Atlas Van Lines

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1. Overcharged by movers.

   The main complaint is one I read about a lot, for this company especially.  Golden Van Lines (local company) and Atlas Van Lines did TWO estimates and came in $2000 or more CHEAPER than TWO other national companies (who were honoring a union discount) only to end up charging me about the same higher price as the honest estimates.  They also left without finishing the job.

2. Do Not Use Atlas Van Lines.

   My family recently completed a move in late 2014 that was handled by Atlas Van Lines.  During the move, multiple items went missing, and Atlas was unable to locate them.  Furthermore, the procedure for filing a formal complaint is extremely one-sided, ultimately resulting in a denial of claim by the company.  If you have other options available, I would strongly suggest that you use anyone other than Atlas to complete your move.  .

3. Worst moving experience ever with Atlas Van Lines/Ace Southwest.

   Be warned – Atlas Van Lines/Ace Southwest Moving & Storage are the worst movers ever! We have moved numerous times – in state, across the country and overseas – and we have never had a more horrendous, unprofessional moving experience than we had with these companies. It started with an Atlas crew and truck that brought our things to Austin. Once it arrived at the storage facility (all parties involved knew well ahead of the move date that we were storing our things, including the Atlas rep who came to assess how much stuff we had and how much storage space we would need), an Ace Southwest crew took over, and that's when the nightmare began. First, it turned out that the Atlas rep had misjudged how many storage units we would need, telling us that two would be enough. But the Ace Southwest crew, instead of telling us right away that two units weren't enough and that we would need to rent another one, proceeded to try and cram everything we own into the two units. It wasn’t until after many hours of offloading our stuff from the truck that they finally told us we needed more space. By that time, it seems, the damage was underway. We didn’t know to what extent our things were damaged/broken/destroyed until 11 months later, when we moved out of storage into a house. From the minute the movers we hired to move us out of storage opened the units and started looking around, it was obvious that things weren’t going to go well. Maybe it was the way the Ace Southwest movers had apparently piled out things into a 15- to 18-foot-high tower (tables on top of armchairs and wrought-iron outdoor furniture on top of that; heavy furniture on top of boxes marked FRAGILE, etc). Or maybe it was the way the same Ace Southwest movers wedged things in so tightly in an effort to cram everything into two units that resulted in several expensive items being gouged and permanently broken, including a fairly new freezer. Either way, it was clear to everyone there (us and the movers, who were not from Ace Southwest or Atlas Van Lines) that the movers who had packed our things into the storage units (Atlas Van Lines/Ace Southwest) were responsible for the damage to our furniture and other belongings. So we moved into our house and started unpacking. The Atlas crew at our original location was apparently in a hurry to get going because when many of our things, from lamps and lampshades to dishes and appliances, were jammed into boxes without any paper or protection and ended up broken, dented, ripped or damaged to the point of being useless. We took an inventory of the damaged items and contacted Ace Southwest about filing a claim. They passed the buck and told us that all claims had to be filed with Atlas. So we spent an hour or more typing it all in online and filed it. A few days later, Atlas denied the claim, stating that it was more than nine months since the move and therefore the claim wasn’t valid. We went back and forth with them, via email and telephone, for several days, pointing out first and foremost that, in fact, it had only been one month since the move because our things had been in storage. As we pointed out, the storage units were so tightly packed to the rafters that we couldn’t even access our things to assess any potential damage. Atlas has attempted to skirt its responsibility by telling us that regulations require movers to complete all claims within nine months; however, when we requested a copy of the regulations, we discovered that it says that a mover “may not be required to accept your claim.” In other words, there is nothing prohibiting them from accepting responsibility for the damage they did. Moreover, it isn’t as if the claim was for many thousands; in the end, it probably would have totaled about $1,700 or so, since they did manage to damage a few antiques that needed repair.The indifference and unwillingness on the part of Atlas Van Lines/Ace Southwest to take responsibility for what their crews did is stunning. The lack of accountability is appalling. We can only hope that this review helps others avoid this kind of experience by exposing exactly how Atlas Van Lines and Ace Southwest treat their customers: with contempt and callous disregard.

   

4. Missing Lots of Items.

   I cannot believe my things are gone forever!! Who would take them or why would anyone take them?? Thought the company was reliable but was wrong. Items stolen or gone can never be replaced. Has anyone tryed to find them, I bet not!! Dont use this company do your home work. Someone  should be accountable for our things missing.. I have asked them to locate the other two families that were on the van the same time and ask them if my stuff was delivered to them, I have not heard anything..I hope I never see this company on undercover Boss!! Its a big joke and we are at their mercey as soon as the truck pulls away. Next time it  will be Mayflower again..They stole nothing!! I will tell everyone I know  this was a bad experience.

5. They promised white glove service but didn't deliver that.

   The sales team and more coordinator were excellent and I felt I was in good hands. Then my worst nightmare happened. The driver/loader/packer team. A father and son team, didn't pack our items with any sort of care. I was promised that every item of furniture would be blanket wrapped and shrink wrapped. When they came they didn't do any of that. But driver promised once our items were moved to the bigger truck he would properly wrap them. Alas when our items came off the truck my couch was only partially wrapped with a blanket and the cushions were laying on the dirty floor of truck. I paid for our mattress to be boxed, which they did but not the box spring. Both the box spring and couch were dirty. They broke our dresser, side table, a vase, and a mirror. The claims department offered us 600.00 for the damages. So $100 after our $500 deductible. I am still awaiting a response from the customer relation dept. so we will see if they make things right. I chose atlas based on two recommendations by personal friends. A company is only good as their weakest link. It all depends who your driver/packer is. Our driver actually laughed at how much bubble wrap and shrink wrap we used. Glad we did! Only items that broke were the ones they wrapped. If you can, pack yourself and drive yourself. I was hoping for the price of $5600.00 I would be stress free but not the case. I could have moved myself for $3,800.00 but justified the extra cost for the ease of someone else moving us. So not worth the money. Unless you get lucky and have no issues.

6. Overcharged.

   I was overcharged $475 for an unnecessary shuttle truck. When I moved to Florida I agreed on a price with Atlas van lines. When my belongings were delivered they were delivered in a shuttle truck. I had not authorized a shuttle truck, but the delivery crew said it was necessary. They would not give me my belongings unless I signed that I agreed to pay an additional $475 dollars. I complained to Atlas, who reviewed the case and refused to remove the charge. The shuttle truck was unnecessary. Also, I had given the delivery address to Atlas at the beginning, and if a shuttle truck was necessary it should have been in the original quote. I consider Atlas van lines to use dishonest business practices. I refuse to pay the additional $475 overcharge. .

7. Veteran ripped off by movers!

    Words cannot describe how disappointed I am with this moving company and how I regret choosing them! NEVER ever have I been treated with such ignorance and criminal manners as by them! They have ripped us off our valuable possessions, and aren´t ready to compensate any of them as promised in their contract in case of damaged/lost items!    Before selecting this company for our move, I´ve moved around all over the world, and never have I experienced anything like this! First of all - only few movers (Smart Move/atlasworldgroup) came to pack our stuff in Texas, so it took AGES for them to get all packed. Late in the ultimate hour many of the boxes were labeled erroneously (wrong numbers to wrong boxes, or no numbers), and then at the end when not all items could be squeezed into those two containers they brought along, rest had to be placed outside the existing containers, in their van, to be taken to their storage in San Antonio, and later to be placed by them into an additional third container.     Because of my husbands sudden job start in NJ, the entire lot of our possessions was stored at the Smart Move´s storage in SA, until we would know where we could settle down (we were new to the area) and were the stuff could be moved to. We were sent a confirmation email from Smart Move confirming our earlier negotiation that our stuff would be transferred to us in NJ within 10 days after we inform them our new address. When we did, we were informed unexpectedly that we couldn´t get any of it until 3 weeks later than promised because they didn´t have any other drives this way! Excuse me? That left us for weeks in our new home without any of our stuff - no furniture, no clothes, no appliances, nothing. We tried to negotiate them to compensate at least a new gear of clothing to my husband to be able to start working before his clothes would arrive, but were denied immediately, them just saying it wasn´t their fault. Who´s fault was it then if not the company´s that sold us their services?? We were just forced move to on on our own without anyone giving any customer support to us what so ever!     When the stuff came at last, 5 fellows came and downloaded the lot, box after box, coming in and going out, one guy after another, and almost none of the boxes had matching numbers, or lacked numbers all together, resulting in most of the items on the list written by the movers were incorrect - they simply didn´t match at all. A real mess in other words! Many items were broken, too, and what´s worse - it turned out one ENTIRE BOX was missing!! THAT I didn´t come to realize until I had unpacked all the boxes during the next days - my valuable gold plated cutlery, along with some rare family items from my grandparents weren´t anywhere to be found!! I called the moving guy that was head of the team (Albont B.Collins or something) but he said he didn´t know anything about it. Yet he did admit (when I was asking) that they´d taken one of the two red carpets we had, sort of "accidentally". They tried to take another nice blanket as well earlier, claiming it was their "moving blanket" (yeah, sure) but I made them to return it. Now afterwards thinking, it wouldn´t surprise me at all that the red carpet was used to cover up the stolen goods.. I gave them ALL a handsome tip before they left (as we did to the movers in SA), and thanked them, as I just felt so incredibly relieved that we finally received our home from Texas, and our several weeks of painful waiting was over!   Frames of several paintings from Europe were chipped, one valuable mirror completely ripped off from it´s beautiful wooden antique frame which had missing several big chunks of wood (of which a representative from the claims department named Bradley Beyer had stomach to claim was the due to "climatic control damage" ?? Hello??! He certainly couldn´t get that from the repairman, who said the damage was clearly due to a hard managing of goods! Since WHEN can they start making own valuations of goods from their offices, when the repairman who SAW the item himself gave a completely different kind of statement??). Half of that custom made, special pattern colored design mirror is completely ripped off from the frame itself, and the repairman said he couldn´t fix it because it was completely ripped off and the chunks missing on the frame itself were so different from what he was used to repair, so he simply didn´t have the know-how to patch it up. He said to me to keep the broken pieces as evidence, which I have, and his boss that I called said he didn´t deny ANY of the claims, that they ALL were admitted! So how can THIS man, Bradley Beyer, who sits in his office, decide it´s a thing called "climate control damage"?? Valuating the damages to ZERO??!    The other damaged painting frames from Europe, which the repairman wasn´t able to repair since they were so different from what he´s ever seen, was offered a mere compensation of $75 x two by Mr. Beyer, the third one he must´ve "forgotten", ops. That is a far outcry from what it really is going to cost us to repair them! The mirror can´t even be repaired until we can find a specialist to do it (which I actually kept asking the claims department if they could recommend us a place to take it to, along with the other 3 damaged painting frames, but no reply was ever given). The repairman recommended us to find an experienced restaurateur to do the job, and since we don´t don´t know anyone here, we gave the claims department free hands to recommend us a place, but nothing was ever done. Zero dollars is it worth in their eyes.    One of the two valuable identical writing desk pedestals was completely shattered in pieces, yet NOTHING was compensated at all for it, not a dime. The scratches and chipping on the other one was painted and repaired a little bit by the repairman, but the broken one could be done nothing about. Now the entire writing desk can´t be used, as it takes two "legs" to have the tabletop on, not only one. Cardboard boxes have been driving the purpose of table legs.. Mr.Beyer says they were both "repaired" and therefore considered as "compensated"?!    What is wrong with that man??! No moral what so ever does this man seem to have! The report has been sent all okay to him by the repairman and his boss, so I don´t know what Mr Beyer is trying with this? The man is clearly dishonest, rude and treats clients like trash. Never in my world travels have I experienced any moving company being so dishonest in their services! A TRUE disappointment to me, I have to say! Is this what America can offer? Dishonest, criminal workers? From the top level to the little guys?? Never did any of them keep in contact with me, not a single time did ANY of them call me, it was always ME keeping the contact. Asking. Asking more. And when it came to my stolen box, I suggested several times, to several people, that they´d check out if there existed any kind of "surveillance tape" of the moving truck area, or somewhere, to check out if our stolen items were found in someones possession at some point (though doubted they would be seen there, criminals like these do seem to know their way around), but still - it should´ve been checked out in my opinion! Stuff DON´T disappear without someone taking them! Period. I don´t have any idea if my suggestions were ever carried out, but I sure tried, as I would´ve preferred to get our belongings back, instead of money, which we´re not getting now either!! NOT A DIME!! I have told them we have pictures verifying that we INDEED OWNED the lost things that we´re claiming the compensation for (already in the beginning when sending in the claim!), yet Mr. Beyer offers ZERO dollars saying we can´t prove we´ve owned them ("no info by claimant to substantiate")?! He hasn´t even SEEN my pictures yet, and yet he has decided that no proof exists!? This is incredible!!   Since WHEN is the customer considered a liar immediately?? Without even giving her a chance to prove herself right?!! Is that considered a fair procedure in this country?? I come from Finland, and I was educated to believe everyone is INNOCENT until proven guilty, not the other way around! This is outrageous and I sure ain´t going to leave this here!! After 10 polite phone calls, I finally managed to talk to Mr Bradley Beyer a week ago, and once again asked politely if that surveillance tape could be checked out, and the rest settled (items worth several thousands of dollars!!), and he said he would check out and get back to me the soonest. When after one week still no "soonest" phone call came, I called back this week on Monday and asked to talk to Mr. Beyer - not possible, I was told. (He often seems to be unavailable, only once have I managed to talk to him in all these months, yet he´s been the one supposedly "dealing" with our case..). I left a message to Mr.Beyer through his secretary (still politely, but firmly this time) that our ultimate desire was really finally to resolve all after having been waiting patiently for so many months already, and DING..   ..today, Friday the 10/10/2013 (after nearly 5,5 months when they initially picked our stuff in SA, and close to 3 months after we received them to NJ), we received an email from Mr. Beyer´s with his "handsome settlement" the "awesome" $150 ! One hundred and fifty dollars, ladies and gentlemen..   Mr. Beyer obviously wanted to make clear that no one steps on his toes and says to him what to do (even though he himself hasn´t had any decency to give ANY customer support what so ever to us). He is "the boss", and he decides who gets paid, what they get paid, and IF they get paid.. no matter what proof is offered.   Needless to say, we´re starting to search for a lawyer to take care of this now. I still believe in the justice system of this country - may they settle then what is due to us. The Judge him-or herself. The sad thing is that people like Mr. Beyer obviously couldn´t care less, since it´s their company that pays the bill at the end (while he might get a bonus for every claim that he screws). All they want is to get their pay in a timely manner (like they did with us), and then leave the customers to deal with the [EDIT] themselves. But treating honest and hardworking veteran and his wife this way, is below any civilized standard, not to mention the trust it takes away from us to the rest of the honest companies..sad..it´s truly sad.

8. Don't use them--you will be sorry!

   What an idiot I was to not read the reviews of this company before hiring them. I paid $6000 to move across the country. They lost items. They damaged many items. My furniture got broken and pieces were missing. I had over $20,000 in loss. I eventually filed a lawsuit against them and they admitted in court that over 3% of all of their moves end up in lawsuits (I imagine the other 90 % just don't bother to file). But beware! After they deny your claim, you have to take them to court quickly because there's a short statue of limitations. PS rather than spending money paying a slimebag to defend their horrible company in court, they should pay for their damage and train their employees not to treat your precious belongings like trash.  .

9. We had a terrible experience.

   This was a miserable experience, period. I moved from Ca to KS and was sold on this being a concierge type move - with only their people who were highly trained and professional. NOT.  The pickup was ok - there were enough people and they seemed to know what they were doing. However, upon the furniture arriving there were many flattened boxes, furniture damaged clearly from being packed too tight or jammed in improperly, etc. A silk chair was damaged because it wasn't even shrink-wrapped at all.  The driver and his people had messed up the delivery days on the KS end with the local people from their company so.. no one told us that and no one gave us the choice to wait a day until they could get their own people. Instead they hired two (not 5) guys with no good experience at all who had a MAJOR attitude, were sullen and cutting off shrinkwrap with a switchblade (have a witness to that - our contractor was here during part of the move it). They were angry about it being such a big job, the driver who was with the company whined that we demanded he help in that these two couldn't do the job ,they  were weak and were refusing to even help each other - they were picking things up by the legs, banging into walls, etc. We ended up helping carry in things only so they didn't damage more furniture. The driver when helping finally admitted, "these two are worthless" yet, he insisted later to the company that the crew was "fine". The woman who was involved in the whole concierge sale of goods found out that it was going badly within two hours of the miserable day starting and managed to run the charges on the AMEX card for $12,000 but couldn't manage to get actual real movers there. They took a nasty attitude when the move was over and we filed a major complaint, they lied to the BBB and frankly behaved abominably. There was no apology and certainly no meaningful offer of any reimbursement. The manager at one point said he was doing a $210.00 reimbursement as a means of trying to settle the dispute (never asked if that was acceptable) but then their claims person said it wasn't a reimbursment but an overcharge in the first place. On top of that our three large golf bags with hoods and expensive clubs were "accidentally" left on the driver's truck despite us having the checked our part of the truck which was empty. Our golf bags were returned when we contacted the driver two days later upon noticing they were missing. He was "going to mail them back when he got to his next place and didn't call because he knew we would be upset.." yeah, right.  It was a horrible horrible stressful experience and I would never ever recommend either Alexanders or Atlas to anyone - EVER. .

   

10. Horrible Movers.

    Told me on 3 occasions they are delivering the next day and hen at 2 pm that day, they would call saying they aren't coming. They knew I was paying 500$ airline ticket each time to come wait for the furniture. very rude staff with their agent "guardian relocation" and they make it clear they couldn't care less. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

11. Good experience with Smart Move of Atlas.

    Excellent customer service and professional movers.  Customer service promptly returned calls/emails, provided detailed information/instructions and their cost was much more affordable (50% cheaper) than other container box competitors.  I choose the option for the 2-person crew to load/unload my single Smart Vault which saved time/money/my back..took ~30 minutes at each end of move.  The movers were courteous and respectful of any suggestions that I made with how to load my boxes into the Vault to avoid damaging any fragile items during the 3000-mile trip.  The truck arrived on time at pick-up but was delayed about 5 hours on delivery day.  However, I was immediately informed of the delay so I did not waste time waiting around and the truck arrived at the updated time.  It was winter time so delays are to be expected.  Overall, no complaints with my cross-country move and I would not hesitate to use Smart Move by Atlas again.

12. Broken Antiques, Carefully Wrapped Cutting Boards.

    When I was in the room everything was packed with excessive care. Bamboo cutting boards wrapped in layers of paper. When I wasn't in the room things were randomly tossed into a box and a piece of paper put on top. If their customer service people insist on being unpleasant, unhelpful, and unresponsive they shouldn't expect a lot of repeat customers. I have never worked at a company that would have retained me if I treated my customers the way they treated me. The whole thing was handled carelessly, they took an excessive amount of time to get my stuff to me, and frankly took advantage of the fact that I was in a bind. I will never use them again.

13. Great Movers!!

    Atlas was a great choice. I highly recommend them to anyone who has a long distance move and is uneasy about strangers taking their belongings. I read many reviews before going with Atlas and I am so glad I did my homework. The bottom line that customers should remember is CUSTOMER SERVICE: where is there office? can you visit them? is the deposit needed? how do they weigh the truck? if it goes it over the estimation how much are you required to pay? My move went over the estimated weight but I was only responsible for 10% more than my quote!! That is great! By locking in a percentage of what you owe the company cannot take advantage of you. The actual movers were awesome! Though they arrived late on pick-up they were fast yet careful with everything. They even wrapped paintings that were not boxed. The movers that picked up my belongings were the same ones who delivered them; THE SAME MOVERS WITH THE SAME TRUCK!! That was amazing to see that they literally just hit the road after my packing my things instead of stopping off at a warehouse. I could even track where they were en-route as I was driving to Colorado as well. They were friendly, funny and very polite. I am very pleased with how everything turned out. They arrived on time and everything was in tack; it was as if they followed my car the whole way it was great to see that everything looked the same way as I left it. Great company! Go visit their local office and make sure they know who you are and you know them because the relationship makes the business!

14. A terrible experience with Atlas Smart Move.

    I chose Atlas SmartMove because they feature individual vaults which only hold one household's goods.They are securely padlocked and every item is tagged to ensure  easy locating on the initial inventory list.As smooth as the pickup went,the arrival was a nightmare.The initial time was given as 9:30am.As noon arrived,my daughter called them to ask when and where the truck was.They arrived at 4:30pm.The two movers proceeded to drop and drag the boxes and furniture across her hardwood floor.Boxes were put upside down and stacked 3 or 4 boxes high.My daughter could hear glassware breaking as the movers walked up the stairs.They did break about $100 worth of goods,but Atlas would not reimburse,stating their policy is $400.The issue was the damage to the floor.Pictures were taken and sent to Atlas,but unbeknownst to me they contracted out the Virginia delivery to another company,Paxton,and Atlas will not act on my behalf,I am now on my own with Paxton,even though I had no decision in using them.Paxton has said that I can't prove that their drivers cause the floor damage.They would not send a rep to view the damage and they claim I did not act in a timely manner.Mind you,I reported this the next day June 9th to Atlas,and Atlas sat on the claim for 7 days before forwarding it on to Paxton!I tried to call Paxton today and the person handling the claim was: on another line, out to lunch,and in a meeting.I paid $3200 to have moving peace of mind.Terrible customer service,rude treatment, no one admitted fault.My next step is to reverse payment on my credit card.

15. 70 yr old forced to unload own furniture.

    Quote and contract with Good ol Boys (Ont) Two guys arrived in suitable 24' cube truck as destination on rough country lane. 10% discount on delivery agreed to. Delivery FINALLY made almost 2 weeks LATE in 53' low body tractor-trailer that got stuck more than 1/2 mile from destination. Only the driver on board, no helper! How would you like to spend 2 weeks in an empty house with no bed etc? 70 yr. old man forced to bring own vehicle and utility trailer and to load into trailer, drive to destination and unload trailer with drivers assistance. This took 4 trips. 10% discount greement was not honoured and no apology offered for inadequate truck, late delivery or SELF service. Belongings were held "hostage" until payment in full was received. Upon inspection later, there was a large tear in the back of the sofabed. This senior was raped by this company and a minimum 50% discount should have been offered with an apology. Be carefult who you contract with for long-distance moves as they are sub-contracted by thieves like ATLAS!