Canadian National Van Lines

I flew to Miami from Ottawa to receive my shipment. I was happy to report that the truck arrived a few days after my arrival with my furniture. I was very worried that I would have to stay with friends for longer, but was happy to hear when dispatch called to confirm delivery. My rep was great to deal with and I was very happy with the personal approach to my questions. She was [Name removed by Sirelo]. Ask for her if you can when calling to book a move. Our move cost was not as much as other companies were quoting. Some companies were quoting well over 9K to move from Ottawa to Miami. I was thinking of leaving everything behind. But then CN Van Lines quoted me this great price, and I ended up paying all together $3800 which was much cheaper and more reasonable. No surprise charges, but the crew at the pick up did charge me for some mattress covers. The paperwork was handled by them as well which was great! Overall great move!

Great experience from this company. Canadian National was recommended to me by my co-worker who also recently moved from Winnipeg to the Hamilton area. We dealt with [Name removed by Sirelo] and we were happy with the outcome. The move took about 3 weeks all in and we were happy to receive the call that our stuff came shortly after we arrived. They did add some packing charges (mattress covers) to the billing which I got to keep. The truck that did the pick up was very large in Winnipeg so there was some long carry that had to be done, but the crew did have to talk everything across a busy street which is understandable. All in all, great service and I would use them again of course.

The woman we worked with to organize the move was amazing. Attentive, responsive, and very professional. We were very happy with the upfront process and the help we received in arranging the move. However, the move itself was a nightmare. The move to Alberta resulted in pretty much every single piece of furniture being damaged and the repairs are quoted at close to 3 grand. Damages include not only scrapes and gouges, but also outright broken boards on dressers. The move to Wisconsin was similar but also included the driver showing up unannounced, by himself, to move everything and then refusing to remove the door prior to moving the large furniture into the house. The result there was not only damaged/broken furniture but also a badly damaged door and wall. Additionally, some items were sent to the wrong location! The cost to repair all the Wisconsin damages is still not finalized but it is going to be several thousand dollars as well. And, now I get to fight with their claims department to see what kind of settlement we can get for the damages.Read more

I would definitely rate LOWER if possible.
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.Read more

DO. NOT. USE. THIS. COMPANY!!! If there was a negative 10 rating, that is what I would give them. Completely unprofessional. Movers told me on arrival that they needed to increase the price for wrapping and moving a piano (despite being told a piano would be moved). Not in the quote. One of the guys seemed to be hired off the street. Came smelling of marijuana. Left before the job was finished. We paid VERY comparable market rates, but received significantly sub-standard service. They actually misplaced our piano on the move! Who does that?! Takes a special kind of incompetence! The piano arrived weeks later and was significantly damaged. The ebony veneer was ripped off the bottom of the legs. That takes deliberate effort! Claim process is absurd. No desire to maintain customer satisfaction. They actually blame the customer. All other furniture was crammed into storage and most arrive damaged, travel worn and/or soiled. Will be contacting BBB. Do not use unless your furniture is already junk.Read more

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, [name removed by Sirelo] 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 way 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 in 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@N06/4U0250Read more