International Van Lines

We used IVL for an international move, from the US to Europe. Everything left the US as it was supposed to, but when the shipment reached the destination country, we discovered that IVL's movers had made a mistake, and recorded us as having shipped 10x the number of items that we actually had.

This mistake led to our possessions being held up in customs for over a month, and we were subsequently charged over $2000 extra in fees (holding fees, and the cost of our shipment being inspected) before we could take possession of our belongings.

We immediately raised this issue with IVL, who admitted that they had made a mistake, and told us that they would look into our issue and get back to us. They never did. We contacted them repeatedly, and they did not respond to any more emails or phone calls.

I was quoted one price based on the amount and size of my items and then charged a big increase when the movers showed up. And these movers were not the movers I hired. This business contracted with another company to do our move and we had no idea this would happen - and now is claiming they are not responsible for the increased price or damage to our furniture because of this. Customer service is only on the front end of the move. We have tried every method possible to get in touch with them on the day of the move to straighten out this increase in price and there was zero response. AndThey knew they had us, we had to be out of our home and could not hire a new mover at that point - very sneaky and untruthful. I tried for weeks to contact them by email and phone and only heard from them after I filed a complaint with the BBB and they responded that they are only the broker and we have to take up our complaint with the mover - who by the way was very unprofessional and it was a very stressful moving situation. I did not hire that mover and would never hire them. Therefore, I do not agree that I have to take it up with them. I now see lots of complaints and bad reviews about them and all similar to what happen to us. I wish I checked there before using them and now can only do my part to help warn others from this stressful situation. The arrogance and poor business practice of this company is unbelievable, - shows how they no longer care because they have my money now and it is a run around to try and get help. I feel totally scammed and unable to do anything about it. Overall BEWARE, I would not recommend this company. Lack of integrity in business practice.

Somehow (buying reviews?) this company has many 5-star reviews. DO NOT TRUST THEM! Or the good reviews you read on so many moving websites. Seriously, how this company got so many websites to rank them highly is just beyond me. Here's my story: I got quotes from four different companies. They were the only ones who didn't come out to do an actual inventory (red flag 1 - unfortunately, I knew none of these red flags at the time). They came in lowest, so I hired them. They asked me to send one of the inventories I'd gotten from one of the other movers, which I did, and they gave me an updated estimate (still lower than the others). I also asked, before I made a commitment, about time limits as I was willing to ship my items earlier to get them there in a reasonable amount of time. The saleswoman said that it would probably take 7-10 days (cross country) and that picking up early wasn't necessary. They take a 40% deposit at hire (red flag 2). I updated my inventory twice before move (as I was still getting rid of stuff during packing), and they gave me an updated estimate. Come moving day, somebody other than IVL shows up (red flag 3) in a Budget truck (red flag 4). The guy looked at my apartment and said that, based on his "20 years of experience," I had 450 cubic feet, but he would do me a favor and only charge me for 431 cubic feet, which happened to be the footage on my first estimate. (Oh, red flag 5 - they go by cubic feet, not weight. The salespeople will try to upsell you on this, but you can't have them weigh afterwards to make sure that they're not overcharging you!) So the movers IVL hired didn't honor their binding estimate. This ended up costing me ~$400 more than their estimate. (I took pictures of the paperwork when the movers dropped my stuff off. They had my load at 300 cubic feet. This would have been a price difference of over $1000.) I emailed IVL after arriving in my new location (6 days after pickup). I was told the following day that my stuff still hadn't left the warehouse and it could take them up to 21 business days (read: ~4 weeks to deliver). This is all in their paperwork, and if you call them out, they'll say, You had it in writing, but as my sister said, this is basically them saying, Don't trust a thing we tell you. (Seriously. Don't.) I continued following up with them, eventually asking them to call instead of email because I wanted to have an actual conversation. When she did call (3 days later), she was incredibly angry that I wanted to, you know, actually speak to the people to whom I'd given 90% of my belongings and a not insignificant amount of money. She then finally told me my stuff would be packed the following week (4 weeks after pickup and 3 weeks after my first available delivery date). My stuff finally arrived over 2 weeks after it was originally shipped (6 weeks after it was picked up). They lost two of my chairs and my dining room table. Oh, and they're supposed to pay me for the late shipment. ($20 a day, and they reneged about what the first late day was. All of this was rather insulting.) My stuff was delivered 30 days ago and I still haven't gotten a check. If you're still with me, maybe you have an idea of what waiting for your things will feel like if you go with IVL. Save yourself the hassle (and money when you have to replace your things and get upcharged) and go with a better company.

Stay away! They are not a moving company, they are brokers. I just learned a valuable lesson and I will never forget. Ask it they are direct movers, if not they are a broker and will put your items in storage. Ask if they do a video walk thru of your home, garage and yard, if not they will increase your "binding" quote. Ask them if they use Google earth or if they are familiar with your pick up and drop off locations, you don't want to be hit with extra fees for a shuttle service.
Obviously, my binding quote went from $9k to $13k and then they stopped loading my items and demanded another $3k for bulky items (which I had sent pics of prior to my quote) they also gave me no notice that they needed a cashiers check or cash or Zelle the day of pick up. They led me to believe my stuff was being delivered in 3-4 days. It took over 30 days. We sat in an empty home (no beds, no furniture, no fridge, no oven) for a month. They also had all my husbands tools, so he was unable to earn income for a month. They had no idea when my stuff would be delivered, no idea why I was upset, no ability to track the shipment when it did finally get moving and to top it off, the driver had no helpers when he arrived so we had to unload the truck ourselves. And yes, items were broken and damaged but I don't have the energy to even file a complaint. Please avoid IVL. Their reviews are fake. I tried to leave reviews on Google, etc but can't seem to add to their 5 star reviews. Do not recommend!

They brokered my move out to another moving company, which was not my intention. They did not tell me that they were just hiring another mover to do my move until it was too late. My moving quote was inaccurate, as they would not send someone to do an estimate nor would they do a virtual estimate, so the move cost me much more than the original quote. After they picked up my items, the company they brokered out my move to (Safeway Movers) informed me there would be an additional $900 charge because they could not fit an 18 wheeler into my driveway. Most residences can't accommodate such a large truck, but they never mentioned this to me until it was too late. The movers did not follow some important instructions on moving day, and overall I was disappointed with the experience. I would not hire them again.

I'm not one to leave reviews, however, I felt the need to share my experience with IVL. My coordinator Alex was great. He provided me with a virtual estimate and binding rate that didn't change after pickup. The movers did a great job with packing and got my stuff to me in a timely manner. All in all I had an excellent experience and would use them again.