Colonial Van Lines

I needed to get my daughter moved from Houston TX to Solon Ohio. She had so many problems and issues that needed finalized before she could relocate back home and COLONIAL VAN LINES was there. From the first call, to the last call, they continued to communicate everything I needed to assure my daughter that her stuff would arrive on time and unharmed. The online agent who quoted me, the 1st CSR who followed up on the quote, quite a few more CSR's on load and box information, dispatchers, agents following the load, the drivers, the final CSR, and the review. COLONIAL VAN LINES had a team of about 50 plus people working on my daughter one bedroom apartment relocation. I will always recommend Colonial Van Lines to anyone who needs to relocate.

We had a very good experience from booking to delivery. Everyone was very helpful and the move went off very smoothly and timely.

Negative stars – absolutely terrible, unethical service. We scheduled our across the country move well in advance, paid the deposit. The afternoon of the first day of our move window, they told us they didn't have a truck! We had to be out of our house the next day so we had to scramble to find another mover to pick up and put our items in storage. The dispatch supervisor I spoke with could have cared less about not living up to their contract with us. I guess their contracts work only one way and that is to benefit themselves. Moving across country is stressful enough without being stood up on the eve of the last day of the move window. We ended up having to pay several thousand dollars more because of the short notice with the other company and having to store our household goods for a month before that company could get us on a truck. It would be a huge mistake to do business with this company.

Update 7/8/20 This is an update to the review below. Donna has been wonderful to work with and has helped us resolve our situation and we are now happy with the outcome.

Horrible. Was scheduled and deposit paid several weeks ago to have a pickup of yesterday or today for a long distance move and nobody called until last night to tell us they did not have a truck available. We now have to scramble today to move everything by ourselves since we have people moving in tomorrow. Terrible communication and couldn鈥檛 get a return email or phone call. Worst professional experience we have ever had and although they have confirmed that they will submit the cancellation for a refund, nobody has called or emailed any kind of apology.

great job, ahead of schedule, special care taken with valuable items, above and beyond!!!!

Do not hire this company. They did a lowball quote for my move inventory. Upon filling the truck, and not including all the listed items in the inventory in the estimate, they claimed since the space was full the cost to love was 3x the estimate! A total of over $ 800.00 of items were not delivered. Further, over $5000.00 of damage occurred to my property including:
Shearing off the end of a custom farm table (3鈥?thick of solid wood)
Broken glassware
Scratched wood furniture
Broken furniture
Broken lamps
Damaged leather

The movers arrived four hours late. One mover slept in the truck the entire time. The remaining two movers unloaded the truck, which one of theses movers reeked of alcohol? The movers piled boxes and furniture on the porch ( during a rainy day), insisting there鈥檚 was no room in the house ( I moved from a 800 sq. ft. Home to a 1200 sq.ft. home!). Furniture was left wrapped and oriented on its side or upside down. Furniture was left exposed to the outdoors, as well as boxed items. There was a reason they insist3d on payment upon arrival in both loading and unloading locations; leaving no recourse for a poorly performed job.

From the time we signed the contract, I could not get a phone call answered when I had a question. Beyond that, the truck that arrived to pack our household looked like something that a local near hall might have, not one designed for a 2400 mile transfer. The packing that was done was the worst I have seen (we have had 14 previous moves). When the truck arrived at our new home, the driver did not have a helper. He did yeoman work to unload the truck. Hats off to him. However, when we unpacked, almost all of our glassware and dishes were broken. This would be the last time that company should move anyone.

I put 1 star because there is nothing lower. I do not know who wrote these reviews, but beware, they are false. I was given a quote by Eric, Nothing is as he said. Now I have a mover showing up who doesn鈥檛 even know my address and want much more money in cash, late on a Friday night, with closed banks. I need help!

The process to arrange the move went ok. The drivers did not come at the time they committed to on the loading and unloading dates. Complained that there were items that were not on the original list – even though it was agreed that it would be amended given there was no pre-visit due to COVID. They came a day earlier than agreed to for loading. For unloading, even though their early arrival was accommodated by opening the doors and give general directions on where things could be unloaded, this was not adequate for them. They were not understanding that we actually had prior work commitments that we could not drop/cancel to be constantly available. The drivers did not clean up and remove all the packaging – even when it was pointed out. Not all boxes were unpacked and left in the garage.

UPDATE: Donna in resolutions stepped in and took care of our issues. She was responsive and helpful.
Terrible company and terrible experience. We moved two weeks ago and still don't have our belongings. Colonial is unable or unwilling to provide updates. We have no idea where our things and I don't think Colonial even knows. They subcontracted our move and will not engage with the moving company they contracted with on our behalf. They have $8,000 of our money and all our belongings and continue to stonewall us. We contracted with Colonial and trusted in them. What a huge mistake.

Fair pricing and very attentive. Subcontracted movers were awesome, on time and extremely helpful. Had to hire a handyman to repair minor damaged furniture which was probably already compromised due to age of furniture. Would hire them again.

Great service and no issues or surprise costs

Courteous and professional

I found Colonial to be a great moving company. Efficient, professional, friendly and good as their word on price. Great workers on the truck. Thanks
Esther OMara

Addendum: I am adding this comment and changing to 5 stars because Colonial did the right thing and came to a reasonable resolution for me. Thank you to Donna, resolutions manager, for being my advocate and helping resolve this situation in what is an already stressful time. It is nice to see companies that do make errors, correct them timely and make it right.

If I could leave at NO STARS I would! Horrible experience. They are the experts and quoted my inventory at a certain weight. However, it came out to be 10,000 pounds heavier than they estimated. Does that sounds like a professional at work to you? Then, they wash their hands of it and leave it to the moving company (they use third party which they also do not make clear) to resolve and collect from you. All I heard from every person I spoke with there was how much experience they had- my experience would prove that they need to get a new career. They play a bait and switch game to get you to book then you owe $4500 more on the back end!

Donna was amazing in her response to my issues. Thank you

I am leaving 5 starts for the work Donna did to resolve any issues occurred during my move from Denver to Austin.

Great communication before, during and after pick up and delivery.
Crew was very respectful and accommodating to placement of items. I've moved about 6 times in the last year due to my job. I wish I could have use this company before.
Great value and customer service for the price!!

This was a several week experience and there was good and bad. I found the actual movers very professional and good. As a general rule working with the various people in the office was good, but there were concerns with dates being moved by the company as well as it being sub-contracted to another company when I specifically asked about that and being told they don't use other companies. In addition, I sometimes I difficulty having someone return my calls.

All in all, my move was good. There was a hiccup with initial moving window, but my agent kept me informed. The movers did show up during the 2nd moving window, and they did an excellent job packing my frail furniture. It was delivered on the day as promised. There was no damage whatsoever on any item, and those movers were professional, courteous and friendly.

I would recommend Colonial Van Lines.

The transit was smooth and had no issue

These movers were very communicative, on time, professional, and costly! Especially for a trip that was from one coast to the other. I highly recommend this group.

I am very satisfied with the service we received through Colonial Van Line. They delivered on time as expected.

Had a good experience. Loved the movers, Dan and Edwin whom we were lucky enough to get the same crew for pickup and delivery. Appreciated the discount for cash payment.Was kept informed by coordinating staff-had little damage or loss

Colonial Van Lines was very efficient as a broker moving my mom鈥檚 possessions from Ohio to Florida. Their quote was accurate for the move and the contacts were helpful and polite. The moving company that carried out the move was great and their staff were efficient and careful packers.. Colonial kept me informed throughout the entire process and managed to coordinate the move from my first inquiry to the delivery in less than 6 weeks.