American Van Lines

PLEASE READ ALL REVIEWS, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!. We contracted with this company to move our household items from Dayton, Ohio to Tampa, Florida on Friday, March 9th. In the original estimate my husband told the estimator, Joseph Amato we were closer to 10, 000lbs, but were told by him that in order to keep our deposit low we should go with 7, 000 lbs and if we went over the weight it wasn't a problem and that we would pay the difference.

Well, truck shows up (a day later than what was promised to us & no notification was given to us of the date change until the NIGHT before they showed up) & there is not enough room on the truck for all of our items?!! The movers also did not show up with the items we contracted for (mattress covers) & only 2 men showed up for our 3, 500 sq ft home?! It took them over 13 hours and the help from my Dad to disassemble our furniture and carry down the stairs as surely our furniture would have been damaged/broken with only one man carrying it down the flight of stairs.

We were told by the driver that the company would not be sending another truck to pick up the remaining items as they had no obligatioin to do so since they picked up more weight than was on estimate?! Again, we knew the estimate was low but swayed otherwise and told not to worry, everything would be fine?! We had to scramble the next day & rent a U-haul (more costs to us), get a storage unit (again more costs to us) and fill up my parents & sister's garages with our leftover items.

Once the truck arrives at our home in Florida we discover that dozens of our items (some brand new, some heirloom pieces) are badly damaged/broken or ruined. I called "customer service" and they told me to write a letter describing our problems. I did this & never received a call or email back.

After numerous calls into AVL asking to speak to a supervisor the only compensation made was that they would waive the deposit for our next order?? When I call back to discuss picking up our remaining items stuck in Ohio I am asked if I have anything in writing saying that they would waive the deposit?? It took over a month of calling Joseph Amato, supervisors, customer service to even get a new written quote stating the deposit would be waived. We finally gave up & went with another company. They wanted to charge us all of the fees again as if it was a brand new order. One of their fees is something they call a 'binding estimate fee' which I have been told by Sam, Aramid, Joseph Amato & Matthew all different explanations of what this fee is- all of which are bogus.

We still have yet to hear anything back on what the status is of our damaged items and receiving a claim check for those items. This move cost us double what it should have & the company no concern for our problems, resolving our issues or wanting our business.

I would hate for anyone else to experience what we have with this company as it has been the most stressful, horrific, frustrating & costly experience. Please people, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! They seem very nice on the phone, but that is it. After they have your money forget about anything they promised you & expect headache after headache & if you even get your furniture at all- consider yourself lucky!…

WARNING DON'T USE THIS COMPANY. The movers were supposed to arrive on a Wednesday and they didn't show up. They called us to tell us that they were running late and they would come the next morning. We had to be out of the house we were renting, so we were on a tight schedule. They didn't show up until the 27th at 2pm. In the agreement, they were to pack up our belongings. When the driver arrived he said "I didn't know I was packing anything." I had taken the initiative to start packing earlier because I'd known they wouldn't be able to pack the entire house in one day. They didn't give us a list concerning how many boxes went into the truck, items or anything. They were here until late that night packing everything. We flew to Florida, meanwhile they told us we were to get our stuff on November 8th--it usually takes ten days. The 8th arrived and our belongings weren't here and no one was calling us or telling us where our stuff was at.

Finally, a week later, my husband was calling, and was able to get a hold of somebody. They told us that in the process of the movers coming to Florida, they had stopped at a rest stop where the truck was broken into: our possessions were missing. American Van Lines had to go and get another company to get our remaining items from where the truck was at when it was broken into. The truck that then arrived at our house was a huge semi truck. When they brought our stuff to us, everything had just been thrown into the semi. When this other company came to drop off our stuff, they stole my husband's watch from the counter. We didn't notice this until a day or two later. All our stuff was scratched from being in the semi. None of our TVs made it back, my daughter's bed was missing. Everything in the kitchen that they had packed was gone--no plates, no nothing. I had a standup jewelry box that I'd packed, all of our jewelry was missing. They took half of our couch as well--they basically didn't bring half the stuff back. Our dining room table is also gone. This moving company was contracted by Cigarette Boats to move our stuff and their lawyer is currently trying to get them to settle but American Van Lines is being unresponsive.…