Reviews for NORTH AMERICAN VAN LINES - Moving Companies ...

Only down side was one of our boxes got crushed and a cup got damaged but after reading some of these stories I really can't complain. North American Van Lines The move was very smooth and other then the price we had no complaints. We had previously moved ourselves with a rental truck. The estimator did not try to hard-sell, simply estimated our load and gave us a price. Balazs, owned his own truck, a spotless and well-maintained machine. His pride of ownership showed in everything he did. He packed well, told us when he would show up on our doorstep, called us 24 hours prior to delivery to verify, and unloaded and placed everything in the house. Balazs missed one small box from the kitchen during the unload and called us the next day to let us know he would UPS it to us. Our experience was just simply tops__________________ Was this review helpful. The service is second to none and we can always count on a professional crew. I have used North American Van Lines a few times and each move has been better then the previous. I got many moving quotes that were cheaper but after reading all the moving reviews I figured a few more dollars was better then an ulcer. Since we had only been in Boise, ID, for one year, you can imagine I was not thrilled to be moving so soon, especially since we have teenage children. One condition I put on hubby was that I was not going to pack anything and wanted to have professional movers. Our State manager agreed to give us several thousand dollars to help pay for the move. The amount was basically enough to cover a U-Haul move, so we decided to splurge and we obtained quotes from professional movers. I could not believe the amount of variance between quotes. Both Atlas and Allied quoted us over $9,000 for a full-pack move. They also did not guarantee any price, which means if the estimator did not estimate correctly we might have had to come up with extra money before the driver would unload our items. The quote was about $1,500 less than the other two moving companies. Based on the fact that we were paying for some of the move, we decided to go with North American. She came out to my house, took all the information quickly and provided me with a written quote the next day. Once we decided to hire them, she was our "relocation consultant" and was with us the entire move making sure everything went well. She is now helping us deal with one minor issue that occured once we got to Phoenix. I did leave all the icky, breakable stuff to their expertise. I did not pack anything in the kitchen, garage, clothes, kid's rooms, electronics, etc. I was able to save some money by packing up all the non-breakable items, so I did. One item to note on the insurance that comes with your move. If you pack the item and it breaks, it is not covered by the insurance, so make sure to let them pack anything you feel you might not be able to pack well. There was a group of three guys and they were busy beavers. They had my whole house packed up in less than one day. They probably could have done even more, but they sort of spread out their day with a leisurely lunch and several breaks. They were very careful with the items and labeled all the boxes properly. I am still unpacking; however, not one single item has been broken or damaged in this move. The only down-side is I have TONS AND TONS of packing paper to get rid of now, but that's ok with me. All my precious items are intact and as beautiful as ever. We originally scheduled them to come on Tuesday, but due to time constraints, our consultant asked if we could do a two-day load. The way the loading and unloading is handled is the driver is the "supervisor" of the loaders/unloaders. He came through the house and took a visual inventory of what we had, then came up with a plan for the loaders. He told them what to do and they did it with skill and ease. They decided to complete the upstairs on Tuesday, which was done by about 1:00 p. He was going to be to our place in Phoenix, Monday morning and would call us on Sunday. As promised, he called on Sunday to get specific directions and said he would see us Monday morning. He had two unloaders with him and they began the unloading process. I was very surprised at the detail this company provided inventory-wise. When the items were loaded, every single box or item was stickered with an inventory tag and listed on a sheet. When they unloaded the truck, I was in charge of checking off each number to make sure it arrived. There are a couple dings in our stairwell, which we will need to get repaired and we also believe there was a theft of two Ipods from the teenagers' rooms. We are working with our consultant on those issues, and it should not be an problem, as we did have insurance purchased. Other than those two minor issues, the move was PERFECT. We have used the U-Haul method about seven times prior to this move and it is just SOOOOO stressful and a big pain. Even though the price of this move was $7200, it was WELL WORTH IT. I had relatively little stress and did not have to pack anything I did not want to. My husband did not have a sore back from lifting 2800 square feet of boxes and furniture, and we did not have to impose on friends and family to help us. Our North American agent was superb in every way; they protected our floors and wrapped our furniture extremely well. We moved intrastate in Texas each time and they are a first class outfit. He made the entire experience of moving from Atlanta, GA to Norwood, MA a dream - superb truck packer, organizer, excellent to work with, couldn't do enough to ensure our comfort. The crews at both ends were more than competent - they listened, they cared about our things, they were neat and smooth - no wasted time or motion. Move out, from a ranch with a 270' long carry took less than six hours. Move in, to a two level townhome, with everything in the correct room, and correctly placed (bookcases neatly arranged along the walls and book boxes in the middle of the study - with a little path so we could easily unpack and store) took under five hours. Boxes were stacked with the labels out so we could read contents easily; heavy boxes were placed under light boxes so nothing was crushed; everything one might possibly hope for occurred. He made the entire experience of moving from Atlanta, GA to Norwood, MA a dream - superb truck packer, organizer, excellent to work with, couldn't do enough to ensure our comfort. The crews at both ends were more than competent - they listened, they cared about our things, they were neat and smooth - no wasted time or motion. Move out, from a ranch with a 270' long carry took less than six hours. Move in, to a two level townhome, with everything in the correct room, and correctly placed (bookcases neatly arranged along the walls and book boxes in the middle of the study - with a little path so we could easily unpack and store) took under five hours. Boxes were stacked with the labels out so we could read contents easily; heavy boxes were placed under light boxes so nothing was crushed; everything one might possibly hope for occurred. The Movers we met were very nice and quite personable. They picked up all our stuff on time, and delivered on time. We also got some free used-boxes from A-1 Freeman for our own packing, so it was pretty good. We did look into renting a truck and hire separate movers to move the boxes in-and-out of the truck. But after doing a comparison, we went with the full moving service from A-1 Freeman. Their price is more expensive, but it saved us some trouble from doing the move ourselves, and it was worth it. We did have some miscommunication over the real weight of all our stuff, since we were positive that the real weight was lower than what they have estimated. So it seems that the agent you use determines whether you would have good experience or not. My company also uses A-1 Freeman for some move jobs in the past, and they are also pretty happy with A-1 Freeman. Money also came into focus, as the company who had transferred my husband to Denver,Colorado, only allowed us 5000. Three bedrooms, kitchen, garage, office, living room and a full pantry. The price estimates ranged from $4,800 to 5,600 dollars. That was loading packed items onto the truck, driving from Los Angeles to Denver, and unloading the items off the truck. After two companies failed to show up for appointments, they were taken off my list of possible movers. North American showed up and did a great job they where fantastic and the price was right. I actually planned to spend the rest of my life there. My new employer authorized a relocation package, then sent my information to another office, which contacted me. I gave them some more information, and my next call came from North American Van lines. The estimator came to my apartment to look at my things. I didn't have many things at all, just a waterbed, computer desk, and clothes, books, and junk that you pick up along the way. The estimator brought a hand held computer, which he punched information into. My employer authorized me 1000 pounds, which I guess I was far under. I got another call from North American soon after, telling me that my pickup would be at eight in the morning the day before I was set to leave. I had already gotten an apartment set up in New Jersey, so I had a delivery address. About seven thirty that morning I went over to a neighbor's apartment. He was having donuts and coffee for his brother, and invited me over. He was also going to take my bird, which I wasn't going to move across country. Since my last few days had been busy, I didn't have time to pack at all. My old ship had just come back from a deployment, and a lot of my friends wanted to get together with me before I moved away for good. The movers told me not to worry "It's better for you if we pack it, since it's insured that way". I had already taken everything that was going with me back to my bedroom, so I told them to pack the stuff in the bedroom, except for the pile in the corner, which was going in the car with me. When they left, I was wondering where I left a bag of trash that I had while I was cleaning. Just as the moving van pulled away, my apartment complex in New Jersey called. They told me that the unit I rented had a tenant with trouble moving out, but they had another unit they could put me in. I made the 2700 mile drive in three and a half days. They told me my drop off would be at ten in the morning and gave me the date. I wish I could have been earlier, because by then my back hurt from sleeping on the floor and sitting against the wall. The day of the delivery, I got off work and was home by ten. Sure enough, the truck was already there looking for a place to park. Sadly, that was the first and ONLY delivery or service call or anything that I've had on time since I've been in New Jersey. The driver and his helper off loaded the truck while I held the clipboard and checked off the boxes and items that came in. Then I signed the paperwork, and they went on their way. Over the next several months, North American kept sending me claims forms. I had trouble with that, because all of my meager belongings made it in one piece, and I got everything except two coffee cups and the power cord for my scanner. I personally was very happy with the service that I got from North American. I think my company has some kind of agreement with them, which could explain why. That move went really smooth, everyone was friendly and helpful to me, and all my things made it. I would like to say though, that recently after I got married and my wife and I sold a condo that I bought, we went looking for online quotes for moving companies. It was five weeks between selling the condo and closing on our house, and we needed a professional moving and storage company. Out of all the quotes we solicited, North American was the slowest to get back to us. In fact, they didn't call back from our online request until after we'd contracted another moving company. I wish they had called sooner, because our experience with that company wasn't pleasant, but that's another story. Our instThe packers arrived the day before the movers, and they were very polite and courteous. They packed with amazing efficiency, and were very careful with our belongings. They packed our stuff into very sturdy boxes, and took extra care to make sure none of our things were broken. There were 2 father/son teams, and another gentleman who loaded and moved our belongings. First off, they came in and protected our floors, walls, and even put down carpet protector throughout most of the home. Once they were finished protecting the home, the loading of our stuff took place in an orderly fashion for sure. So, I was a little nervous, but figured there was no way I was moving three adults, three cars, five cats, a horse-dog and an infant AND all of our furniture 1,200 miles. When we listed our home, we immediately got buried in postcards from companies wanting our business. I picked out a few postcards I liked -- real scientific -- and thought I'd call them for quotes. Someone at church mentioned a local company and I looked and it was one of the postcards I pulled out. One was really pushing back against me, unhappy about having to schedule an estimator outside of work hours, unhappy about the short window in which we had to work and on and on and on. They sent out a guy who showed up on a Saturday morning and walked through the entire house with me. There was a few items we weren't sure if we were taking or not, so we had them included so that if anything, the price might be lower than the estimate. Now, I had no clue how Moving Companies did their estimate and I was skeptical that they were just going to give me a number and I'd have no way to quantify it. When the estimator, Jim, arrived, he sat down and explained to us all about how the moving process works. Then he pulled out a handheld barcode scanner and a laminated sheet just covered with barcodes. Each time he'd enter a new room, he'd scan something indicating the room. Then for each thing we looked at, he had another barcode for that. The process went very quickly, although he explained that estimates were harder with sealed boxes because he it was more guessing about the contents, especially if the boxes weren't labelled well. While it was printing I asked him "So, do you ever hear back on how close you were on your estimates. I work in computers, I should have assumed that this industry is no different than any other. He said he gets his statistics every month and he nearly always tracks within 10% of his estimate. I figured if they were that much trouble just to get them to agree to come out so I could consider giving them a huge sum of money, that maybe they probably wouldn't be competitive. One of the things he reminded us of is that some items cost more to ship than they cost to buy, like flour and rice and stuff like that. So as we prepared for the move, we tried to be ruthless in our sorting, repeating the mantra over and over again "Do we really want to pay to move this. The Load Right on time, day of, the gigantic Moving Truck rolled up. There were three guys, the driver, a mover and a second mover. Typically there are two guys, but the driver has the option of hiring day laborers out of his own pocket so he brought along a third guy to make the job go even quicker. They came through and looked at everything we wanted moved and then pulled out these rolls of colored numbered stickers. As they went, they made a list so that they'd know what each sticker went with. There were several items I was unsure what to deal with, like a mirror and some computer monitors. The driver/mover said that he was very confident that he could wrap them in blankets and get them there in one piece. Bulky stuff like the dining room table was disassembled. All the pieces used to hold it together were sealed in a plastic bag and affixed to the object they came from. They loaded and loaded and loaded, like they were playing some weird 3D game of Tetris where all of our belongings were the game pieces. The boxes were not always placed right-side up, if it the fit better another way. Which is why they recommend packing very carefully, or better yet, letting them do all the packing. Fortunately we double hefty-bagged them and put them in a garbage can inside a box. And then the truck rolled away with a two day window of when it might arrive on the other end, the day after our expected arrival or the day after that. After the truck left our place it went to some place south of L. But during our travel, we got a call from the local Moving Company back in Glendale. We found out that we had a daily limit because it was a checkcard. We were able to get an increase, but it still wasn't enough to cover it. They were happy to spread the payment out over a few days. When the movers arrive at the destination, they will tell you how much it really weighed and if you owe anymore. If you owe anymore, you have to 10% of the additional amount owed on the spot and you have 60 days to pay the remainder. We didn't have the cash and they wouldn't take a check so the driver called Linda and she put that on the card, too and we were all good. They didn't have a third guy and they spent a lot of time complaining about the guy who helped them the first time. They quickly unloaded everything, asking along the way where we wanted everything and putting it all precisely where we asked for it. They reassembled everything and were very careful on the new hardwood floors and new carpeting. The microwave had some light superficial scratches in the plastic on the front. The ones most likely to be crunched were the ones from my mother-in-law, older boxes many of which were not well packed or sealed. Also two small fiberboard bookcases, but they said when they packed them that they didn't Travel well. What Was Lacking I would have liked to have had more information on what to expect on move day. We tried to pack to the best of our ability, but we didn't know what to do about large items we couldn't find boxes for. We scoured the website trying to learn more about the self-pack option but there really wasn't much information. I have used their services multiple times and have not been disapointed with their service.