Trillium Moving and Storage Services

Do not trust this company. Unfortunately I did not see the reviews before I booked them.

Dishonest. Do not use.

***IF YOU ARE THINKING OF USING THIS COMPANY, DON'T!!!

My husband and I had the great misfortune of using Trillium to move. Firstly, their initial "estimate" that they provide you is not even close to what you will end up paying. I paid several hundred dollars above what I was originally quoted. Just read the other reviews and you'll see this is a trend with this company. Secondly, they damaged our furniture to the point where we cannot use our desk anymore. It's literally broken in half. Our TV stand no longer sits flush. Our dining table is now scratched up. We were offered $30 for all this damage. Thirdly, in order to get a response, we had to get the Better Business Bureau involved, as numerous phone calls and emails went unanswered after waiting almost 2 months for a response.

This company's business practices and accountability for damages caused is beyond reprehensible. It's nothing short of disgusting. The only reason I am giving them 1 star is because I can't post without providing some sort of star rating. I would have otherwise given them 0 stars. Please save yourself the headache, money, and stress....find another company.

Their initial estimation is was much much more than the real shipment weight. They don't provide you with the real shipment weight and they charge you based on their initial estimation which is called "minimum weight/ minimum charge"! they are too DISorganized! They get back to too late! every time you call, someone gives you a different answer about your scheduled and shipment! once they got back to me a week later after calling many times, asking them to please let a person assigned to my account answer my emails!!! They rescheduled my pickup on the same day!!!!! and after calling more than 10times, one month in advanced, asking them to please deliver my items in a time window of 3 hours, they did not! Funny thing! they tell you your shipment was lower than our estimation, but, that is what it is! and we dont EVEN provide you with the actual weight! NEVER EVER move with Trillium!

Worst experience ever. The quote was double the final price. They charged base on the weight of items, but they do not weight the items infront of you so there is no way for you to confirm/deny the final weight/cost.

The movers were suppose to show up between a time frame of 12-4pm. They showed up after 5pm, which caused me to miss the elevator I had to pay to book.

My furniture was taken to a storage facility and delivered the next day. When I finally received my furniture it was servery damaged. I had a wooden table set and they broke 2 of the 4 chairs. They wrapped the 2 broken chairs in bubble wrap so that i would not notice until they were gone and I started unpacking. The chair legs were broken and the movers attempted to fix them by putting nails and wood glue. The set was valued at $500 meaning that each chair was atleast $100 each.

I filled out a claims form provided pictures. The processing time for a claim is 4-6weeks. It took 8-9 weeks to get a response about my claim. They offered me $20 for everything.

Trillium Moving / Vega Lines moved a very few articles from my home in CA to Vancouver. The salient points regarding the service are supported by the attached email string, photos, and docs.

Anne Picard initial email communications were cordial and brief. Good.

On my first phone conversation with her, 19 September, she was rude having confused me with another customer. When I advised her of her confusion she did not apologize or recognize her customer service error.

After the deposit on contract was made 19 September, thereafter Trillium did not follow up or initiate communication with me. I was responsible for chasing them, as well as Vega Line, to confirm pick-up date. Unacceptable. But at that time, it was urgent, so if I wanted the job done I had to personally insure it happened. Anne never accepted my calls thereafter, other employees of Trillium fielded all my calls. On 28 September, the call I made to Trillium I was assured the pick-up would happen 29 September. when my representative in CA called in a panic because the movers did not show, I called Trillium again. They called Vega Line, to discover the driver was "delayed", but nobody bothered to communicate with me. Again, I had to chase. No new pick-up date could be determined. Totally unacceptable, especially since I had sold the home in CA and the new owners were taking possession the next day. Totally unacceptable.

I was obligated to call Trillium again on 30 September, was given the Vega Line number and directed to coordinate with them. Totally unacceptable. I was informed the driver would arrive 01 October. Again, totally unacceptable, but what can I do at this point.

The driver called me directly to coordinate on 01 October. The insanity only gets deeper and more offensive. Most offensive, I gave very clear detail of the pieces to be moved, and pictures. In response, Trillium gave a quote of $20-30 packing charge per piece. When the mover created the agreement and listed costs for my representative to sign, the cost he quoted was $800 total, effectively $89 each piece. Robbery! Reference the pictures sent, the two pieces of furniture were 30% covered with old plastic and a bit of packing tape, totally unacceptable. Insulting, careless, disrespectful, unprofessional, robbery! Upon seeing the pieces in the delivery truck I immediately declined and rejected the invoice as extortion. The mover called his dispatch, he discussed the issue, did not admit guilt but did recognize the apparent fraudulent effort. He proposed $200 not $800 packing fee, I am so insulted and angry at being taken advantage of in a totally vulnerable situation, but wanted to get my possessions back, so reluctantly I agreed ... to get it over with. Luckily, there was no serious damage to the artworks. Not so lucky the 19th century Chinese cabinet which was significantly gouged on the front decorative doors and frame. Of course there are always two sides to a story. This is clearly well documented and unquestionably egregious. Hopefully the industry, and the public, will address and rectify. For people in this kind of vulnerable situation that are extorted and raped, its simply not right. Not acceptable. It must change.

Most of my stuff made the trip from Winnipeg to Ottawa. Unfortunately I wanted, and had expected, all of my stuff to make.

Dealing with this company was a hassle from the second they got my things loaded into their truck.

The final price was double what they quoted for a one bedroom apartment.

On top of that there were at least two unaccounted for boxes (actually one box and a bag) and my vacuum. When they came to drop off the items they unloaded a chair that wasn't mine, which I quickly pointed out to them.

I called them immediately when I noticed items were missing (the bag and vacuum were to easy to spot) and they sent me the paperwork to file a claim. I told them that I wanted the items and asked them to contact the truck and they told me that they could check their warehouse but that the truck had already left to the next location.

I followed up by email no less than three times after asking if there was any luck locating my items. They would apologize, tell me they would contact the warehouse and message me when they had a reply and I never heard from them again.

I do not recommend.

There is no connect for "scale" weight. The scale ticket is not tied to your account or contract in any way and the weight was grossly over inflated. They could not back into my driveway (long) And I had to shuttle my move in my half ton pick-up. Five loads in a half ton does not add up to 5,540 pounds. The implied, we will disassemble and assemble your furniture comes at a price of $120 per hour.

Would not recommend. A summary of the issues I found is below:

- Delivery driver did not show up the first four times that he said he would - Eventually came 21 hours after he said he would be there, after I pestered him to reschedule 5 times.

- Amount charged was much higher than expected - I received a call the day or two before scheduled delivery with amount of the move. This amount was significantly higher than quote. I understand that this varies and the quote is only a rough estimate. However, I moved out of a 900 square foot, 2 bedroom condo and apparently my items weighed 3,180 pounds which put my total amount (including destination charges, taxes etc.) to over $4000. FYI - Given the challenges of getting this re-weighed and that I needed my possessions, I paid this and did not challenge it.

- Receipt was not provided - I asked for an invoice/receipt before the possessions were dropped off and was told the driver would provide. The driver did not have this. I had to ask over email 7 times in order to get this as their accountant had not prepared it (but somehow were able to tell me how much I owed before this) and then

- Receipt showed incorrect billing - There was a fee for "storage" even though I had an email from Trillium telling me that it was NOT stored anywhere. Additionally, my quote said I would receive 5 weeks of free storage anyway. After requesting a review, I did receive this storage fee back.

- Items missing at delivery - I let Trillium know via email on the day of my delivery that I was missing a heavy, metal filing cabinet that was about 4 foot tall. I've had over forty (40) emails back and forth with Trillium since I told them that it was not delivered. I've done everything they asked including submitting two claim forms, item descriptions, and re-sending chains of emails - Trillium's only response seems to be to ask me to continue to be patient and wait. It's been over 9 weeks that I've already waited and received absolutely no updates on my missing possessions.

- Extra items delivered - On day of delivery I was provided a queen sized mattress that belonged to someone else (clearly marked with different stickers) that I told the delivery drivers to take back. I also received glass table tops and parts of an air conditioner that did not belong to me. I told Trillium this and received no response on it. It seems that they are not interested in returning goods to the right people.

I would not recommend this company to anyone.

This company will rip you off, no other way to put it. They lost a bunch of my boxes which have yet to be found and probably never will be. They imposed extra packing services on me stating they would not move my things unless they packed it they way they wanted it packed---giving me no choice but to consent. I later found out it was over 500$ in fees. They should have provided a guideline if they had such strict packing requirements. Overall horrible service. What the head office will tell you "should have happened" is different than what actually did. For example the extra packing services were not mandatory, they are an option, yet the movers told me I did not have a choice. I would never recommend this company. There is a reason they are the "cheapest"--even thought my quote went about $3,000 over the original. I don't think they actually have a concept of how much certain sized homes actually have, they purposely quote you under the amount to get your business.

HORRIBLE SERVICE! If you use this company get extra insurance as you will need it. Lots multiple items, employees damaged items upon pick up and delivery, movers came unprepared with proper supplies to move heavy items and protect floors from damage. Told you can claim but when you do you are told "sorry we dont cover that". So is that poor custoner service or poor training? They provide inaccurate quotes and are given no options as they have your stuff. Go elsewhere!