Michaela B.
Do not use - one the worst moving experiences I've ever had!
I don't often leave reviews and when I do, it's mostly positive reviews to reward efforts made by a business. However, the nightmare experience I had with this company was simply too much for me to ignore. I engaged North American VanLines to help facilitate my relocation from the US back to New Zealand. It should also be noted that I've lived in 5 countries so this was by no means my first relocation. Initially the contact was good and after comparing their quote to another company I had researched, I chose these guys for the job. And that ended up being a decision I deeply regret. As I was moving during Covid and at a time where New Zealand had strict quarantine rules, the timing of my move and travel had to be timed to match all entry and quarantine rules. With about a week to go before my move (and after I had followed up multiple times to ensure my packing/moving date was locked in), the company got in touch to say that oh, sorry - we're not able to come on the agreed date anymore and did I want to cancel my booking or choose another, later time? I called them, furious of course, to again explain that the date we had agreed was closely matched with my flights, entry allowance into NZ etc and there simply wasn't the flexibility to just "pick another date". At this point, their VP got involved and managed to sort this out. Great, I thought. Except that this ended up being one of many, many issues that I ended up facing. Everything from their movers not bothering to wear masks during hours of packing up my apartment (despite me explaining the devastating effect it'd have if I tested positive during my pre-departure PCR test) to the delivery of my shipment being delayed by months. Yes, months. And despite of me keeping them updated about my search for a new home so that I had a place ready by the time my things arrived, they didn't even bother to update me about the delays. My agreed delivery date came and went and noone had even bothered to send me an email to let me know that in fact, my things were still somewhere in China at this point with no confirmed delivery date. So I ended up having to sleep on a blow up mattress in an empty house for nearly TWO months after the agreed delivery date. I asked them for a partial refund to cover the extra cost I had as I now had to buy items for the house to manage while waiting for my shipment and they point blank refused to refund anything. And let me just say - this chaos didn't come cheap - they charged me over USD 15,000 claiming they're one of the best international movers out there. When my things finally arrived, several pieces of furniture, clothes, etc were damaged beyond repair. I had paid for a service that was meant to include unpacking and instead I was left with all my boxes that I had to unpack myself and move all sorts of heavy items by myself across a three level house because they simply couldn't be bothered to do their job properly (that I had paid for). The only reason I'm giving them two stars instead of one is because my insurance claim was processed quickly and efficiently and the guy who handled that was great. I would never recommend this company to anyone. I understand that some of the delays in shipment was due to Covid and outside of their control but the complete lack of updates and transparent information was fully within their control and they simply didn't care about any of the stress the situation was causing me. All they cared about was to ensure they got paid and this was to be done before I even received my shipment. The customer service and care of this company was truly shocking and next time I'm on the move, I'll stay well and truly clear of this business!