Colonial Van & Storage

Exceptional movers and packers! We just finished up my move from Fresno to the Bay Area and I can say that this company and the entire team from the owner, DJ, the office admin, Danielle and Crystal to the Master mover and packer, Roger and the rest of the great crew, John P and Mitch — this was the best move I have ever experienced — and I’ve been moved over 10 times!
Great immediate response, quick to response to all of my questions, excellent quote, the very best packing from the entire crew and great packing, unpacking and packing again in my little storage locker. 8200 lbs in a 10 X 13 with room to spare — thanks to the talents of Roger.
I will call these guys for all my moves forever…

I did a cross country move from Fresno, CA to West Orange, NJ and am absolutely satisfied with Allied/​Atlas/​Colonial Van and Storage’s services.
Eileen, the sales manager at this location, was amazing. One of the things you look for in a company that handles anything as crucial as moving services is communication. Eileen did just that by keeping constant phone and email communication with me during the entire process – from the inquiry of her company’s services to establishing where the drop-​off location will be. I’m looking at my past emails from her and it amounts to twenty two emails in a span of a week. She knows exactly what she’s doing. There was never a time that I asked her a question and she hesitated to answer or needed to make a call to verify information. Nope, she knew exactly what to say.
She came to my home the third week of August and did an hour walk around to make an estimate of how much the overall move of my furniture might cost. She made a reasonable and sound estimate while informing me of what her company can and cannot do, as well as informing me of the several other protection packages her company offers.
Stephen from United Van Lines was another person and company I inquired with, but after a 10 minute walk around, I was not convinced that my move would be «no less than $ 6,300» and likely costing me as much as $ 8,500. He seemed friendly, but it seemed like he was pulling numbers out of thin air.
Allied/​Atlas/​Colonial Van and Storage also assigned James (from San Diego) as the truck driver responsible for transporting my furniture. He did an outstanding job; you could read my review of his and Allied’s performance on the Atlas Transfer and Storage Co. (San Diego) Unilocal page.
I don’t see myself ever moving back to Fresno, but I would certainly recommend making an inquiry with Eileen to anyone in need of moving services. I had a great experience working with this company and wouldn’t mind doing business with them again. They’re military friendly and do many PCS moves in Lemoore.

minus… 10…

I’ve worked with Colonial Van and Storage for over 5 years now. I can honestly say they are some of the finest people in the moving industry. I do not hesitate to recommend them to anyone that is moving in their area.

RUN SCREAMING FROM THIS COMPANY!!! I used them for a move in 2012 from Kingsburg CA to Dana Point, CA. They came to see our belongings and gave us a bid. I later asked them for a cost to move more items from a storage unit which was acceptable. When they picked up the items at the storage unit, none of the movers said a thing about there being more goods than they expected. They moved the goods from our house later in the day and still nothing about any surprises. Everything was going great.
When it was time to deliver my goods, SURPRISE suddenly there was much much more in the storage unit. And, of course, they wouldn’t deliver my goods until I paid an amount $ 3,000 more than their estimate!!! I asked for a copy of their weight statement showing the impact of these ‘unexpected’ goods. None was provide and the nice woman who initially gave us the bid suddenly didn’t answer her phone or return calls. Instead, we got a mean spirited witch and what seemed like recently released felons to deliver our goods.
AS I SAID EARLIER, THESE GUYS RIPPED ME OFF. HEED MY ADVICE AND STAY AWAY!!!

I contacted Allied who connected me to these guys, their local agent.
I set up an appointment and a super knowledgeable lady come out and gave a quote the next week. It took her about 15 minutes to walk through the house and take her notes. When she was done she said she’d email me the quote. That evening I received the quote and it was cheaper than the other company I’d had come out for an estimate. In fact, the other company was going to have ME pack up most of the house into plastic bins that I could ‘rent’ from them. Colonial’s quote was for a FULL full-​service move. I called them back that day to set up the move.
On the first day (packing and loading the truck), three mover men showed up on time at 8am and started packing right away. They were all energetic, joking around and seemed to enjoy their jobs. I couldn’t believe how fast they worked. By 3pm the truck was loaded. Definitely professionals, but there were a couple of things that got on my nerves: 1) When packing things located higher up in the kitchen and laundry room, they used my good dining room chairs to stand on instead of getting a ladder 2) One of them used the bathroom for a #2, which resulted in no one wanting to go in there (I seriously heard one of the guys cracking up laughing bc it smelled so bad), which resulted in nothing under the sink getting packed and loaded onto the truck.
The second day (unloading the truck) was less impressive. The movers showed up on time as promised, but it was two different guys. And holy crap they walked sooo slow back and forth between the loads. Like really? We’re not paying you hourly. Don’t you want to get home? They also seemed careless and annoyed to be doing the job. But, anyway, everything got delivered (and only two glasses broke) so I’d say it was a success.
In the end the actual charge was $ 200 less than the quote, so that was a plus. If you’re moving a long-​ish distance (where they base the rate on weight not hours) I would choose Colonial. My experience with them was hassle-​free.