Lawrence Transportation Systems

The dumpster was delivered very quickly, and the company proved to be quite patient and understanding as to all the weather, materials & manpower delays for our project. Pick-up was also handled very quickly. Ron is very easy and professional to deal with. Highly recommend this company for all containers needs.

It went extremely well, I called early January and they dropped it off later that day. I am very happy with the services, and I am already booked to rent from them again later this month for the 2nd half of my housing project. Very satisfied!

Service was excellent. BAC was flexible with timeline for returning dumpster. They were on time for drop off and pick up. Communication was on point.

A note on the cost.... I only moved a half hour down the road! As another poster said, it took a week for them to get a salesperson out to do the "survey". Then another 3 days to give me an estimate. Kind of odd since the salesperson had a tablet with all the software on it and movers I used in the past were able to give me an estimate on site. But the salesperson seemed bright, and while the initial estimate was a little higher than I would have liked, it didn't seem totally unreasonable. But that is where the romance ends. The salesperson was off on their weight estimate by almost 6,000 lbs! I think it was a "bait and switch" situation....they low ball the original weight to get you to sign and then "get you" with the actual weight. That little error increased the cost by almost $3000.00! Yes, actual weight will not always be the estimated weight, but to be off by that much is incompetent at best. (BTW, nothing was "hidden" up in an attic or shed, etc.) The next issue I had was that I contracted with them to do "some packing". I only asked them to pack the kitchen and master bedroom. That's 2 rooms out of a 7 room house and two car garage. The sales person said he'd put it at 40% of the total weight for now, and if it was less it could be scaled back later. Well guess what didn't get scaled back??? The actual shipping weight came out to 20,840 lbs. All they packed was 7 wardrobes, 5 dish packs and about 10 misc sized boxes and they didn't even complete the assigned rooms. I had to finish them! There is NO way what they packed constitutes 40% of a 20,000 lb load. Even after I disputed the charges, they still sent me a bill for the full 40%. Guess what is NOT getting paid? Should I write about the damage? Might as well since you've stayed with me this long. An oak bookcase was literally destroyed. The back panel was split open and the bottom knocked out of the drawer...and I can't find the shelves! Another bookcase has the trim hanging off the front and those shelves are MIA too, (Why did they remove the shelves and what did they do with them???) A wood cabinet has a chunk out of the top and they snapped a door pull off an antique Victrola. Some drinking glasses were broken because they packed them stacked inside each other without paper in-between them. There are a lot more little things like dings and scratches on the furniture. I can't tell you if they'll honor my claim as I haven't filed it yet, but given how they do business I don't think it will go well.

We hired Laurence Transportation to move our house hold goods because it was company used by our employers. It took them about a week to get the survey done. We had some items in our garage which were included in the survey. The driver refused to to drive the truck and pick up what was in the garage. Some of the items that were packed never made it. They sent out a claim form and refused to pay it. They delivered the goods COD we had a money order for the pick up they claim it never made it to the office. They are now taking to to collections. My question is how does a driver drop goods off and not collect payment. Also send a claim form and not pay on it.

The packers arrived 30 minutes early and were very professional. I was still packing. The men took out all of the things that had been packed in boxes, removed the furniture, and patiently waited as I continued packing. I did not feel rushed. The delivery took place on a Friday and I left Roanoke, VA on Saturday via airplane.

Brian Barringer came to my house, inventoried my belongings, and provided me with a quote. Brian patiently worked with me for several months, for initially I was trying to do a short sale on my house. The movers arrived 30 minutes early but they were very nice and professional. They even patiently waited while I continued packing once they arrived. My items were moved on 9/27/13. LaTia Bryant was my Move Coordinator. At the time of the move, I did not have an apartment in Chicago, IL so Brian and LaTia worked with me to delay delivery of my items in Chicago in order to give me time to find an apartment. I arrived in Chicago, 9/28. Luckily, I found a spacious 3 bedroom apartment Monday, 9/30. I signed a lease 10/1, paid my security deposit and October rent. LaTia and I spoke daily concerning my move and I provided her with the address of my new apartment. The movers arrived 10/8 and even offered to arrange the furniture in the rooms! LaTia has contacted me after the move and I was very thankful for a stress free move. I know when I spoke with Brian and LaTia they promised they would do everything they could to make my move stress free and they delivered! Thank you Brian, LaTia, and movers for the best move ever! Nothing was broken or damaged! Janet Clement-Kamara

Great!!!

They were very easy to work with. The move included moving my washer and dryer and oriental rugs. Everything turned out very well with the move. Regina was very responsive with my needs and questions. They were very interested in customer service and wanted to make sure I was happy and satisfied with the service.

This service included packing and a cross-country move paid for by new employer and storage of moved items paid for personally. Our packers were courteous and extremely hard-working. They completed work in less than the time required. The company was willing to work with us to deliver our goods to three different locations--workplace, temporary apartment, and their storage facility. The packing team also unloaded our goods at the workplace and apartment, and all seemed to go well. The majority of our belongings were stored at their facility. The storage cost apprx. $400/month. Once our home search had continued for 3 months, we determined that continued storage would cost us too much. We researched other storage options and found a climate-controlled storage unit that could house all of our belongings for $98/month. (The Lawrence storage was not climate-controlled.) We paid the company to unload our belongings and pack them into the storage unit. This gave us the opportunity to check furniture for damage and to open the high value item boxes as well. They were once again easy to work with. We learned during this process that our belongings had been repacked into wooden crates. One of our crates must have been dropped because the boxes were somewhat crushed and larger items were damaged. All of the damage that we found was covered or repaired by the company, and we found how they dealt with this to be reasonable. Of course, it was still upsetting that a number of items were damaged. A couple of months later we were finally able to unpack everything. After experiencing the damage, repacking, and high prices we went with another moving company for the last of the move. As we unpacked we found damage to a multitude of other items that we were unable to see before. Items that could not stand heat had melted/warped--electronics, plastics. A number of smaller fragile items had broken, and we found other furniture damage that we could not see while furniture was still wrapped. Finding a damaged item per box has become the norm during the unpacking process. Since we had moved our items to a different storage unit and used other movers for the final end of the move, we understood that we could not claim these other damages as we found them. We are quite certain that the damage mentioned above happened while using Lawrence as we had the climate controlled storage unit and were able to carefully watch our movers from the other compnay for the final portion of the move.

We have had very good luck with their drivers and workers. They are very prompt, efficient, and professional.

I have used them for several moves in the past. They really do an incredible job with moving. They are able to store items as well as actually moving them. They employees are very personable and I have never had anything broken. They are able to store things until I am ready for them to be delivered. I have some china and antiques that have never been broken by them.

It was a personal move, out of our pocket. We paid for the most expensive insurance through them. I worked with the sales woman who surveyed our house and goods. I told her the pieces which I was most concerned about and she said she would make sure to get the right driver and they would handmade crates for our most valuable pieces, at of course, additional cost. Our move included two trucks of household goods and cars. We paid the most expensive way to get it moved. The dining room table was damaged along with a neon sign. The movers were supposed to have me inspect everything that was high value prior to them leaving. Although no one in the office can produce a form that states this, nor did I sign anything that states all high value items would be inspected prior to the movers leaving and only after I filed the claim did anyone mention this point. Boxes were piled on the dining room table as to hide the damage. The next day when I was moved the boxes off the table, I immediately called regarding the dining room table to see if someone wanted to come out right away since it was so expensive, $6300. I was told to put it on the claim form, as I only could file one claim. They are now saying it was damaged prior to being crated and that it was already like that. My sales person agreed with me that it wasn’t, but the driver who is ultimately responsible, said it was damaged before. The neon sign, they are claiming was unwrapped, uncrated and turned it on and showed to me that it worked, but none of that happened, with the exception of it being uncrated. Why would they choose that one piece out of all the high value to check when many other items were still wrapped? Plus, they reinbursed me for a piece of crystal which was damaged that was also in a high value box. Obviously, they didn't want to pay for the expensive items. So after paying for the full coverage insurance and extra hand made crates, I received a letter today saying they were not going to do anything about it. They said it was my fault that I did not check ALL high value before the movers left. We went through the house prior to packing and they were pointing things out to me that things that were already scratched or bruised that were much less expensive things, so why wouldn’t you do it with a $6300 table? I just think someone needs to know that they back their drivers no matter how much insurance you have purchased. The drivers name is Otis Oakes and he is really a crook. He was much more worried about the cost of my home (which he asked) than taking care of your household merchandise.

My wife and I were forced to use Lawrence Transportation because they have a contract with the company who hired us even though we had already obtained estimates for our transcontinental move to Roanoke and those estimates were all lower than Lawrence's estimate by $5000 to $7000. Lawrence Transportation gave us a moving date and my wife took time off work and traveled back to San Francisco to orchestrate the move. The first problem occurred when they showed up a day late and then it took at least 48 hours longer than planned to load the truck since they did not take into consideration the logistical problems of moving in San Francisco's tiny streets. This caused my wife to take additional time off from work and incur additional travel expenditures to complete the move these expenses were never recovered. The workers who loaded our truck did not put protective coverings down on the floor and soiled the carpets of our home and my wife had to hire and pay for a professional carpet cleaner before we could be released from occupancy. The workers left trash and empty alcohol containers on the premises after they left. The worst part of the entire moving experience occurred at our destination. The movers lost all of the assembly hardware for our lamps and any furniture that required dis-assembly and and assembly. During the move, numerous items were destroyed or damaged, including a coffee table, end table, coffee pot, desk and hutch, - the list is too log to enumerate here. Our entire garage was filled with broken, scratched, and the useless furniture that could not be assembled because they lost all of the hardware. We have pictures of the damaged items as documentation. We complained about the damage and the loss of the hardware items and Lawrence Transportation was unresponsive, difficult to contact and uncooperative. For several weeks after they unloaded our truck, their only response was to send several movers to our house to try to assemble the our belongings necessitating numerous trips to local hardware and furniture stores to buy substitutes for the hardware they lost. They also said that our only recourse for the damaged items was to file damage claims and they would be addressed by a claims adjuster for United Van Lines - their parent company. A claims adjuster finally visited our home several months later and viewed all of the damaged items and refused all of our claims writing that the damage to our furniture and belonging was done prior to the move. In the final analysis this move ended up costing us nearly $30,000 - much more than their original estimates and they never owned up to the damages they wrought either to our home in San Francisco or to our belongings here in Roanoke. We moved a car in the truck and they double charged us for that - once in the initial bill of lading and added additional charges after the fact which they submitted to our company and we were forced to pay. All aspects of this move were a total nightmare, and the management of Lawrence Transportation was arrogant, unresponsive and they never even apologized. At one point, United Van Lines did issue a small check to pay for the damage that the movers caused to our home in San Francisco, but we never cashed the check, because doing so would have negated any future attempts to recoup the hundreds of dollars of damage they did to our furniture, appliances and belongings. I would absolutely never use this company again for any move and indeed both my wife and I have gone on to use other local moving concerns and have encountered none of these problems. As one last recourse we complained to the Better Business Bureau and after weeks of inaction, they effectively killed our public complaint by referring our complaint to the BBB of St. Louis, the home of the Corporate headquarters of United Van Lines. Numerous attempts to follow up on those complaints were futile as the BBB of St Louis claimed they never received the complaints as did the National Office of United Van Lines. It is our sincere hope that fellow residents of the Roanoke area take our experience into consideration when planning moves to or from the area.

Excellent estimate, prompt arrival on day of move, storage facility is first class.

They were good; there were no issues.