We hired Protected Van Lines to move our belongings from Ewing, NJ to Mesquite, NV. We have not received our belongings.
We were originally asked to send a $750 deposit then right before the pickup upon reviewing the list of items we were moving the deposit went up to $1509.73. We received a receipt stating this is the deposited amount referencing our order number.
On August 15 the moving company called and asked if they could come the next day (so already 1 day late).
On August 16, 2016 the moving truck arrived (Rent A Truck as their truck brokedown the previous day). The mover examined the items we were moving and told us the estimate was $3,687.83.
The moving men packed the truck and did not have a scale, so they estimated by cubic feet and told us the new price was $4,548.30 and requested a deposit of $1,519.28.
The moving company paperwork stated a different name: Out of State Moving Services, 4207 Bergenline Avenue, Union City, NJ 07087 Tel: 1-877-355-7977.
The moving company called and asked us when we wanted our merchandise and we told them September 5, 2016.
When the company never called to schedule the delivery we call Protected Van Lines and were unable to get anyone on the phone. We continue to call and email daily with no response except to give us cell phone numbers of contacts from the trucking company.. which have been of no help at all. Yet we still leave messages everyday.
We have reported this situation to the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Affairs, YELP etc
Please do not use this company! They are the worst company I have ever dealt with! We hired them to move us from Kentucky to las vegas, we sold most of our things so we're only moving master bedroom and living room. We were quoted 4300 which we thought was pricey but we were on a time limit so went with it. The movers were 2 days late, they had to hire people from our town to help them move our things after my husband and I moved most of it. They now want to charge us 7100 and our things have yet to be delivered 9 days later! We had to buy them tape and cardboard because they had none. Once you pay your initial holding fer you can no longer get a hold of protected van lines, they will not answer or return your calls and voice mails. I had to write this review and hopefully save someone else from using this company and being ripped off.
Avoid this company like the plague! We’ve had a terrible experience moving from Illinois to Massachusetts with them. Over a week has now passed since our stuff was supposed to be delivered and neither Protected Van Lines (PVL) nor the carriers can even give us a rough estimate of when it will arrive.
We can only get a human being to pick up the phone about 30% of the time when we call and they won’t reply to emails. Good luck leaving messages: we keep getting a message that the voice mailbox is full. It took us 3-4 days of repeated calling their customer support before anyone even picked up.
Every time we call to ask when the carrier will arrive, they say “we’ll call you back,” and they never do. They promised us 48 hours’ advanced notice before the carrier’s arrival to pick our things up but this never happened.
It was only because we kept calling that we finally found out late the night before that the carrier would arrive the next day around noon. The carrier actually arrived at 4:00 pm.
We were told yesterday that the carrier would deliver our things today and that we would get a call with a specific time last night, “or at least 3 to 4 hours’ notice.” No call came last night or any time today. When we called and finally got someone on the phone today we were told “maybe today, maybe tomorrow.”
As the customer you have no control over which carriers PVL chooses to do business with. The carriers PVL hired were very rude and sketchy (see below).
Without any advance warning, one carrier demanded a cash-only payment of $1,000.
The carriers keep promising to call us ahead of time with arrival times but never do so. We only find out when to expect them when we call many, many times. For pickup, they were several hours late.
One truck driver collided with the fence at our pick-up location and charged “bulky item” fees for items as if they were a surprise even though we had specifically listed them to get our estimate.
When getting our estimate from PVL, we told them how many flights of stairs the movers would have to climb and were quoted a price for that. The carrier demanded 7 times that amount and we ended up paying “only” double what we were quoted.
The owner even admitted to my husband over the phone that one of the carriers was “awful”!
1. This is the condensed version of a very bad experience that is currently ongoing. I called PVL in May to set up my move. At the time we did not have a secure transfer date. The person I was working with, somebody named Tim, was very helpful, got me a good price and said we could move the date if we needed to.
2. July rolled around and still no secure date. I notified Tim who moved it out to September, just in case. The good experience ended right there.
3. In July I ended up with a move date. I emailed Tim and called him and left a message. In fact, I left several messages. Nobody ever got back to me. I kept calling his number until one day, all of a sudden, his "supervisor" Duane answered the phone. He informed me that Tim had up and quit. At this point we were a week away from the transfer. I told him what had happened, he forwarded me to somebody else who, in turn, forwarded me to somebody else. In the end I had to pay an expedite fee (which I was fine with) because things needed to be picked up on July 29th. I was told that everything was ok and to expect the movers on the 29th between 8 and 6. That's not what happened.
4. The 29th arrived and no movers. I called to discover that nobody had moved the date on the computer as they said they did and dispatch had me moving in September. I was then sent to a very nice guy named Mickey who DID go above and beyond to find us a truck. I was able to push things to August 1st, even though I had to pay another month's rent so Mickey could secure us a definite pick up. In the midst of this I had to talk to some guy in dispatch named Gary (who I just found out is the owner) who accused me of lying (which I DID NOT appreciate) about the date switching and that 'he had it on tape that I told Marissa to switch the date to September' which was NOT true. There was some mix ups with the contracts where I accidentally signed the wrong one but given that I'd been speaking to the customer service person when the final date was updated they should have caught it when it crossed their screen which they did not and neither did I. Gary took it upon himself to lecture me on what a horrible person I was. Can't say that I appreciated that much either.
5. The 1st rolls around. No movers. Tried calling PVL dispatch numerous times. Nobody answers the phone. Somebody claiming to be from the movers finally calls and says they'll be there by 12:30. 12:30, nobody. I had to call PVL incessantly before finally getting Duane and demanding to speak to somebody who could help. I was sent to Victoria. Bear in mind this was ONE WEEK AGO from today. Now I had to leave Florida, I had to be in Oregon by Friday the 5th for my new job. I couldn't wait another day and by that time the moving company was saying it would be around 5 before they got there. Then, around 2:30, they informed Victoria that they wouldn't be there until the next day. SO - our neighbor, an elderly lady, was nice enough to keep our key to let the movers in the next day. The moving company told Victoria that they would be there for pick up by noon.
6. By Tuesday at TWO EST, we were half-way across the country on the way to Oregon when our neighbor calls, wanting to know where the movers were. This prompted an incessant barrage of calls to the Protective offices where nobody could be bothered to answer, and Victoria's number suddenly didn't go to her desk anymore, the number ended up going to some guy's phone! Victoria finally calls me, I tell her what's happening with the phone numbers, she too thought that was odd (supposedly), and said she would call the moving company. I let her know that we had tried all the numbers that we had been given for the company and either they were disconnected, nobody answered or the guy that DID answer didn't speak English.
7. Our neighbor and Victoria keep calling with updates until the movers finally arrived - at 7:30pm. (So much for not working after 6 according to dispatch). The time of arrival changed over 5 times during the afternoon and into the evening. It should also be pointed out that I was not alone when all of these phone calls took place - I had the phone on speaker and my 24 year old daughter was right there listening.
8. But back to the movers...One of the movers couldn't speak English and the other mover, who barely spoke English, proceeded to harass our neighbor, demanding more money than was allotted and threatening to 'dump the stuff in Miami' if she didn't pay them. Our neighbor is a gutsy woman who wasn't taking their crap - she showed them the money order and told them they'd get the money order and that was IT and they wouldn't get it until the truck was loaded. They then proceeded to take FOUR hours to load the truck. There was no reason for this to take four hours. There was ONE room of boxes and totes, one sofa, one bedroom set and a box spring and mattress. Everything was sealed and wrapped appropriately well in advance. It shouldn't have taken them more than 2 hours. They also bitched the entire time about "dumping all this crap in Miami". They then refused to give the neighbor a receipt for the pick up and left!
8. SO it's now Weds. morning, we're over in Wyoming and Victoria calls to see if the movers ever showed up. She's not happy when I tell her what happened. She states she will call the company and see what the ETA will be given they obviously messed up the pick up. Victoria calls back to inform us that the company states the ETA will be Tuesday, August 9th. Now, I understand that the move is across country and the contract even gives them ten days but the company DID say they'd be delivering on the 9th. (Which I did not believe but, well, one can always hope...) Victoria and I discussed the attitude of the movers and agreed that this particular company doesn't look good for PVL.
9. On Friday of that week I called Victoria and actually managed to get her - she said she would double check with the company and that she would work with us until our belongings were delivered. (My husband's ashes, along with his flag and purple heart are packed in all of this so this is more than just some 'stuff' being carted across country.). The company again told her that the ETA was for Tuesday, August 9.
10. Monday, August 8th I called Victoria to check in and the number was back to going to some guy.
11.Today, Tuesday, August 9th, I called again, again with the guy. So I call Duane. He says he's going to put my file on somebody named "Melissa's" desk. She would call me. She never called. SO I called Duane back. He transferred me to a Melissa who wasn't who I needed to talk to, she sent me to some guy who was totally rude who, in turn, sent me to Stephanie...Stephanie informed me that Victoria NO LONGER WORKS THERE. She then tried the line on me that "well, it's clear across the country and it can take up to 15 to 24 days". I told her that I understood that but THIS is what has happened in the past week and I was told TWICE that the ETA was today, the 9th. I want an update regarding where my belongings are. Stephanie tells me that she'll give me her direct number and that I will work with her until this is resolved, that I don't need to talk to the moving company, I hired PVL, they'll talk to the movers. She was going to call them and call me right back. That was at 12:30 pm PST, it's now 2:00 PST and she hung up without giving me her direct number. (I couldn't call the movers even if I wanted to, all numbers we were given for them have either been disconnected or somebody who doesn't speak English answers and hangs up.)
I know and understand how complicated this sort of business is but there is no excuse for any of this. I'd demand a refund but something tells me I'd never get it - anymore than I'm going to get my belongings. At this point I doubt I'm going to be getting said belongings, everything I own - my children's pictures and baby books, my late husband's effects, my daughters' belongings, my awards for years in publishing - our entire life is pretty much on a truck driven by two guys who barely speak English and harassed an old woman before threatening to toss said belongings into the Atlantic.
I thought that working with PVL was going to be a good experience when this all started, I stand corrected and will be looking into legal recourse at this point because nobody within the PVL business structure can seem to 1.stay employed there, 2. tell the truth when they are employed there, 3. cannot or will not answer the phone (they know who's calling, our numbers show up on their caller ID, how else could Duane and Mickey call me back when I didn't even leave a message?) and 4. after all this I wouldn't recommend this company to anybody. If I could give them a negative score, I would, they owe ME stars at this point. Trust and believe, if PVL doesn't see to it that this situation ends on a satisfactory note this review will go beyond the internet and into a court room fully backed by all the witnesses who've supported my daughter and I while we've been forced to put up with this unbelievable nonsense.
This company had quoted me $2,095 when it was complete I was charged a total of $5,146. Upon arriving in Los Angeles he said I had more items and had to charge me more. But all of my things didn’t fit in the small truck they came in with and I had to get rid of lots of furniture. A week later I got a call at 4pm saying they would be at my house at 8am to deliver. I still had a balance left which only gave me an hour to get a money order, plus the non-stop phone calls. They threaten me that if I didn't have the balance my stuff would go to storage and I would pay more fees. The night before I was arguing with the company because they were still asking for more money, because I had 36 stairs but I explained that from the beginning and they said they wouldn't charge me. I still paid an additional $165 for stairs. The driver came with 2 men from Craigs list to help but left after 1hr and they said they can’t do it and it’s too hot outside.
My son and I continued to carry our stuff up 36 stairs with no help except for the driver. 3 hours later, 1 man from Craig’s list showed up in jeans & my son gave him a pair of shorts to wear and complained about moving boxes up the stairs. My son and I continue to carry boxes and unwrap all of the furniture. After it was done, both men jumped in my pool to bath and cool off. The boxes were smashed and numerous items are broken including the ones that had fragile on it. I wrote a review on yelp and they called to ask me to take it down and they would pay me $100. I feel that I deserve a refund of the additional $3,636 which is the extra amount not to mention the additional $165 for the stairs.This was not what was quoted in the beginning and I completely got ripped off.
Quoted a semi truck to pick up and load with 4 men at a cost of $4859.10 for a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment. Pick-up was to be 3/15/16. 2 non-professional movers without any moving equipment and extreme lack of experience showed up on 3/17/16 driving a Penske 24' rental truck at 4:30pm. Did not have truck completely loaded until 11:05pm. Contents of apartment were not loaded correctly and many items left behind. Delivery was 3 days late. They had stated the night before they would arrive the following day at our new apartment. When they finally did arrive 3 days late they stated the reason was because they were "held over" at the weight station by "authorities" for being overweight. The paperwork shows they had stopped at a truck stop called Travel Centers of America to weigh the truck. There are no "authorities" located there. Protected Van Lines "brokered" our move to another company. That company Interstate Express Moving demanded over $5000 more than the original estimate by Protected Van Lines once they arrived before they would unload our belongings. They would only except cash or cashiers check. If we did not pay they stated the belongings would be put in storage and we would be charged additional storage fees until we paid in full. They held our belongings hostage. We paid the additional money after numerous phone calls to both Protected Van Lines and Interstate Express Moving. I will not detail the phone calls, bottom line - it was pay more now, or pay even more later.
The two inexperienced movers who delivered our items proceeded to unload the Penske truck they rented, it took from 9am until 8pm to unload due to lack of experience, man power, numerous smoke breaks, etc. They did not put together our bed or reattach the dresser mirror to the dresser because they had broken the attachment legs off the mirror. They did not unload in a neat and orderly fashion, boxes were just tossed in rooms without any order. All the while one of the movers had his phone playing hard core profanity spewing rap during the entire unloading process. At the end of the unloading we showed one of the movers all the items we could see that were damaged, mostly furniture. He refused to document any stating they were already damaged. He had no proof of this and we did not take pictures ahead of time of every piece of furniture we own. The movers damaged the furniture and refused to acknowledge this. At this point we had already paid and were getting nowhere regarding the damage. He even had the nerve to ask us if we were going to give them a good review. I had to tell him to leave or I would call the police. Unreal! After the movers left, we had to drive back to our previous state to pick up the rest of our belongings at our additional expense. Save yourself the cost, aggravation and heartache. Do not use Protected Van Lines, they will only broker out your move to be handled by crooks and not care one bit about the outcome. Horrible experience!
They low balled moving estimate and then increased quote but couldn't explain increase. The math did not add up. Said that I would have my household goods in. 5-10 days. Twenty days later my stuff arrived, but only after arguing with them and posting a negative review on Yelp. I was refunded my deposit, but when my furniture arrived it was trashed! They do not advocate for their customer and were very unprofessional. These are just a few examples. My move from NC to FL was a total nightmare. Don't get sucked in by their 5 Star reviews. I researched these reviews and most, if not all, are made up by their own employees. Needless to say, I have filed a complaint with the DOT.
I contracted with Protected Van Lines for my move from NC to FL. Estimate increased significantly right before move. My deposit was nonrefundable at that point, so I had to argue and finally agreed to a $700. dollar increase. That was just the beginning. I was told that my household goods would be delivered in 5-10 days. Didn't get my stuff for 20 days and only after more hassle. The owner Gary refunded my deposit, partly based on a negative review that I posted on Yelp. He requested that I change my review. He seemed sincere so I agreed to this deal. Then my stuff arrived. It was trashed! Gary offered me money again because again I posted what happened on Yelp. I did not respond to Gary. I was done at this point. Then Eugene from PVL rebutted my review and minimized my experience/cocerns. He said that I was well compensated for the "few" problems that occurred. He inferred that I was in it for the money. Really! Then coincidentally, two days after my review, I began receiving tons of emails and calls from movers across the country. I received over 40 emails and 30 calls in one day. Someone requested moving quotes using my private information for a bogus made up move. Very suspect. PVL is very unprofessional. They do not advocate for their customer. All I got was excuses (i.e. we're short staffed, truck broke down). This is just a few examples of the problems I had with this company. I've filed a complaint with the DOT.
Protected Van Lines Reviews
We hired Protected Van Lines to move our belongings from Ewing, NJ to Mesquite, NV. We have not received our belongings.
We were originally asked to send a $750 deposit then right before the pickup upon reviewing the list of items we were moving the deposit went up to $1509.73. We received a receipt stating this is the deposited amount referencing our order number.
On August 15 the moving company called and asked if they could come the next day (so already 1 day late).
On August 16, 2016 the moving truck arrived (Rent A Truck as their truck brokedown the previous day). The mover examined the items we were moving and told us the estimate was $3,687.83.
The moving men packed the truck and did not have a scale, so they estimated by cubic feet and told us the new price was $4,548.30 and requested a deposit of $1,519.28.
The moving company paperwork stated a different name: Out of State Moving Services, 4207 Bergenline Avenue, Union City, NJ 07087 Tel: 1-877-355-7977.
The moving company called and asked us when we wanted our merchandise and we told them September 5, 2016.
When the company never called to schedule the delivery we call Protected Van Lines and were unable to get anyone on the phone. We continue to call and email daily with no response except to give us cell phone numbers of contacts from the trucking company.. which have been of no help at all. Yet we still leave messages everyday.
We have reported this situation to the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Affairs, YELP etc
Please do not use this company! They are the worst company I have ever dealt with! We hired them to move us from Kentucky to las vegas, we sold most of our things so we're only moving master bedroom and living room. We were quoted 4300 which we thought was pricey but we were on a time limit so went with it. The movers were 2 days late, they had to hire people from our town to help them move our things after my husband and I moved most of it. They now want to charge us 7100 and our things have yet to be delivered 9 days later! We had to buy them tape and cardboard because they had none. Once you pay your initial holding fer you can no longer get a hold of protected van lines, they will not answer or return your calls and voice mails. I had to write this review and hopefully save someone else from using this company and being ripped off.
Avoid this company like the plague! We’ve had a terrible experience moving from Illinois to Massachusetts with them. Over a week has now passed since our stuff was supposed to be delivered and neither Protected Van Lines (PVL) nor the carriers can even give us a rough estimate of when it will arrive.
We can only get a human being to pick up the phone about 30% of the time when we call and they won’t reply to emails. Good luck leaving messages: we keep getting a message that the voice mailbox is full. It took us 3-4 days of repeated calling their customer support before anyone even picked up.
Every time we call to ask when the carrier will arrive, they say “we’ll call you back,” and they never do. They promised us 48 hours’ advanced notice before the carrier’s arrival to pick our things up but this never happened.
It was only because we kept calling that we finally found out late the night before that the carrier would arrive the next day around noon. The carrier actually arrived at 4:00 pm.
We were told yesterday that the carrier would deliver our things today and that we would get a call with a specific time last night, “or at least 3 to 4 hours’ notice.” No call came last night or any time today. When we called and finally got someone on the phone today we were told “maybe today, maybe tomorrow.”
As the customer you have no control over which carriers PVL chooses to do business with. The carriers PVL hired were very rude and sketchy (see below).
Without any advance warning, one carrier demanded a cash-only payment of $1,000.
The carriers keep promising to call us ahead of time with arrival times but never do so. We only find out when to expect them when we call many, many times. For pickup, they were several hours late.
One truck driver collided with the fence at our pick-up location and charged “bulky item” fees for items as if they were a surprise even though we had specifically listed them to get our estimate.
When getting our estimate from PVL, we told them how many flights of stairs the movers would have to climb and were quoted a price for that. The carrier demanded 7 times that amount and we ended up paying “only” double what we were quoted.
The owner even admitted to my husband over the phone that one of the carriers was “awful”!
1. This is the condensed version of a very bad experience that is currently ongoing. I called PVL in May to set up my move. At the time we did not have a secure transfer date. The person I was working with, somebody named Tim, was very helpful, got me a good price and said we could move the date if we needed to.
2. July rolled around and still no secure date. I notified Tim who moved it out to September, just in case. The good experience ended right there.
3. In July I ended up with a move date. I emailed Tim and called him and left a message. In fact, I left several messages. Nobody ever got back to me. I kept calling his number until one day, all of a sudden, his "supervisor" Duane answered the phone. He informed me that Tim had up and quit. At this point we were a week away from the transfer. I told him what had happened, he forwarded me to somebody else who, in turn, forwarded me to somebody else. In the end I had to pay an expedite fee (which I was fine with) because things needed to be picked up on July 29th. I was told that everything was ok and to expect the movers on the 29th between 8 and 6. That's not what happened.
4. The 29th arrived and no movers. I called to discover that nobody had moved the date on the computer as they said they did and dispatch had me moving in September. I was then sent to a very nice guy named Mickey who DID go above and beyond to find us a truck. I was able to push things to August 1st, even though I had to pay another month's rent so Mickey could secure us a definite pick up. In the midst of this I had to talk to some guy in dispatch named Gary (who I just found out is the owner) who accused me of lying (which I DID NOT appreciate) about the date switching and that 'he had it on tape that I told Marissa to switch the date to September' which was NOT true. There was some mix ups with the contracts where I accidentally signed the wrong one but given that I'd been speaking to the customer service person when the final date was updated they should have caught it when it crossed their screen which they did not and neither did I. Gary took it upon himself to lecture me on what a horrible person I was. Can't say that I appreciated that much either.
5. The 1st rolls around. No movers. Tried calling PVL dispatch numerous times. Nobody answers the phone. Somebody claiming to be from the movers finally calls and says they'll be there by 12:30. 12:30, nobody. I had to call PVL incessantly before finally getting Duane and demanding to speak to somebody who could help. I was sent to Victoria. Bear in mind this was ONE WEEK AGO from today. Now I had to leave Florida, I had to be in Oregon by Friday the 5th for my new job. I couldn't wait another day and by that time the moving company was saying it would be around 5 before they got there. Then, around 2:30, they informed Victoria that they wouldn't be there until the next day. SO - our neighbor, an elderly lady, was nice enough to keep our key to let the movers in the next day. The moving company told Victoria that they would be there for pick up by noon.
6. By Tuesday at TWO EST, we were half-way across the country on the way to Oregon when our neighbor calls, wanting to know where the movers were. This prompted an incessant barrage of calls to the Protective offices where nobody could be bothered to answer, and Victoria's number suddenly didn't go to her desk anymore, the number ended up going to some guy's phone! Victoria finally calls me, I tell her what's happening with the phone numbers, she too thought that was odd (supposedly), and said she would call the moving company. I let her know that we had tried all the numbers that we had been given for the company and either they were disconnected, nobody answered or the guy that DID answer didn't speak English.
7. Our neighbor and Victoria keep calling with updates until the movers finally arrived - at 7:30pm. (So much for not working after 6 according to dispatch). The time of arrival changed over 5 times during the afternoon and into the evening. It should also be pointed out that I was not alone when all of these phone calls took place - I had the phone on speaker and my 24 year old daughter was right there listening.
8. But back to the movers...One of the movers couldn't speak English and the other mover, who barely spoke English, proceeded to harass our neighbor, demanding more money than was allotted and threatening to 'dump the stuff in Miami' if she didn't pay them. Our neighbor is a gutsy woman who wasn't taking their crap - she showed them the money order and told them they'd get the money order and that was IT and they wouldn't get it until the truck was loaded. They then proceeded to take FOUR hours to load the truck. There was no reason for this to take four hours. There was ONE room of boxes and totes, one sofa, one bedroom set and a box spring and mattress. Everything was sealed and wrapped appropriately well in advance. It shouldn't have taken them more than 2 hours. They also bitched the entire time about "dumping all this crap in Miami". They then refused to give the neighbor a receipt for the pick up and left!
8. SO it's now Weds. morning, we're over in Wyoming and Victoria calls to see if the movers ever showed up. She's not happy when I tell her what happened. She states she will call the company and see what the ETA will be given they obviously messed up the pick up. Victoria calls back to inform us that the company states the ETA will be Tuesday, August 9th. Now, I understand that the move is across country and the contract even gives them ten days but the company DID say they'd be delivering on the 9th. (Which I did not believe but, well, one can always hope...) Victoria and I discussed the attitude of the movers and agreed that this particular company doesn't look good for PVL.
9. On Friday of that week I called Victoria and actually managed to get her - she said she would double check with the company and that she would work with us until our belongings were delivered. (My husband's ashes, along with his flag and purple heart are packed in all of this so this is more than just some 'stuff' being carted across country.). The company again told her that the ETA was for Tuesday, August 9.
10. Monday, August 8th I called Victoria to check in and the number was back to going to some guy.
11.Today, Tuesday, August 9th, I called again, again with the guy. So I call Duane. He says he's going to put my file on somebody named "Melissa's" desk. She would call me. She never called. SO I called Duane back. He transferred me to a Melissa who wasn't who I needed to talk to, she sent me to some guy who was totally rude who, in turn, sent me to Stephanie...Stephanie informed me that Victoria NO LONGER WORKS THERE. She then tried the line on me that "well, it's clear across the country and it can take up to 15 to 24 days". I told her that I understood that but THIS is what has happened in the past week and I was told TWICE that the ETA was today, the 9th. I want an update regarding where my belongings are. Stephanie tells me that she'll give me her direct number and that I will work with her until this is resolved, that I don't need to talk to the moving company, I hired PVL, they'll talk to the movers. She was going to call them and call me right back. That was at 12:30 pm PST, it's now 2:00 PST and she hung up without giving me her direct number. (I couldn't call the movers even if I wanted to, all numbers we were given for them have either been disconnected or somebody who doesn't speak English answers and hangs up.)
I know and understand how complicated this sort of business is but there is no excuse for any of this. I'd demand a refund but something tells me I'd never get it - anymore than I'm going to get my belongings. At this point I doubt I'm going to be getting said belongings, everything I own - my children's pictures and baby books, my late husband's effects, my daughters' belongings, my awards for years in publishing - our entire life is pretty much on a truck driven by two guys who barely speak English and harassed an old woman before threatening to toss said belongings into the Atlantic.
I thought that working with PVL was going to be a good experience when this all started, I stand corrected and will be looking into legal recourse at this point because nobody within the PVL business structure can seem to 1.stay employed there, 2. tell the truth when they are employed there, 3. cannot or will not answer the phone (they know who's calling, our numbers show up on their caller ID, how else could Duane and Mickey call me back when I didn't even leave a message?) and 4. after all this I wouldn't recommend this company to anybody. If I could give them a negative score, I would, they owe ME stars at this point. Trust and believe, if PVL doesn't see to it that this situation ends on a satisfactory note this review will go beyond the internet and into a court room fully backed by all the witnesses who've supported my daughter and I while we've been forced to put up with this unbelievable nonsense.
This company had quoted me $2,095 when it was complete I was charged a total of $5,146. Upon arriving in Los Angeles he said I had more items and had to charge me more. But all of my things didn’t fit in the small truck they came in with and I had to get rid of lots of furniture. A week later I got a call at 4pm saying they would be at my house at 8am to deliver. I still had a balance left which only gave me an hour to get a money order, plus the non-stop phone calls. They threaten me that if I didn't have the balance my stuff would go to storage and I would pay more fees. The night before I was arguing with the company because they were still asking for more money, because I had 36 stairs but I explained that from the beginning and they said they wouldn't charge me. I still paid an additional $165 for stairs. The driver came with 2 men from Craigs list to help but left after 1hr and they said they can’t do it and it’s too hot outside.
My son and I continued to carry our stuff up 36 stairs with no help except for the driver. 3 hours later, 1 man from Craig’s list showed up in jeans & my son gave him a pair of shorts to wear and complained about moving boxes up the stairs. My son and I continue to carry boxes and unwrap all of the furniture. After it was done, both men jumped in my pool to bath and cool off. The boxes were smashed and numerous items are broken including the ones that had fragile on it. I wrote a review on yelp and they called to ask me to take it down and they would pay me $100. I feel that I deserve a refund of the additional $3,636 which is the extra amount not to mention the additional $165 for the stairs.This was not what was quoted in the beginning and I completely got ripped off.
Quoted a semi truck to pick up and load with 4 men at a cost of $4859.10 for a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment. Pick-up was to be 3/15/16. 2 non-professional movers without any moving equipment and extreme lack of experience showed up on 3/17/16 driving a Penske 24' rental truck at 4:30pm. Did not have truck completely loaded until 11:05pm. Contents of apartment were not loaded correctly and many items left behind. Delivery was 3 days late. They had stated the night before they would arrive the following day at our new apartment. When they finally did arrive 3 days late they stated the reason was because they were "held over" at the weight station by "authorities" for being overweight. The paperwork shows they had stopped at a truck stop called Travel Centers of America to weigh the truck. There are no "authorities" located there. Protected Van Lines "brokered" our move to another company. That company Interstate Express Moving demanded over $5000 more than the original estimate by Protected Van Lines once they arrived before they would unload our belongings. They would only except cash or cashiers check. If we did not pay they stated the belongings would be put in storage and we would be charged additional storage fees until we paid in full. They held our belongings hostage. We paid the additional money after numerous phone calls to both Protected Van Lines and Interstate Express Moving. I will not detail the phone calls, bottom line - it was pay more now, or pay even more later.
The two inexperienced movers who delivered our items proceeded to unload the Penske truck they rented, it took from 9am until 8pm to unload due to lack of experience, man power, numerous smoke breaks, etc. They did not put together our bed or reattach the dresser mirror to the dresser because they had broken the attachment legs off the mirror. They did not unload in a neat and orderly fashion, boxes were just tossed in rooms without any order. All the while one of the movers had his phone playing hard core profanity spewing rap during the entire unloading process. At the end of the unloading we showed one of the movers all the items we could see that were damaged, mostly furniture. He refused to document any stating they were already damaged. He had no proof of this and we did not take pictures ahead of time of every piece of furniture we own. The movers damaged the furniture and refused to acknowledge this. At this point we had already paid and were getting nowhere regarding the damage. He even had the nerve to ask us if we were going to give them a good review. I had to tell him to leave or I would call the police. Unreal! After the movers left, we had to drive back to our previous state to pick up the rest of our belongings at our additional expense. Save yourself the cost, aggravation and heartache. Do not use Protected Van Lines, they will only broker out your move to be handled by crooks and not care one bit about the outcome. Horrible experience!
They low balled moving estimate and then increased quote but couldn't explain increase. The math did not add up. Said that I would have my household goods in. 5-10 days. Twenty days later my stuff arrived, but only after arguing with them and posting a negative review on Yelp. I was refunded my deposit, but when my furniture arrived it was trashed! They do not advocate for their customer and were very unprofessional. These are just a few examples. My move from NC to FL was a total nightmare. Don't get sucked in by their 5 Star reviews. I researched these reviews and most, if not all, are made up by their own employees. Needless to say, I have filed a complaint with the DOT.
I contracted with Protected Van Lines for my move from NC to FL. Estimate increased significantly right before move. My deposit was nonrefundable at that point, so I had to argue and finally agreed to a $700. dollar increase. That was just the beginning. I was told that my household goods would be delivered in 5-10 days. Didn't get my stuff for 20 days and only after more hassle. The owner Gary refunded my deposit, partly based on a negative review that I posted on Yelp. He requested that I change my review. He seemed sincere so I agreed to this deal. Then my stuff arrived. It was trashed! Gary offered me money again because again I posted what happened on Yelp. I did not respond to Gary. I was done at this point. Then Eugene from PVL rebutted my review and minimized my experience/cocerns. He said that I was well compensated for the "few" problems that occurred. He inferred that I was in it for the money. Really! Then coincidentally, two days after my review, I began receiving tons of emails and calls from movers across the country. I received over 40 emails and 30 calls in one day. Someone requested moving quotes using my private information for a bogus made up move. Very suspect. PVL is very unprofessional. They do not advocate for their customer. All I got was excuses (i.e. we're short staffed, truck broke down). This is just a few examples of the problems I had with this company. I've filed a complaint with the DOT.