This was the 2nd time in my entire lifetime using a moving van this past October 2024. The first time was a much better experience using a moving van line that was not Colonial. We did not have time to pack up all of our things this time, so we had to use this moving truck for the furniture and 90 boxes. The supervisor of the move and driver of the truck hired a team in TN and a team in GA to load and unload the truck. To start off, the truck arrives and then the move begins. We were told to leave everything to them.

Well my advice is never again. I explained to them what should not be taken on their truck because we needed to carry our computers and personal things in our rented U-Haul as we needed to get set up to work as soon as we got to our new house in GA. Well they took everything that wasn't supposed to go on their truck.

The supervisor disappeared for 2 1/2 hours while the TN team is waiting on him to return with more packing material and boxes. Then to their surprise, he let this team in TN go home early which meant that we were going to have to stay in TN at a hotel at our cost because half the house was still needing to be packed up. The supervisor asked if he could stay overnight and pack everything else up. That was my next mistake. I have a missing jewelry box and jewelry that I had for years along with several boxes of my husband's winter clothes that are missing. We did not miss them at first because they were winter clothes and we didn't need them yet. The next biggest mistake was not supervising the number of boxes we received in GA against what had actually been packed. The number of boxes grew significantly in TN when the supervisor stayed overnight and packed a lot of 'stuff' I wasn't going to take but we ended up paying for since I didn't find out until we unpacked what it was.

They also realized that we had a lot of 'stuff' to move and would not find out what was missing until it came time to needing them. The jewelry-earrings and bracelets-had been collected for over 50 years and is irreplaceable. Someone made out nicely for Christmas this year. There are still items that could be missing but because we had major renovations to do in our new home, that we could not unpack a lot of boxes until recently to find this out!

Then we were told that the truck would arrive on Sunday so we had a team ready to help us unpack. We also needed to get set up for work the next day. Sunday morning came and no truck and no communication. When we finally were able to track the driver down and ask his whereabouts, we were told that they don't work on Sunday! This caused us to spend another night in the hotel at our expense. And have to take another vacation day. And lose half our help because they had to go to school and work on Monday.

We felt like our stuff was being held hostage because they then said that we had to pay for the balance of the move before they would unload the truck. This was turning into a nightmare! We in turn said no! That's not how this works and that's not what we were told.

In the meantime we are trying to get our work computers off their truck-the things they weren't supposed to take in the first place-and try to find them which were buried in the truck. We needed to get set up to work!

Never use again! It was such a strange experience all the way around!

I cannot recommend Colonial. And be aware, if you try to file a claim and have posted negative comments on line they will threaten you with a "suite." I received the following email:

"Please note, once you made a negative review on the following sites (trust pilot, site jabber and the BBB), you immediately came into breach of a legal contract. Your account is currently being monitored by our legal department and if further claims, defamation or any complaints are brought against Colonial Van Lines on any platform, we will proceed to file suite; this suite will be brought before a presiding judge in Broward County Florida in which you would be required to attend."

I wonder if they are threatening with people who leave positive reviews, since I've seen many postings where they thank the person who posted.

Overall impressions:
1. If what you are moving does not completely fill their huge semi, be prepared to be without your things for some time after the truck is loaded; this includes having an alternate place to stay or being prepared to camp in your new home for several days or a week or more. This also means your furniture is bounced around on a large semi for quite a while, resulting in furniture getting torqued or otherwise damaged, and things like screws coming loose or completely out.
2. Expect dirt, bugs, etc., from the truck and other people's homes to show up in your house on delivery
3. Make sure the itemized list is complete; this could add many hours (or days) to the loading/unloading process, but you cannot trust the crew will be thorough.
4. It seemed the crew had never had nice things or, at least, did not know how to be careful in a house as evidenced by the scratches in the hardwood floor and the one guy making himself comfortable in an upholstered, antique armchair in his filthy clothes (!) without asking. Colonial needs to train their crews on how to treat people's property.
5. Be aware that Colonial makes it as time consuming and expensive as possible to file claims for loss and damage; I'm sure this has been very effective in discouraging customers from filing claims as in many cases the cost of the estimates, including transporting large items (for example., a chest of drawers or sofa) to a shop just to get an estimate, could easily exceed the cost of the repair. They will want the date of purchase, make/model, purchase price for every item on the claim. You are expected to get two estimates at your own expense and time and will not be reimbursed. In short, any damage or loss resulting from their actions will cost you, not them, more time and money than you will be reimbursed for.
6. If the driver is John R. And he is working with his daughter's boyfriend, cancel the move and hire someone else immediately.
I hired Colonial after reading the positive reviews on-line. The people at Colonial I spoke to were all very nice and reassuring, and I felt I could trust them to be careful with my things. However, while they will move you across the country, their business model is that of a long-distance hauler whose cargo happens to be people's household belongings and their primary goal is to keep the huge semi they use to transport your goods completely full. My things took up 1/4 to 1/3 of the truck. It was already partially loaded with someone else's things, and there was still some room in the truck after my things were loaded. If they get more moving jobs between picking up and delivering your furniture, they will take those on in order to minimize travelling with empty cargo space. This means your delivery window could be moved back several days, depending on how many jobs the crew picks up between loading and delivering your things. It also means your things will be in close contact with dirt and bugs from other people's houses, as well as being bounced around for several more days in a large semi. This can result in items being torqued in the move. This will result in doors and drawers no longer closing, and furniture (in my case, a 100 year old antique chair and a sofa) getting broken.
But let me start at the beginning: on moving day, the driver, John R., texted he would be at my apartment between 10 and 10:30 a.m. (Note: John instructed me several times to post a review and put his name in it, although I am not including his last name; otherwise, I would not identify him at all). That was late to start because in addition to loading things from my apartment, he had to drive to a storage unit after that to pick up some things there. John and his helper (his daughter's boyfriend, who was very inexperienced) showed up at 11:15. John filled out some paperwork, but didn't actually start loading the truck until almost 2 p.m. In those 2+ hours I learned John's daughter was pregnant by his helper and he wanted him to make money so he could support her, that John himself makes so much money that he only works half the year, he owns two houses, and his wife and daughter are very beautiful. There was no manual work done by them at all during that time. I had packed all the boxes, so all they had to do was put those and the furniture on the truck. They got a lot of texts and/or phone calls from their wife/girlfriend and spent a good deal of time on their phones. At 5 p.m. (almost 6 hours after they had shown up) they still hadn't finished loading things from the apartment, and we still had the storage unit to get to. We didn't get to the storage unit until after 7 p.m. There were five pieces of furniture and a few shelving units but no boxes and no small items to box up. We were there until after 9 pm; it was so dark they were loading the truck by the light of my headlights. When they had packed everything and closed up the truck John told me he forgot to add the storage unit items to the inventory and promised me he would add them first thing in the morning. I trusted him to do that but he never did. Luckily I had a list from the first person I spoke to at Colonial listing those things and showing the estimate included them.
I left the next morning to make sure I was at the destination before the movers and made the 2 day drive by Friday. On that Friday, John called to tell me my estimated delivery date was now 9 days away. I asked why since that was at least four days after the initial estimate and he said he had no control over that, that was Colonial's decision. I called and left a message with the person I had been dealing with at Colonial to ask about the delay. He never called me back. I called again, left another message. No return call. Three days later, I got a call from Colonial (not the person I left messages with) telling me my delivery date had now been moved up three days. I paid Colonial over $12,000 for this move and didn't think it was unreasonable to expect my things in a week when I myself had made the drive in two days, so didn't give it a second thought.
When John showed up Thursday morning (a week after initial load), the first words out of his mouth were "Are you happy?" It was an odd thing to say and was said in a belligerent tone of voice. I was so surprised I didn't I didn't respond immediately, and he repeated "Are you happy?" It seems Colonial had added two jobs to his schedule after my things were picked up, which is what caused the initial delay in delivery. They had taken those jobs away from him after I called. He was clearly upset about losing the money for those jobs and blamed me instead of Colonial, even telling me he couldn't hire additional help to unload because he had lost those jobs, although Colonial and I paid for the extra help for loading the truck. He seemed to think he was the paying customer and not me and that I owed him an explanation or an apology or something. That's something I should not have even known about, that was entirely between him and Colonial. Not only that, but I had explained to him when on pickup day that I was moving because my husband had died. Who asks a widow of less than a year if they're happy? Anway, very bad business to drag the customer into your personal issues with your employer.
So, the delivery did not start off auspiciously. The truck was filthy, and they tracked black grit and dead bugs (at least I haven't seen any live ones yet) into my house. I asked them to put all the boxes in the garage to minimize the amount of dirt they dragged in, and some of the boxes were piled upside down and some of them were crushed. They blasted loud music from their truck so everyone on the street could hear; I did get a comment from my new neighbor about that.
Everything in the truck, including the blankets they use to pack your furniture, has black gritty dirt on it, and when the blankets are pulled off it acts like sandpaper on your wood. There was not a single piece of wood furniture that was not scuffed, scratched, broken, torqued or otherwise damaged in the move. Not one. The younger guy carried in a 100-year-old upholstered armchair and plopped down on it in his filthy clothes while John just stood there and watched. To make things worse, I later found the chair had started to come apart during the move and felt lucky he didn't break the chair completely. The movers left scratches in the hickory hardwood floor, and a shelf from an armoire is missing. I've hired moving companies eight times in my life, three of them cross country, and have never had this much damage. I wonder if John may have known about the extent of the damage and did his best to hide it so he would get a tip. I didn't even know about the sofa damage I vacuumed behind it a few weeks after the move and saw the metal bar poking through the upholstery.
I've moved several times and the moving companies always had their own claims adjusters who would come out, assess damage, and offer a settlement or repair. For my most recent move prior to this one, United Van Lines had a repairman come to my house to do minor repair to a buffet/bar and he did a great job. All I had to do was report the damage and United took care of the rest. Colonial does not have any of that. They do not have claims adjusters nor do they have a network of craftsmen they work with. You will have to send them pictures of the damage, find repairmen at your own expense in a new town where you don't know anyone and send them two estimates for each instance of damage (and good luck finding people who will even respond unless it's worth their while). The customer (referred to as "the shipper", which I mistakenly took to mean Colonial) is responsible for all expenses associated with getting estimates for the damage. And I never got a straight answer, but it sounds like Colonial doesn't have to accept either estimate if they think it's unreasonable. It can be hard to find people who will come on-site to give estimates. Most expect you to bring the item into their shop, so you may have to pay to have a piece of furniture taken to the shop for an estimate, and you will not be reimbursed for that either. The one person I found who would come to the house to provide an estimate told me that he had given moving damage estimates before, but the insurance or moving company had been the one to contact him, never the customer. I have spent hours making calls and sending emails trying to find craftsmen in the small town I moved to, and have only gotten two responses. What if you can't get two estimates? What then? Many repair companies will not take on a job that is small because it's not worth their time

UPDATE: They tried to offer me $500 if I would change my review and make it positive. No thanks, they owe me a LOT more than that, I would rather other potential customers hear the truth about Colonial.

Before you book with Colonial, be sure to check out their BBB page. 275 complaints in the last 3 years as of this writing. That should tell you all you need to know: https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/pompano-beach/profile/moving-companies/colonial-van-lines-inc-*******5426

I have used a lot of moving companies over the years and they are often shady. Even these other moving companies would look at Colonial Van Lines and say "Man, those guys are complete frauds".

I should start by saying that Colonial didn't actually do my move, they contracted this company called "Re Moving America LLC". Both of these companies must be in on the racket, and I'm assuming Colonial probably uses other companies as well to participate in their schemes.

The first major issue is that they did the initial quote using their estimated number of pounds. It turns out when they actually "weighed" my move (if they actually weigh it, I wouldn't be surprised if they just pick a much bigger number out of thin air), it was about 1,000 pounds, or over 30%, heavier than their original estimate. That alone added about $900 to my original estimate. So either they are terrible at estimating weight or they are fraudulent at estimating weight, you can decide.

Secondly, immediately when they got to my location for pickup AND delivery, they started trying to add charges that weren't in my contract. These included shrink wrap on my couch and other items that were priced at about $50 an item. When I told them that I didn't want or need those services, they told me that they would not move those items then. I then had to make different calls to the moving company and finally had to have someone from the company call the foreman to tell him to move the stuff and not add the extra charges. It was exhausting to try to fight all of the extra bogus charges they wanted to add and I had to let some of them through so that the move could actually get going. Then on delivery, the leader said that it would be $75 for a "long carry", even though the door to my new building was right next to their truck. I should have literally had them measure it to prove that it was a "long carry" but it was again too exhausting to fight.

To top it all off, they also charged me almost $1,000 in "storage" fees because they tried to deliver my stuff on Sunday when I had told them that my building didn't allow weekend moves. I have submitted a BBB complaint to try to fight that charge.

And, oh yeah, they broke my lamp during the move, so their work was shoddy as well.

On the plus side, they surprisingly didn't demand my wallet at gunpoint when they left, but I'm sure that's in their business plan too if they don't get enough of your money in their usual fraudulent ways.

Bottom line, when they give you their first estimate, at least double it and perhaps triple it. If that still seems like a reasonable price, then consider rolling the dice with Colonial for your move.

Do not use this company. Almost all of our furniture was damaged, items missing/broken. They lie to you and do not return calls or emails including calls and emails to upper management (names being withheld). The President of Colonial Van Lines was aware of the total lack of communications and mishandling yet did nothing other than direct the Operations Manager to "address it". It has now been 6 months since our move and nothing has been rectified.

Colonial Van Lines picked up our items in NYC on June 30,2022 - we were told that all items would be delivered to Annapolis, MD within a 5 day window. We waited for 2 weeks with constant calls to Colonial Van Lines and received excuse after excuse as to why our shipment was never delivered. Finally on July 14th a single driver arrived with a partial shipment - he couldn't fit our entire delivery into his truck. Furthermore, he did not reassemble or bring any of our furniture or boxes to our second floor because he physically could not do it alone so all furniture and boxes were put in 1 area which made it impossible to check what was actually delivered. Boxes were crushed and some retaped, most, if not all, of the furniture was never padded and shrink wrapped as originally promised - it was merely wrapped in paper. Approximately 1 month later after countless phone calls, the remainder of our shipment was delivered. The driver had commented to us that he had been directed to the "holding cage" in the NJ storage facility and had to physically find boxes to pack our items because the original boxes had been thrown into the storage cage and strewn all over the cage.

We filed the Lost/Damaged Inventory Report and were told we would receive $183 for damages. Colonial stated that we were compensated for the guitar that was snapped in half but that the ripped couch (in all four corners), the Restoration Hardware leather sideboard and cocktail that now had chipped and damaged leather in several areas, the RH headboard and footboard that were scraped and gouged and the 50" TV with a bent frame (no longer powering on from the move) were all due normal wear and tear. Furthermore, the Operations Manager stated that damages and missing items should have been noted at delivery. My response was that everything had been crammed into 1 area and could not be properly inspected. I also asked why the driver did not notate the "wear and tear" at pick up as there was a column for notations. The Operations Manager had no response. Photos had been enclosed making it clearly obvious there was gross negligence on Colonial Van Lines part. To make matters worse, my Gucci belt, 2 YSL handbags, 1 Valentino handbag, 1 Celine handbag, AirPods, Arkeryx ski jacket and a full length mink coat were missing. Those items had been packed in 2 wardrobe boxes that had been obviously opened and retaped. Again, I spoke to the Operations Manager re this and was promised a call within the week.

It is now January 2,2023 and still no resolution for the missing/damaged items. A police report has been filed.

I have moved 4 times within NYC as well as within the US and have never had anything more than a glass damaged. This company is filled with snakes that deceive.

I am updating this review on 1-30-23. Donna at Colonial Van Lines has reached out to me regarding our move. We have arrived at a resolution that is acceptable.

If you are looking for a reliable mover, Colonial Van Lines and their affiliates are NOT that moving company.

We were given a quote based on mileage, my inventory and their "industry standards" for weight - no physical survey of my home was offered. Colonial's customer service is, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. 99% of communication with Colonial was initiated by me - Colonial RARELY returned calls. As a matter of fact, when I asked about the date for the packers, I was given a date only to have the packers arrive a day early, while I was at another appointment.

Our contract with Colonial noted that we needed to be loaded and out of the house on June 30th. Colonial agreed and gave a delivery window between July 5 and July 15th. The packers were finished and ready to load the moving van on Thursday, June 30th but the truck was not in the state so packers needed to load the following day. Colonial's moving van pulled out of my driveway on July 1. After the van had driven off, we realized that they did not load an antique brass bed in the moving trailer. I began asking Colonial how they planned to pick up my bed and add it to the load. I was initially told by Elsie (customer service account manager) that we would discuss after they had delivered all of my load.

On July 12th I called Colonial to ask when the delivery would take place. Customer service told me that the paperwork needed by finance was "just received at 5:57 pm". Customer service department planned to "expedite the paperwork" and have a final cost and the paperwork to me along with an update by 7/15. Each time I called, I continued asking about the missed bed and each time, Colonial suggested that I ship it at my expense - even though it was inventoried as being moved.

On July 20th, I was promised daily updates by my account manager, Elsie. No calls were made by Colonial and on 7/25 I began making daily calls to Colonial for updates. On July 25th I was told the truck was in Texas and the new delivery window was between 8/1 and 8/7. On July 26th I was told that the truck was still in California. When Colonial said the truck was still in California, I again asked them to pick up the missed bed and again they refused.

On 8/4, during one of my daily calls, I was told that the new delivery window was between 8/10 and 8/16. On my call 8/8, I was given a new delivery window between 8/11 and 8/13.

The truck did finally arrive on 8/13! After all of the load was delivered, I noticed some missing pieces right away. I entered the moving truck to find someone else's load on the truck with some of my furniture mixed in with their load. I am missing 7-10 pieces right now and Colonial has told me that they have not found any of my missing furniture - I highly doubt that they looked! I did find someone else's box, notified Colonial of this and as of 8/16, Colonial has not arranged to pick it up.

I asked to speak to someone from management on 8/3 and not until 8/29 did I receive a call from "Stephanie". Stephanie had not read my file and was unprepared to discuss any of the particulars in this case. She said she would review and call me back in "24 - 48 hours". By 9/9 she had not called back. I spoke to Stephanie on 8/16 and was told that Colonial had "completed the contract" and they would not be delivering my antique bed, they would only compensate me $30/day for the 28 day delay (no bed or kitchen items for 28 days), and they had not found my missing furniture or parts. She did acknowledge that I would be filing a damage/loss claim and that would be reviewed at that time.

As I continue to unpack, I continually find broken items. Colonial carefully wrapped "sturdy" items like cotton swabs but failed to wrap and protect breakables like pottery and glass. Many pictures were packed in picture boxes while others were haphazardly packed in cartons only to arrive broken.

DO NOT USE COLONIAL VAN LINES!

They break things and break promises. Showed up late and said it would repay us for lodging and meal they caused. Said they would pay for breakage on things they wrapped. They lied. Broke heirlooms. Ran furniture with casters over a ledge breaking them all. They get away with this because of laws movers as a group lobbied Congress for. Beware if you use any moving company, but be especially beware this family-owned outfit.

Details, long story.

A household move can be an "adventure". All the van lines' estimates were within a few dollars of one another. We selected Colonial Van Lines, which gave perfectly lousy service. The company gave us a "window" for pickup of August 29-31 with a promise to call us 48 hours in advance. But did not call. I called and learned it was to be the morning of the 31st. Then the van didn't show. We called again and were told that our goods would be loaded on September 1 instead. We hit the ceiling and demanded to be put up at a hotel at Colonial's expense. The company balked and then agreed, but we've not seen a cent or reimbursement yet. Moving companies have their customers at a disadvantage and exploit that fact. They've collectively lobbied Congress, with the result that they can be irresponsible robber barons. One can purchase costly, nearly worthless "insurance". Or everything is "insured for 60¢/pound.

Because no 18-wheeler (which transported several households at once) could pick up and then turn at our NC location, our household contents had to be shuttled from our home to the van using a smaller rented truck (at extra charge). The company wanted the van driver to get one from a U-Haul over an hour away (with attendant driver shuttling) but there was a U-Haul location only a mile from our home. He got one there.

After all was loaded, we had to wait for the driver to come to our house (in his detached cab; he'd returned the U-Haul truck). The hour we were told to wait became two, then three. In desperation, I called him up, because we would have to start our drive to Massachusetts. He told us that the company wouldn't at first approve of him paying the loading crew, and those three guys – thugs from Charlotte, 2½ hour's drive away were threatening to beat him up and torch the van! He finally got them paid, and I met him and signed his papers (under situational duress) on the empty U-Haul's bed.

Then we drove – well into the night, with Ruth asleep and me fighting nodding off behind the wheel – to a "pet friendly" motel in Virginia, about halfway to our friends Roger's & Rita's New Jersey home. We snuck Moxie and Coco in to avoid the pet-friendly exorbitant surcharge, ate the "Continental breakfast" of lousy orange juice and toast the next morning, and headed to NJ.

Our visit to our best friends was a pleasant break in our motor trip, which took place over the Labor Day holiday weekend. We'd thought we'd have to either drive to Cape Cod in horrendous holiday traffic, wait until Tuesday to drive, or drive up in the middle of the holiday and
Contrive to find lodging then, on Cape Cod! Colonial's crack "manager" told us the van would arrive during the holiday weekend, on Sunday, September 4. But the driver told us that he'd first make an unloading stop in Rhode Island and then would park his van above the Cape Cod Canal on the Massachusetts mainland for the night of Monday, Labor Day, September 5, and then deliver our household contents on Tuesday, September 6.

And, by the way, Colonial was misdirecting the van to Falmouth MA, some 25 miles from East Sandwich. Fortunately, we were communicating with the van driver!

September 5th was an eventful day for us. We ended our three-night sojourn with Roger and Rita and headed a bit north in New Jersey to visit my sister Naomi and husband Larry and stay overnight, nearly an hour closer to Cape Cod. Because Labor Day itself dawned cool and cloudy, prompting the horde holidaying at the shore to depart for New York City early, the drive from our friends' home to Naomi and Larry's involved me navigating back roads that I'd not seen in 55 years. There simply was no way to even get onto the Garden State Parkway, which was gridlocked to a halt. At least visiting my sister was nice.

September 6th wasn't much better for us. First, there was a drenching downpour, one that caused record flooding on our route through Northern NJ and in Providence RI. And, made our drive nerve-wracking. The former alone caused us to waste and hour in stop and go traffic. Never were we so glad to pass NY City and leave NJ. Second, our Cape Cod realtor was being difficult, with multiple phone calls to us, about fulfilling his promise and duty to receive our household goods and supervise their unloading in East Sandwich. Third, while driving we had to make and take calls to our attorney in North Carolina, who was handling our sale closing, and between Colonial Van Lines and to soothe and coax our erstwhile Cape Realtor. We were required to authorize credit card payment to Colonial Van Lines – before the driver was permitted to unlock the van for unloading. Fourth, the van did not arrive in East Sandwich until the afternoon, to the Realtor's great annoyance and the rage of the unloading crew – more thugs, this time from over an hour's drive away in Boston MA (plus holiday traffic delays). Told that they'd be unloading in the morning, they had arrived extra early. Then they became impatient to complete their job and leave, causing them to handle our household goods very roughly and carelessly. Did I mention that Tuesday, September 6, was a horrible day for us?

Our glass tabletop arrived in this condition, which wasn't noted on the forms I again signed under situational duress. That was after Colonial had packed it. Eight pieces of our China, which had been ours since our March 3,1973 wedding and which had survived seven overseas moves, including two international moves, were broken. Also broken was crystal Ruth had inherited from her parents and some which we'd purchased in Sweden – and that had survived three international overseas moves. They also broke two of our keepsake pottery mugs and some garden ornaments. Somehow, Colonial Van Lines managed to break the crown molding off our China closet, the leg off a table lamp, and the leg off a bed footboard from a bedroom set that had been handmade in Dominica. (As will be recounted following, those were repaired by our wonderful new neighbors.) They broke three pieces of the particleboard furniture Ruth uses in her sewing room. The thug unloading crew ran any heavy pieces that had caster mounts up the driveway and into the inch-high steel lip on our garage floor, ripping casters from a cedar chest and Ruth's sewing-machine workstation cabinet. They also broke the spool axle on Ruth's Singer machine.

As soon as we arrived, our realtor, Chris Crawford, shook my hand and hastened to depart. We cannot recommend him.

Finally, on November, Colonial called and said it was paying us $123 on our $800 claim. It, and other moving companies get away with things like that by having lobbied Congress to pass laws that effectively enable it. Beware if you are forced to deal with a moving company!

This company is absolute trash, do not hire them! We had a tight move schedule so we ended up having to go with Colonial because they were the only ones with availability. Well, turns out they had availability because they outsource literally everything except your "rep" who calls you and tells you false information.

It started when they gave us a 3 day move window and said they'd call 24-48 hours before the movers came to pick up our stuff. Well, a third party company called 6 hours before they were going to come get our stuff. Then they called and said actually it might be the next day but maybe still today. Then our handy Colonial rep calls and says no definitely, they'll be there tomorrow. Well surprise surprise the third party moving company then shows up 3 hours later and curses at us because we were in the middle of dinner and weren't ready (because the Colonial rep told us oh no definitely not today)!

So we had to run around in a panic trying to pack the last bit of stuff we didn't have ready yet. Not only that, but when we had talked to Colonial they said they definitely could transport our firearm. Well the third party company they hired refused to take it. So we had to find someone to buy the thing in two days because we were leaving the state shortly thereafter.

We also had them ship our car... yep, another third party contractor. Who surprise surprise got caught in a hail storm on the way cross country (Las Vegas to Delaware) and our car got completely smashed. The Colonial reps response? "Oh no that's awful... you'll have to work with the third party company to get that fixed" yeah great thank you, very helpful. Oh also our super awesome helpful Colonial rep told me the wrong name of the third party contractor for the cashiers check, so when I go to hand it to them they of course can't take it. Ended up having to scramble around and zelle payment from several different accounts to get our car released.

They gave us a three week window to have our stuff delivered and of course they call to say it's going to arrive the day before the last day of the three week window. During the three weeks they had also called and said they need to charge us extra because it was of course over their weight estimate.

So here comes the evening before our things finally get delivered and guess what, its going to be even more money. (I'm pretty sure this whole thing is an extortion racket) they need more money because they'll need to shuttle it from the 18 wheeler to our apartment building (you guys didn't notice this before when we literally told you the address our things were going to and it was an apartment!?). So we have to run out at the last minute and pick up some cash from an ATM because of course they only accept cash payments after a certain window of time.

Day of the delivery finally arrives, two grumpy guys show up in a rented Uhaul with our stuff, and proceed to unload it into the shared main entryway and hallway. Sure guys, just leave our expensive home goods in a shared hallway with no supervision, no ones going to try to steal it...

Before they would move the stuff into our apartment though they ask again for more money, because apparently our hallway from the elevator to our apartment is too long. We tell them we only have so much cash on us because no one mentioned this fee being a possibility (even though again, they knew we were in an apartment building, so they only deliver to apts right next to the elevator?). They say okay, just give us the cash you have... very professional.

In the contract it specifically states that anything they took apart they are in charge of putting back together, but they refuse and just leave. Later while putting the stuff back together pieces of our furniture are missing so we can't put them back together! I would have just sold the darn furniture if I knew I would have to pay for you to drag it cross country and then be unable to put it back together and use it! Now I have to just trash it after having paid a bunch of money to move it. Argh!

Seriously the most stressful, unprofessional unmitigated disaster of a move in my entire life, and I've moved quite a few times! DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE! If you want to retain your sanity, money and prized furniture, go somewhere else.

I am satisfied with all the efforts in my move feom Florida to Cheyenne WY Donna and the team I appreciated highly in the move.

I would give them zero stars if I could. We had such a horrible experience with Colonial Van Lines. We paid $26,000 for a nightmare that I would never want anyone to go through! Just scroll down to see the pictures! On the front end of the move from California they did not label my mother's and sister's boxes and packed them on the truck incorrectly. The items that were put in the front of the truck should've gone in the back for proper unloading. But that was the tip of the iceberg.
What was absolutely horrible was at the delivery! We called them for days asking where they were. They said they weren't to Tennessee (my mother and sister's destination) yet. Then out of nowhere they called and said the truck was at the new house. We drove there and there was no crew to unpack. The driver of the truck was a contractor and he told us that if a crew couldn't be found, he would drive back to California with all their belongings! Then, we contacted Colonial Van Lines to get help. Four hours later they sent a crew… of Spanish speaking gardeners! They even gave us their gardening business card! We couldn't tell them where to put things because they spoke no English. They put stuff everywhere and anywhere (see pics). They did no assembly, no unwrapping, no correct placement of the items. It was absolutely surreal.
We called Colonial Van Lines to tell them that we needed to hire professional movers to finish the job because my mother and sister were unable to live there and they refused! Meanwhile the actual professional crew showed up the next day and were furious! They called Colonial Van Lines and told the company that if they didn't get their wages for the day, they would expose that Colonial Van Lines was hiring possible illegal workers (I have no idea as to the legality of the workers, this is just what the movers threatened) to replace them. That got them paid fast and they were out of there. That made two crews the moving company had paid and still my family had no place to live!
Colonial Van lines only hired a professional crew to finish the job when I told them my elderly mother was living with me (because she couldn't live in the house she was meant to live in) and had almost fallen on my stairs. I guess the liability issue scared them. In the process of arranging this, they treated us like WE had done something wrong. It was complete dehumanizing. A week later (after the contract deadline) they got a real crew in there to at least assemble and unwrap things, but my mother and sister still couldn't live there because they had broken the dryer and refrigerator. When we told them my mother and sister still couldn't live their, they rudely told us to file a claim for damages.
So here we are, weeks later. We told them we were horrified with their service. They didn't care. They blamed it on covid. I told them I thought we were entitled to compensation for the nightmare experience, the fact that they didn't deliver on the contract, putting my mom in danger, etc. They offered us $380.00. A slap in the face, to say the least. Don't ever use this company unless you want the worst moving experience you could ever imagine…and then some. Just look at the pics. They speak volumes.

It was a smooth moving experience. I wasn't worried about our things at all.