Nelson Westerberg

Nelson Westerberg/​Atlas Van Lines is a great company to use for your move… only if you DON’T care about professionalism. If you like poor communications, your info and contacts given indiscriminately to their sub-​contractors (and their sub-​sub contractors), getting calls from all sorts of middle men, not getting calls from the main contact people at NW/​AVL, your goods delivered damaged (if they arrive at all), your goods arriving late, and having amateurs dealing with you, then Nelson Westerberg /​Atlas Van Lines is your dream company! If I had to sum it up in one word: unprofessional.

After much research, searching for moving companies that were experienced in long-​distance moves and had my dates available for travel, I selected Nelson Westerberg.
Initially, things went very smoothly. I was pleased with the price quote I received (which was better due to a nice AAA discount) and I found the customer service to be good — at least enough to secure the deal.
I wish I could say things stayed that way.
Loading: the moving men showed up on time with a smaller truck with the plan of returning to the warehouse. They would then transfer all of my stuff to a large 18-​wheeler that would drive cross-​country. The loading process was average. They did a good job packing the boxes I requested (only one bowl broke), but they were not as careful as I would have liked. They put a hole in our wall which they repaired with toothpaste — not the most professional in my mind. And, they almost dropped some things while placing them on the truck. Rather than be apologetic, they blew it off as no big deal.
Unloading: it took almost 2 weeks for our things to make it cross-​country, a bit longer than we expected. It would have been nicer to have more communication enroute so we knew when we could expect our things rather than sleep on an air mattress for a week. Our things arrived finally and the drivers were very professional — no complaints at all. The problem is that several of our items were missing! Apparently, they were «accidentally» put on the wrong truck. Three months later and we still have not seen our boxes. It is also very unclear how in-​depth the «tracking» process has been. We did receive a check to cover some of the missing goods, although they will only pay $ 150 for a box, so if the items in the box are worth more (even if you can supply receipts), forget it. As for damaged furniture (we had a couple of items with scratches), they sent a third-​party company out evaluate if the damages were worth compensation.
I have made frequent calls to Nelson Westerberg staff as to the location of my missing items and how something like this could happen, but often my calls never get returned. The claims process has been very unprofessional and for this reason, I would not use this company again.
Part of the problem with this company is the Nelson Westerberg-​Atlas relationship. Based on my discussions with the drivers, if there are any damaged goods, the cost to pay the claim comes out of their paycheck. A driver actually offered me money to fix a piece of furniture with the hopes that I would not make a claim. This is sad that company employees feel the need to do this. This may be an Atlas issue, but NW has to take responsibility as well for their staff.
Good upfront customer service, but severely lacking on the back-​end, especially if you have problems. All we wanted was our stuff back — not money. We understand mishaps occur and some things may make it onto the wrong truck, but the company should account for every box and be able to locate it.