International Van Lines Reviews

There were some issues that didn't really come to light until later, though. There was a little bit of an underestimation of what we had and they misunderstood a couple of categories of box sizes and how many of each we would have. I had up until three business days before the move to add things and I did that. But I had a fairly large closet that I had put 11 packed boxes. There were two pieces of furniture that were still in boxes, two small pieces of furniture, and a wardrobe box, and a vacuum cleaner. I showed that to the movers so they knew that everything in that closet was to go.

But after they had left, I asked my husband if he'd seen the vacuum cleaner and he hadn't. I called our daughter who still lives in that house and she opened that closet door and they'd forgotten everything in there. They couldn't have gotten it on the truck anyway because the truck was completely packed. Other than that, they were incredibly efficient and I was impressed with all of the personnel that I worked with. I got a real sense of professionalism from them. The three men who were the primary moving team were exceptional.

Moving day, the guys called me on the road and told me they would be six hours out, which was very accurate. So, we were ready for them. There were three guys that came and they were like a hurricane. They worked hard and wrapped everything up and put it in the truck, and were careful. There was one guy that checked everything and put that label on it. And each piece was recorded. At the end, he took me in and showed me how much of my stuff was there, what the actual total would be, and I was happy with it.

Our plans changed. When they picked up the truck, we knew that we were in limbo. So, they stored it back in San Jose. They went back to San Jose, came down from San Jose, and went back to San Jose. We had a week of limbo deciding what would happen with our situation and our situation changed and we had to go to Idaho. We had 30 days of storage, so we stored our stuff until we could get the house here in Idaho. And we started calling for our stuff.

The drop off was interesting because it was a different company that was hired by IVL. They contracted another company to put everything in. Those guys were confident, amazing, on time, came here, got to work. But to put together the furniture that they didn't wrap up was challenging. And there were some pieces they couldn't assemble that are still unassembled. They don't know how to put them together. And it makes sense because they didn't take them apart.

They should do something different with that or whoever wraps it up should wrap all the things inside. Because all they did was one parts box with all the parts in there mixed in. And this poor guy had to go in the parts box and figure out what goes with the mirrors and what goes with what. I felt bad for them because there were no instructions. That part was stressful. So, it took them a long time to put my house back together and they did the best they could. My only issue was the not putting everything back together because we paid the full price. But considering that we changed our mind and had to go to a different state and IVL was able to accommodate us, I'd still give them credit.

I was told by my neighborhood HOA manager that I shouldn't expect to have a problem getting an 18-wheeler into our neighborhood. So, I was surprised. And this guy with his bad attitude insisted that he could not get the truck in and that he would have to shuttle. So, that's what they did and it was a two-and-a-half-hour delay. They got here and it was just two men on the team for 1,400 cubic square feet, which was not enough. It was a long day. They ended up refusing to put together a king-size bed that I needed to sleep in the house that night.

At the end of the day, when I was reviewing everything that was coming out of the truck, I realized that several rugs were missing. One in particular, a large one. And they said they had parked in a parking lot. They had a weird attitude about it. They suggested I follow them to the Target parking lot where the 18-wheeler was. We got to the truck and they went in. They said the rug was not there. I panicked and insisted on getting in the truck. I got into the truck and it was very hot. I did not see the rug. They asked how it was wrapped but I didn't remember.

There was a large empty space in the middle of the truck and there were items packed to the ceiling on both ends. I did not see the rug. I got very upset and the guy did not handle it very well, which made me more upset. I lost my temper and screamed at him. Something weird was happening and I got out of the truck because I was gonna call somebody. All of a sudden, the rug materialized, as well as two other small rugs that I had. So, I had them put them in my car because I didn't want them coming back to my house. I came very close to canceling the second move based on that experience because it made me so nervous. But I ended up not canceling mainly because the crew that picked up in Southampton was good. So, I didn't wanna rock the boat too much.

The subsequent big move that I had went spectacularly well from start to finish. The foreman was the one who packed up my house in East Hampton and that crew was great. He had a good rapport with the crew, which is important in these situations. They were very professional and on time. Everything went well. The crew who delivered was also spectacularly good. Cisco, the driver, was able to get the 18-wheeler into the neighborhood and his crew was great. They put together everything that I needed and rolled down rugs. Both crews went above and beyond.

There weren't any surprises, even though the amount increased for the first one. But I was expecting it. As for the price of the second move, it decreased. This one was also different because I was going very fast and the move was done within a week. And I had them pack for me, which I had never done before. I was very impressed with the packing. They sent a team of women to do it and they were very conscientious. The next day, a team of men showed up to do all the heavy lifting and it was a good match between the teams. Any issues or concerns I had, they were really good about getting somebody to me on the phone to straighten things out. Or if there was a confusion or a delay, there was somebody who got me on the phone and we were able to work things out. On delivery, almost nothing was broken or lost, compared to all the horror stories I read online.

We would like to emphasize that Rick was not only responsive to ALL our questions and requests very promptly by either replying to our emails or calling back upon receiving our voice messages, but also very patient about explaining everything in detail to ensure our understanding. He was articulate and made it easy for us to understand their volume based charges per cubic foot (some companies charge differently by weight) with boxes of small/medium/large and special items in different sizes. Thanks to his upfront clear explanations, we were able to provide relatively accurate information on the numbers and sizes of all our boxes. In addition, he pulled our house on MLS listing with photos while talking to us to make accurate estimate of all pieces of furniture to be moved.

This in turn, according to Rick, made it easier for him to give us a more accurate overall estimate. As a result, there was no unexpected extra charge when the pickup team came. (This is one of the complaints found in online reviews of different moving companies.) And we think the actual cost of the moving is fair compared to quotes from other companies.

Rick’s job did not stop here, He coordinated the whole process very well. Everything happed, in sequence, was exactly as he described. We received an email and phone call from Lisa, the account manager and one of the team members, the day before pick up with all the details. She helped us with minor modification of the number of boxes and finalized the bill. The pickup team arrived within the window frame as specified by Lisa. During the transit, we received emails with updates from Carlina of the dispatch service. We received phone calls from the delivery team 2 days prior to the scheduled delivery.

When the weather changed unexpectedly on the planned unloading day, the delivery team communicated with their main office and got back to us with the decision to postpone unloading to the next day out of concern of possible damage to the furniture in heavy rain. Again, Rick was making the calls for the rearrangement and communicated back to us very promptly. The whole process was seamless. We also would like to mention that both the pickup and delivery teams were very professional and handled all the items with care.

Again, Rick’s job did not stop here, he went above and beyond. We received a call from him during the unloading process and another follow-up call the day after delivery to make sure all was taken care of timely and appropriately. My wife and I expressed our hearty thanks to Rick and his team and we shared our experience with Rick.

We both agreed that it is the team work that satisfies both parties. And the key to working as a team is COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, and COMMUNICATION! But we also would like to emphasize that it’s Rick’s customer-oriented attitude, patience and excellent communication skills that makes him exceptional. As he puts it: “I’m the specialist and you (my customers) are special”. We highly recommend the Relocation Specialist, Rick **, of International Van Lines, to anyone who is planning to move, especially long-distance interstate moving. We also would like to suggest preparing a list of commonly asked questions related to moving before making calls to moving companies.