American Van LinesReviews of americanvanlines.com

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! They just cancelled our move with less than 48 hours notice stating that their truck broke down. Rita later admitted during the call that they overbooked themselves. We should have looked at the reviews before we booked with them.

Stay away !! They are not a moving company, they are a broker, they low ball your quote then send an actual moving company who shows up the day your moving and jacks up the price. My actual price more than doubled and your stuck. Plus I had damaged items when everything arrived. Stay clear

TLDR: Worst service I've ever received from any company. Avoid them at all costs! I had an absolutely terrible experience with American Van Lines that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I was promised a specific pickup date and time since I wasn't in the city where my things were stored, but right after I paid the deposit, they told me they couldn't guarantee that date after all. They basically locked me into a 3-day window with no firm commitment. Communication was a nightmare. They kept changing the pickup schedule until finally setting it for an impractical time of 7-9 pm on the last day of the pickup window. The driver, Samson, didn't show up until just before 9 and then got the truck stuck coming into the neighborhood, delaying things even further. He then tried to pressure me into a side deal for $500 in cash to handle extra items that weren't on the inventory estimate I'd given. Around 11:30 pm, he tried to get me to give him the cash up front so he could pay for the tow. At this point, I told him none of this felt right and I wanted to wait until I could speak with someone in the office in the morning before moving forward. The next morning, I told the company what went down, and they clearly couldn't have cared less. While his crew loaded the truck, Samson spent a good chunk of the time complaining about how the company lies as much to the drivers as they do to customers. It was a mess. Once the truck was loaded, I discovered that Samson had been grounded for a week because he had exceeded his time on the road. Despite my insistence they find another driver to complete the move, both so I didn't have the wait and so I didn't have to deal with Samson again, they ignored my request. So my stuff was stuck in their truck for over a week while my wife, two year old, and I continued to live like squatters in our new house. When they finally decided to deliver (after standing me up the day before), Samson showed up despite my objections. The move coordinator reminded me about a million times that the truck wouldn't be unloaded until final payment had gone through. I assumed everything was fine when they started unloading. As for the actual move-in, my walls got scuffed, items were damaged, and they even managed to knock out a light fixture. Apparently payment hadn't cleared, and so a few hours later, they had the audacity to send police to my home, scaring my new neighbors and nearly causing a major incident while I was putting my two-year-old daughter to bed. They pounded on my door and window, yelled at my next door neighbor, and basically acted like loan shark thugs instead of uniformed officers. In the end, they offered me a pathetic 6% discount for all this hassle. It took several months to get this refund because they kept saying there were more things I needed to sign even that wasn't true. I strongly recommend avoiding American Van Lines. They have a severe lack of respect for their customers and their belongings. It was, without a doubt, the worst service I've ever received.

Stay away from this company. This is one of the worst if not the worst company I’ve ever dealt with. The only plus is my property got here 5 days from contract end date. This was a big concern of mine and inquired about that date. I was told that never happens and is something we have to put in for DOT standards, that it will be there in 3-4 days from pick up. This was a 2 destination pick up and delivery. The move was from Long Island,NY to Bradenton,Florida. Upon pick up I was told there were items not listed which I understand and accounted for some leeway. Then the driver added a long haul fee of $425 because according to him he was more than 75 feet from door. (See picture below) not so. Then I see for the items being added a fuel charge of $711. Some items they added were for example 4 folding chairs at 50 lbs each. Really! As inquired about all this I was told they don’t charge by weight. Really! And I was told the system can’t differentiate between a regular chair and a folding chair ( too bad for customer). But don’t charge by weight? How would they charge? Wanting to talk to a supervisor about some charges I was on hold for 2 1/2 hours( I had to go ahead with pick up due to needing property asap). A supervisor called at 430 in the afternoon, this is from 9am. Then was told she would call back next day to go over concerns. No call. They get to 2nd destination and there are things that need to be added, which I understand. But we are told they can’t put it in truck. Why did you do it at first destination? It’s already closed out we are told. Are you kidding so for a few extra item they have to be left behind. Mind you this was to be first destination and most important. Driver is leaving and we asked when it’s going to be in Florida and was told he “didn’t know but our stuff was going on a plane. “ What! Another story. After 3 days I inquired about my property as to when and where it was and delivery. I was told it was in Maryland awaiting more jobs for delivery. What! But couldn’t add items. Was told I’d get a call in a couple of days for update. Well no phone call so I called. It’s still in Maryland. We get a phone call 4 days later that our property is being loaded on truck from warehouse to be delivered next day. I was also told your property is never taken off truck once it’s put on. Same crew picks up and delivers. Not true! Except one driver was the same. The amount of lies I was told is just unbelievable. If you move make sure that everything you want is in writing. Do not take a companies word for it. Companies like American Van Lines give the industry a bad reputation. I was also told by another company that they would do exactly what they did. I figured it’s just company bashing another. Go figure telling the truth. Moving is stressful enough without unscrupulous people. Do your homework.

Worst Experience of My Life! I should have checked with the BBB first. This company is NOT a member and there is an excellent reason why! I chose them because many of their reviews were good. What a mistake! They contacted me several times wanting to see if my list of items was complete stating they needed to make sure, so that all my items would fit. My list was complete. Pick up day they arrived on time...but then the driver explained halfway through pick up, they didn't have room for half my furniture! WHAT? They are NOT allowed to put anything on their vans bigger than a motorcycle, but they did. The driver told us there was a HUGE piece of machinery on his van that had been there a month. It was taking up too much room, so he needed us to drive him to the nearest U-Haul, pick up a truck there and move the rest of our items into storage. WHAT? This took an extra 2 hours. He told us they would come in a week or 2, pick up our remaining things and we would have them delivered to us. Our move btw, was from Los Angeles to North Carolina. We were shocked!!! The driver called the office in Florida and told them what happened. He told us he had been doing this for a month to all the customers. It had become common practice! There was nothing we could do, so we left for our new home in NC and called the office every day to ask when our furniture would get picked up and delivered. I finally got the manager Rita on the phone to try to get answers as to why this huge piece of machinery was on the van. She told us they move large equipment and machinery all the time. I called Dorthy, the lady who booked us and she said in the 20 years she'd been there, she had never booked large equipment or machinery! Even our driver said he had never moved anything like it before. In fact, when he arrived at our new house in NC, he said he was able to finally unload it and it was so heavy, it took 7 hours to get it off. The furniture they were able to get on the van moving day arrived on time. However, our beautiful refrigerator from halfway down where they tied it onto the dolly was scratched and dented all over. Frigidaire wanted $1997.00 to replace the front panels. America Vanlines said they would only give us $180.00 because we chose not to upgrade the insurance and only took the standard insurance, 60 cents per pound. The movers put our refrigerator right next to that piece of machinery, so it banged into our refrigerator over and over! We had to call customer service every day for 5 weeks, sometimes 5 to 7 times a day to get answers when the rest of our things would arrive. We hadn't had a good night sleep and were stressed to the max! We had no clothes, cooking items, nothing! We got most of our large pieces of furniture, but almost all our boxes were left behind with our important documents were needed, medicine, hygiene products, you name it! 5 weeks later, the rest of our things came. They scheduled the arrival date 5 different times and changed it each time. I was actually ready to call the police. I was sure they had stolen our furniture because of all the changes. I was elated beyond words to get a text from the driver saying he was just around the corner! Crying, I ran to the van but when he opened the doors and I saw my furniture, tears of joy changed to tears of horror! It looked like a tornado hit inside the van. Our beautiful furniture and boxes were toppled everywhere as if someone had just heaved them in with no regard whatsoever! I took several pictures right away. Our bikes were tangled together, broken pieces of things crumbled all over the floor. Honestly, I have never seen anything like it. Our standing fan was upside down and sideways, its neck twisted and wrapped into our vacuum cleaners! Our boxes were smashed and torn. The driver was immediately sympathetic and had no answers for us other than he said he was quitting. This was the last straw he told us. This company is horrible! "I will NEVER drive for them again" he explained. According to the company, the original driver had an accident, so they transferred our things to another van and literally threw everything in. In preparing for this move, I spent months wrapping all my furniture in protective foam and bubble wrap. Those items survived. The items I didn't have the time to foam and bubble wrap were destroyed. Also, a coffee table, a bench and a bookcase were missing. The driver wrote them down and then gave me a copy. However, the copy was not legible at all! I took pictures of the originals so I can file missing items and the numerous damages. The stress for 5 weeks, the sleepless nights, and the tears shed, "worst experience of my life! Time to file the missing items and damaged goods form, call my credit card company to dispute the charges and file a complaint with the BBB! No one should have to go through this!

Under-advertised price hikes. Delivery drivers stole tools from personal moving boxes. Delivery driver hired craigslist hourly labor to unload boxes at destination. Driver encouraged signature of manifest prior to finishing the unload, putting my valuables at risk for additional theft. Broken items discovered later were not reimbursed by American Van Lines. Overall, cannot stress enough that I would avoid this moving company at all costs. I likely lost $2,000 from poor management, oversight, and fraudulent practices working with them. 8 years later and this still stings.

AVL are crooks. I used them to move my stuff from NM to SD. The day of delivery the trucker stated that he would not transport to my home due to some ice on the road. But instead of delaying the delivery for better weather he said I had to get a storage unit at my expense to have it unloaded. I paid $13K for delivery to my home. Now I have to get a U-Haul drive 50 miles one way to load and unload the stuff I paid for them to do. All I got from customer service was so sorry for your inconvenience. Do not trust this company.

AVL will gave me a low-ball "Binding Estimate", but on move day, they voided the contract and came up with a NEW price. I was working directly with a sales person for months at AVL and the salesperson instructed me to send him a list of items in the home. I asked him if he was planning to send an estimator to do a walkthrough in the house and he said that "they don't do that". I asked if he wanted photos sent and he said "not necessary". So I sent a list of the big items in the home, mostly furniture , and he said this was sufficient and gave me a quote. He explained that the Binding Estimate is the final price, it would not change with weight or number of boxes. I was locked in. Or so I thought. Moving week arrived and I was given a 3-day window for when I should expect the truck to arrive. It never did. A person from AVL explained that they didn't have a truck and the NEW date is two days from now. She also promised a $100 credit per "day late" but of course I was never given that credit. I thought the worst was over but not even close. Moving day arrived and the truck was on time. The moving manager spent two hours walking through the home writing a detailed list of every small item in the home. He said that he was going to send this list to AVL and they would send us a "revised estimate" A spokesperson called from AVL and had a NEW PRICE due to all the small items they failed to capture during the initial bid. I was NEVER told that they needed this level of detail. So, here we are, already past the escrow date and we absolutely have to be moved today, and AVL gives us a price that is MORE THAN DOUBLE the original "binding estimate". After quite a bit of arguing, AVL stated that "We can honor the original binding contract but we will only move the items listed on that contract. But if you want everything moved, you have to sign the new (double price) contract. Choice is yours." They had me up against the wall, with really no choice but to accept this new price, which could be anything they want. In my opinion, AVL has very suspect practices. I can't say for sure that AVL planned this all along, or that they never intended to honor the original contract, but that's how it seems to me. Their employees could be incredible incompetent, or just very crafty. A sales guy landed a contract with a lowball bid and ended up doubling his sales on moving day. The situation worked out great for AVL while they emptied out my savings account. I wish there was a law that protected consumers when they are at their most vulnerable. AVL took full advantage of the situation. I could never recommend this company. The entire moving experience was an absolute nightmare and cost us a fortune.