Movers were rude & obnoxious, and had my wife in tears (I had already relocated several months earlier). No proof (stamp-dated receipt) was provided to verify the actual weight of my items, as they were combined into a multi-family move. All items were hastily & improperly packed, causing much unnecessary work just to look for items we needed while storing the rest. But my biggest complaint about this whole ordeal is being "set up" and finding out ON THE DAY OF THE MOVE (the legal closing date listed in our home sales contract) that my bill had to be "adjusted" ($800 EXTRA) or they wouldn't move us! Before we agreed to hire United Van Lines, we made it clear that we wanted all fragile items packed, and willfully accepted the additional cost agreed upon, which was exactly the same price discussed and listed on our bill. However, on the day of the move, we were told by the movers that our bill didn't include packing. I called the local office and told them our bill reflected the price we agreed to (with packing), yet the movers assured us it was wrong, and even admitted it happens often. The local agents (Bill Craft & Lisa LaRush) confirmed the bill was indeed wrong, stating it was an "unfortunate error", and assured us that even though we must pay the "new" bill, our complaints would be resolved amicably, yet to date, nothing has been done. I have since contacted a corporate official (Linda Petersen), who offered sympathy but nothing else. I suspect this is a common practice with this moving company, therefore, I will NEVER recommend United Van Lines to anyone, and intend to send out mass e-mailings to all my contacts (on a regular basis), asking them to forward this letter on to all their contacts as well in an effort to help the public become aware of how United Van Lines operates.

We contracted with United Van Lines for our cross country move. We were sold by the sales guy who called us daily to follow up. We unfortunately bought into his promised.

We repeated to him that we are on a tight schedule. We booked our plane tickets based on the time frame they quoted. Imagine our frustration when one week before the scheduled move, our sales guy disappeared. We called and called and was told he's no longer with the company. We got transferred around a bit and then was told the pick up was a day later in the system. So now we're moving on the same day our plane leaves (we budgeted extra time and now it's complete chaos)

Upon delivery, again they were horrible with communication. They called daily after the stuff was shipped to remind us of the final payment yet had no delivery date.

Finally the week of what was quoted, they said they would be here Friday (the original promise was Wednesday)

They call and say now it's Saturday. All the sudden, they call and they are arriving Thursday morning (which is nice that they are early except we're both at work. They demanded over 2000 in CASH for the balance (we've already paid 2000 for a deposit)! Now it's about 1000 over what we were quoted)

They said that if we're not home with the cash, they'd leave our stuff in storage and charge us each day.

So we take off Thursday at work (I'm an interviewer for a company and cancelled 10 interviews on Thursday to be home)

I'm sitting home for a few hours and get a call saying "oopps now it's Friday)

They show up Friday with my TV stand shattered completely *See pic (apparently destroyed in their storage) Five boxes crushed (They packed these boxes for us and charged us for it. Now they are crushed, including my photo albums which are now ruined)

The guy that did the delivery told me that they normally charge a couple hundred for "STAIRS FEE" (Seriously???!!! We moved into a ranch where there are 4 steps on the front porch and a basement with 6 steps)

He said he can waive the STAIRS FEE if we tipped him. At this point, I'm beyond frustrated and can only laugh.

The claims system for damaged goods is just as fun. Read it on their website.

We're pretty patient people and understand that with moves, there are a lot of people at work so things won't go perfect. But the amount of stress and frustration we've experienced for how much we paid for the move has just been disgusting.

Hope this review helps you. DON'T HIRE THIS COMPANY

Our United Van Lines NIGHTMARE:

United Van Lines Contract # 747 67 7
Total Amount paid: $5,510.45

Day of Packing—June 25
-Packers showed up at 10:00am when they said they would be there between 8-9am. They did not make it upstairs until 3:00pm. They left at 8:30pm after complaining about how late it was (which if they would have come on time when they quoted us they could have left earlier) and none of the garage was packed. The packing crew did not even bring enough boxes for our load. I was very displeased with this, but “Wes”, the head packer, said that the driving crew would pack the rest. Wes said that I needed to call the office that next morning at 7:30 to request more boxes to pack up the entire garage which had items from a storage unit (including many baby toys, and many small items that needed packed), and we needed more boxes for a fax machine and paper shredder. They also claimed that the salesperson, Kim Atkins, did not put down the correct mattress sizes for mattress boxes and that the driver would need to bring that as well and that I needed to call and ask for all of this before the driver left to come to my house. Kim Atkins, the salesperson, also told me that he put down for a mattress box for my daughter’s dollhouse so that it could be boxed up and less likely to break. The packers claimed that they did not have a mattress box for this dollhouse, and so I saw another United truck in someone’s driveway and asked if I could have a mattress box that they had already opened. I hauled this mattress box to my house and at the very end of the day after several times asking if they would pack this, they finally did as they were walking out the door. I asked several times for them to pack up the fax machine because my husband would be really mad if this got broken and they gave me a box and told me that I could pack it if I wanted. I felt very overwhelmed this day because I had to keep asking them to pack things that they were leaving out such as our silverware drawer, medicine cabinets, a whole rack of clothes in the master bedroom. I do not understand why I would need to call the office the next morning to request more boxes when in the end, we were under the estimated weight and Kim Atkins, the salesperson, saw all of my daughter’s toys that needed to be packed. Again, I felt like I was doing someone else’s job and we were paying them for it!!!

Day of moving—June 26

-I called the United office at 7:30 and spoke to Wes whom had seemed to forgotten that I was calling requesting boxes. He said, “oh, yeah?” instead of “already done it” or “on top of that”. He then told me to call some one else in the office and I spoke to someone who had the driver right there and they let him know what boxes I needed. The driving crew arrived at 9:15am. The driver said that he knew something was wrong when we requested more boxes that that should never happen. The driving crew was very displeased when they saw the garage and all of the things that were left unpacked. Many times throughout the day, the driving crew talked about how bad of a job the packers had done. They said that when they went to pick up boxes they could hear things rattling around in them. Around1:30-2pm that day, the driver notified me that they would not be able to put all of our belongings on his truck and that they would need an overflow truck. He then told me that the office was telling him that they may not be able to get one out to our house until the next day. This was unacceptable to me because we were leaving that next day to go to Colorado, our new home. I called the office and spoke to Mija, in the Phoenix office at 480-730-5006,who told me that she would probably be able to get a truck out to our house and that she would call me when they were on the way. In the meantime, the driver told me that I needed to prioritize what of the remaining stuff I wanted on the 1st truck. I told him that it was a priority that all of my daughter’s furniture in her bedroom be on this 1st truck. He told me that if we put the dining table on the 1st truck it would take up too much room and so I also told him that the bed out of the master did not have to go because we already had a new bed in our new master bedroom. The driver began taking stickers off the entire inventory that would not go on his truck. I assumed this was what was always done in this type of situation. I later learned that this is not. Anyway, Mija did call back and let me now that the overflow truck was on its way and it arrived at approximately 4:00pm. The driver told me that he would be at my Colorado home on Friday, June 29 with our stuff on the 1st truck. The 1st truck and its crew left at approximately 4:15 as the 2nd truck with Wes (the head packer) as the inventory guy and one other guy came to pick up the remaining items. They came in a very small truck. I told them that I needed to go pick up my daughter from daycare and so I was gone for approximately 1 hour. When I came back nothing had been done. Nothing had been loaded... nothing! I realize that they have to do inventory, but come on!!! Here we are again with Wes as the head guy and of course the only mode he goes on is “slow”. I’m not sure if they get paid hourly or what?!! They eventually left at 7:30pm. They had gotten me to sign papers before they had loaded the entire truck. They said it would be quicker this way. I walked outside when they were pulling off and they had not taken everything!!! I had to quickly get my daughter and buckle her in the car seat and frantically chase the truck down the road. I said that you didn’t get everything and he said “oh yeah, the water hose too?” I drug it out myself so that they would take this by the front door. How could they even walk past it to begin with. I don’t get when you tell people that “everything in the house goes” what they don’t understand!!

Wednesday, June 27
Mija called to tell me that she would be in contact with and let me know when the overflow truck would arrive.

Friday, June 29

Driver arrived with the 2 guys from the Denver office to unload our belongings. Tons of boxes were not labeled by the packers and so I could not let the unloaders know where to put them. My daughter’s mattresses somehow did not get put on the 1st truck but instead the mattress that I told them was not a priority did. Multiple other items that I told them were not a priority was put on this truck as well. Now my daughter is without a bed indefinitely because I cannot get the Phoenix office to tell me anything about when the overflow truck will be coming. Mija does not keep in contact as she said she would. She only called to quote prices that we owe. My husband spoke with Mija and she was very rude and condescending to him. She said, “This is not our fault”. At no time did she ever apologize or admit any fault. She said, “There’s nothing I can do for you,” and then she gave him a 1-800 number for customer service. He called 1-800-737-5535 and spoke with customer service representative, Sue. He asked to speak to a supervisor and she placed him on hold for a long time. She finally picked back up after a long wait and told him that he needed to get off the line and a supervisor would call him back. He said that he would wait that it was important and she said that he needed to get off the line because he was clogging up their lines. She promised the supervisor would call him back. Approximately 4 hours later, Pat Weiss, supervisor, returned the message. She said that she would give us $100 for an air mattress for our daughter to sleep on and lawn allowance for our yard to be mowed since we live in an HOA that requires upkeep and since our lawn mower was on the overflow truck. Pat also said that she would follow up with Troy that following Monday to keep him updated about the status of the overflow truck’s arrival date whether it was good or bad and that she would check into possible accommodations for our inconvenience. Pat was the 1st customer friendly employee that we had spoken with and we were finally optimistic/hopeful...

From this 1st truck-----
-broken table lamp
-broken kids motorized motorcycle
-broken large stainless steel kitchen trash can

Monday, July 2

We received no phone calls from United. Mija and Pat both had stated that they would keep us updated. Another failed promise... No one called again!

Tuesday, July 3
We received no phone calls from United

Wed, July 4
We received no phone calls from United.

Thursday, July 5

Tracy, driver of overflow truck called and stated that he would deliver either on Sat or Sun and that he would call back on Friday to let me know which day. No phone calls from Mija or Pat.

Friday, July 6

Tracy called again to let me know that he would be at our house to deliver on Sat at 10:00am.

Saturday, July7

Tracy called to say that his truck was shut down overnight and that he would be here between 11-12. He arrived at approximately 12:15 and the one guy from the Denver office showed up about 12:30 to help him unload. When the truck doors were opened, both the driver and the helper said, “Wow!”.. “It looks like they just threw the shit on here”. Helper stated, “In my 15 years of experience, I’ve never seen anything like this. This is sad.” “wasn’t done by professionals”. Driver also apologized and said that he had never seen anything like that. They both kept saying that this was not typical for their company. Furniture on this truck was not individually wrapped nor was it padded for protection. Patio table was just thrown on top of other furniture sitting on the truck. Bare furniture was touching metal and other wood on the floor of the truck which caused multiple damages to our belongings including...

-Dresser mirror was broken and scratched—not protected with any wrapping or padding
-floor lamp was broken
-$2000 dining table broken beyond repair; the driver stated that he noticed that the loaders had moved it fully assembled and normally they take tables apart. He also said by the time he pulled the truck to the Phoenix office and went in to process paperwork when he came back out approximately 20 minutes later, the truck was finished being loaded. When the driver and the Denver unloader finally made it to the dining table, like all of the other furniture, it was not wrapped or protected with any padding. It was lying on the floor resting against a metal frame on the truck and you could already see multiple surface scratches. The helper said, “oh no, it’s really broke.” Multiple cracks, bolts ripped right out of the wood. There were broken pieces just stacked on the table. The driver and helper said, “I’m really sorry. This is unrepairable.” There was yellow paint on the surface of the table. The driver was certain that the yellow paint was rubbed off from the truck.

- brand new chalk board/wooden art easel broken in half, but still thrown into a large box on top of other items.
-missing charger to kids motorcycle
-daughter’s white table scratched-no padding or wrap
-patio table frame bent and scratched---this was the table that was thrown on top of all of the other furniture.
-coffee table (chipped corner, dents & multiple scratches)
-deep freezer multiple dents
-missing 8 furniture moving blankets
-missing 30 lb weight---our cleaning crew said that they found it in the garage –someone must have unpacked it or dropped it because I saw it packed upstairs in the master bedroom. We did receive the other weight of the pair.
-cover to large gas grill ripped and has a large slice in the middle of it.

The driver found our calendar with family pictures just lying by itself on the floor of his truck and handed it to me. The calendar is now of course very dirty. This calendar should have been packed when the rest of our island/bar was packed because it was in there with other belongings on the first truck. I don’t understand how this item went from a drawer in the island/bar to laying on the floor of the 2nd overflow truck??? It should have been packed!!

***We have opened about 80% of boxes so we don’t know as of yet if there is any more damage or missing items.

Summary of Frustrations

- Multiple damaged furniture items including large expensive dining table
- Brought a truck with not enough room for our load (and we were under our estimated weight, we had to make multiple calls just to get a 2nd truck out to pick up the remaining items)
- Did not load 1st truck with priority items that we requested (i.e., daughter’s bed)
- Lack of quality packing, a service which we paid for (showed up late, didn’t bring enough boxes, didn’t bring correct size mattress boxes, slowness, poor attitude at the end of the day & a lot of damage – Looked like they threw stuff on the 2nd truck)
- Poor customer service (multiple calls were made by us, never received follow up phone calls as promised, Phoenix was rude and condescending to husband)
- Delivery time frame (salesperson quoted that we would have entire belongings by July 2 at the latest... Receive the rest a week later without any updates / feedback)
-Overflow truck nightmare (nothing was properly packed or loaded; items were not properly packed, items not properly placed/packed in boxes, no wrapping, no padding, and was just thrown into the truck/not properly loaded as quoted by driver and helper in Denver.

Extremely unsatisfied,

Troy & Rhonda Gruchalski
[email protected]