International Van LinesReviews of internationalvanlines.com

The company outsourced the packing and moving to another company, frustrated as we were not notified until it was too late to hire another moving company. The initial bid (from International) was $15,000 lower than what the outsourced moving company quoted. Again, could not find a new moving company as house was sold. Just would have liked more up-front communication. Also, once the outsourced company contacted us, International van lines had no further dealings with us.

I hired international van lines for a move from Wisconsin to Missouri. I was assured during the deposit process my move wouldn’t take longer than 7 days despite the contract mandating 21 days (seems like that was just a formality). We only saved 1,000 from hiring a local company. That 1,000 was not worth it. It has been so stressful, they seem understaffed, etc. just go local- when it is such a stressful time in your life, it isn’t worth going with this company.

Based on information obtained from Move.org, talking to other moving companies and reading other reviews, I booked a 600-mile move with IVL. Initially, I was very impressed with the customer service support. When the movers actually arrived, I was impressed with their friendliness, hard work and dedication to their jobs. Because another load was on their truck, they could not load everything on the truck. My car was totally full, so I left a wheelbarrow and many smaller items for whomever wanted them. When the load was delivered, the same crew - plus a local hire - unloaded with the same speed and dedication shown earlier. I fed the men when loading and unloading. Based on their hard work, I also tipped them. HOWEVER, when I began unpacking my items, I found that irreparable damage was done to a number of items and furniture had scratches and chips that had not been there before. A 12' long shuffleboard had compression damage to the top. Crystal and glass items were marked "fragile" in several places on the boxes and were carefully packed in foam and paper. Many were broken in numerous pieces. Since I packed my own items and knew insurance would not pay for damage, I did not buy their insurance. I truly believe that the damage could be attributed to the truck being overloaded and the speed of work done by the movers, resulting in carelessness.

Moving companies are difficult to judge based on internet reviews. IVL seemed to be the best of the bunch, so I got a quote for my move from an apartment in Chicago to a small house in Atlanta. They were initially quite responsive and gave me a quote over the phone. In the end, the price I paid was around $1,000 more than the quote. The departure movers seemed good - efficient, friendly, and helpful. I would eventually learn that they misplaced a painting (it was just gone - sorry) and broke a dresser. I was told it should take 1-2 weeks to get my things in Atlanta. Once everything was on the truck, the communication stopped. There was no response to multiple e-mails per week asking for a general ETA. 3 weeks later, I was e-mailed and given a date in a few days. The destination movers were less efficient and friendly - I get the sense that one of them had hired the other on craigslist. It's been 6 months, and I'm still waiting on my check for the insurance on the things they broke. And note, they offered me a larger cash settlement that would have prevented me from writing a review. It makes you wonder if there's a reason that they have fewer negative reviews than their competitors. In summary, my things arrived later and at higher cost than the initial quote. Multiple items were damaged or downright missing, and the commutation was poor after they had my initial signature. I won't use IVL again.