Before booking with Across Canada Van Lines I strongly advise you to read the following;
First let me tell you what my situation was:
I had a storage unit situated in Calgary, AB. All of my belongings were in this storage unit and I needed a moving company to go into it and move it across Canada to Halifax, NS. At the time, I was already in Halifax.
I booked with Across Canada Moving for one primary reason, their estimated time of arrival (16-18 days door to door). They guaranteed this to me, therefore, I booked with them right away because I was living in an empty apartment. They went to my storage unit and picked up my belongings on June 25th. LET ME JUMP AHEAD AND STATE THAT I GOT MY BELONGINGS ON AUGUST 19! 56 days I had to live without ANYTHING in my apartment.
Going back a bit, I called them around the original estimated time of arrival to ask them when they were arriving. They had no idea. They ONLY then decided to tell me that their two main offices are in Vancouver and Toronto. When your move is going past Toronto they leave your stuff in a warehouse until they have a truck full enough to make it worth their while to bring it to Halifax. MAYBE THIS IS SOMETHING THEY SHOULD STATE BEFORE YOU BOOK WITH THEM.
For a month and a half I tried several times to speak with a manager because I was GETTING NOWHERE AT ALL WITH THE STAFF, and they had absolutely no idea when my move would arrive. Everytime I asked to speak with a manager I was simply informed "There is no manager in". When I asked when a manager would be in, I never got a straight answer. One time I was even told, and I quote "Do I make the schedule mam'? No, so how would I know!" I have saved all of the ridiculous e-mails back and forth and I am still shocked at a specific one. After expressing my disappointment and the fact that I could not understand why the company is so disorganized, the reply was "I do not see any being unorganized but there is no reason for you to be rude". They don't care about their customers. Basically this insanity continued until finally they told me it was arriving on a Saturday. (They do not give you more than a 3 day notice and they do not care that people work and need to give their job notice). So I had to take the day as an unpaid day off. How surprised I was when they didn't show up.
I ended up re-buying several things that were in my delivery because I had no other choice as I couldn't wait anymore. My stuff came to me 56 days later with over $2000 worth of missing and damaged belongings. They offered me $400 back minus a $350 deposit.
THANK YOU ACROSS CANADA FOR A DREADFUL MOVE WITH AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE. THANK YOU FOR BREAKING & LOSING OVER $2000 WORTH OF MY STUFF AND THEN KINDLY OFFERING ME $50.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $2,500.00
- Company Response
Hi Melissa,
I was forwarded your recent email that you submitted to our general inquiry contact, and wanted to send you a brief note. From the beginning, I would say that the emphasis should have been informing you that Nova Scotia is not a frequent point, and that any shipment delivering there would be held in Ontario for an unspecified amount of time in lieu of an eastern departure. These departures are usually far more frequent in the peak summer months when the volume of goods transported is three times higher than during the winter/spring period. Unfortunately, Nova Scotia/PEI trips were less frequent that expected this past summer season.
Had you been properly notified of the possible delays involved for your region, you would have had the option to continue looking for another potential carrier or demand a guarantee of a more specific delivery time frame from our staff. Beyond that, you would have no way of knowing that your shipment would not arrive at a Nova Scotia based terminal prior to final delivery. As a result, I am instructing our staff to ensure that they notify the potential customers, at the time of booking, that our main terminal operations are based in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, as well as our affiliate agents in Montreal, Calgary and Winnipeg. Our staff will be instructed to make it clear that shipments involving regions outside of these areas are subject to terminal hold times that vary depending on the volume of goods we are contracted to ship.
56 days is not the normal operating timeline for a shipment to Halifax from Alberta, so my response to this scenario will be to make it our policy that regions falling outside of our main terminal reach, requiring more than 500 KM travel or over 7 days potential wait time are transactions where our staff are obligated to notify the client upfront that their goods could be subject to further delay, so there is no uncertainty. One consistent aspect of this industry with inter-provincial moves is that approximately 2/3rds of our household relocations come with client requests for storage granting them time to finalize tenancy arrangements in the new province before final delivery. To meet these requests we now have 5 weeks of free storage available for every move –small or large – into Canada or the US. But unless you specifically requested any storage hold time (and your file shows that you did not) then our agents failed to provide you with the proper (potential) time line for your move, and did so by omission. We should have stated before the pick-up that your goods were bound first for Scarborough, ON., and then, at a time yet to be determined, for Halifax on the final delivery truck
I understand this is of no consequence to you now, but I have read your complaint and believe that your situation was unfortunate, unnecessary and entirely preventable had our shipping terms & conditions been conveyed with more clarity, and conscientious concern for customer.
I apologize for the poor experience you had, and wish you nothing but the best in the future.
Sincerely,
Don
ACVL
Logistics Coordinator