AllState Van Lines Relo AllState Van Lines Relocation Services They lied florida

AllState Van Lines is the worst relocation moving company in America. They are liars and not only that, they'll say anything they have to in order to book the job. They love to use their famous line, "window," which means they'll tell you that your belongings are targeted for your preferred (or in my mother's case, necessary) delivery date. The truth is they have absolutely no intention of delivering your belongings anywhere close to that date, in addition to their other cruel behavior and the lies they expertly tell. Following is our experience with AllState Van Lines:

I phoned AllState and began the conversation by stating that my elderly mother was returning to New York and needed to have her furniture delivered on April 1st. The first girl I spoke with (who after I had questions over email, refused to respond to any of my messages kept telling me that they'll target April 1st, but there is a window (4/1-4/13) in case of any problems on the road, etc. I wasn't comfortable with this, so she had a guy, I presume was in a supervisory capacity, phone me. He explained pretty much the same story that the first girl recited, and also used the word "target" in reference to my requested delivery date.

It then made sense to me that if the truck breaks down or any other unforeseen event occurs, my mother would possibly not receive her stuff on the requested date, but I made it clear that barring no emergencies I needed her property delivered on April 1st. I would also like to mention, he spoke about the truck and the movers as if implying that AllState would be using their drivers and vehicles, not subcontracting the job to another moving company.

He also stated that the trip was 795 miles in total, so barring no issues my mother’s belongings should arrive on the target date (I was also told by another person at AllState that the drivers are only allowed to drive a total of 500 miles per day, so basing this on the pickup and delivery dates my mother should have her property on April 1st. AllState had no intention of delivering my mother's belongings anywhere near April 1st. In addition to their clever way of saying what they needed to say in order to book the job, my new account manager phoned me only days before pickup to introduce herself and inform me that my mother would have to pay $200 up front to "start the move."

No one had bothered to mention this in the weeks leading up to the pickup date. As I mentioned, my mother is elderly (did I also mention that she has difficulty walking?, which I repeatedly informed everyone I spoke with at AllState). I shudder to think what would have happened if she had not had the cash on hand. The movers that were used at pickup stole $50 from a bag my mother had hanging on a door in her bedroom. I informed the account manager about the theft, she spoke with the movers and they of course denied it. The mover also informed my mother that he would see her at her new location between April 9th and April 18th!

When she told him that she thought it would be sooner than that, he repeated his delivery time frame and left with her property (note, the movers at pickup were not the same ones used at delivery). I phoned AllState to complain and was told about their favorite word "window" as their excuse to forgo the target date of April 1st (they corrected the mover's timeframe and reiterated the 4/1-13 window per the contract). The word window was thrown around quite a lot in that conversation.

As I mentioned above, AllState had absolutely no intention of delivering on or around my requested date, and to add insult to injury they also wanted to blame the mover for the $200 up front fee when they knew full well he'd ask for it. Since the job was subcontracted, the subcontractors already had other customers to pickup and deliver around the country, which is why they likely couldn't have delivered my mother’s property on April 1st.

Again, AllState was well aware of this, which is why they didn’t mention the subcontractors until the day the account manager phoned me for the first time. Before my new account manager phoned me, and after my mother told me about the $200, I phoned AllState and spoke with a guy who told me (with an affected sympathetic demeanor) that it was the mover to blame for this unreasonable request and that he would have the fee waived. Needless to say, that too was a lie.

Nearly two weeks after my elderly mother had to live without her furniture and personal and necessary belongings, and we had to purchase a recliner for her to sleep on, in addition to a television set and many other items, the actual mover phoned me to say that he would be delivering my mother's property the next day (Thursday). Afterwards, I received a call from my account manager who told me that the mover would be at my mother's apartment on Friday. I told her that the mover said Thursday. She had me give her his mobile number, and the next thing I know the mover phones me back with a sad and disgusted voice to say that he would not be there on Thursday as planned, but on Friday (the mover had to rearrange moves and sit idly by at other times while he waited for further instruction; I kept in touch with him.

He sat outside my mother’s building on Friday for 4 hours and 45 minutes until AllState delivered the paperwork to my mother’s building!). In addition to this very mean and foul move on AllState's part they refused to fax over their Certificate of Insurance to my mother's building in order for the mover to gain access. This is something I told them about three weeks beforehand, and I also emailed them a sample copy provided by the building. I was continually lied to about this certificate being faxed to the building (when my mother began phoning them, they also lied to her, as well).

I finally had had enough and phoned AllState at a Florida number and spoke with someone who said she would take care of it. Of course that didn't happen, so I phoned the next day and reached another woman in the same department and gave her the fax number to the building, which she told me she would walk over to the department that handled the insurance (she informed me that the reason it wasn't faxed thus far was because they didn't have the fax number (they phoned the management office at my mother's building, but didn't get an answer)). Low and behold, that too was a lie.

It turns out (not surprising in the least) that the reason AllState never sent the Certificate of Insurance to my mother's building is because to add the additional names of the movers would cost them, they claimed, $100. So, instead of either baking this fee into the total move cost or letting me know three weeks prior, they waited until the eleventh hour to come clean. My mother decided to phone the account manager who informed her of this latest news. I am still in disbelief that a professional company would behave in such a despicable manner.

The bottom line is that if my mother hadn't phoned the account manager (at this point I refused her calls), she would probably never have received her property. As it is, my alternate plan was to hire a reputable mover who we have used a couple of times before and have them pick up from AllState and deliver to my mother. At least they actually have the proper insurance and paperwork as they do a tremendous amount of business in the city and have a stellar reputation. If this mover had been a state-to-state mover I would have hired them without question.

On Friday, the last day that AllState could deliver my mother's property to her building (weekend move-ins are not permitted), the account manager told my mother that in order for her to receive her property, she would now have to pay $105 on top of the balance due. Since my mother was nearly in tears over this entire negative process, she agreed to pay it under duress of not ever seeing her property again. After my mother was told the extra charge was $105 it then became $150. They told her that they had transposed the numbers. By this time my mother had had enough and left the account manager two voice mail messages telling her in a nutshell that she could keep her property and that my mother would sue AllState and alert the media about the way she had been treated.

For reasons unknown to me, the subcontracted moving company decided to pay the $150, and tacked it on to the balance due at delivery. At 4:45 PM on Friday, the last day the movers could do the move-in (the building management office closes at 5 PM), AllState finally sent over the proper paperwork to the building. (Note, the account manager nor anyone else from AllState ever returned my mother's calls following her two voice mail messages.) The mover stated that AllState would reimburse us for the $150 in 30 days, and it was hand-written on the receipt. My husband and I agreed to pay the charge with a credit card under duress just to get my mother her property.

AllState Van Lines treated an elderly woman with mobility issues like dirt, and when she had an opportunity to receive her much needed property a measly day early, AllState refused to accommodate her - even though the mover (a local mover they contracted for the job) was more than ready and willing to deliver. I'm a young person (my mother had children later in life), so I can't personally imagine what it would be like as an elderly person not to have my property for two weeks after moving into a new home. Based on what my mother has expressed, that it is quite an unpleasant experience.

Do yourself a favor and heed my and the other poster's warnings about this company and avoid them like the plague. The subcontracted moving company should never do business with AllState, either. If you do decide to hire AllState, you'll be doing so at your own peril.