Bekins Van Lines, Inc

I hired Bekins in October 2017 to move me from CA to CO. I made the selection based on three estimates I got including Allied and United. Even though they were by far the most expensive of the three, the salesman that came to my house took his time going over what had to be moved which gave me gave me assurance that they would do the best job. There was two very important things I quizzed him about multiple times. One being if the move would be directly from my current house to my new house. I was told yes that it would. The other being the moving of my classic Triumph motorcycle without damage. I was assured that nothing would happen. I wanted a direct move because of all the horror stories I had read about what happens to house contents when they are transferred to a warehouse, they sit there, and then they’re reloaded again. I also have firsthand knowledge of what happens having worked in logistics for years. I was given assurances over and over on both accounts. When I asked what assurance I could have in addition to his word, I was told that I should buy the zero deductible insurance with full replacement, the delivery delay penalty, and increase the estimated value of the contents to cover the motorcycle. When I made my selection, I bit the bullet and paid the additional $500 to buy the additional coverage. So far so good right? WRONG! On the day before the move is scheduled I get an email informing me that they have not found a driver yet and they will be picking up the load and taking it to their warehouse until they can find a driver. I immediately start calling the sales rep who won’t pick up my calls or return my voice messages. I email the move coordinator and the sales rep stating my concern about the multiple handling that will be taking place and ask to increase the total value of the household to $45K and add an additional $15K just for the motorcycle. In addition, I filled out and submit an “Items of Extraordinary Value Inventory Form” for the motorcycle. While everything is being loaded I provide as much specific direction as I can to the foreman on the handling of the motorcycle and ask him to make sure that he helps when its being reloaded from the warehouse. First of all, even though I was given a 3 day delivery window, my load was delivered 15 days late and I think that happened only due to my constant bugging Bekins because I was living on a blowup mattress and two plastic crates. When the load was finally delivered, there were a number of items visibly damaged like crushed boxes, broken tables, ripped items etc. I was asked to sign a delivery acceptance for the motorcycle and told they couldn’t leave the it unless the document was signed. I did a visual inspection on the spot and signed the paperwork to spare more handling of the motorcycle. I contacted the move manager in IN about the damages and I was told I had 9 months to file a claim. Following that, I discovered additional damage, some of the shrink wrapped items were opened and items missing that were inside, and the worst of all, when I put gas back in the motorcycle and went to start it, it began dumping gas everywhere. I filed as complete and thorough a claim as I could, followed up on all the requests for additional information, estimates, etc. After that, the process has turned into a living ****. I was reimbursed for only some of the items with some of them at reduced costs (what happened to zero deductible full replacement?). Some of the items were not covered at all and I was told there was no proof they were shipped in the first place (essentially calling me liar) despite my explaining that these were items from the opened shrink wrapped packages. I went out of my way to locate an independent mechanic rather than going directly to a Triumph dealership which would not only charge an arm and a leg but would cost several hundred dollars in transport charges because the motorcycle is not rideable in its current condition. And despite me providing a statement of the potential damage and estimate from that mechanic for the motorcycle, I was told that there’s no proof the fuel leak was caused in the move (again calling me a liar), and that I took too long to file the claim (what happened to 9 months?), and that there was no proof the motorcycle worked when it was picked up (again calling me a liar), and that I didn’t provide any information the damage happened due to mishandling (LOL seriously?). I provided emails supporting everything I said, I was told, and took place, and my repeated and frantic protests to the last minute change in plans that the move wasn’t going to be picked up and delivered directly. Oh and also the claims management staff apparently doesn’t care a dissatisfied customer will be reviewing the company online in a negative light and costing the company many, many times more in lost revenue than the few hundred bucks to fix the problem.

If you use Bekins Van Lines, or it related company Wheaton Van Lines to move you, you are nuts. We contracted with Bekins to move us from Mission, TX, to Indianapolis, IN, a moved that we took delivery on on Oct. 3, 2017. We have been married for 40 years and in that time have made eight "major" cross-country moves. This was our first with Bekins and has been the most horrible moving experience we have ever had .... PERIOD. Over all the move -- including a full pack by Bekins employees -- cost us $11,600+ which likely is where our troubles began since it appear that the incompetent *** from Gulf Coast Moving Systems in San Benito, TX, the local agency representing Bekins in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, way under estimated the weight of our move and the number of days it would take a crew of competent packers to pack our belongings. From the outset this had the makings of a disaster. We were to be packed on Sept. 26-27 and loaded on Sept. 28. We were told that a highly experience crew of six packers would tackle the job beginning each morning by 8 to 9 a.m. and finishing each day after 6 p.m. and we were assured that all of the packers would be fluent in English. As it turrned out, we only have three packers, only one spoke broken English, one seemed to be brand new to the job and the crew did not show up on the first day until after 10:30 a.m., worked until noon, took off tor lunch an did not return until 1:30 p.m. and then knocked off for the day at 4:30 p.m. because of the long drive back to San Benito. Of course, it didn't matter because the didn't bring enough packing paper and boxes anyway. The next day, they didn't show up until after 11 a.m. for God knows what reason. I contact Eddie Rio, our job estimator and my contact person and raised **** since at that point the house was barely 1/3 packed. He made them stay until 7 that evening and when the left at least 1/3 of the house still remained to be packed with the moving van schedule to arrive and begin loading at 8 a.m. the next day. Again, in a panic, i contacted Rios who told me the packers would continue their work while the driver and another crew of workers loaded the van. The next morning, the packer showed up at 9 a.m. and we to work not packing our stuff, but merely cramming it into boxes with total reckless abandon. The result was boxes crammed with stuff from different rooms, framed pictures not wrapped at all being shoved unprotected into boxes, and boxes being isanely labelled by people who could neither speak not write English and who, apparently, could not even write in Spanish which we could have translated. As it turns out, the moving van was late, not showing up until well after noon and when it arrived, there was no additional crew of loaders, just the driver and his brother who where shocked when the discovered that packers had not inventoried and tagged anything -- not a single box nor a single piece of furniture. So, the drived and his brother set about doing that while the packers continued there frantic and careless effort to cram our remaining items in boxes. Finally, using the crew of packers also as loaders the van driver and his brother began loading the van about 3 or 4 pm. a process that continue until nearly 11 p.m. and was characterized by our stuff literally being tossed, willy-nilly, into the van as opposed to be organized by rooms which would have facilitated the unloading at our destination in Indianapolis. While the packing and loading were a dreadful experience, the circus did not stop there, The arrival of our stuff in Indianapolis was also a frigging disaster. The van was supposed to arrive by 9 a.m. on Oct. 3. A crew of two very nice young men who were to do the unloading (again half the number I would have expected) showed up about 8:30 a.m. and the wait began. About 10:30 I got a call from the driver saying that he has over slept and was still "about 45 minutes out." This was an apparently lie since, as it turned out, the van did not arrive for another more than four hours. When it did arrive, the two unloaders and the drive and his brother began pulling stuff out of the van and piling it into the house which whas alll a very random process since the box were not marking in anyway by the packers that any of us could understand. As with the loading, the unloading was careless, haphazard and showed little regard for the well being of our belongings -- that seemed to be the very last thing that anyone involved with this move appeared to be in the least bit concerned about. We ended up with random boxes in random rooms, many pieces of fine would furniture that were nicked and scared from carely, thoughtless, hurried handling and boxes everywhere that we would have to later move and reorganize ourselves not an easy chore for us as senior -- I am 72 and have had recent back surgery am in need of right arm rotator cuff surgery and my wife is 67. We were fortunate that the unloading crew at least set up our bed in the master bedroom because the left the guest bedroom mattress and box spring leaning against a wall still in boxes. The unloading was not finished until about 11 p.m, and he driver finally left. I was trying inventory things an discovered that two piece of valueable antique furniture were not in the house I call the driver. He checked and found that they have been left on the truck. He returned with them and a midnight, everything was finished. We have been unpacking now for three week and have gotten through most of the boxes that were crammed into the house, but still have an enter garage full still to go. As we unpack, we keep being more and more horrified at the damage done to our belongs by uncaring, incompetent packers on the beginning end each new box a suprise not only for what it contain because nothing intelligible is marked on the boxes to indicate what's in them. Example: There was one box marked "Gail (my wife's name) SENDOS." We had no clue what "sendos" were as it turned out, it was a box containing Gail's SANDALS. Through the unloading process, I made several calls to Ryan Greer, our Bekins moving counselor on this end to express my concerns all he did was tell me he send a damage claim form I was rather hoping he would come to the house the try to do what he could to straighten out the mess this entier move had become -- no such luck since that would have required someone who actually understood and cared about this disaster. All and all, Bekins did not seem to get one single thing right even something so seemingly simple as properly setting up our washer and dryer. There should have been a third party contractor here to do that but, as it turned out, Eddie Rios on the Texas end did not note on the paperwork that there would be a washer and dryer coming on the truck even though I made a careful point to tell him we were bringing them. The driver detached them on the Texas end and then (in voilation of the rules) reattached then on this end but failed to turn on the water so when we tried to was clothes they didn't work. I tried to call Ryan Greer but he was "not available." So I demanded to talk to his boss -- apparently the corporate customer service manager -- who after considerable argument agreed to send a third party person to properly install the washer and dryer. As for carrying about any of our other issues, he merely emailed me a damage form and told be to fill it out, politely thanked me for my business and summarily hung up. After saying Ryan would call me. He did but did not come to the house in any sort of attempt to resolve our issues. This has been one of THE worst experiences of our lives. We would not recommend Bekins even to our worst enemy. I suspect that this posting will be removed by the folks at Bekins, but I am also posting it as a Google review and as an Angie's list review.

They were very accommodating to our special needs.

I will start this review by saying we were extremely happy with Bekins.  We had not done an interstate move in over twenty years and this move was very successful.  Both of the Tucson based customer representatives were very professional and kept us informed of the status of our move prior to the truck being loaded.  The driver and the Phoenix based loading crew he brought with him were excellent.  They were very friendly and extremely effective.  They took great care with our furniture, wrapping it to protect it.  The driver was our point of contact during the transit to California.  He delivered our load on the day he projected and stayed in contact with us during the trip to let us know his status.  Cellphone contact is an amazing tool and this driver, Don, was in contact with us throughout.  Our delivery date and his schedule required delivery on Mother's Day, which was fine with us.  He arranged a person to help unload on that day.  The delivery went very well.  Our furniture was delivered and unloaded in excellent condition.  As mentioned earlier, this was our first interstate move in 20 years so I don't have information on other moves and companies to compare but Bekins did an excellent job on this move and we would definitely use Bekins for any other moves we have in the future.

Really rotten service at the delivery end.  Prefer not to deal with people who accuse me of lying to them.

unknown

They had quite a crew come out. We had to shuttle everything into a large truck. Maybe 6 or 7 people were there altogether. We spent around $9000. They would get all A's.

I have found Bekins Moving & Storage is unreliable. They advertise "Trust goes a long way". In my case it only went as far as loading my things into one of their moving vans but never delivering due to a fire in the van. I lost all my belongings, including household goods, clothing, documents, and personal items. The fire department says the fire was due to mechanical failure and started near a tire and spread into the van. The driver failed to notice the truck was on fire until it was too late to save my belongings. I had purchased insurance through Bekins to protect my cargo. I was told it was full replacement value protection, but have found out it is really to release Bekins from liability. It will not cover my losses. Bekins is bad for business, they cannot be trusted to deliver. My experience tells me if you NEVER want to see your belongings again hire Bekins.

It went well. The agent was prompt and courteous and maintained communication from the time of quote to completion of the move. The packers were prompt, cordial and efficient. The driver was prompt, courteous and skillful and maintained communication with us. Nearly daily a corporate representative would contact us to check on progress of move and if we were satisfied. This move met our expectations and would recommend the company.

Packing: I couldn't keep up with this team.  For future, be certain that if you think you want to carry it along with you---put it in your car before they come.  The packing team was amazing---thorough, careful, and FAST

Loading: On time.  Again, thorough, meticulous work.  Very organized.  We started at 7 am and were out by noon.

Transit: My new home didn't close on the date planned, so Bekins stored the goods on the truck and worked with me on the closing date.  They were far more flexible than I could have hoped for.

Delivery: Excellent.  Even my family wouldn't have done a better job moving my things in (during a thunderstorm no less).  Again, as I have painters yet to come, this team really worked with me to keep the walls clear.  They cleaned as they went (even swept my garage!!!!), took exceptional care with all my things.  This team: Joe, Charley, Riley and CJ were absolutely the best (they work out of Chicago--don't know if you can ask for them by name, but you should)

Communication: the move coordinator(Debra) did a marvelous job of keeping everyone in the loop.  Jim Hill from the trucking end of the coordination was exceptional. 

This relocation was loaded with frustration.  While there were a few hiccups with Bekins, it was due to my closing schedule, and they found a way to make it work.  I would definitely use them again!!

The local agent, Liberty Movers, in Massachusetts was excellent.  They were highly recommended and exceeded all expectations.  Simply, they made the move effortless for us.  The packers were professional, fast and knew their stuff.   Only one glass was broken in the move.   The moving team, headed by TJ, was very professional.  With TJ, you just knew you were in professional hands as he directed his team.   Same at the delivery, where the team was professional and helpful assembling furniture and placing it.  
I dreaded the move based upon some of the horror stories I had heard about movers.   With Bekins and their local Massachusetts agent, Liberty Movers, the move went off without a hitch for a very reasonable cost.   I'd use them again in a New York minute.

pickup went very well.  delivery was a little later than we would have liked but they did move it up a day to accommodate us.