Full Service Van Lines

Worst moving experience of my life. It took them two days to move our boxes out of our house because the driver — who was incredibly sketchy — didn’t actually do anything except for berate the other guys and disappear for long periods of time. Then when they had loaded everything, and they were going to leave, he told us to give all of the tip to him and he would decide how much the other guys got. My husband and I wanted to tell him to go screw himself but he had already taken half of our stuff away, supposedly to a semi taking it to their climate controlled storage which we later found out was a lie. I just wanted them to put back all of our stuff so that we could hire someone else, even if it took a few more days. We didn’t trust him and just wanted to get our stuff all back in one piece so we did what he suggested, hoping that at least that would be the end of our nightmare with him. We felt awful about it after they left.
When the stuff got delivered, we found out that it was not in the climate controlled storage that they promised me it would be stored in. Instead they had dumped everything in two random storage units in the town I was moving from. Most of the furniture got banged up, boxes marked fragile looked like they’d been thrown around, and as I was unrolling a rug I found a dead mouse in it. It doesn’t seem like anything was missing other than a glass top to a coffee table, which we assume broke, but we do have a few boxes that aren’t ours. I attached a framed picture of a woman that I had opened — if it belongs to anyone, please let me know! We want to get this stuff back to its owner.

DON’T USE THEM! ESPECIALLY FOR A CROSS-​COUNTRY MOVE!
You can read my full experience on the Consumer Affairs website. They are totally unprofessional, they never call back, they had my furniture for almost a month. I also have pictures of the damaged materials. Read my full review on the Consumer Affairs website on Jan. 14, 2016 (A. of Los Angeles, CA):

Narrowly escaped a big headache with this mob of a company. Paid a deposit for a large cross-​country move in November 2015 and the manager (Jason) didn’t have the courtesy to tell me that the Feds (FMCSA) shut them down in mid-​October the month before for numerous safety violations.
Thankfully, I paid with my credit card and was able to get refunded as no one at the business answers the phone since Dec ’15. Those of you waiting for cash or money order refunds, you may be waiting a very long time…
Please do your homework and look at (largely) unbiased reviews and complaints not only on Unilocal but also the local Better Business Bureau —
With a rating of «F» from the BBB and numerous unresolved complaints, it’s clear this owner (Maxx) and company is not one you should do business with. Too many reputable alternatives to take the chance.

As many before me, this company is completely unprofessional to the point of sending me a refund check of deposit I requested to cancel my move with them. I waited 3 – 4 weeks for it, due to required signatures-​so they said, into mid Dec. $ 613 deposited into my bank account to have it rejected about 10 days later on 12/​28/​2015. I now left voice mail waiting for valid check. I will continue calling daily until valid cashiers check received. Can’t even imagine what would have happened if actually using them for my move! Let me suggest STI out of Skokie IL (Detroit from FLL long distance move) which ended up working as it should be, honest and on time! BTW, $ 500 cheaper then Full Service! Wish I had found STI first but, better late then never!

This is a long review– worth reading if you are considering them for a long distance move.
When I booked the move, I made certain things clear, including that I needed to know which days far enough ahead to reserve the elevators in both buildings. My pickup was supposed to be in the morning, but the movers didn’t show until after 5pm, and didn’t finish until after midnight.
I wasn’t moving very much– a room and a half of furniture and boxes of kitchenware. Again, the drivers were very pleasant, but it took 7 hours to move that amount of stuff onto the truck. In comparison– it took me an hour or two the last time I’d moved to load it onto a U-​Haul, and the time I moved before that, it was moved with about 3x as much stuff by a professional company who took took 2 – 3 hours to load everything (and charged only a little more than what I paid for this move to go about the same distance).
Things happen– I understand that. It started raining after they got there, a previous move had more stuff than expected, etc. But there was a serious communication breakdown. The office would promise to call me back and then not do it. They said the driver was leaving and was 45 minutes away– 45 minutes later the driver calls to say he’s leaving then, and he actually shows up 2 hours later. Then the mover said it would be another $ 600 after loading most of my things, but they ended up accepting the original price because I didn’t add anything to the estimate, and the driver couldn’t show me that it actually took up more space. (He’d actually told me that another move on the truck had an extra, oversized sofa, which was why my mattress got strapped to the back of the truck.) I ended up sleeping on the floor of my empty home that night instead of driving to my destination.
On the delivery day, there was miscommunication with the driver, who thought I would be at the pickup/​storage location– even though they had my stuff– so he told me a time 4 hours earlier than he would actually be delivering the items. I didn’t find that out until the day of when I received phone calls– from both the office and the driver– asking for the code to the storage unit, and all I could say was that I had no idea what they were talking about. Then, they showed up with someone else’s items. When they came back the next day with my stuff, almost everything had been damaged. The mattress had dirty holes in it, boxes had been crunched and torn, and one of my dining room chairs was destroyed.
Though they promised to settle above the insurance amount, they never responded to attempts to contact them. Then, the waiver asked for waiving all claims and complaints in any form– the first waiver explicitly included waiving the right to post a negative review in order to get paid for damaged items, which was not indicated on the moving contract as part of the insurance agreement.
Bottom line: If you’re trying to save the hassle of doing it yourself but not paying too much– Get a U-​Haul and pay someone just to load/​unload your truck. If you are actually looking for professionals for a long distance move– call someone else.

I have moved many times in my life, and this was by far the worst moving experience I have ever had. My wife hired Full Service Van Lines this summer to move her from Chicago to Charleston, SC. We were recently married and had been living apart for a year until she could join me. It started off poorly and in retrospect I wish we would have canceled right off the bat.
Our scheduled pick up date was July 30 and my wife had a flight to leave Chicago on July 31. After keeping my wife in the dark on her moving day, they called late in the evening on July 30 to say that they would not be able to come that day at all. They picked up her stuff the next day but she had to change her flight which cost us a few hundred extra dollars and caused a lot of stress.
Our delivery date was August 3^rd in Charleston. They didn’t meet this date and they didn’t even come close. When we called to get information on the status of our move, we were routinely put on hold for 5+ minutes, given an excuse as to why the stuff had not yet arrived (the driver is sick, etc), told that our stuff would arrive the next week (which wouldn’t happen), and told that we would be called back by the dispatcher with an update on where our stuff was (which never happened).
I honestly thought that we would never see 85% of my wife’s personal belongings ever again. Finally, after having my attorney contact Full Service Van Lines, and after over two months of having no idea where our stuff was or the status of our move, we got a call that it would arrive in the next two days. At this point I got the contact information of our driver and was able to get in touch with him which was a huge relief. The move was delivered on October 6^th, two months and three days after the expected delivery date.
I was so happy that the move arrived at all it nearly negated the fact that a bookshelf and mirror were completely smashed and our bedframe was just lost. The driver told me that he would get in contact with the office to inform them of the broken/​missing items, and that I would be getting a call from them to talk about compensation (which was $ 0.60 per pound). Of course I never heard anything from them and I don’t expect to ever see the measly compensation of $ 60 dollars or so that they owe us for the broken/​lost items.
It isn’t possible to get a discount for broken contracts (the contract states they have to deliver in 30 days) or broken items because they won’t unload your stuff until they have cash in hand covering the remaining balance on the delivery day — they have your stuff held hostage and there is nothing you can do.
After about a month of not knowing where our stuff was, I did some research and found out all kinds of shady stuff about this company — they own multiple review websites where they are rated highly, have offered people cash to take down Unilocal reviews, and the owner of the company has a brother who is banned from ever running a moving business again in the state of Florida due to the number of complaints to the state government from entire loads being lost/​shady business practices, etc.
I am extremely thankful that we ended up receiving our stuff and that our moving saga is over. The next time I move I will be personally driving the truck.

Just another warning!!! If this company contacts you to tell you they have a «New Owner» or under «New Management» PLEASE review the Unilocal reviewers first!!! Do not fall for it as I did!!!
I was told the above story by a Jon Bell and agreed to the settlement amount to update my review and remove all photos from the internet. Many, many weeks went by and I never received the check, even after numerous calls to the company and I kept being told «the check was mailed». Well, a check was never received and the company was never able to provide us proof a check was ever processed!!!
Now when I call the company, they tell me the new owners Jon Bell and Mat Socher are too busy to speak with me!!!
Well, my review is now updated an the photos are back up on line. Please do not trust this company will honor their agreements, make the decision on your own by reviewing the other reviews on Unilocal that show many others were scammed by this company as I was!!! They were also reported on NBC6 Florida News as being dishonest and closed by the Federal Government. You can google and review is information is accurate yourselves.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!! BAD! BAD! BAD!

WORST COMPANY EVER!!! Please do not use them. Full Service Van Lines is a very deceptive company. They will make you believe your things will be in the best of care when in fact everything is a lie. First off, George said my things would be delivered between 10 – 14 days; it was a month before I had any of my things. I would call them to get an estimated arrival day, I only got the run-​around. Their customer service is terrible! I have to travel for work and needed to get a clear idea of when my things would be delivered after the 14 days expired. This was never provided. People on the phone were rude, disrespectful, unprofessional, and behaved as though I was bothering them in asking for information about my move.
I also later found out my move had been SOLD to another company! This was the first question I asked George. He lied and said that Full Service does not sell or hire out. He stated that everyone touching my things would be a Full Service employee and that my things would be delivered by Full Service, NOT another company. LIES, LIES, ALL LIES!!! The last person that actually called me back said he worked for another company and that my move had been sold to his company shortly after my move had been picked up.
When my things were finally delivered, everything looked a wreck. First, the movers were not Full Service movers. They looked like they had been picked up at a gas station. They unloaded my things and did not assemble anything. They were supposed to assemble my bed, TV, lamps… They did nothing! My boxes were torn and my things were falling out of them. Many items also never made it. The platform for my bed, among other things was nowhere to be found!
Because I pre-​paid this move in full with my AMEX, I contacted AMEX to see what they could do. AMEX gave Full Service 90 days to respond to my grievances and Full Service failed to do so. At that point, AMEX gave me a full refund. However, now that AMEX has not paid Full Service, they are trying to collect the money from me directly. Now there is a collection agency threatening to take me to court and report this on my credit if I don’t pay for their lousy moving service. FULL SERVICE IS REALLY THE WORST!!! Moving is stressful enough; a moving company you are paying for should not be exponentially adding to an already stressful situation.

DON’T BELIEVE ANY OF THESE FAKE 5 STAR REVIEWS.
This is an updated review to what I posted back in Oct. This company has recently been shut down by the feds — reference this article from Oct 2015:
Two weeks ago, someone called me claiming to be the new owner and said he would pay me to take down my negative review. He apologized and admitted that the company did a bad job with our move but said he is committed to making changes to the company/​fired everyone else who worked there. I believed him and took down my review as I could really use the extra $ 600 after they gouged me for approximately $ 5000 (when our estimate was around $ 3500). They were 1.5 months late and we had to buy expensive interview and work clothes in the meantime. We never received the money and I am posting my review back up. I don’t believe anything this company says and it sure doesn’t sound like a new owner. The tactics are shady and sounds exactly like the unprofessional company we dealt with this summer.
My previous review: I wish I could give them zero stars. It’s actually shocking to now read everyone else’s reviews as they are eerily similar to the experience we had this past summer. We were moving from NYC to Seattle this summer and were researching moving companies at beginning of June. Our friend had just signed with FSVL, so we looked on Unilocal and saw only positive reviews and after talking to them and getting a good quote, we decided to book with them. All these negative reviews I’m seeing on the site now were not there back then. You will notice the positive reviews have no substance and simply say they had a good experience.
Our stuff was picked up on June 25 (the actual people who picked up our stuff were great and we have only positive things to say about them, who are not affiliated with FSVL, but a contractor). We were promised our stuff would arrive the week of July 6^th, which we timed specifically with our move date. So we were living out of suitcases while we were still in NYC, bc FSVL said they would need to pick up our stuff that early in order to get it to Seattle the week of July 6^th. We didn’t get our stuff until Aug 20^th — which was 5 days short of being 2 months without our stuff.
July 6^th rolled around and we had no update from FSVL. We had to repeatedly call and call and call and stalk «Shawn» who never could speak to us and the receptionist said he would call back, but 98% of the time he never did. The WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE ever. Moving is stressful enough and we had to worry about starting new jobs, going on interviews, going to the DMV and getting stuff for our apt, but also had to worry about stalking FSVL for them to even give us an update on our stuff. We had to buy work clothes such as suits and nice shoes for work and interviews because we didn’t have anything to wear.
When «Shawn» did give us an update, he would always ensure us that he was close to finding a truck to take our stuff across country, and he would have an update by the end of day or weekend. This promise would happen every week. «Shawn» promised us that we would be «taken care» of for the delay, but didn’t want to discuss the monetary amount until he secured the truck.
When the truck finally came, the contractor who was assigned the job took 2 days to arrive since he said that FSVL mixed up our boxes with another customer’s boxes and he had to go through manually to separate and make sure all of our stuff was there. We tried to get «Shawn» on the phone to discuss the money, since he said he would once our stuff arrived. He was MIA and the contractor needed to drop our stuff off in order to get to his next job. However, we would not pay until we spoke with «Shawn.» Finally, «Shawn» called and would not budge on the price at all. It was a very heated conversation with both sides yelling. He would then say «ok i’ll see what i can do» and call back 30 mins later, asking «so what is your decision?» with no budging on the amount on his side. He acknowledged they messed up, but was not at all understanding. He finally gave us $ 200 off, but then charged us $ 250 to rent a smaller UHaul since our neighborhood doesn’t allow bigger UHauls (this extra charge came as a total surprise and was not communicated to us before). This was after we had to pay hundreds of dollars for new clothes for work/​interviews.
At the last minute, they also told us they don’t accept cashier’s checks and only could accept cash. What kind of company only accepts cash for such large amounts of money? They then tried to get us to sign a release to not post a negative review — why would we do that? This is the absolute worst company I’ve ever had to deal with in my life and I will not only not recommend anyone use this company, I will go out of my way to tell people my story to spread the word how awful this company is.

I’m shocked to see all of the negative reviews for this company because we had a great experience from start to finish. The movers were professional, courteous and on time (or within their timeframe). Having never used a moving company before we weren’t sure what to expect but everything worked out fine, all of our questions were answered and they took the time to really help us. Thumbs up.

This is an update to my previous review. After posting my review, Jason from FSVL reached out to me. They refunded the amount under that I was for the boxes, compensated me for the tardiness of the driver, and Sean sent me a letter of apology. I honestly believe that they are trying to do right by their customers, but they need to do right in the beginning… how exhausting to handle complaints day in and day out and then make good on them retroactively. I also believe that Jason has his act together, but that some of his employees either do not listen or do not take him seriously — not sure, but they have a serious systemic communication issue there, down to which I was able to distill my original review.
Unlike other reviewers, they in no way asked me to take down or modify my review. I offered to do this on my own because I believe that people deserve a second chance. Life is a learning process and they are learning (I hope) and for this I rewarded them.
It is important to remember that not one thing was missing, broken, or damaged in this move. I am upgrading my star rating from a 1 to a 3.

I moved 9 times in 10 years and they are the worst mover I ever had. I never had so many problems with movers and it was (still is) a nightmare. And NO, I will never do business with them and will notify the government department to get them blacklisted from doing business with any service member.
In my experience:
** They will bait you in by giving you a low quote
** They will try and overcharge you once your items are packed
** They have worst customer service I ever had
** They are never on schedule.
So… here are the facts:
1. I told them I was in the service and I need the weight ticket to get reimbursed. They told me they did military moves all the time and since they quoted me with the cheapest price, I went with them.
2. Pickup date was August 7 between 9 ~ 11 am. The movers didn’t show up so I called the company, they told me they were behind so it will be around 4 pm. They did not show up until 8 pm and workers complain they are over worked. It started raining by 9pm so movers asked if they can comeback tomorrow. I was fine with it since I didn’t want my stuff to get wet.
3. When they were done with packing, they claimed I went over the limit and charged extra $ 800. They said, they charge by cubic feet and I was quoted for 349 but I had 480 cubic feet worth of items. Since the movers didn’t use any specific measurement technique, I disagreed and ask to talk to a supervisor. Since it was a Saturday, movers said there was no supervisor available at that time. They also told me I had to pay 50% of the cost upfront which I was never told. I only had a credit card at the time so they took down my credit card info with 5% surcharge… The movers also had no clue about the weight ticket that I needed…
4. The company sent me an email the following week stating they wasn’t able to charge my credit card. I called them right away and inquire about the unfair up charge for the move.
Movers: Each square on the loading cargo is 120 cubic feet, I took 4 squares hence I had 480 cubic feet worth of items.
My point: Why is the movers just eye balling and estimating? I took pictures which clearly DID NOT take 4 squares. It barely went over 3 squares which should be around 360~380. Also all my items came from a storage unit which had maximum capacity of 400 cubic feet (which I sent them a statement from the storage owner).
Company’s rebuttal: I had more stuff than I originally quoted for stating I put down only 35 boxes but I had 50 boxes and etc…
My point: It doesn’t matter how many boxes I had or I was quoted for, if you guys are going to charge for cubic feet, stay with cubic feet and don’t mention about number of items. I can have 500 items and if I stay with the limit, I shouldn’t be over charged.
We finally agree to settle to charge me for 400 cubic feet which I am not that happy about.
During the argument: I had to talk to 3 different employees: Jackie, Shamon, and Matt. They all were very poor dealing with unsatisfied customer (me) and complained that they don’t like to be yelled at. I only got loud because Jackie kept trying to cut me off and only cared about the payment. She even mocked me during the conversation… When I mentioned this to Shamon, who supposed to be her supervisor, he was even worse than Jackie…
5. So… My delivery date was scheduled August 21^st. They did not show up on the 21^st and didn’t give any notice so I call them again. They told my items left yesterday from GA and it should arrive the following week. I wrote numerous emails asking them about any specific dates or information but no reply. I also tried calling them and they answered once out of 10 maybe. They confirmed that the movers are in the area and that is it…
6. On August 31 they finally came to deliver my stuff… With one kid… They asked for rest of the balance in cash… Threaten me that they will take my stuff back if I don’t get the cash right away. I tried to reason with them but they acted like drug dealers. Very rude and threatening. So I got them their stupid cash and finally started unpacking my stuff. My service was «white glove» service but since the kid was overworked, I actually helped him out and told him to leave after my stuff was just unloaded…
7. So the deal was that I needed a weight ticket for my move to get reimbursed from my work. Yeah, they didn’t have it… Again, I had to call and email them numerous times to get any response. This move was straight up nightmare… My stuff was damaged and there was one thing missing… Yeah… they just hanged up on me when I asked how I will get my stuff reimbursed…
8. November 5^th, I got a call from a random guy who states that he is the new owner of Full Service Vanlines. Basically stating to erase my review for $ 350. Hahaha… wow. they are just a joke!

Worst company I’ve ever had the displeasure of doing business with.
Ah, the cast of characters at this company that appear in others’ reviews: Sean, Jackie, Jason et al. My initial experience with George was very positive. He walked me through the quote process, answered all my questions in a polite and professional manner, and returned phone calls when I left messages.
The movers (2) arrived on August 29^th for a move from the metro Boston area to San Francisco, CA. The driver was helpful and walked me through the process and documented my inventory. The cost exceeded the estimate for reasons that could not be articulated. Oh, and they arrived in a Budget rental truck and were clearly contractors, NOT employees. The untruths continued to build from there.
I was told during the initial quoting process that this would take 17 – 21 days. I followed up for an ETA daily, multiple times a day beginning September 9^th when I arrived in San Francisco. For the first 2 weeks I got the runaround («your stuff will be loaded and sent within the next few days» followed by «truck issues that are beyond our control»). I even enlisted family members to help hound these people because a single person cannot make this a full time job, which it became. I can count on 2 fingers how many times I actually received a return phone call despite always being told «I’ll call you back in (insert random # here) hours». So on top of everything else customer service is nil.
The first time I was given the «driver’s» name an cell #, I quickly learned that was bad information. Not only was this person not a driver, but he did not have my things nor was he heading to the west coast. In fact, I was given the # of another dispatcher God-​knows-​where. I believe this was a tactic to get me off their back for a half day. I later talked to this person again and he asked «what company are you working with because I work with so many?».
Once a driver was assigned and the truck en route, the final amount due continued to rise. Why? Again, no one could articulate that very well, and there was NO NEW INFORMATION about my destination or situation that would suggest they didn’t factor something into the original quote. Driver arrived days after due date and still wanted more $ upon delivery than was agreed. Also made me sign the delivery form before he even opened the truck. And guess what? SEVERAL boxes are missing from the delivery. FSVL’s response? Mum so far, but we’ll find out. I have filed a formal complaint on the FMCSA site and am going down the line with BBB, etc.
Moving is a stressful time, especially when it’s cross country. Do yourself a favor and select ANY other moving company, if that’s even what they really are.

This is the second review I’ve left. This company is horrible. They took nearly a week longer than their promised delivery (42 days in total that they had our belongings), they tried at every turn to charge us more money, and to date they still have not delivered items that we reported missing. Their customer service is, shall we say, nonexistent and they will not follow up with you– you have to hound them. Sure after my initial review (which was mysteriously removed) they claimed to be working on this problem. I haven’t heard from them in over a month, since I told them to stop asking me to change my online reviews and to just find my stuff if they think they deserve more than a one-​star rating.
If you are moving, save yourself the headache and just do it yourself.
If anyone out there received some boxes with your delivery from FSVL that aren’t yours and contain family photos and portraits, please email me at
. We want these items back and are willing to pay for shipping!

Do not hire Full Service Van Lines under any circumstances! Never in my life have I paid more money to be treated so rudely by a completely unreliable and untrustworthy company. They should not be allowed to stay in business!
At first (before I signed their contract and paid my deposit) they were very friendly. However, immediately after I signed my contract they became awful. They did not pick up or drop off my furniture on the dates that they told me they would and they never even called to tell me that they had changed my moving dates. When I called trying to figure out where my stuff was (and whether or not I would need to find a place to stay for another night) they completely ignored my numerous calls and emails.
Finally, I tried calling from a different number that they wouldn’t recognize pretending to be a new customer and they answered immediately. Once I identified myself they became incredibly rude, refusing to confirm new moving dates or even apologize. At one point, while on the phone, the employee I was speaking with told one of his coworkers that he «wished the b*tch would stop calling.» When they finally came to deliver my stuff the driver refused to unload anything until I paid him several hundred dollars more than I owed them according to the contract (obviously in cash).
I would recommend not moving at all before hiring Full Service Van Lines.

WOW! This company was amazing!
From the moment they came to the moment they drove away, these guys were flying! The entire team had been incredibly fast, not to mention they were professional and cool headed. We ran into a difficult situation but it was easily solved thanks to their ingenuity and decisiveness. They didn’t bat an eye for every challenge that came across them. They remained calm and worked like they should. It was less than 4 hours to get us out of duplex to another apartment without making any one of us lift anything. Next time, I’d probably let them do the packing as well.

Our experience with Full Service Van Lines (FSVL) for our move from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA was a nightmare. The company picked up our belongings on 6÷7÷15 and despite our mutually agreed upon Final Acceptance Date of 6÷24÷15, did not deliver until 7÷26÷15 (50 days later). Unfortunately, much of our furniture was damaged and several boxes were crushed.
Full Service Van Lines’ contract states a tagline «Our Trucks… Our Team… Full Service, at Your Service.» Unfortunately, this was not consistent with our experience. A rental truck picked up our stuff and was loaded by three people hired to work for the day. The company’s customer service proved equally disappointing. After our planned delivery date had passed, FSVL staff was unwilling to provide a revised delivery date for nearly a month.
Full Service Van Lines said they would offer financial compensation for our negative experience, but failed to follow-​up with specifics despite our requests. After more than 40 days of our belongings sitting in a warehouse in Virginia and then New Jersey, a new company phoned us indicating that they would be moving our belongings west; this was very surprising since it was our understanding that FSVL does not subcontract moves.
We are suspicious of FSVL’s reviews on a variety of websites and have watched several negative reviews appear and then disappear on Unilocal over the last few weeks. Other customers have indicated FSVL offered financial compensation if the customer signed a confidentially agreement promising to remain silent about their poor experiences with FSVL.
In sum, save yourself the head-​ache and do not hire Full Service Van Lines. The company lacks the logistical infrastructure to fulfill your move on time and without damage, and the customer service to provide basic information about the status of your move.

I’ve moved many times for my job, and this is the worst moving company I have ever used. After the initial sale, in which I paid a ¹⁄₃ deposit of the total estimated cost, everything went downhill. Jason, the representative with whom I initially spoke, was friendly and spent a long time with me going over my possessions and the estimated cost. He even convinced me to pay to have the company pack all of my possessions, when I’d originally only wanted them to pack my kitchen. We scheduled the movers to arrive on June 30, and he promised that my things would be delivered within 1 – 3 days after that date.
From there, everything went wrong.
The movers did not arrive until 12:30 p.m. on July 1 (this was after repeated promises from the company that they would arrive on June 30, up until about 8:00 p.m. that night).
When the movers arrived, a day and a half late, they had only a small white U-​Haul rental van, despite the fact that our moving estimate had been for a 5-​room house.
The movers were clearly exhausted and overworked, and the foreman, David, complained repeatedly about his fatigue, and about the amount of belongings we had (making it seem as if it was our fault), and about the company’s inability to prepare him for this job.
He quickly re-​estimated the price of the move. The original estimate had been for $ 3,187, but the price David then came to was over $ 4,800. Of course, at this point, we had very little choice but to agree to it — we were already a day and a half late and needed to get to our new home and new jobs several hours away.
Jackie, the representative who my husband and I spoke to that day, promised that she would give us a financial settlement to compensate us for the trouble. She promised $ 200 right off the bat, and that next week when she was finished dealing with other dissatisfied customers (really!), she would work with us to come to a further financial settlement. This never happened: the following week, after a tense conversation with her, she stated that she would only be offering us the $ 200 settlement.
After the movers collected our things on July 1, I did not receive any communication from Full Service Van Lines for several days, until I initiated it, and began calling them multiple times a day. They rarely called back when they said they would, though they kept promising more information soon.
At this point, I was still under the impression that my things would be arriving within the promised 1 – 3 days. I was calling the company every day to see when to expect the truck, and receiving no firm response from them (and eventually outright hostility, when they yelled at me for continuing to call).
My belongings finally arrived 16 days after they were picked up (17 days after the scheduled pick-​up date). The movers and packers had done a haphazard, inadequate job, and many boxes were either crushed or falling apart from over– or under-​packing. Some of our furniture was scratched, and they did a terrible job packing delicate items (placing my ceramic plates, for instance, at the very bottom of a huge box of kitchen items with absolutely no padding to protect them).
The $ 200 settlement, which was not sent to us until the day the movers arrived with our belongings, included a confidentiality clause. (In our earlier conversations with Jackie, she made it clear that this was a common practice for Full Service when dealing with unsatisfied customers.) After we began to complain on social media, Jason reached out to offer first a $ 500 settlement, then an $ 800 settlement. While we appreciated this, we ultimately decided to refuse the settlement and keep our posts and complaints up, in the hopes that others may avoid the terrible services provided by this company.

Based off my research and personal experience (factual) with Full Service Van Lines… I will not sign a document and do not want to give up my rights as a customer. Dispatch manager agreed to $ 250 credits without conditions; however, afterwards, only if I signed a document to keep all previous event confidential. I did not sign that document and paid the original balance, so I can provide feedback to others…
First delivery Date: June 6^th — Actual delivery on July 16^th.
Every week, guaranteed/​promised… However on expected date, and only after several calls was I informed of a truck problem or driver problem.
According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website as of July 16, 2015:
· USDOT# 2 492 913 :
«U.S. DOT# 2 492 913 has no current for-​hire operating authority with FMCSA.»
· MC # 872 271 :
Per FMCSA website: «NOT AUTHORIZED: Carrier does not have any operating authority and is not authorized to operate.»

The Good…
FSVL took VERY good care of our stuff. Out of 180-​ish boxes (a good portion of them fragile glass/​kitchenware) we’ve only found 5 things broken, and those items were cheap anyway.
When FSVL arrived, I was impressed on how well they treated our furniture. They wrapped just about all furniture in big blankets. A couple of our shelving units got scuffled, but it’s hardly noticeable.
FSVL delivered everything, nothing went missing.
FSVL was quick to offer me a discount when they arrived late with our stuff (see below). They were fair and extrememly easy to work with.
The Bad…
It took 47 days for FSVL to deliver our stuff, which was 5 days after the contract date (see notes below).
FSVL is not the best at getting back to you. Numerous times we were told dispatch would call us back, and didn’t. I had to get VERY angry with one of the reps one day for FSVL’s lack of communication. This rep stepped up to the plate and took charge of our job. Towards the end of our delivery, he followed up often, and when promised.
The Ugly…
One time we were told our stuff was loaded on a truck and headed our way, when in fact, it wasn’t. 4 days passed and FSVL never called to inform us. If FSVL would have reached out to inform us of the error, we would have been disappointed, but would have respected them for following up. We called our driver to find out which state he was in… only to find out he didn’t have our job… my husband and I were livid.
FSVL and I worked out a discount, in writing, since our stuff arrived 5 days after our contract delivery date. The driver didn’t want to honor it. He said we needed to pay full price, then submit a claim. That may have been their policy, but since they arrived AFER the contract date, I was NOT having that. Moving had been really stressful, and living in an empty apartment for a month did not make matters much better. I wanted to be done with FSVL at that point, so I had to get ugly and threaten to call the police for a hostage situation if they he didn’t agree to the promised discount. The driver called FSVL to get a handle on the matter. After a very brief. heated conversation with FSVL… they agreed to the discount right then and there. My husband and I did not have to fill out a claim. After that, the driver was very kind, funny, and easy to work with.
Notes…
The summertime is the busiest time of year for ANY moving company you hire. Logistics is a complicated machine, and even though you may be ready to have your stuff delivered, FSVL needs time to find a truck.
The final price came in quite a bit over the estimate. However, this is mostly our fault for underestimating the amount of items we had. We guessed about 120 boxes and it ended up being 220 items. A better estimate of exactly how much stuff you have will probably result in a more accurate estimate.
We didn’t have our delivery date or exact location up front. We took advantage of their storage for two months and our delivery date was first available. My husband and I read that when dealing with a moving company, giving a first available delivery date might not be the best idea. When we gave FSVL our delivery date, they did not have an answer on when our stuff would be arriving for several weeks.
In the beginning of our moving relationship with them, we wanted an update and they would not call back. It’s because they didn’t have a truck lined up yet, they were still working on finding one. So. you have to be somewhat flexible and give them time to do their job. If you call each and every day demanding an update, they may not have an answer yet.
Yes, at times our experience with FSVL was stressful and unpleasant, hence the ³⁄₅ stars. However, at the end of the day, FSVL delivered everything we owned, and they took VERY good care of our stuff. For that, my husband and I are extremely grateful.
Thank you.