Reviews of Royal Van Lines

Move from Saskatoon to Toronto.

Review · 18 Sep 2013 · MoveAdvisor

I decided to go with Royal Van Lines because of the reviews. My experience was great! I wasn't quite ready with the packing, but Matthew and his assistant helped me handle any situation professionally !! They showed up exactly at the scheduled time, which is incredible as most moving experience I've had that has never happened. Nothing is broken or chipped and I'm grateful for that. I'm really happy with my experience and I saved a lot of money! Will definitely recommend them to my friends.

Very bad experience.

Review · 28 Aug 2019 · MoveAdvisor

0 stars. Please avoid this company like the plague. The movers damaged the walls in my house, used my sheets and comforters to wrap my furniture, damaged most off my stuff and some stuff was not delivered Contacted the office and a very rude lady told me to email claims that's all she can tell me. When asked about my furniture that was missing she said they will look into it. Still haven't gotten my mattress and chairs up to now. They don't answer my calls anymore.

The WORST moving company EVER!

Review · 5 Oct 2018 · MoveAdvisor

They moved my stuff from Calgary to Sarnia. They broke half my dishes, two bikes, night stand, and dresser! They also lost my mattress and one box containing my essential kitchen stuffs!

Please research!!

Review · 29 Jun 2018 · MoveAdvisor

Please be assured each and every review here with a one star rating is absolutely true! First I contacted them for a quote on a two bedroom house. They gave a good quote, not the cheapest but good but I guess I did not research enough. I called to book and the lady (name kept back) said all was good. I talked to a few people who thought it was strange I did not have to give a damage deposit and called the company back since I had not heard from them and no one asked for a deposit. I was told the first person did not 'complete' the booking so it was no longer available the first they would have would be 10 days later, fine. Inconvenient but fine, what could I do. Then they sent a tiny truck that could could not fit even 1/3 my stuff and the driver told me he was expecting a 1 bedroom apartment. He told me he would call dispatch and have another truck sent. What he did not say was it would not be sent that day. Two more weeks and I had to pay another $1250 rent on the house directly because of their error. Finally a Sub-contractor picked up my stuff. I was told but the delivery guys it had been up and down Saskatchewan and Alberta and then sat in Calgary for a few days until another sub-contractor brought it to me. There was not one and I mean not one single box that was not damaged. My 1940s oak dining room table was scratched and gouged. My deceased fathers oak roll top desk was in 3 pieces. When I approached them about the damage I only received emails from the company with no name on it. I can not find out what actual person to discuss this with. They no longer put me through to the lady who originally didn't complete the booking or the one that eventually booked and took my deposit. I was offered $100.00 for my trouble which included me paying their damage…

The worst!

Review · 17 Jul 2014 · MoveAdvisor

I have moved over 30 times -- across Canada, internationally and inter-city. Royal Van Lines goes beyond terrible. The first clue was when they couldn't decide whether the salesperson actually really worked for the company or not and kept her email address active for months. If you managed to get one of the people (all of whom seemed to be part-time and new), they either knew nothing or transferred you to a generic voice mail which was never responded to. I had to stay in a hotel for two weeks waiting for my delivery (apparently because "a truck broke down"). The general manager finally was sick of avoiding me and was the most unsympathetic individual I have ever encountered in business. The goods did arrive finally but only because they had a sub--contractor who was holding them. Then they tried to claim I had to pay in $U.S. even though I had a contract and had already paid in Canadian dollars. It appears this company is continually changing names -- no wonder. I am shocked they can remain in business under any circumstances.

Moving Damages.

Review · 8 Jul 2014 · MoveAdvisor

I have to say that at first, I thought I had picked a good comapny. there was alot of communication and they arrived at my place to pickup my itmes on the day they said they would. Delivery was late by a couple of days. I was charged $1800.00 to move my stuff that fit ont he back of a pickup truck. Seemed excessive, but I wantyed my stuff so I paid the bill. Howevr; the real issue was the condition of my items. I have alot of scrapbooking stuff and with it comes some very expensive baggage to carry it in. They broke a cart fullof expensive paper items, dropped it all in the snow and crammed it all back into the cart, covered it and hoped I wouldn't notice. The real problem was that they took a permananet black magic marker and wrote giant numbers on a leather bag and also a cloth covered bag. both of these bags cost me over $300.00. Ruined. Have no resale value because of the giant numbers written on more than one side of the bag. Then when I put in a claim, I was given a breakdown of what they were worth and their deductions; meaning I got nothing. But they said "Though you are not eligible for a refund, we would like to offer you a total settlement of $50.00 as part of our customer appreciation program." I filled out the forms, tried to fax them several times with no success and contacted them againt o see if I could email them. They agreed. I haven't heard from them since. I have emailed them at least a half dozen times and never get a reponse, nor did I ever receive the $50.00. They are dishonest, never keep to their end and NEVER follow through. I wouldn't recommend them to someone I didn't like let alone someone I did. .

Delayed pick up date 2 weeks!

Review · 14 Feb 2014 · MoveAdvisor

I originally went wiht this company because I needed to be in Ontario for February 10th. Sinve I was told pick up dates were February 6-9 when I booked, I thought they were ok. I called and emailed a couple times in the week leading up to pick-up just making sure everything was on-schedule and was assured that the driver was on-time and would call the day before pick-up. When I still hadn't received a call on the 8th, I began to worry since my flight was scheduled for the evening of the 9th. I was then told the truck was in an accident and my new pick-up days were 11-13th. OK, nothing I can do if the truck broke down. So I got a friend to take care of the move and went ahead to my destination. When I called on the 11th to make sure things were on-time, I was given new dates yet again, this time for the 13-17th. They said it was because the truck didn't get fixed until the 10th. But they offered me a discount and assured me that the truck was currently in Saskatoon, was going to drop off a load in Edmonton, and then come back through to pick my stuff up. Foolishly, I trusted them once again. When I called today to check up on things, I was told that my truck was in BC!! I asked what happened to the truck on its way back from Edmonton but nobody could tell me. They gave me new dates (my fourth set of dates) for the 21-24th. Two weeks later than our originally agreed upon dates. That was when I fired them and got a different moving company. I had enough. They obviously don't want my business. I was told twice by a manager that I would get my deposit back from them. I will be calling my credit card company to make sure they do that. DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY!!

Royal Van Lines is a Fraud!

Review · 5 Nov 2013 · MoveAdvisor

We had two options of pick-up dates, of which they had different delivery dates. We selected the first option for an earlier delivery. Our load didn't arrive until the later delivery date because Royal Van Lines negated to tell us that the first option didn't even travel to our destination city. So our load sat in a truck for an extra two weeks for no reason. We were quoted ~1000lbs for the load. We were charged for 2300lbs. Our load consisted of 40 boxes of clothing and personal items and 3 dressers. Even overestimating the weight of the dressers at 100lbs each there is no way the boxes averaged 50lbs each. My wife carried all of these boxes down a flight of stairs by herself with no trouble. Some of the boxes were quite small and would have weighed ~lbs. The company that delivered our belongings (not Royal Van Lines) agreed that our load was no were close to 2300lbs. If you want to challenge the weight it costs you $300. So at the rate of 50 cents per pound, the actual weight would have to be over 600lbs less than 2300lbs before we would see any financial gain from challenging the weight. Keep in mind we had no furniture or appliances included in the move! Matthew A. was calling and emailing constantly until he had our business. After that, he was very difficult to get ahold of on the phone or through email. HINT: go to customer service instead of his direct line. Matthew answers the customer service line in hopes you are a new customer. He doesn't provide any customer service once he has your deposit. When I asked to speak to his supervisor/manager he would transfer you to a phone extension that wouldn't get answered. I left two voice messages with this supposed manager and never received a return call. Do not use royal van lines!

Dishonest, Damaging.

Review · 2 Oct 2013 · MoveAdvisor

Lowest price for a reason -- they lie. The salesman was actually helpful at first, but his hands were tied where it was necessary. His truck damaged the storage unit my stuff was in, and they denied it, but I had to pay $226. The move was 24 hours late, with no forewarning, so I waited at an empty apartment for a whole day. They never delivered one of my items but denied I had it (a mirror -- I imagine they broke it and didn't want to admit it). Many of my pieces were scratched. The whole thing cost $300 more than the estimate, and they got around it by saying we could get a flat rate and avoid the scale, but there is no way my stuff weighed as much as they said. I have so little! For Pete's sake, don't go with this company and read reviews BEFORE you book a company!

Unprofessional movers.

Review · 25 Sep 2013 · MoveAdvisor

I would think many times about hiring this company to help you with your move. We were scheduled to leave in early August however were called one day before our scheduled pick up and told that they would be coming only into the 2nd week of August! actually almost into the 3rd! This was a cross country move for my family and I and we had jobs, schools and renters effected by this change. Their commitment was only to serve themselves and unprofessional in its standing. When I asked to speak to the manager he told me if I didn't like the new date then to switch companies. Then Without further though he hung up on me.. The only half decent part of this all was that upon cancelling with them they did send us our deposit back. In hindsight I am happy we cancelled with them last minute as I'm am not sure if this company had the respect for its customers to complete a successful move.. Don't let the 'royal' in 'royal van lines' fool you. There is nothing grand or honourable about them.. Unfortunately we read all these terrible reviews only after but the reviews are written from people who know And by those who feel that is important to tell of their experience..After all we are paying them to do a service and for the amount spend on the coast of moving people's lives, they should take care and give respect to the customers that invest hope, business and trust in them.. Just terrible!!