Ardean Wbh
map-marker Plano, Texas

North American Lies to it's customers!

I was told that I would receive my belongings in 3 to 4 days, no problem. So I packed for 3-4 days. It's going on 4 weeks and I'm still waiting! Now I find out that only 2/3's of my belongings are coming one day this week...but I have to pay full price for 2/3. I HATE North American. But what I hate most is that they don't bother to call back, even after saying that they will. And they don't tell you important details...like, oh, only 2/3's of your shipment was loaded. Or, oh, we don't have enough drivers. Or, oh, that other 1/3 of your shipment isn't even scheduled yet because we don't have enough drivers! I WILL be calling the Better Business Bureau, and I DO have a lawyer!
View full review
Loss:
$5024
1 comment
Guest

Hi Kalenn,My name is Lauren Ysseldyke and I currently work for North American's social media department. I read your article and would like to find out more about your move and forward the info onto our customer service department to see if something can be done about this.

Could you tell me the origin and destination of your move? Thanks,Lauren Ysseldykelauren.ysseldyke@***.com

azy A
map-marker San Francisco, California

Do Not Use North American Van Lines - Scam!

I had an in-house estimate done for my cross-country move. I ended up moving far less stuff and was told in advance when I asked that it would be weighed and adjusted based on weight.

My things arrived 10 days after they were supposed to, no one called me to inform me of that and I had to secretly dig through the driver's papers to see how much my load actually weighed. It weighed 1,000 pounds less than estimated, but they still charged me full price the day of the move without my approval or authorization having lied and told me it was a "cash on delivery" move. Do not trust them!! They are *** artists and I am trying to fight this now with my credit card company.

I should have been credited over $1000.

I still do not have a receipt or any proof of what I have actually paid for. This is America??

View full review
4 comments
Guest

Also, you guys are darn lucky that it only took 11 days. I was told I'd get mine in 4 days...got 2/3 of it almost a month late, and just this past Tues., got the last of it, almost 2 months late!!!

Guest

Get yourself an attorney! I had to.

Guest

Best of luck to you. I was able to get some money back, but not anywhere near what I should have.

I more or less settled as I was tired of fighting and figured something was better than nothing.

It was a pain in my butt and I guess now I know exactly what to watch for the next time I move. Wish you had seen my post before you moved.

Guest

We had exactly the same experience! 11 days late, never told anyone the load finally arrived - to an Allied facility, not NA! Allied would not release the shipment until I threatened to call the police. Actual weight was over 1,200 pounds less than charged. Still waiting their internal audit results for reimbursement. Bank of America Visa dispute to hold payment was futile as BOA could also care less about their customers.

You can find that to be reinforced by others - Google Ripoffreport.com for credit card disputes.

Will be claiming fraud with the State Attorney Generals Office.

Footnote: Allied and North American are owned by the same company. Good luck.

View more comments (3)
JustaJock
map-marker Merrimack, New Hampshire

Worst moving experience of my life!

Absolutely the worst moving experience we have ever had! Since my company was paying for a small portion of the relocation expenses, I was forced to get quotes from several different moving companies - North American Van Lines (NAVL) was the lowest. But the old adage, "You get what you pay for," is all too real for us after dealing with NAVL! To start off with, the NAVL rep who came to do the initial quote missed a piece of artwork that had to be "special crated" for the move. She also missed the same piece when she came 4 weeks later to do the final quote. We had two quotes done since we had gotten rid of some furniture between the first quote and the actual move, so NAVL insisted on a second walk-thru of the inventory in order to generate an accurate quote. When the 3rd party crating company came to crate the special, fragile items, they informed us that there were only 6 pieces that had been authorized for crating but there were 7 pieces that needed crating. We were told the 7th item could be crated but it would cost us an additional $50 COD for the crating. It was also going to be an additional $20 to uncrate this unauthorized item at the destination...unbelievable! Our moving day was set and we were told to expect a phone call 24-48 hours before the actual move day so that they could give us a window of time when the movers would be arriving for the move. That phone call never happened. On the eve of the move (which was a Sunday), I left our Customer Service Coordinator a voicemail, stating that I never got a phone call and I needed to know when the movers were going to show up. The next morning, 30 minutes before the movers arrived, our Customer Service Coordinator called us and said, "They are on the way!" Great - thanks for the advance notice..... The movers arrived and all three of them looked less than thrilled to be there. In greeting them, only one was wearing and actual "NAVL" shirt - the other two were wearing typical street clothes. I don't know if NAVL employees are required to represent NAVL with their clothing, but I let that minor fact go. These movers were uneducated, unmotivated and clearly uninterested in the task at hand. My pulse started to race as I knew we were about to engage in a HUGE mistake by putting the contents of our entire house into the hands of these three individuals. Two hours into the move, there was an assortment of boxes and a few pieces of furniture sporadically placed in our driveway, our neighbor's driveway and the patch of grass that separates the two townhouses. It looked like a neighborhood yard sale! Watching the movers walk around with the "deer in the headlights" look, it was clear that these guys had no organizational skills and clearly had no idea how they were going to pack our belongings into the van. I watched in complete horror as our leather sofa and leather chair were "squeezed" through our front door completely unwrapped! I realize that some doorways are only so big and our leather chair is an overstuffed one - but it was brought in without any damage and should be brought out the same way. There wasn't one stitch of covering on the leather couch and chair when they were pushed through our doorway. I didn't even have the guts to inspect these pieces after they "popped" through the doorframe - I would leave the inspection for when they were delivered. The rest of the move did not go any better, as there was absolutely NO CARE given to our belongings as they were removed from our home before being put into the van: Walls nicked, stairwells were scratched, door frames were gauged and dinged. And this was just in the house! We knew we would find damaged boxes and furniture when it was all delivered. These "professionals" treated our home and our belongings with not one ounce of care! In fact, we spent almost two hours after the van pulled away patching up gauges and dings in door frames, repainting walls that had been carelessly marked up and filling in dents and scratches in stairwells. Our Customer Service Coordinator had informed us that on the date of the move, the driver would be able to give a pretty accurate date of when everything would be delivered. Before the van pulled away, we asked the driver when we might possibly expect our belongings to arrive at their destination. He responded, "I really can't tell you until I complete the delivery that is scheduled ahead of yours." I accepted his answer and asked if he would contact us throughout the journey to give us updates on his progress. He said, "Yes". In the next 7 days, we never heard from him once. On the 8th day, I took the initiative and contacted him and asked him where things stood with the delivery. He said he would be delivering in 2 days. He also asked if I could give him directions to our address from the city of his last delivery? "What?!?!" I hire a moving company and also have to provide directions to a destination that I have just moved to?? I gave the drive the major highways and route #s to get him from point A to point B. On the morning of the delivery, the driver called again to say he was 18 miles away but needed detailed directions to get to our place. I asked him if he had a GPS and he responded, "No". I told him he might want to invest in one for the future, given the line of work he was in. He said, "Well, there is one in the truck, but it's not hooked up." I said he might want to get it hooked up soon. He also said, "And I don't know how to use it." C'mon!!! ANYONE who drives for a living (moving companies, chauffeurs, movers) should have a GPS - its 2009 for heaven sakes!!! after 30 minutes, we finally managed to give him directions to get to our place. When they got out, only two guys were present. So.....three guys to pack up a truck, but only two guys to unload it? I think there is a joke in there somewhere. Again, the movers appeared unmotivated and uninterested. The forecast for move-in day was a mixture of clouds and heavy showers, off and on, all day. Because of this, I knew we couldn't dilly dally - this unpacking HAD to go more smoothly than the pickup day. Realizing he did not have enough help for the unloading, he actually asked one of the residents in our building, who just happened to be walking by, if he could lend a hand for a little while and help them unload the van! He offered to pay the kid $40 and the kid agreed to help. I was completely in shock!!! I was grateful for the additional hand, but I did NOT hire NAVL to outsource help with unloading because they did not have enough help. COMPLETELY UNPROFESSIONAL! On top of that, we realized it was taking a long time to get our belongings in once they were being removed off the van. My partner and I jumped into action and played "movers" for the next 5 hours!! So not only were we paying NAVL to move us, but we, the customer, were also assisting with the physical labor of the move. If I had known all of this beforehand, I would have simply rented a U-Haul and done this entire move ourselves! We should've been inside checking off boxes and furniture as they were being brought in to ensure that everything had been delivered. Instead, we were assisting with the physical labor of unloading the van - a job that we had hired NAVL to do! Finally, all of the belongings were in our new home, but not without damage: one leaning bookshelf was totally destroyed; our dining room table had a leg with a chunk off the wood that had been chipped off; two of the chairs from our dining room set had gauges and scratches on a couple of the legs; two small end tables (made of wood with glass tops) were wrapped together with nothing between the two and suffered scratches and gauges in their legs; a television stand arrived with a very badly scratched base.....and that leather sofa and chair I mentioned earlier? Both arrived with scratches and scuffmarks on the arms and backs of them that are now permanent. As were accounting for every box and piece of furniture, we realized that we were missing one dining room table leg and one of the slats that go to the frame of our platform bed. The driver ensured us that they must still be somewhere in the truck. We were told that they ended up unloading the truck "backwards" so some of the pieces that were packed together got separated as they were trying to organize the contents of the truck to be unloaded. What the heck does THAT mean??? Clearly these guys need organizational skills! Ironically - every single box we personally packed for the move, and aside from one pilsner glass, everything WE packed arrived with NO breaks or damage The movers offered to help us put the bed and the dining room table back together before leaving. Upon bringing the mattress into the bedroom to place on the bed frame, the small dolly they used to wheel the mattress in, "flipped" up when the mattress was pushed off from it and put a small dent into our newly painted hallway! When the dining room table was having its legs reattached, one of the movers (who probably weighs 230 lbs) actually used one of the legs as a brace to actually lifted himself off the ground and onto his feet!!! I was completely shocked!!! I could just picture that leg snapping in half from the weight of his body. The movers were about to leave before I stopped them. They were actually going to leave without us checking off each item on the invoice to make sure that it had been accounted for and delivered. When they left, we were completely mortified - we have NEVER had a more unpleasant experience in our lives. Moving across country is stressful enough, but this experience was simply inexcusable and unprofessional. The next day, I contacted our Customer Service Coordinator to begin the claims for the damaged items. She directed me to the online claim form. When I asked about other "Customer satisfaction compensation", I was told I would have to contact Customer Service at the headquarters. After being bounced around for 40 minutes from one NAVL representative to another, I was finally put in touch with a woman named Sandy Marlowe. I began discussing with Sandy the experience we had with NAVL, beyond the physical damages, and was looking for some type of compensation for the non-physical damages that we were put through (ie. the unprofessionalism of the experience, not enough help with the unloading, the physical that we personally performed, etc...). Sandy was unhelpful and said I would have to fill out the online claim form any physical damage that occurred. As far as any other type of compensation, "We would not get any. We don't give monetary compensation". I asked to speak with her direct report so that someone would listen to the experiences we encountered that we honestly felt were deserving of some type of compensation. Sandy flat out said, "NO." As the blood trickled down the back of my throat, I said, "Did you just say NO to a paying customer who asked to speak with your manager or supervisor?" She said, "Yes I did.....there is nothing he can or will do for you." I asked Sandy for her full name and title. Sandy, turns out, is the direct assistant to the president of NAVL, Michael Wolf. I again asked to speak with Mr. Wolf and, again, Sandy refused to put me in touch with him. If the direct assistant to the President of my company EVER spoke to a customer the way Ms. Marlowe spoke to me, you can be *** sure he/she would be standing in the unemployment line. I have since begun the online claim for the damaged items, but after reading SEVERAL consumer reviews for NAVL, I am not confident that I will EVER see a dime! And as for the other compensation that I feel we are entitled to...I have since contacted my credit card company and I have disputed a portion of the moving charges. I figure at this point, disputing the charges might get the attention of someone other than Ms. Marlowe who will take the time to listen to a paying customer's legitimate complaints and work with them to resolve the issues.... NO ONE.....I repeat.....NO ONE should EVER hire North American Van Lines! I wouldn't hire them to move me across the street!
View full review
3 comments
Guest

My experience with NAVL was similar, but worse. We didn't recieve our belongings for greater than 3 weeks after the pick up date.

Brutal customer service, the manager of our move had no idea how to handle customers and couldn't give us any information on our move. The day of our guaranteed delivery our stuff was still stuck in the warehouse of the departure city.

I understand moving is tough, the guys lifting and carrying all that furniture definetely are underpaid, but the disorganization and lack of empathy really pissed me off about this company. I'd love to see someone in this company without any of their belongings for 3+ weeks!!

Guest

Thank you for having the courage to come forward and speak the truth about NAVL. I, too, am still enduring the nightmare they put me through, which happens to be extremely parallel to your experience.

Us innumerable scorned NAVL clients must continue to spread the word about them far and wide..................

Guest

It is rare that you hear such a self involved and self important *** describe a self developed scenario that he likes to blame on others. I am sure North American Van Lines is happy you wont ever be moving with them again. Amazing.

View more comments (2)
MikeRogers
map-marker Dunn, North Carolina

HORRIBLE MOVING EXPERIENCE

horrible moving experience -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you plan on moving and are considering using the Beltman Group, North American Van Lines, located in Orlando, read this first. I recently used them and it's now nearly 2 months later and I'm still being haunted by this moving experience. There really isn't anything I can say poositive about the move. I was promised the world by my sales rep Pete who is just that a salesman. Promised me used boxes if I went to the warehouse and picked them up, Called every day never got one box. Wound up buying them. Promised a delivery of my furniture in a 2 day window. Never happened didn't have a driver and when he finally called me he was alone on the truck and had to find someone to help him, further delayed the move. Then I found out that they put my load on with 2 other deliveries and couldn't fit all my things on the truck, recieved 75%. To make a long horrible story short the rest of my things came 2 weeks later. Had damaged items and a missing dining room chair. Called Beltmann many times they couldn't find the chair, GONE???? I believe it was badly damaged because the numbers where right before a antique end table that was delivered with 2 busted legs that where put in the draw of the table. I put in a claim no one called me so I called them, they said I would get a total of $84.00, which included a whole $12.00 for my missing dining room chair??? I called the office of Michael Wolf, the president of North American Van Lines and spoke to his secretary and she basically said to me that's it, nothing she could do for me. And as far as Mr. Wolf is concerned he doesn't speak with customers EVER.... Stay far away from this company there are too many other choices out there, even if they are lower in price, IT'S NOT WORTH THE AGGRAVATION.[/SIZE]
View full review
6 comments
Guest

I also used NAVL and had a HORIBLE Experience. My Driver arrived with his wife whom I later found out had Alzheimer’s.

While the movers were loading my things, the driver told me that his wife had wondered off somewhere and he could not find her. I had to drive around the local neighborhoods looking for her. This was very unprofessional for a driver of a Large Company.

Before the driver left my residence after loading my household goods, he verbally told me that he would not be delivering my things on the date which I had arranged Sep 21 but that he was going to deliver on Thursday 19 Sep.

He said that he had to deliver that day so I re-arranged Cable, Construction and painting around that date. Then on Wednesday since I had not heard from him, I called Apollo and they told me that I was supposed to call the driver directly. When I called the driver, I got his voice mail and the mail box was full so I couldn’t leave a message. I spoke to Apollo again and they were unable to reach him either but they were able to leave a message.

They even contacted dispatch with no success. After 2 days of calling looking for my household goods, the driver finally called me back and stated that he was coming in 5 minutes. The driver got lost and I had to drive around looking for him also. When the truck and he opened the door, the contents looked like it was just thrown in the truck.

(I have pictures which prove this). Many of the Boxes which were clearly marked Fragile were crushed and contents were broken. After he pulled up with my 9 Lbs of household goods, I asked who was going to unload the truck. At that time, I called the local company again asking for assistance to unload.

He had his Grandchild in the truck and he told me that he would unload the truck with his grandson. The driver had told me that he had a medical condition which made it impossible for him to do. We also asked the driver to call the local moving company and get the help which he needed to do the job. He stated that the company couldn’t give him anyone to assist.

My nephew was there with me so I hired him to assist me with some of the work. The only reason a few pieces of furniture were put back together was because my nephew and I put them together. Since the driver had no help to speak of, we got a few laborers at Home Depot who didn’t speak much English and they were not experienced movers. The grandchild tried to put some of the furniture together but only after my nephew and I assisted him.

The laborers put boxes where ever they felt like it. I had all the boxes marked with which room they needed go. I have boxes labeled Kitchen in my master bedroom and the ones marked bedroom in the kitchen, etc. Most of the furniture was not reassembled and if it was, I did it.

The company claims that they have GPS and 24 hr contact with the drivers but nobody was able to contact him.

I tried to resolve the issues with North American Customer Service and with the help of Apollo Moving company. Apollo has tried to assist and will back me with my complaint. At this time, the company has offered me either a Service who will come out to my home and re-assemble one Bed, and two tables which I have assembled after the mover left or $300 which I incurred to pay my nephew in order to fix what the movers didn’t do.

Also, there is a Damaged Bed, antique glass platters, Tools and who know what else was destroyed. The customer Service rep form NAVL was nasty for the begining and refused to help me resolve anything.

Guest

Sorry to hear about you bad moving experience, I went through it over a year ago and it is extremely frustrating dealing with North American and there noncaring customer service dept. How this outfit is still in business is hard to believe.

I guess if more people read these forums before booking their move, less people would book with them. The only advice I can give you is to complain every day until you get your items and get full reinbursement for the delay.

Good luck,

Mike.

Guest

Couldn't agree more. Horrible experience with Beltmann and NAVL.

It is over three weeks since our pick up date and over a week since our guaranteed delivery date and we don't have our belongings. I am supposed to start a professional job in a couple couple of days and have no suits to wear (I did bring them with me since I didn't think it would take over 20 days to move our stuff). The customer service was horrendous.

I would be fired if I treated people like that, didn't call people back, and showed that lack of empathy. NEVER USE THIS COMPANY.

Guest

We also had the experience from *** with an American Van Lines group. They employ the "Bait & Switch" method: all sugar-coated, deceptive promises before the contract is signed.

After signing, it's *** on earth!

IT IS DEALING WITH THE DEVIL BEFORE AND AFTER THE CONTRACT IS SIGNED! Since they ruined a good part of our lives, it has become our joyful mission to expose their tactics everywhere possible!

Guest

Hi Mike, My sister used North American Van Lines to move from Fl. to Pa.

almost the same thing happened to her, well my sister moving back to Fl. and is in the process of using American Movers Group "WHAT A NIGHTMARE" they are.

Among other things AMG picked up on Dec 18 was told they will be delivered on Dec 23 then Dec 27 and after calling for 14 days and getting no response or e-mails still my sister does not have her belongings as of Jan 1, 2011. In other words DO NOT USE AMERICAN MOVERS GROUP

Guest

My name is Steve and I help run Beltmann NAVL Social Media Efforts.

I noticed your blog entry about your move and I'm sorry about your experience.

It sounds like you haven't been able to get a hold of someone to discuss your situation and that where I think I can help.

Please know that Mike is a great guy, but as President, he relies on other team members to resolve conflict like this. However, we do have people I know who can help you in a more direct way.

We'll look to see if we can find your record and get a hold of you. If not, please let me know how we can contact you directly to see what we can do on a corporate level.

Thank you.

Steve R.

Beltmann Social Media Team

View more comments (5)
smithmr
map-marker Tampa, Florida

Avoid North American Van Lines

North American Van lines was the worse move I have ever had. The movers were unprofessional, they dropped items, packed artwork with sharp objects, and even did not move some items because the mover did not bring enough packing material (though their agent inventoried my house). 2 of 3 movers were teenagers, when we complained to the boss, he said he was in a hurry and had to get on the road. Then they told me on the phone I had 12 months to file a claim. I filed a claim before 9 months, they then proceeded to "lose" it and rejected my claim because "I" did not file the claim on time. I talked to supervisors, wrote a letter to the president. They treated me like a criminal and never acknowledged the complaints I had with the mover or claim. What a ripoff, avoid them at all costs.
View full review
Loss:
$6700
5 comments
Guest

Totally agree about poor service and not caring about customers. Delivered 1/2 of belongings during contracted period.

Two weeks late and still have not received the balance. Talked to customer service(yeah right).

Cannot give a delivery date and really don't seem to care. Tried to contact the president of North American today.Got voice mail and left a message> We'll see if he calls back.

Guest

NORTH AMERICAN VAN LINES MOVERS STOLE OUR BELONGINGS

$16000 total nightmare cross country move .

Every single piece of furniture either gouged or broken. Liquor and wine collection gone. Paintings gone . Kitchen stuff-expensive pots and pans and appliances gone. Boxes rifled through and antiques gone. We paid an extra thousand for insurance and have not collected a penny after 2 years.

We have paid dearly twice over of the mistake of using these horrible movers. We've lost so much and through the disaster of trusting these movers. They showed up drunk and spoke no English. And wanted to charge us overtime for not finishing their contracted work.

Arrived a day early before we did and piled everything unprotected in a ten foot high 40 foot long solid heap in a storage unit and left before we got there. . Although instructed specifically to wait for our arrival so we could do it systematically. There is not a day that goes by that we aren't grieving over something that was stolen by these movers.

Guest

Our last move was with North American as well and we had the most damage of any time we had moved before - and we had moved 12 times before! We would never, never use them again! The corporation picked them for us this past time.

Guest

North American Van Lines is a complete ripoff - they care NOTHING about customer service and HOW your belongings aer picked up or delivered. My move was a nightmare from start to finish.

When I called Customer Service to complain about the service, I was told "Our charges are based on weight and distance". They DO NOT ever compensate ANYTHING for Customer Service related issues.

When I asked to speak with someone in upper management to hear my complaint, I was told "No." Nice company! Avoid North American, Allied and any other SIRVA-related moving company like the plague!

Guest

I can second everything said here. I'd write my own, but I'm trying to keep my blood pressure down. I can sum it up with this: If you die and get sent to ***, North American Van Lines will move you there.

View more comments (4)