Victory Van Lines

The quote of moving price they gave to me is $1080.00. After finishing the moving, they asked me to pay $3400.00.

In a nutshell: Victory Van Lines did everything in their power to win my business (and my money), and then promptly dropped me, became unresponsive, unhelpful, unprofessional, negligent, deceitful, shameful, and downright inexcusable. I can't begin to express how bitterly I resent this company. I will keep my story bulleted so I don't end up writing a novel that no one will read. "Moving" is always rated as one of the most traumatic experiences of living, and Victory Van Lines did their best to ensure that "traumatic" would be the word to best describe my experience. - In the beginning, the service was quick and attentive. Emails were answered and phone calls returned promptly. - I packed all my boxes myself -- with the exception off artwork, our TV, and a pair of speakers all of which required delicate handling. The estimate given for packaging these items was $217 - I gave a detailed inventory of my belongings and was given an estimate of $3,874.33 for the collection and delivery with an estimated weight of 3,360 Ibs. - When the movers arrived, they were professional and quick. Trouble begins: - I discover that an additional packing charge of $395 has been added to my bill for packaging services I did not ask for, did not expect, was not told to expect, and would have refused had it been offered. I now had to pay close to $600 in packing fees when I deliberately packed my entire household myself to avoid this kind of nonsense. No explanation was offered. - I am told that my haul weighs 5,440 Ibs and my actual delivery cost is now $6,307.13, over 2,000 Ibs more than the estimated weight. My inventory was unchanged. You must expect some fluctuation between an estimate and actual cost, but this cavern between the two numbers indicates that improvements must be made to their estimation equation or people like me will think themselves the victim of a bait and switch routine. - Upon arrival, the movers in California hold our belongings hostage, refusing to move a stick of furniture off the truck without an immediate cash tip, despite the fact that their service has been prepaid. They made off with $160 in cash. - I call and email about this and none of my emails or my phone message is returned. I call again later that week and my representative has no record of my phone message and has not received my emails. She promises this team of movers will never be used again and that our $160 will be refunded. - A week later, we discover a $5,000 custom Jason Schroeder guitar is damaged. I email my representative three times over the course of a week with no response. When I call, she has again not received any of my emails, but connects me to another employee to file a claim. She has forgotten about our refund for the $160 and promises to resolve the matter. - I leave a message about the guitar claim - my message is never returned. - I receive a call from a man in Sausalito who moved from the east coast around the same time we did. He has one of our boxes. He asks if Victory Van Lines ever got in touch with us to let us know he had it like he'd asked them to. They did not. We make arrangements to meet each other at great inconvenience and resolve the matter ourselves. - 28 days after the delivery is made, I still do not have my refund of $160. I call again and am told that they thought it had been resolved. I am again promised that a refund will be made immediately. I was also told that the manager would be calling me today because I "deserve an apology". I will not be holding my breath... - I am now home from 2 weeks in Belgium and I still have no check. There is also no message on my voicemail (big surprise). It has been made sufficiently clear to me that Victory Van Lines does not care about its customers. I have been drafting this review for three weeks, hoping it would be resolved and I could leave better marks. To h*** with it. They don't deserve my patience and they don't deserve your business. At this point, I would feel well within my rights to demand my money back. The lack of interest that has been shown in our situation, and the sheer will, effort, and frustration that has gone into simply trying to communicate is absurd. A moving company enjoys the privilege of always maintaining the upper hand with its customers; once they have your money and your belongings, what incentive do they really have to treat you well? In this case, I have my answer: none. I will never use their service again and will never recommend it to anyone else.

The packing went OK. However, there was a lack of coordination between the packers and the people who needed to deliver the boxes and packing material. I had to personally step in to ensure we had all of the necessary boxes to complete the packing. The day for loading the truck started out on the wrong foot. The truck was almost 2 hours late in arriving. When it did arrive I realized they did not have enough people to get the job done in one day. VVL knew I was up against a tight time table. Once again I had to step in to coordinate the activities. My coordinator was not available nor very helpful. I called my Salesperson to get things back on track. Finally I did get a call from the driver but this was way beyond the agreed start time. Once the additional manpower arrived the packing of the truck began to get better but we were still up against a tight time schedule. Late in the afternoon 2 bad things happened. First, even after repeated requests to the crew to take our roll top desk apart, the crew dropped the desk TWICE! On the 2nd drop the desk was in pieces. Then the crew stated to take apart my treadmill. The worst part is they were disconnecting wires from the control panel. I told them the treadmill came in one piece when it was delivered to our basement in Virginia so there was no need to take anything apart. I told the driver we will test the treadmill once it is delivered to Texas. We tested it upon delivery and it was not functioning. Concerning the delivery, I wanted the treadmill to be placed in the second floor media room. The delivery crew said they couldn't do it. So now not only was the treadmill damaged it was also not where I wanted it. So now the real issues surface. I was told to get estimates to fix the desk and the treadmill. When I tried to get an estimate on the desk the insurance company sent a repair drew to repair the desk. They did a lousy job. I will never be able to move that desk again in another move. The desk is functional but it has not been repaired to its previous condition. Getting the treadmill repaired was a very difficult endeavor. The estimate showed that the control panel had been damaged and needed to be replaced. Additionally it was going to cost about $700 to get the treadmill moved from the garage (where it was delivered) to the 2nd floor media room. After much haggling with the insurance company, and the VVL management team (who said they intended to make everything right), I finally got the company to agree to pay half the cost of the move of the treadmill. But it didn't happen with many MONTHS of e-mails and calls. All-in-all I am a very dissatisfied customer. Again, this is a company I chose on Angie's List because they were "A" rated. Lesson learned: Don't depend on these ratings.

Victory Van Lines took a last minute call from me, lined up a truck and had me moved within one day of making an appointment. This was incredible service during a stressful time, as the previous moving company I booked did not show up. The moving industry is a tough business. It's generally not run well, but I was impressed by Victory Van Lines ability to take me at the last minute and deliver great service. My possessions arrived before the start of the work week and the movers delivered great service.

My experience went excellent. They were prompt and the salesmen I dealt with was exceptionally professional. They are heads and shoulders above everyone else. Everything was done in a timely fashion and nothing was damaged.

There wasn’t any packing or anything; they just moved my furniture. They were really good. They were very professional. I was very happy with their service. They weren’t the cheapest.

The customer representative guided me through the whole process. The movers themselves were prepared for the move. I was able to buy additional moving boxes on site directly from them on the moving day. The price estimate was a little bit more at the end, but I had to include more stuff that contributed to the final price. I would recommend these guys.

The loading was okay, the unloading was very good, but the estimate was very poor. They ended up charging us $1000.00 more than the estimate, when I mentioned it they gave us $300.00 off of that. I was very displeased with the estimating. When they loaded our piano we were very nervous because they'd never seen one with environmental control, even though they said they've moved many pianos before.

The Team was great. They came out and did a on site inspection of my belongings. Asked several fact finding questions that pertained to my individual needs, and provided me a estimate. On the move day the Team was right on time. The worked fast and were very professional. They even did more then I expected. They finished on time and the final amount was exactly as quoted. No hidden charges or surprises. Would highly recommend them.