United Nation Van Lines

DO NOT USE - PRICE GOUGING, MISMANAGEMENT, DECEPTION, POOR TIMELINESS, UNFULFILLED SERVICES Using them for our out-of-state move from Seattle to San Francisco was one of the worst experiences of my life. I kept a detailed list of all our grievances regarding the move that spans many pages. I'll try my best to summarize here: • The original quote that they "reel you in on" is predatory — we ended up having to pay thousands above the estimate (despite, ironically, ending up moving fewer items than were listed in our 800 sq ft estimate) • There were constant delays on their end with poor/little communication • When the mover finally showed up, the first thing he did was to attempt to change our estimate from 800 to 1200 sq ft — adding an extra $2000. This is despite the fact that when we spoke with two other folks from United Nation Van Lines (the salesperson and the QC person), they said our item list would easily fit in 800 sq ft — the QC person even suggested we had room for more! We ended up being coerced to negotiate it to 1000 sq ft — adding an extra $1000. Our mover said we could dispute this after the move was finished (spoiler alert: we couldn't). • Rather than actually measuring the space our stuff took up in the truck, the mover pulled out a calculator and showed me a number: 983 sq ft. When I was skeptical about the number and asked for him to measure, he acted in a rush and said that we would remeasure once our stuff was in San Francisco (spoiler alert: he didn't and we were forced to pay). • Our mover lied about when he would arrive at the destination. After missing the first arrival date (without proper communication), he actually called to tell us he would show up the next morning. He didn't show up. The next day, someone else from United Nation Van Lines called to tell us that our stuff is arriving the following day — a day we had warned the them ahead of time would not work (our new apartment had a strict rule that two tenants could not move in on the same day). They said if we couldn't do that day, we would be charged upwards of another thousand dollars. Their(!) mismanagement and poor timeliness would be the reason why we(!) had to pay. • One might think: maybe they had a reasonable excuse for these delays? Well, I actually packed up some Apple Airtags in my moving boxes to track where my stuff was. I noticed that one of the delays, which the company did provide a reason for, was a "pitstop" at a CASINO (!!!) for more than 6 hours. This casino was not right off the driving route — it was 12 miles away from the 5 freeway. • When my mover finally showed up, he came alone in the same truck that he picked up our stuff in. They added an additional $650 fee for a shuttle service in SF because they said that truck would be too big to drive in San Francisco — apparently there were rules against large trucks. However, we didn't get a shuttle, the truck that arrived was the same license plate! So the truck we didn't get charged for in Seattle, we got charged for in SF. • Because he showed up alone, I, the one paying for movers to move my stuff, had to help carry our heavy items. My back did not feel great the next day... Additionally, our bed frame did not fit in the elevator and he said he didn't have the tools to disassemble it. Rather than helping us figure what to do, he hastily got us to sign the form agreeing that our stuff was received and bolted out. He didn't even unpack a single thing for us — he left it all wrapped in moving blankets and fled. • As he was leaving, we asked about remeasuring as he had promised. His response: "Deal with the company! I am just the driver! Deal with the company!" • We tried to deal with the company. Every time we try to speak with them about these issues, it is frustrating, stressful, and hopeless. The claims site they pointed us to does not handle claims of our nature — only claims citing damage. When we tried to speak with a manager about our case, they would not give us a number and said that they would call us. They never did. PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND AVOID!

United Nation Van Lines Not To Be Trusted. United Nations Van Lines contract implies delivery will occur no more than 17 business days following my contacting them to request delivery. I contacted them on August 30, 2021 stating that my house is ready on September 8, 2021 and I am ready to receive my furniture. Now they are saying that I requested delivery as of the 8th which I did not. Today is October 2, 2021, 24 days post contact, and United Nations Van Lines will not give me a date for delivery. They have stated that DOT allows them 30 business days, which I don't believe to be true. No where in their contract does it state that they have 30 days in accordance with DOT compliance. United Nations has failed to communicate its' intentions, and is out of compliance with the intent of their contract. They have my money, and my belongings are being held hostage.

Deceit is built into every element of this company, get you hooked with a low estimate, get a securinty deposit of thousands, get a truck too small for the load, get into your house with crew and boxes and announce that the estimate must be recalculated. This for us increased the cost from about 12k to about 20k. We could take it or leave it, too late for getting the deposit back. This is a mid stream hostage situation. Too committed to timing to start over. Contract is binding on client, but has a list of spaces for the mover to add more costs after getting posession of your stuff, which is illegal. Never on time, said about 7 days to move us, took the max of 17 days, which had us camping out for 2 weeks in a house without furniture. Showed up half a day late on move day. Never on time, very hard to get on the phone, some abusive on the phone,, never call back. Lied about costs of mid stream recalculation saying it was same per unit as the original, but they added a surcharge for everyghing beyond the original estimate, which was their intentional underestimate. They owe us thousands in refund due to this. They broke fine china by putting it flat in the bottom of boxes and putting heavy objects on top, crushing various china platters and cups. They broke plates, platters, glass in the china cabinet and framed pictures, cups, glasses, a clock, the Tiffany lamp, most floor lamps sprung from the base and wobbly, a wall clock, a padded antique rocking chair which they abandonded and did not move, and bent a frying pan, to name a few. We have about 100 pictures of damage which i will try to attach to a subsequent post. The consumer affair web site is a fraud, and that is what led us to this horrible company. They dumped clothes into the wardrobe boxes without hangers, packing suits and good clothes into a mashed mass, and on occasion mixed other stuff in the clothes. They lost the key to the china cabinet, broke some of the glass in that cabinet, and broke the leaded glass Tiffany lampshade, the most valuable object we had, by pressing the edges hard down across a metal pipelike base without padding. Their liablility for a $300 lampshade is $0.60 per pound, so if this weighed 5 pounds and they paid you wou,ld get $3. I paid $175 in the contract for the upright piano which they then refused to move so i eveintually paid them $200 more cash on site to get them to move it. They lease trucks and hire contractors for the work. One individual, who i think was an employee, vandalized our stuff by intentionally packing it to break. This was often by putting large china platters in the bottom of a box and piling pots on top with no padding. They bent a fryng pan. The contract employees usually did a good job, but the prevailing outcome of this move was horrible due to the initial deceit of the first sales contract, and the malign and hostile behaviour or the first supervisor (loading) to set so much of our stuff up for destruction. Stay away from these people, do not believe a word they say, and do not rely on Consumer Affairs as an honest reporter.

Please learn from our mistake and DO NOT hire this company. Not only were the movers 3 hours late, they made an absolute mess of our house ( dirt and tape everywhere), but worst of all they told us AFTER they loaded our items that it would be nearly double the original ( itemized!) quote. They claimed we were using more than 1,6000sq feet of the truck. This is Impossible as the house they removed the items from is just under 1,600 sq feet and most of the rooms were empty without furniture before they even got there. Now, it's past the date they were meant to return our items and they have gone RADIO SILENT. They will not return our phone calls or emails, and it appears they have stolen our items. Why else would they avoid all contact and not deliver our items>