United Van Lines

They misplaced 12 items on our move.

Now 1 month later they seem to have found some of them and still have not delivered them. They, as is their practice, are falling back on their overflow shipment clause to not pay anything for their inability to do what they were contracted to do. In addition, they destroyed a large number of valuable antiques after we paid for "safe storage" for a couple of years , as we got stuck in the Covid building delays on our new house. Now we are getting the runaround on our claims.

So, if you want to get you stuff delivered when your mover is contracted to and you don't want your antiques delivered as a pile of kindling then do not use Suddeth/United.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $19000

My move was from Spokane WA to San Antonio TX I was promised my household goods no later than 7 May. When my goods were picked up I was told I would be given a delivery date the next day. It is the 3rd of May and I still do not have a delivery date. If it is late United Van Lines reimburses 100 dollars a day What a joke That doesn’t even pay for one day in a hotel. This is the most unorganized company I have ever dealt with. I have moved many times in my life and this is the worst experience ever. I am paying over 10 grand for this move and the customer service is non existent. When booking a move I would expect all pieces of my move in place before picking up my household goods. A driver was assigned just a few days ago. Moving is stressful enough and United Van Lines has made my stress level even worse. From Christopher Wells who gave me the estimate to Sara Carazos in Austin the service has been the worst. Anyone planning a move make sure you get all the moving parts verified before booking. Beware of United Van Lines A lot of promises made and no follow through.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10457

What we liked most is the way this company and its employees were helpful, and did what they said they would do. Ways were suggested to save money on the move, extra boxes were supplied, and everything was done on time. Good follow-up and attention to detail. Would recommend very highly. Darlene Turner, andDick Abernathy and the packing crew were all very helpful. On the day of the move we were contacted by the office to see if the all was going well, the packers seemed to take care to insure items were not going to get damaged, and a good review of any problems on any furniture were noted and shown to me. After the packing of the truck the crew cleaned up everything and after the move followup was made.

Service cost: $6000

Predatory business practices at Unigroup and United Van Lines and their local agent, Conejo Valley Moving and Storage/Blue Chip, flows from top down and even reaches to the receptionists answering calls. Do not use United Van Lines or their local agent Conejo Valley Moving and Storage if you value your belongings, your departure home, or your destination home. Our move in June 2022 was one headache after another because we trusted United Van Lines since we have had positive moves with them in the past. Conejo Valley Moving and Storage use their affiliation with United Van Lines to get business, then destroy your belongings, and slap you in the face on their way out.

The movers and packers were unprofessional to say the least. Their packing crew only packed our home for a few hours, leaving over 50% unpacked. After multiple discussions with the sales person, one packer showed up on the day of the move who threw items in boxes without any packing materials, resulting in damaged and shattered items. The movers incessantly bickered and argued while disassembling and moving our furniture. Their hostilities got worse as they broke multiple pieces of our furniture.

When the disaster that was our move finally came to an end, we were forced to initial and sign a one-page paper with an illegible font size. We objected signing multiple times as we could not read the document. The female mover forcefully stated that she and the two male movers who remained with her would not leave until the document had been signed, pushing the paper over to us and pointing her pen tip to the areas requiring our signature. We had three strangers in our house demanding at 8:00 PM PST to sign a document we cannot read – predatory business practices.

They absolutely do not care about the damages they caused. They have a one woman show claims person in Louisiana, but we are sure she is not there. None of our calls to her number connects, and the recording from the phone company states the international call cannot be completed. International? Last we checked, Louisiana hasn’t seceded from the Union and become its own country. More likely someone overseas handling their claims with some forwarding call going on. It took this so called company over a week to pick up our certified letter. Calls and emails to the company owner, Dennis Doody, have gone unanswered. It sure looks like he is avoiding contact with clients just like the claims adjuster.

We even contacted United Van Lines. They say all the right things but refuse to do anything to remedy the situation they contributed to putting us in. It is apparent Unigroup, United Van Lines, Blue Chip, and Conejo Valley Moving and Storage have complete disregard for their customers and for righting the wrongs they have caused.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $5000

Do not agree to their “tariff - UMT1”. Ask to read it and pay particular attention to the part that states if they create an “overflow shipment” situation, they can be any length of time beyond their delivery window and not have to pay you anything if you file a delay claim. The bad part about this “tariff” is that they are in total control of the logistics of a move and can show up at your move with an almost full van and then tell you that you have an “overflow” (due to their poor planning) and then take advantage of their ability to not be contractually obligated to their delivery date obligation. If I can warn anyone not to hire United this will at least be the consolation that I get for them being collusive.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $29000

If you can avoid dealing with these people, try to do so as much as possible.  Here's the experience I had.  While waiting in my car at the downtown property that I manage, a large truck is pulling up so closely beside me to the point where they almost clipped the front end of my car.  I am clearly off to the side, away from anyone so I'm wondering why someone would get so close. Knowing that most of the delivery people are on site to serve one of my residents (moves, furniture delivery, etc.), I get out of my car when they get out of theirs & ask them what I can help them with.  After confirming who they are here for, I mention to the passenger that they came awfully close to my vehicle & the man said "it's all good, she's a good driver."  I didn't think much more of it, and when my assistant manager walked up, I had him get the freight elevator keys and as they are walking off & I'm getting back into my car, the passenger mover tells the female driver in a way of instigation what I said a little earlier and she looked at me and said in a voice full of hate "Did I hit it?!?!  Well then..!" moving her head side to side in a very uncaring, rude manner.  I told her I didn't need to be talked to in that manner and asked if I could get her boss's contact information in which you replied in the same fashion she did earlier "I AM the boss!" and walked away.  I mentioned she would hear about this again as I plan to notify the Better Business Bureau. The other man threw his hands up in the mix as well, so it's evident they work as a team fighting customers, potential customers and building management. If these people act like this, how do you think they are acting when they are in your home?  When you aren't home, do you think they are honest people?  Think about it. .

Service cost: $500

My family and I have moved 5 times in the last 11 years. All of these times we have used various moving companies. Our fist experience 11 years ago was with United Van Lines. It was outstanding and everything just shy of being perfect. Since that time we used many other companies as a result of the concern for cost. All of those experiences were decent but pretty much mediocre.

This last move was from West Palm Beach to San Antonio. We paid $10K out of our own pocket to have United to move us. They were not the cheapest but our first experience was such a positive one that we wanted to have that same experience again.

The packing experience was a JOKE! We were sent 2 packers for a 5 bedroom home (3700+sq ft) that was short on the actual packing supplies and had to have one of the packers leave early in the day to get more and they STILL ran out! After 8pm they simply threw items in boxes without any sort of padding or wrapping.

I cannot even tell you how many items were damaged in the move. As items came off the truck we saw item after item damaged. The final straw was when we noticed my husband's MV Agusta damaged. This is a showpiece motorcycle that he had shipped directly from Italy (it's only 1 of 57 in the entire US).

We immediately called to let them know that we would have to be putting a claim in on this move (which we have NEVER done in all of our years of moving). We followed every single detail we were told to do to ensure the claim was handled properly. We were told it would take 3-4 weeks to have the claim resolved once it was submitted.

We submitted everything on our end June of 2018. Here it is the week of Thanksgiving and we are just getting it settled. That might sound great, however, they have not only denied items (which we expected to some degree) but they are only paying for 1 item that was damaged on the motorcycle. I was SPECIFICALLY told to break down all of the items on the motorcycle since this was such a unique and specialty item and they would handle it as a separate claim even though it was all in the same original claim.

NOW I'M BEING TOLD THAT IT WASN'T TO BE BROKEN DOWN AND WAS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE ITEM?!?!?! How is that my fault that I followed your orders??

If I want this resolved I will have to take it to arbitration in order to get the additional couple grand that they destroyed out of my bike and how ever many months this will all take to resolve!!

Trust me - this isn't over! I'm not just rolling over. Arbitration is definitely worth it for all of the hassle and headache they have put me and my family through.

We were insured for 80K yet they can't fork over what they screwed up? We are the ones to suffer and we are the ones that will now have to come up with the funds to fix THEIR mistakes and mishandling. And yes, we have pics and documentations for everything so this is by no means fabricated.

We will NEVER use United again and I would advise you to do the same!!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

 
While this was a relatively small move, a lot of things arrived broken or crushed. Our dining room table arrived with a broken leg, a chair had a broken leg and arm, a lamp was broken, all the boxes were crushed. The vault was very poorly packed. The movers put heavy boxes on top of the chair. We had ordered a special box for a tall delicate lamp which they forgot to bring. They wrapped it in blankets and promised to put it in a box at the warehouse. It arrived still just in the blanket and was broken. The Florida company, McCollister's Transportation Group of Sunrise, FL provided very incompetent people to pack the truck. Because this is a United Van Lines Co. they handled the repairs and did repair most everything, however, the repairs were mediocre. After the shock of how much broke, the current rub is that they are refusing to repair the arm of a chair that also had a broken leg. They are saying that because it is an old chair, even though the leg was broken (they repaired that), the dislodged arm wasn't due to mishandling, but age and won't cover that part of the claim. The arm was fine before the move. Clearly the movers were incompetent and yet they keep insisting that the arm of the chair broke because it is old. The claim department is under the larger corporation UniGroup which is United Van Lines and Mayflower. They are the ones who are denying the claim. I'm continuing to address this up the chain of command. What a waste of my time after paying so much money. Very aggravating and frustrating. I would not recommend any of the companies mentioned in this review.
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Service cost: $2100

Moved from Massachusetts to Florida after retiring in May. This company was to take my furniture April 26th and expected delivery in late June. When it was delivered, several items were missing. Many other items were damaged. Worse, they “lost” a dining room chair along with a headboard for one of the beds.

I told them the chair was my top priority as it rendered a $5000 Thai Rosewood dining room table and chairs worthless. I am now 73 and retired on a fixed income and don’t have the money to buy new furniture. A week later, they found the dining room chair and headboard (around July 8th). In spite of weekly calls, emails - pleading, cajoling, they kept telling me my chair would be “coming next week” then transferred me from person to, obviously trying to hand me off to others.

Finally, in desperation, I agreed to forgo the rest of my claim down to $500 if they could just PLEASE get me the dining room chair. Finally, they shipped my chair to me UPS Freight, FIVE months after they found it. They had just thrown the chair in a flimsy card board box with no protection. Due to this, it was destroyed in shipment. The mover’s adjuster come out to assess the damage and took pictures of the dining room chairs.

He confirmed all of the damage and took pictures of the broken chair. Three weeks later they had still not responded to the claim. Finally, when I called threatening a lawyer and contacting the better business bureau, they sent me a “settlement letter” saying the chair was only worth $200 and included a link to a web site to some other chair. It was a different color, cheaply made, and the only thing it had in common was they were both chairs. Regarding the rest of the damage, they said I couldn’t prove it was not damaged before after the move.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7000

I recently hired United Van Lines to complete my move from PA to GA on May 22nd. United sub contracted the move out to Parks Moving Company out of Pittsburgh. Overall the move went well however there were some damages to my property. I have moved many times so I understand this happens but it is how claims are handled that demonstrates the quality and reputation of the company. In this case, downplayed the damages and has suggested unsafe repairs which would create a safety hazard to my family. The individual has suggested that load bearing items or delicate china should be glued together. The individual stated that 2" wide shims could be inserted into a 500# china cabinet so it would lean backwards (then the damaged base wouldn't be noticeable). He stated that the floor wasn't level even though he has photos documenting the fact that the china cabinet is the only thing that is leaning. The individual actually stated that destroying a custom china set didn't obligate the company to it since cracked china could still be used. I identified all my high value merchandise which included the china, china cabinet, piano and tables. Several of the items had custom shipping containers which were also destroyed (The adjuster did not propose a settlement for the shipment containers despite receiving numerous pictures of the damage.) I have over $3000 in damages and he has proposed a settlement of $150.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $7500