damaged goods. $33!! That was laughable.
9. The second claim for the damages in the house would, according to the company's timeframes, be resolved within 90 days of the claim. I submitted photos and an estimate for repairs along with their form. NO contact. No resolution. The company has not responded AT ALL to the claim, nor to contacts to try to resolve the issue. It has now been over 120 days since the claim was filed and still ZERO response.

This company is definitely what gives movers a bad rep. They are liars, cheaters, unprofessional, and just don't care about their customers. I highly recommend that you look elsewhere for a reliable, trustworthy, REAL moving company. Guess I'll be seeing them in court!!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3000

Marcus Ram
Marcus Ram
2 reviews · 1 photo
in the last week
This has been the most stressful, expensive, and unprofessional moving company that I have ever encountered. At first Amanda was the sweetest thing gave my original quote for $2300 with about 600 cubic square feet. She said it should accommodate my 700 sq apartment. 1 queen bedroom set, small dinning table, a large sectional, tv, book shelve, two desk and about 30 medium boxes. I also mentioned I do not want any surprises. Well when the movers arrived it came out to $4300!! Almost double. I called Amanda and she wanted my business and settled for $4000. Well in parallel I travel for work out of state weekly. I moved to Dallas Texas. My first available date of deliver was Friday. 4 days have passed and I called them to see where are my things and have not received a 24 hour call ahead notice. Max Martinez was completely rude! He said well your stuff can take anywhere for a month and that's what you signed up for. I'm livid! Today I had my appliances delivered and alarm system installed. The delivery driver called at 11:30 and said they will be there at 2pm. They didn't give me a notice so I couldn't get to the bank prior. The will not unload until I paid them the remaining $1500. They waited until the alarm company left. I left to go to the bank and gave them the money. They ruined my $10,000 sectional, yes even it was wrapped up. Boxes came back ripped and messed up. Luckily I only had a few broken glasses. But never again will I hire this company! I am going to reach out to Michael Garcia in San Diego, CA attorney for moving. I do not have the patience to deal with them. I hired a company to move from Los Angeles, CA to Dallas, Tx to give me worry free. I even have had the doubt that I will never see my belonging again.

DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $4000

Worst moving experience ever. They are rude, they lie and they refuse to return phone calls or emails. They overcharged us charging us for more space than we used. Then they lost 2 items of our furniture. They stated that we did not need to take out special moving insurance since they are self-insured. What a crock! Their "self insurance" involves filing a claim with an outside company named Anthem Claim Management who is probably just an extension of B52 since they are just as rude and refuse to return phone calls. I got cost estimates of my lost furniture but it didn't matter - they pay 60 cents per pound. They were not heavy items, but valuable items. My claim that should have been about $600.00 turned out to be $60.00 and I can't even get them to pay that. I think B52 may have gone out of business, but in case they go back into business - don't bother with them. And I'd stay away from "self insured" and Anthem Claim Management as well. Frustrated and Disgusted.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $2850

We contacted B52 vanlines and received a telephone estimate of about $3,500.  We were aware that there might be some difference in estimate and actual costs so we budgeted $4,500.   When the movers arrived for pickup, the actual cost turned out to be over $5,700!  That's more than $2,200 more than the original estimate!  Ridiculous, but considering the fact that we were scheduled to leave the next morning, we were sort of over a barrel.  On top of all this stress, we were forced to leave with out many items that were originally scheduled to go on the truck or to stuff as much as possible inside our already over weight travel trailer!  The management of B52 REFUSED to work with us and demanded cash payment before they would deliver at our new home!  Because we were on the road for four days, we had no available resources for a cash transaction beyond what we had planned for and had to scramble at our new home to get the needed funds!  Again, the management at B52 showed absolutely NO concern for our dilemma!!  We have no problem with the actual moving team.  They were excellent in the handling of our possessions with minor exceptions.  My wife feels that several boxes have since come up missing.  Not only do we not recommend B52 for those planning a major move, we STRONGLY recommend that you avoid these PIRATES at all costs!!

Service cost: $5725

B52 Van Lines is by far the most corrupt and unethical moving company I have ever used.

I am in the hospitality business and move every few years. Over the past 25 years, we have moved across country 11 times using all major Van Line Companies. This time I thought I would consider a local based CA company to handle my move back to the East Coast and found the initial conversations most pleasant with a woman named Amanda. She was nice and professional and appeared to have my best interest in mind in getting the move set up. She kept on telling me they do lots of large cross country moves and I don’t need to worry about anything. I received a quote for $11,000. I was suspect as the price seemed a bit low compared to the major Van Lines. I asked her on countless occasions to send an estimator from their company to confirm the quote she gave me was accurate. He finally came by a few months later as apparently he was booked solid. I now know why I was getting the run around and avoidance of him doing an actual quote as this company, B52 Van Lines is the quintessential BAIT & SWITCH moving company. They are dishonest, untrustworthy, unethical, liars fraudulent and deceitful. You see, my original quote was for $8800, then I asked for additional packing and the bid went to $9900, then after they received the estimate from their estimator it went to $11,000, which I agreed to pay, not a dime more. Amanda even told me countless times on the phone “the most I would be paying is $11,000” though you will never see that in writing. Their scam tactics are a case study in making sure you read and understand the FINE PRINT. When the moving date arrived, they were supposed to be there at 7am, they arrived at 1130am. They said it would take 6-9 hours and I have it in an email from Amanda that day stating they would be done by 7 or 8pm. Well, you can easily guess that they did not finish on time as they only had 4 workers packing and loading. Amanda assured me many times over the months prior to moving that they are experts and they have plenty of staff that can come help as needed and there would be most likely 7-9 guys working that day, well that never happened as it was only 4, two showed up at first then left? It wasn’t until 130am in the morning did they finish, my wife was stressed out and delirious from the long day. The movers left the house a mess, leaving tape roles all over the place, not even picking them up. They didn’t put plastic down on the carpet and made a mess of the new carpet in the house. They drank a beer out of the refrigerator and just left the empty bottle on the counter. They didn’t pack everything and my wife had to box and pack several boxes herself to ship to the East Coast. You cannot make this up but wait, it even gets better, instead of the $11,000 they said was the most I was going to pay, the new charge that the driver told my wife at 130am in the morning was now going to be $18,750 because the 2300 cubic feet was not almost 3100 cubic feet. How in the world can an estimator miss the total quote by 41%? Unfortunately, I was not in town that day rather traveling for business but was communicating with Amanda all day via phone and email. I started to research the reviews online and realized that this is a very common practice for them, lesson learned, should have done my due diligence in advance of picking them over a reputable moving company. After numerous calls to their offices I was told by Amanda that she or a supervisor would get back to me with a response. This did not happen in the 48 hours she promised me rather 108 hours later I finally called and asked to speak with her supervisor and spoke with a gentleman, (Chris or Mike I believe) who was also very rude and offensive however once I told him that it was THEIR estimator that came out and gave the official quote, he was shocked as he said they normally do not do that but once he realized they did, he calmed down and said I was right in my compliant and he would get back to me in 30 minutes with an answer. Well, he never got back to me but Amanda did as she argued through the conversation trying to defend her company and their 41% increase in price from their quote. They finally offered instead of me having to pay an additional $8,000, they would cut it down to $5,000, I told them that was unacceptable, I even offered to split the $5000 difference so I could just put this nightmare behind me but they said no and reduced their number down to $4,000 final offer or they would hold my furniture hostage until I pay them. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ANYONE LOOKING AT B52 VAN LINES TO TRANSPORT THEIR HOUSEHOLD GOODS NOT TO USE THEM AS THEY ARE SCAM ARTIST, WORSE THAN A CORRUPT POLITICIAN. DO NOT TRUST ANYTHING THEY TELL YOU AS IT IS ALL LIES AS I HAD UNFORTUNATELY FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY…….

Troy S. Bennett, CHA
Managing Director
eXceed Hospitality Asset Advisors.

Service cost: $15000