Complaint Review: Suntrust Vanlines

My boyfriend and I contracted with Suntrust to move our stuff from Atlanta, GA to San Francisco, CA in June 2013. We had literally the worst moving experience anyone has ever had and I am now on a mission to protect others from this terrible company. The following is a list of issues we had with them: 

1) FAKE QUOTES & HIDDEN FEES: They initially quoted us $1800 and after loading our stuff the quote jumped to $3765. Prior to selecting them, I gave them an unbelievably thorough list of our belongings, so clearly they just underestimated size to get our business. 
- Extra ridiculous costs included $226 for packing tape. Keep in mind we packed everything ourselves, but in wrapping our 1 bedroom apartment's furniture with blankets they somehow needed that much tape. We were not warned that they were charging us for the tape until it was too late. 
- Whatever Christine or any other rep quotes you, just assume you will pay more than double when all is said and done. They are liars and once they have your stuff in their truck it's basically theirs until you pay what they demand. 

2) FALSE DELIVERY CLAIMS: We we're quoted 7-10 days to drop off our stuff and it took them 6 weeks. In the interim they lied to use, avoided our calls, and made excuses. Finally, we had to get a lawyer involved to ensure our stuff would get on a truck. During this time we lived on an air mattress and spent $1000's on living expenses and eating out. 

3) UNAUTHORIZED STORAGE: I signed a contract stating that I did NOT want storage and yet, Suntrust took our stuff to their storage facility in Miami (the opposite direction of SF) and held it for over 5 weeks. 

4) RIDICULOUS & EXPENSIVE CHARGES: We paid $150 extra for two flights of stairs in the original contract. When the movers arrived to drop off our stuff they informed us that we actually had 8 flights of stairs and that it would be an additional $375 if we wanted them to deliver the stuff, because they deem a 'flight' to be 7 stairs. We live on the 3rd floor with stairs that are average height. It was just one more way to scam us. We ended up having them drop the stuff in the lobby and hired two guys on Craigslist to move it up stairs for $50 total. 

5) BROKEN FURNITURE: MOST of our furniture (which they packed) arrived damaged. We had corners missing from our wood furniture, wheels missing from chairs and torn leather. Every box was smashed, but thankfully I packed well and we only lost a couple of dishes. 

6) SUSPICIOUSLY 'LOST' Items: After unpacking our stuff we realized the only box missing was an extremely expensive stereo that was packed in the original box. We tried calling to resolve the issue, but they avoided our calls, lied and made more excuses. One rep actually told me she thought our box was stolen and that we should just file a claim. The basic insurance they give you would reimburse us about $12 for the box, so it's not even worth the hassel. After the CEO avoided my calls for two weeks he finally tried to say we never had that box and that we were scamming him. When I said that his company was incompetent and either stole or lost the box he hung up on me. How professional!

7) WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE: Overall this company has THE WORST customer service of any business I have ever experienced. They will lie to you, avoid you, make up insane excuses for why they dont call you back or have anyone that can help, steal your stuff, break your stuff, yell at you, hang up on you, charge you WAY more than you originally were quoted, and hold your stuff hostage for weeks. 

DO NOT USE THEM OR BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY SAY. We worked with an attorney in the moving industry and the actual movers on the drop off day and both said Suntrust is the worst moving company of all.