Canadian National Van Lines Inc.

Please please do not hire this company. They are scammers and will lie to get you to work with them and then they will hold your things hostage until you pay an outrageous amount. They claim to charge by weight but they never actually weigh anything. Your things will arrive damaged, dirty and broken. They shouldn’t be allowed to run a business.

Significant upcharge on final bill. Thye did not provide final weight, and 2 weeks later still have not recieved even after a few requests. Mattress was clean when moved and wrapped in the companies plastic by movers. Took one month to have delivered from BC to AB. Mattress arrived and had mold. Without even going to claims company is saying it's dirty. They are dismissive with very poor service saying it will take 8 to 10 weeks for the claim.

No NOT use this company.

I wish I had seen all their Google Reviews before using this company for my move.

Not only did they completely lose one of our boxes (and not seem concerned), but our new patio furniture was just chucked in the back of the truck and was damaged with parts missing. I submitted a claim, and was given a settlement of $30!! When I complained, they just stopped communicating. We're left with damaged and lost goods, that arrived late - and an offer of $30 to cover off our damages.

DO NOT MOVE with these people - their staff is rushed, careless, and more concerned about payment upfront (which they requested many days before delivery) for the move vs. customer service. Zero stars, avoid them!

My move: from Vancouver to Calgary, during covid restrictions.

MOVERS: very rude and pushy about tips. Not attentive.

- The movers said they would be at our storage facility sometime between 10am – 4pm. This is a huge window for me to sit and wait at. Then, they don’t even show up until 4:45pm. I had to phone them multiple times to see if they were still coming and they were rude each time saying they already told me they were coming. Not once did they give me any more of a specific time frame to expect them.

- Tried to pack my soft-shell guitar upside down into a wardrobe box with metal bars and tools (I took the guitar out of the equation and home with me to move myself)

- They put our decorative mirror in same box as free dumbbell weights (it cracked)

- Were very hussy about not receiving a tip upon pick up. I was not prepared to tip the loaders, as we expected the people who loaded our belongings to be the same people who drive and unload them in Calgary – we planned to tip them after the safe arrival of our belongings. (THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE to load/drive and unload your things).

- The movers who unloaded our belongings gave us extra stuff – things that probably belonged to another person’s move, or junk that they just didn’t want on their truck anymore. (more garbage for us to hold onto until the claim was dealt with)

- During covid times, none of the movers were cautious or respectful enough to wear masks around us.

CNVL STAFF: email contacts seem polite and usually respond fairly quickly to email.

- However, they would not put us in direct contact with the claims department; they insisted on acting as a stepping stone. The claims department takes average of 8-10 weeks to respond (which is way too long to be holding on to all the damaged/garbage items that were delivered to us)

- It took longer than 10 weeks, and multiple follow up emails with CNVL to get any reply from the claims department. From that, the total amount of money offered back to us for ALL the damages was a mere total of $50. This is nothing compared to the full damage cost of all.

They broke everything:

- Newly refurbished dresser has massive dent and multiple scratches across top and sides

- 2x ikea kallax shelves (1 brand new) now missing sides and show scratches INSIDE the shelving areas.

- Glass mirror shattered

- Leather sofa shows large indent and scratches along top surface of pillow. This was BRAND NEW!

- a broken glass mirror, part of a steamer and several bed sheets that do not belong to us were delivered

OVERALL: if you MUST use this company, I recommend:

- Don’t let them pack anything for you. Pack it all yourself.

- Be present and supervise everything they touch. Don’t let them slide your leather sofa on cement from the door to the truck.

- Take lots of before and after photos. Cover your butt.

- They will fill a FORM when loading the truck, stating how many boxes/shelves/items etc and give it a number code. Make sure you know what code they are using!

o They used the same code for ALL of our things, saying EVERYTHING WAS ALREADY DENTED AND SCRATCHED. This was a lie. This lie cost us a lot when filing our claim form. Most of our furniture we were moving because they were brand new. Lots arrived with scratches and dents, etc. If they were in the condition they arrived in before we moved we would have chucked them out or sell them cheap in a garage sale rather than move them. They were completely destroyed.

This is the worst moving company I have ever hired... unprofessional, irresponsible, charged for services never given, there is no transparency on the weight of our stuff, they damaged some of our furniture. We felt like paying ransom just to recover our furniture. Their customer service representative is courteous in manners but telling continuous lies to customers is disrespectful.

We moved from Calgary AB to Fredericton NB in June 2019 and we hired Canadian National Van Lines for the long distance move. Fearing our items would be damaged or lost from the move, we already sold almost all of our furniture and were left with only the basics and must-haves, as we plan to buy new at our new destination, yet we still paid almost $8,000 for the move - see below for the possible reason of this price.

On moving day, movers arrived and they were fine. However, somewhere between the time these movers left our house to warehouses, loading on and off trucks, many of our stuff arrived broken. Boxes smashed and crushed. 3 out of the 4 dressers were broken, vacuum cleaner suction tube ripped, dial knob of pressure washer came off, side of queen mattress completely ripped open despite we used 4mm storage bag as protection, (you can imagine how your stuff were thrown and tossed like garbage!), lamp shade cracked, so on so forth .... We for sure filed a complaint with CNVL as all damages added up to approximately $1,100. After almost 2 months, we were told that as a courtesy, they would refund us $50, as we were advised of the $0.60 per pound per article insurance policy. Courtney of CNVL who dealt with us, could have mentioned this or even this policy was embedded somewhere in the fine print, but seriously, damages like these caused by a supposedly reputable and reliable BBB-rated A+ moving company is simply UNACCEPTABLE! The $50 offer was an insult of which we declined.

Other than the unacceptable handling of our stuff, after paying the $8,000, we also never got a receipt, e-transfer records from my phone were the only records of payment. We were also never told nor there were any proof of what the actual weight of our stuff was! When asked, Courtney just said our actual load was "within the estimate" so everything was good. All they used to calculate how much they'd charge was from an "estimate form". They emailed us the form prior to the move and we filled out the form "the best we can" and they'll ESTIMATE how much the move will weigh as well as how much space it will take up. This estimate form is useful but god knows this is also how they'll charge you, even when this form is nowhere near being comprehensive!!!! They warn you to better over-estimate as if the actual load is heavier than the estimated, not only you'll be surcharged but they also have the right to refuse the move due to insufficient space reserved! Therefore, the reality is that we made sure everything was accounted for and plus some just to be safe and we ended up paying the estimated amount even when the actual load was wayyyy lower?! But who knows? as they won't tell you the actual weight!! Such ethics!! This estimate form is nowhere near comprehensive coz not only many items were not included on this form, for many items that were on the form, the form does not specify details such as the size and material. e.g. the form says "shelf" - how many tiers are these shelves? Are they made of plastic or industrial super heavy metal frame??? What if the form uses metal as calculation while ours are only plastic? Using such a form to determine how much you pay and NOT the actual weight is a SCAM!!!

Last but not least, when the stuff arrived at our destination, even all boxes were labelled UP or DOWN, movers said they were too busy and wouldn't have time to deliver boxes to any where other than the living room / kitchen, even we have a bi-level home, where you either go up or go down the stairs right after you enter the house. It's the same distance going UP or DOWN. Boxes were piled up in the living room and kitchen where by the time they left, we couldn't open the fridge.

A picture says a thousand words, photos of some of the damages uploaded here - https://www.flickr.com/gp/185046174@N06/4U0250

To start with, the office couldn't confirm my pick-up time until the day before the movers arrived, which turned out to hardly matter since the movers responsible for picking up my stuff arrived hours late, without warning or notice. I was quoted a delivery estimate for the truck in 5-10 days, and around day 10 the company would continue to avoid answering precisely when the truck would arrive.

It turned out that their estimate was misleading, as they were instead quoting when the truck would arrive at the Toronto depot, and not my final destination despite me asking. This led to a further week delay as they unpacked and repacked my materials. Again, one day before delivery, they called to coordinate drop-off, and originally tried to arrange it for 6:00 in the morning, which was unfeasible for securing the elevator in an apartment building.

The movers showed up at a more reasonable time, but brought an impracticably large semi truck that was unable to fit down the street to my building. This was for an address that they had known about for weeks by this point, and could have been avoided. When they arrived, they refused to open the truck until I had paid them, at which point it turned out that I had been charged warehousing fees for the week that they held my stuff against my wishes.

My stuff itself was universally damaged to some degree. Boxes marked fragile were crushed, boxes with clothes were caved in, expensive TVs and computers marked "this way up" were evidently flipped and ignored. Furniture is broken and will not close, I have had to replace my computer hard drive due to malfunction, and several of my boxes were missing.

To their credit, the company refunded my warehousing fee, though I have seen other comments complain about the same practice happening to them. The company has a nearly insignificant insurance policy with a ridiculous deductible that, in my case, I was only informed of after I'd sent them a deposit. I certainly won't make that mistake again.

I filed a claim for my damaged and lost items, and was told that their offer was less than the deductible owed, but by the goodness of their heart they would offer me $50. They took six weeks to 'process' this claim, and only sent me their offer after I had to chase them down, even though their claim offer letter was dated from within days of me filing.

The company's practices resulted in my stuff being broken, damaged, or lost, their movers were unreliable and poorly equipped for the job, and their business side twice resulted in me getting charged extra or ignored payment until I had to chase them down for it. I wholeheartedly do not recommend Canadian National Van Lines.

I did not have many items to deliver from Ontario to Nova scotia but they lost 2 of my 6 boxes. Conveniently, the two boxes with the most expensive items in there equaling to 1700. They give you the run around when you are trying to process a claim. Could not reach anyone, they refuse to give you extension to managers or the claim department which is completely unprofessional.

I have never felt so used as a customer. They truly do not care about your stuff. One of the boxes that is missing has my collectibles that I have been collecting for the past 20year. Gone and they refuse to acknowledge it or reimburse me for what it is worth.

Stay away from them. photography everything!

This was a move across 2 provinces. Took 22 days for the goods to finally arrive over about 1500km. The goods actually physically sat in Toronto for well over a week which is unacceptable. 1/3rd and goods at origin not part of the move were broken or badly scratched, and no discount was given by the company, there was basically no negotiation in providing a fair price for the absolutely rotten service. Also the weight of the goods not taken at origin were not withdrawn from the weight. (Including a piano).

BUNCH OF CRIMINALS.. Only trying to find a reason to rip off your money. Upon agreement on a quote to pick stuff off from Montreal at a certain price, I get a call from the manager "Hannah" who was absolutely arrogant to start with and then quoted a bill $250 extra on what was quoted earlier stating the reason that TAX & PACKING WAS NOT INCLUDED IN EARLIER QUOTE. She didn't even refer to Quote earlier sent by her colleague to me by email and suggested that "SHE KNEW THE MATH" Upon me insisting to refer back to the Quote that was she realized that she could not swindle me off this time as it clearly suggested in the Quote that Tax was inclusive. After ten minutes, HANNAH MADE HER DRIVER CALL ME , and suggest that distance between the truck and elevator was more that 100 feets and hence would charge another $100 extra. When i asked the driver how he measure 100 feets, he showed me baby steps. HANNAH the customer service manager , her drivers and HER COMPANY ARE A BUNCH OF CROOKS. BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!