American Van LinesReviews of americanvanlines.com

We used American Van Lines to pack our belongings and move from VA to NC. First impressions…they had their act together. The initial call, the virtual walk through, the price and the sales person made me feel like we made the right decision. Even when I had to change my packing/moving date, no issues. A few days before the move, they sent the inventory list from the virtual walk through and there were things missing. Of course, now they want more money which I had to pay half or they wouldn’t come for the move. Then moving day…4 guys show up, lead guy spoke English, the rest did not. From the get go, I could tell they only wanted to get in and out with little regard to our belongings. No labeling of boxes, stuff just thrown in boxes, belongings getting crushed by the weight of stuff thrown on top and no consideration for anything fragile. To make things worst, the lead guy left mid day so there was no way to communicate with the three that were left to finish. Surprisingly, it does appear everything made it to the destination but not all in one piece, however, the morning they were supposed to deliver, the driver called and said they forgot to collect the rest of the payment and that they would not deliver until payment was made which was on the weekend so you can imagine how difficult it was to get somebody to make a payment, but was finally able to get someone. Handmade Christmas ornaments got broken, business suits stuffed in boxes(even when we paid for wardrobe boxes) and really there are too many things to list that will not be usable again. If you need a moving company to pack and move your belongings, I strongly advise you to not use American Van Lines, but if you do, pack your own stuff if you want to be able to use it again.

I would never recommend American Van Lines. I was reassured multiple times prior to my move that everything would go smoothly and that my items would be picked up without issue. On moving day, the crew arrived and immediately told me that many of my belongings either wouldn’t fit or couldn’t be taken—despite me providing accurate inventory in advance. I was left scrambling last-minute to figure out what to do with essential items, and no one at the company took accountability for the miscommunication. What made the experience even worse was the complete lack of support after things went wrong. I was met with indifference and no meaningful attempt to resolve the situation. The emotional and financial stress this caused was overwhelming. I regret ever choosing this company and strongly advise others to look elsewhere for a reliable mover. After I posted my review, I was contacted by at American Van Lines. Her initial response was a generic, form-like message that failed to address any of my specific concerns or offer meaningful resolutions. When I pointed this out, I received a slightly more personalized response—but still without any effort to actually resolve the situation. At that point, I chose to stop engaging in the back-and-forth. About a month later, I received a phone call from AVL. The real purpose of the call became clear—they wanted me to revise my review and asked what it would take to make that happen. I was initially open to updating it to acknowledge that someone had reached out, but I made it clear I would not remove or alter the truth of what I had written. They then offered me $350. It was my understanding that I would add a note to my review stating they made an effort to address my concerns, though I told them it felt like they were trying to buy a better review. At the end of the call, however, Theresa casually mentioned that I would need to sign a release, update my review and rating, and only then would they send the check. After reading the release, I was deeply uncomfortable—it essentially required me to remain silent about my experience and threatened legal consequences if I spoke out or posted publicly. I emailed Theresa to inform her I would no longer be moving forward with signing the release or accepting the payment. This experience raised serious concerns for me. I now wonder how many of AVL’s positive ratings are the result of similar payouts tied to silence agreements and coerced review updates. It feels dishonest, manipulative, and misleading to other consumers.

If I could give them a -10 I would. They came a day early to pick up with no notice on June 11. It is now July 7 and we still don't have our belongings. They put them in storage without our knowledge and now giving us the runaround trying to get them delivered. They have not shown up when promised. No one calls you back or answers the phone. We have called a minimum of 15 times leaving messages with no return calls. The 5 times we got through promises were made either they would call us back ar they gave us a delivery date and time and no one showed up. We spoke to a Terry, Kimberly a few times Deanna. All very nice but read from the same script. Finally on July 7th we spoke to Kimberly again who assured us that our delivery was coming between 12 and 12;30 .and she would call us at 12;30 to check. No call.came but delivery person Zach called to.say he was on his way. Zach and John were wonderful, but they are contractors. It turns out American Van Lines are brokers not movers. If we did not fight with them we would have been charged an additional 2552.00 for storage that we did not contact for. They held our things until the last minute STAY FAR WAY!!!!

BEWARE – DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! GET INSURANCE (Not Theirs!) I strongly advise against using American Van Lines. This company is completely disorganized, unresponsive, and lacks any clear internal process. No employee could ever explain what was happening with my move. Calls were rarely returned, and I was constantly transferred between departments, none of which seemed to have any information. You're lucky if you ever see your belongings again. In March 2025, I signed a contract with American Van Lines and paid a substantial deposit. I was told I needed to give 7–10 days' notice for pickup and delivery. I called three weeks in advance to update my inventory list, knowing it would be different from the original. I was told someone would reach out to me within two days — that never happened. I had to call back myself, and five days before we were due to move out of our sold home, I finally received a list to review. They gave me just 2 hours to respond. Completely unacceptable. I sent what I could and told them the list would need to be finalized the next morning since they failed to provide enough notice. After that, there was no contact until three days before our move-out date, at which point they told us they couldn’t pick up our items because there was “too much” added in the garage and they wouldn’t be able to meet the possession deadline on our home sale. We had to scramble and make alternate arrangements for everything they refused to take. Though they finally showed up on June 9th, it was not a standard COD (Cash on Delivery) experience. They demanded another large payment at pickup, which they later claimed was “lost.” Fortunately, we had paid with credit cards, or we might never have had proof of payment. Since arriving at our new home, I’ve called every single day trying to resolve the missing payment issue. As of today (June 19, 2025), I’m still waiting for confirmation that our items will be delivered by the scheduled date of June 22. I have zero confidence they will meet it. June 19 a manger gave me a call and wanted to resolve the issues, Quote from the email” Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience the delay may have caused. We truly appreciate your patience and understanding. To help make up for the delay, we will be providing compensation. Additionally, I’ve attached your last two signed estimates for your records. Please send over any out-of-pocket expenses you’ve incurred so we can review them as part of the compensation process. I will also be giving you a call tomorrow to follow up and ensure everything is on track. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.” From the Customer Service Assistant Manager, they waited until closing on Friday to send and email that I did not respond to them that is why they did not call. Another diversion and smoke and mirrors. Compensation? A measly $30 per day. That barely covers a fraction of the cost and stress we’ve endured.

You think you are hiring professional movers, but these are day laborers with a rental truck. They were 3 days late (!) and when they did show up, it just got worse and worse. Poor communication, damage to the house, haphazard packing, ruined items. They were great when they sold you the contract, then they stopped caring about anything and were impossible to get a hold of. The men are hirelings and not professional movers. The worst experience from any company I can ever remember.

I normally do not do “bad” reviews, but in this case, I will make an exception. We hired AVL to make our move earlier this month from Acworth, GA to Little Egg Harbor, NJ. The process started out great and Warren, the sales representative, was great. The problem began immediately upon the movers showing up. First, they had no packing material because they were told we would pack everything. I have moved about 7 times and NEVER have I packed everything in my house. They had to leave mid-packing to go get packing material. Then amazingly after packing about 1/3 of the truck, they announced the stuff in our garage had not been added to the original invoice. From day one they new we had a 4 bdrm, 2 ½ bath, 2-car garage. The next thing I know is I’m being up charged $2700. When I told them I was not going to pay that, the “blackmail” scheme came in. I was then told if I don’t sign the new invoice and pay the additional cost, they would have to tell the movers to stop! So, after waiting for over a month for the move, and having to be out of our home in a few days, they have you by the balls basically. So, I very reluctantly paid the extra $2700. Next came the “massive scam.” The truck they sent was not large enough to carry all my belongings! But the worse part of it was they drove away leaving about a third of my stuff there and telling me I had to pay for another moving truck!! When I talked to their management, they kept stating “you paid for exclusive use of a 26’ truck!” I said, “No, I paid for American Van Lines to move me. I had no idea what size truck I would be need, that was your job to assess.” Then I was told by Rosa, “I would have to pay them for another move, or move the rest myself!!! Who does that to a customer? Luckily, I found a mover heading from Florida to NJ and passing through Georgia the next day. However, I had to pay an additional $3900 for that mover. By the way that moving company (Payless Moving) was great and extremely reputable! Their contact information – PaylessMovingSJ.com (856) 784-3077. So, I say all this just to warn others who may be looking at using American Van Lines. They are basically cons and money grabbers. Using a up charges and blackmail to get you to pay more than the original quote because they have you by the balls when you are in the middle of a move!! My advice, avoid AVL completely if you don’t want to be ripped off!!

American Van Lines is a scam! Starting with the worst of the worst, Paul McDermott. As I am now finding out he continually lied to me, that is when I could actually get him on the phone. Once he had my money, the customer service became zero!! I chose American because they are supposed to supply their own employees to do the move. That is a lie. American is nothing more than a miserable broker. They farmed my move out to a "fly by night" crummy little moving company, Shield moving and storage in Maryland. I found one review and it was BAD! I am now in a position where I have no choice but to allow them to take my belongings 900 miles to our new home as it is only 2 days to closing on our current home. I am so scared about this situation and have no idea if I will receive any of my belongings and in one piece. American Van Lines is nothing more than a scam with very poor to no customer service comprised of liars!. I will continue my review after or IF the move is completed. In the mean time, I still stand my disdain for American and will never use them again or recommend them to anyone. This process, so far has been unacceptable.

Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT, use this moving company. They misrepresented themselves, have terrible customer service, and cannot carry out their contract. 1. The salesperson said they inhouse their moving / delivery team. In reality, this is contracted out. This was important to me when I booked with them, because there is typically get less accountability and more cases of scams (e.g., last minute requests for money) with contracted workers. I did end up getting asked for a last minute increase in quote by $700, and the movers just sat in the truck while I debated whether to pay this or not. 2. Customer service is terrible. They are very difficult to reach before pick up and delivery. I didn't know my pick up time until the morning of the move itself, and even then, it was not accurate. I have reached out to them via emails and lobbed probably around 5-10 calls, with no or very abbreviated answers. At one point, I asked the customer service rep where my luggage actually was, about 1-2 days before our contractual delivery date. She had no idea. When I pressed her to get in touch with the dispatch and the actual delivery folks, she was exasperated and would say she would get back to me in a few hours but rarely did, or would after 2 days. 3. They are late and cannot fulfill their contract on time. I had a cross country move that the salesperson said would be 2-2.5 weeks. He said it could even be earlier. At this point, they are late on the contractual delivery date and I will likely get my things after 4-4.5 weeks. This moving experience has been truly awful. Please, please use another service.