International Van Lines

Somehow (buying reviews?) this company has many 5-star reviews. DO NOT TRUST THEM!! Or the good reviews you read on so many moving websites. Seriously, how this company got so many websites to rank them highly is just beyond me. Here's my story: I got quotes from four different companies. They were the only ones who didn't come out to do an actual inventory (red flag 1 - unfortunately, I knew none of these red flags at the time). They came in lowest, so I hired them. They asked me to send one of the inventories I'd gotten from one of the other movers, which I did, and they gave me an updated estimate (still lower than the others). I also asked, before I made a commitment, about time limits as I was willing to ship my items earlier to get them there in a reasonable amount of time. The saleswoman said that it would probably take 7-10 days (cross country) and that picking up early wasn't necessary. They take a 40% deposit at hire (red flag 2). I updated my inventory twice before move (as I was still getting rid of stuff during packing), and they gave me an updated estimate. Come moving day, somebody other than IVL shows up (red flag 3) in a Budget truck (red flag 4). The guy looked at my apartment and said that, based on his "20 years of experience," I had 450 cubic feet, but he would do me a favor and only charge me for 431 cubic feet, which happened to be the footage on my first estimate. (Oh, red flag 5 - they go by cubic feet, not weight. The salespeople will try to upsell you on this, but you can't have them weigh afterwards to make sure that they're not overcharging you!) So the movers IVL hired didn't honor their binding estimate. This ended up costing me ~$400 more than their estimate. (I took pictures of the paperwork when the movers dropped my stuff off. They had my load at 300 cubic feet. This would have been a price difference of over $1000.) I emailed IVL after arriving in my new location (6 days after pickup). I was told the following day that my stuff still hadn't left the warehouse and it could take them up to 21 business days (read: ~4 weeks to deliver). This is all in their paperwork, and if you call them out, they'll say, You had it in writing, but as my sister said, this is basically them saying, Don't trust a thing we tell you. (Seriously. Don't.) I continued following up with them, eventually asking them to call instead of email because I wanted to have an actual conversation. When she did call (3 days later), she was incredibly angry that I wanted to, you know, actually speak to the people to whom I'd given 90% of my belongings and a not insignificant amount of money. She then finally told me my stuff would be packed the following week (4 weeks after pickup and 3 weeks after my first available delivery date). My stuff finally arrived over 2 weeks after it was originally shipped (6 weeks after it was picked up). They lost two of my chairs and my dining room table. Oh, and they're supposed to pay me for the late shipment. ($20 a day, and they reneged about what the first late day was. All of this was rather insulting.) My stuff was delivered 30 days ago and I still haven't gotten a check. If you're still with me, maybe you have an idea of what waiting for your things will feel like if you go with IVL. Save yourself the hassle (and money when you have to replace your things and get upcharged) and go with a better company.