Allied Van Lines

TLDR: Lied to by Allied; paid almost $10K to have at least 9 pieces damaged (some severely), including made-to-order and vintage furniture; told during delivery that we should not expect items in perfect condition; received others' belongings. Should have used U-Haul ourselves.

My family was initially excited to work with Allied, as during our consultant meeting, the saleswoman, Kimberley Payne, seemed trustworthy and to have our best interests at heart. We were assured that our items would be individually wrapped and well-cared for. As a result, we agreed on a price a bit under $10,000, which exceeded those of all competitors. After signing the contract, we received an email from Malta Felix, who informed us that she was our coordinator and would do anything she could to ensure that we received nothing less than 5 star service.

The reality of our situation was very different. Contrary to our understanding of the careful handling we would receive, the pieces were loaded and unloaded an estimated six times between the apartments, U-Hauls, storage spaces, and other trucks. When our daughter's things arrived, boxes had been placed under such weight that many of them were crushed and collapsed in on themselves. Those labeled 'FRAGILE, THIS SIDE UP', which contained high-end vintage glassware, were thrown around and dropped casually on their sides. We have not yet had time to inspect all contents to ensure there was no breakage. Nine pieces of furniture were damaged in the form of notable scrapes and dents, including three handmade made-to-order pieces and five irreplaceable vintage pieces, one of which was a family heirloom. The made-to-order bed had not even been wrapped, which resulted in severe scrapes and dents on all sides of the walnut sideboards and legs. A vintage bar set cannot be repaired due to its material. Upon arrival, pieces were leaned against other furniture, leaving more dents. Throughout the moving experience, our coordinator, Malta, proved difficult to reach, even when urgent callbacks were requested as the damaged goods arrived. When she emailed back and eventually picked up the phone when my husband called, she was entirely unapologetic and did not seem to care at all that our property was damaged. This appears to be par for the course with this company. The driver, Greg Rose, was belittling and rude to my daughter. We are aware that it probably wasn't his fault our property was damaged, but when she politely drew his attention to the scrapes, he shamed her multiple times for complaining about 'itty bitty little scratches' (which were NOT 'itty bitty') and said, and I quote, 'It came all the way across the country, did you really expect it to be 100% perfect?' She responded that after what we had paid, she certainly did. He insisted over and over that he was not diminishing her grievances, before continuing to diminish her grievances. He also did not note down much of the damage she pointed out. Shortly before leaving, he apologized for the condition of her property and for how aggressive his response. Mr. Rose said in excuse that he primarily does corporate moves. This suggests to us that this company values corporate customers over individual people and families. My daughter believes much of his behavior may have been due to her gender and age. She also overheard him, a White man, verbally abusing the Latino movers who helped move her things into her new apartment by repeatedly calling them 'stupid'. She was also left with two items from other people's moves of unknown origin. Mr. Rose directly lied to her in the face of this evidence, saying that her possessions had been the only ones in the truck. This particular deception appears to be company policy. We can only hope that all our items will be present once we are finished unboxing. Our things would be in better shape had we had moved via U-Haul ourselves (not to mention the cost differential).

This review will be completed once Allied has compensated us and repaired our possessions as much as possible.

My move was handled efficiently and professionally on both ends. I would use Allied again.

My move was handled efficiently and professionally on both ends. I would use Allied again.

The packing was done well. The movement portion was not. The driver brought no tools to the destination location and was unable to reassemble pieces dismantled at originating location. The driver insisted that he knew no more than I about the location of disassembled pieces. 4 stars on packing but 1 on moving.

The packing was done well. The movement portion was not. The driver brought no tools to the destination location and was unable to reassemble pieces dismantled at originating location. The driver insisted that he knew no more than I about the location of disassembled pieces. 4 stars on packing but 1 on moving.