United Van Lines - State to State Only

It was great. The people was good, the packer was good, the people who unload the truck was exceptional. My overall experience was exceptional and the insurance of this company is more comprehensive the the insurance of other moving company.

unknown

They were great.

In my opinion it's all about the driver, if you have a good driver then your move will be smooth. Any move will have damages, that is to be expected and our damages were minimal considering we had 23,000 lbs to move. Our driver Rick D. went above and beyond what was expected. When I could not fit my dog kennel in my rental car to stay at a hotel the night before my flight, he put it in his van and brought it to the hotel for me. Our local packers, Locatelli Moving also did a great job packing up boxes. It took 7 days for our driver to go from northern CA to NC. Unpacking went smoothly also, all boxes were placed according to the labels on the boxes. I should mention it was 90 plus degrees with high humidity the day they unpacked.

The guys who actually did the move were hard working, professional, and nice guys to be around. They really worked their butts off and deserve a ton of credit. My issue was that this was my fifth move with United Vanlines and Christoffersons moving. I was sent a Binding Estimate and when I expressed concerns over how expensive it was, I was told that it was the max I would be charged and that a credit would be generated for the difference between the max and what I actually used. In previous experiences, I was just charged for the number of boxes, labor, weight, and distance. Very good experiences. This time, I received a credit for the weight seeing that the total weight transferred was 4000 pounds under their estimate. I was also charged for dozens of boxes which were never used and for some extra labor charges which wasn't needed (taking the top off of a large desk in order to get it out of an office when all that needed to be done was to take the door off the hinges). I called Christoffersons to ask where the rest of the credit was and she told me that I had to call corporate because she couldn't do any auditing and they would be in charge of any further credits. I called the corporate office and was told to call Christoffersons. When I told the guy at corporate that I wouldn't be the 'pickel in the middle' and that he should contact Christoffersons, I got a ton of attitude. He told me that a Binding Estimate is completely locked with the exception of weight then struggled to find anywhere that didn't mention things like unused boxes or labor couldn't be refunded. I'm disappointed in this service and feel like I'm owed about $300 ($180 for the unused and canceled extra labor) and the 40 or so boxes which were never used. They are clearly happy to point fingers at each other.

They are very professional and prompt. On both ends the service people are great.

We have used them for years. They are punctual and efficient. They are moderately priced.

They did not empty any boxes. We hired another company to pack the things and we did the unpacking ourselves. They left few things behind and I had to call them again. They came and picked them up. They did not really do an inspection around the house to check if they had everything. They, however, did the work in a timely fashion. As we unpacked we found a few things broken but I am not sure if you can have moved a 3400 square foot house moved and not have anything broken.

On the day of delivery United Agents (Movers) required us to sign a sheet stating that all items had been delivered and damage noted. Over 500 boxes and pieces of furniture were delivered in 6 hours. We were required to sign the document before the Movers left the property. They did not allow us to keep the paper to be signed after we could unpack and inspect for damage, but explained that and ldquo;damageand rdquo; referred to obvious damage such as crushed boxes. Further, they instructed we had 9 months to unpack and inspect for damage and file any claims. We made claims on many items including a new mattress set that was stained during the move. The people from United Van Lines offered to have the mattress cleaned but would not assume any further liability. This despite the fact that we purchased the and ldquo;Full Valuation Coverageand rdquo; with provides for reimbursement at and ldquo;Full Current Market Valueand rdquo; regardless of depreciation. United Agents informed us if the cleaning did not resolve the damage we could then file a dispute through Arbitration. However we were informed, by American Moving and Storage Association (the National Association of Moving Companies) that allowing United to clean the mattress would release the moving company from any further liability despite United's assurances to the contrary. We did spot test an area with a vacuum to determine whether or not it was just surface debris or a stain before we learned about the restrictions regarding cleaning. We consulted multiple upholstery cleaning professionals who informed us that stains were likely to darken over time, and any stains removed with cleaning might reappear over time. Further, the cleaning solutions could react with the fibers in the mattress and create new stains. Consequently, we decided cleaning was not an option. We were lead to believe that the first person/technician that came out to inspect the damages and make repairs to our property was licensed as a furniture repair business, but in fact he is the husband of United's Claims Manager and is licensed as a and ldquo;Claims Adjusterand rdquo;. He approved the claims on most of the items, but left some of the claims, including the mattress claim, as and ldquo;pendingand rdquo;. We asked for another technician/ furniture repairman because of the questionable credentials and what we felt was the bad attitude of the first technician. At the end of our 9 month filing period, United informed us that our mattress claim, the most expensive claim, was denied. Most of the other claims and ndash; all only a fraction of the cost of the mattressand mdash;were approved by United . Where possible, damage was repaired and a check sent for reimbursement of those claims that could not be repaired. We were left with filing an Arbitration dispute for the mattress damage. Note - we did not cash the check as we learned that doing so would prevent us from disputing the denied claim. United uses a lot of legal language and references to laws that we did not know existed in their responses. We feel the process is daunting and frustrating as we try to interpret and respond to United's arguments to deny our claim. In their arguments, United cites a law that they claim states they are only responsible for damage that is reported at the time of delivery. Yet we were instructed that we had 9 months to inspect for damage and we were not informed of the law prior to our dispute filing. In response to our Arbitration filing, United rescinded approval of all the other claims and insisted we file arbitration disputes for everything. This would have required documentation, pictures, and filing separate forms for every claim. However, American Moving and Storage told us that we could list any claims that had previously been approved by United and provide the letter documenting approval and copy of the check without filing separate paperwork for each item. United Van Lines denied our mattress claim stating the damage was not listed on the sheet signed at delivery. Further United denies that we had 9 months to report damage and file claims and ndash; this despite emails from United representatives stating we had 9 months (see attached documentation); and the fact that United contradicted itself by approving all the other claims and ndash; all except 2 of which were not reported on the signed sheet but reported and claimed AFTER delivery. United also insists the mattress damage is minor based on overexposed photographs submitted by the first technician in which you can't even see the parts of the mattress in question. United (falsely) argues we cleaned the entire mattress and such action releases them from any liability for the mattress damage. This despite the statement in the first technician report that there is no evidence of cleaning and any attempts to clean the mattress would show. We feel United has misrepresented and misstated the facts in their responses. In United's final response ( a response that standard procedure prevents us from submitting a counter response) United introduces new and ldquo;evidenceand rdquo; and arguments. United references new documentation they claim was provided us and insists this and ldquo;documentationand rdquo; states they are only liable for damages listed on the sheet signed at delivery. In fact these and ldquo;documentsand rdquo; were not provided and we don't know if the information exists as United claims since copies of the and ldquo;documentsand rdquo; were not included in United's arbitration response. United also claims that the second technician was provided as a second opinion in response to our dispute of the denied mattress claim. This is false. The second technician completed his repairs during his sole visit to our home on 8/12/10 and United first informed us that our mattress claim was denied in a letter dated 9/28/10. It was impossible for us to dispute a denied claim when we were not yet aware it had been denied. In summary, we feel that United has failed to act in good faith and United's instructions actively caused us to proceed in a manner that is contrary to the provisions of the law governing Moving Companies e.g. They told us to take 9 months to inspect for damage but the law they cite states they are only liable for damage that is noted at the time of delivery; they do not allow adequate time for inspection for damage at the time of delivery; they offered to clean the mattress and told us we could file arbitration if the cleaning did not resolve the damage when in fact the act of cleaning would release them from further liability.

They did a great job.

The 3 service men were unfriendly and rude at times. They unpacked our mattress in the street and dragged it into the house, saying "This is how we always do it." That and the broken wine fridge didn't leave us with a positive experience.

They were very good. They were priced much more reasonably than the other companies we consulted. The vehicle was good, and their packing people did a great job as well.

They were very friendly. I made some recommendations on taking some of our furniture apart, they didn't and ended up breaking the piece of furniture. I felt that they didn't really care about breaking our furniture or safely moving it.

THEY DID NOT DO ALL OF THE WORK THAT WE HAD PAID FOR. WE HAD PAID FOR A FULL UNPACK AND SO MANY ITEMS WERE BROKEN, DUE TO THE WAY THEY PACK IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. THEY DID NOT REPLACE OR PAY FOR THE BROKEN ITEMS. THEY DID PAY FOR DAMAGE TO OUR NEW FLOORS.

THE WORKERS WERE VERY EFFICIENT. THEY QUICKLY PACKED UP EVERYTHING INTO BOXES WITHOUT ME EVEN LIFTING A FINGER. WHEN IT GOT TO CALIFORNIA, THEY SET UP EVERYTHING AND PLACED ALL THE FURNITURE WHERE WE WANTED IN OUR HOUSE.