Atlas Van Lines

This company totally victimized my family..... please don't use them!!! they picked us up in New York and were going to take everything we cherished and owned to Georgia. They told us 3-5 days guaranteed !!! So on day five my wife and I sat on the porch waiting for them....... they never showed or called. it took us 2 more days to finally get a answer which was we don't no where your stuff is...... 10 days later a atlas truck showed up and had our goods stuffed in a area 1/3 the size it started out in..... 32 boxes were missing!! all my expensive canon cameras missing... all of my shotguns and rifles missing.. all of my software missing... they went shopping on our goods!!!! all of my wifes antiques are broken!!!all of our beautiful furniture was destroyed..... $20,000 worth of damaged and missing items.
their claims department is a joke and totally unprofessional.. this company has made my credit bad by making use all our savings to live which was going to be used to help pay our bills while we got settled... Atlas is the worst.........

All I want to say is, be very careful if you hire them. I found expensive jewelry missing-I forgot to write down-but they knew I did not write it down and decided to pocket it. So be careful and make sure you check your stuff over and over again. I also gave them a $150.00 tip, my loss.

I hired Atlas Van Lines to move me from Kansas to Georgia for a new job. This was easily the worst move of my life. I have lived in 8 different places over the last 8 years and never experienced service this horrible. I scheduled my household goods to be delivered on JAN 30th 2011. I even made it clear to them that this was a Sunday and asked them if that would be an issue. I was told it wasn't. My goods where picked up without any issue and things started off pretty good. On JAN 28th I received a phone call from Meier's Moving and Storage (the agent Atlas used in Kansas) telling me my goods where on schedule and would be delivered on time. They informed me within 24 hours of the driver arriving at my destination I would receive a phone call from him to coordinate the final arrival time. I waited all day Sunday. My goods did not arrive. No one answered the phones at Meier's moving or Atlas. The next day I received a phone call from the driver telling me he was told my good were scheduled for delivery on FEB 10th and that they were currently in Minnesota and nothing could be done. Meier's Moving and Storage told me they must have misunderstood me and nothing could be done. 3 days later I received a scanned email agreement with my signature dated 25 and 28 JAN 2011 (different dates in different blocks) stating that I understood the delivery wouldn’t be until the 10th. Not only was the signature with my name on it forged (and poorly at that) but I wasn't even in Kansas on that date. I was in Maryland vesting friends. I could not have signed it nor did I. I was then given no compensation and had to sleep on an air mattress without any of my belongings until FEB 11th when I received a phone call that my goods would be delivered the next day. It was at that time that I was asked by the agent at Hawkeye Moving out of Iowa (who now had my goods) if the truck would fit into the gated apt complex I now live in. I told him the 16 foot truck my goods where picked up in would but anything else he needed to contact my apt complex to ensure the proper size truck was used. I provided him contact information with my apt complex and he told me he would make the proper arrangements. The next day they showed up with a 48 foot trailer and could not fit into the gate. When the driver was unable to get the truck into the gate, I was informed that they would have to return in a few days with a new truck, but that I would not be charged and that Hawkeye and Atlas would "work it out between themselves." On FEB 15th I received a call from a very rude woman at Atlas informing me that no such arrangement was possible, it was my fault the truck did not fit and I would be charged $400 for a smaller truck or would not receive my goods. When I refused and contacted the agent at Hawkeye I was cussed at, told "I am not his customer and he does not give a damn!" and hung up on. I was also told my choices were to pay the $400 for Hawkeye and Atlas to provide a new truck and movers, rent my own truck from U-Haul and pay $15 an hour for one driver and myself...yes for me...to move all of my goods into my new apt or to not receive my goods. I elected to hire the $400 truck as I did not know what would happen if anything was dropped by me and the driver and if it would be covered. The next day the 16th of FEB they required me to pay the entire bill including the extra charges before they would move my goods. They then put everything in my apt just for me to find out that everything wooden had been scratched and damaged. After all that my goods weren't even delivered in good condition! During this process I have received nothing but horrible service and a complete lack of professionalism from all 3 companies involved. If I could rate this lower than 1 star I would...at all costs AVOID AVOID AVOID this company!

We recently moved from wyoming to texas . november 11 2010. and found this moving company had very poor customer service.. and that not even the worst of it . they had missed a bunch of stuff left in the shed IE NEW MOWER AND WEED TRIMMERS AND SO ON.so they sent anther truck to pick the stuff up and then forgot some of that stuff .. i had to haul it my self.. yes 1300 miles.. . i packed packe some of our stuff and some was packed by the mover and they was very please and nice but how they packed our stuff was unacceptable!! Its like they just dumped drawers in to boxes.. and once we finally got to our new house and started to unpack our stuff.. I Found a ton of stuff missing or riffled through... and i know what i packed and where it all was. BUT THE WORST OF IT IS .... they lost all my baby pic's of my son and all my photo albums of 20 years of memorys and who can put a price on those items.. Almost all of my TY beain babys gone and my corsl horse collection that my 17 year old son has givin me for Chrismas for 14 years i only received 3... out of 14 of them .. and never got our second load of YARD machinary. or and broke a chadler lamp and a cast iron BIRD BATH .might i add i gotten for my deceased father.. ya how does that even happen???? hmmmm...and i had to move a chip and dale sink with mirror .. yes the sink made it but not the mirror.. this was the worse experance of our life ... and to boot we recieve one call saying we are still looking for your stuff>???? I'v lost some very important stuff.. mabee not with monatary value but stuff THAT I CAN NEVER RECREATE OR REPLACE. who pays for that who takes responcebilty for that well i do cause we contracted them to move us BUT they have to have some kind of quality control mabee some back round checks on employes ... NOT JUST miss placing cargo but litraly i know for a fact cause i packed half the boxes my self and i used snap top plasitc containers and they was riffled thru and took what the wanted.... shame on them for not having some kind of quility control and storage control. i hope that we might get our stuff back but i am in bout .. so i guess we will have to hope they pay for repacements.. but then that makes me mad to because that takes time to go find the same stuff all over again and who knows if the stores still have it or even have it on sale again... yes one big waste of time...........

They STOLE over $20,000 worth of goods from us in a recent large moving project. Currently in arbitration, which is going to cost us more in attorney fees to settle. AVOID.

My husband and I moved from the Cincinnati area Aug. 13, 2010, with our belongings arriving 25 days later at our new destination in Cody, WY. All our household goods were held long term beyond our control at the Shetler Moving & Storage warehouse in West Chester, OH. Four other loads were eventually attached to ours on a truck going from Bedford Heights, OH, to Fountain, CO, Dayton, OH, to Cheyenne WY, West Chester, OH, to Cody, WY, West Chester, OH, to Boulder, CO, and Rolla, MO, to Tacoma, WA. Shetler warehouse does not have a good method of accountability for what goes in and out of their warehouse. If anyone had goods going in or out of the Shetler warehouse in West Chester, OH, or the places mentioned above between Aug. 13, 2010, and Sept. 20, 2010, would you kindly check for my missing recipe files (collected from my familes dating back to the 1800's). It broke my heart. One is in a 4x6 medium gray desk file box, and one in a 4x6 light gray plastic file box. This box may also contain 2 Oxiclean tubs of granules and a bottle of Tide. My husband's winter wardrobe is also missing. One jacket has the inscription NAVY, and another inscribed, ALASKA. If anyone reading this note has any knowledge of these items, please call Atlas headquarters, 1-800-638-9799 and alert them to the Bill of Lading number H.O. 148120, lot number 829721. Thank you.

We hired Atlas Van Lines to move our property from Pittsburgh to Atlanta in Aug 2010. Our stuffs were picked up a week ahead of time and was moved from place to plce before we finally received them a week later. Our stuffs were moved with other people's belongings because they said that our shipment was small and the distance was very long. Well, we agreed only to find our belongings infested with bed bugs once we slept on the beds. It has been a very traumatic experience for us as we have spent $4000 taking care of the problem. We threw all our mattresses, paid to clean up the new apartment we just moved in and so much more. The worst part is that the company could not even own up to their negligence and inefficiency for the way they handled our stuffs.

The other big problem was that they promised to have 3 or more people to move our stuffs but sent 2 men and a truck. They damaged everything they handled. All our stuffs had scratches and dents and most need to be replaced. It was such an awful experience that we would have been better off moving on our own.

Stay away from this company. They have very rude staff.

This company employs people with anger issues. You would expect excellent customer service given the nature of this work...but not with this company. The moving men were vile individuals who used profane language. All in a day's work, I suppose. I watched them throw the contents of the moving van to the ground and scrape items alongside a building. I don't recommend Atlas. You would be better off doing the move yourself with a blind horse and cart.

i would give it 0 stars if i could. they told us it would take 3 weeks MAX to get it to us. 3 weeks later they havent even moved it. they say it will take just 3 more days to move it. 3 days later they say its gonna take even longer because their driver decided to go somewhere else.......idiots. over 3 weeks without anything

We will not be booking through Atlas ever again. First off, we specifically asked if there would be any fees additional to the quoted price that were not related to the weight of our items. We were assured that there were no additional costs. Then, two days before the movers were to arrive we were informed that there would be a $900.00 "origin fee" above and beyond the quoted price. We were unable to book a different company on such short notice so we were forced to bite the bullet and pay the $900.00. Then, some of our furniture arrived severely damaged. Specifically, the cabinet door of an antique vanity was smashed in half and the glass doors on a custom made hutch were shattered. When we contacted the local office we were assured that Atlas would pay to have our furniture repaired. We filled out the required paperwork and a couple weeks later received a cheque for $84.00 as settlement, which would cover what we paid to have them move the specific pieces that were broken...not even the entire vanity or hutch. When I called to explain that this was not an acceptable settlement amount I was greeted by rude staff who informed me that I didn't purchase the insurance available in cases such of these and that they were not required to repair the damaged goods. For the record, nobody even offered the insurance as an option at the time of booking. When I could see that the conversation was going nowhere with the attitude-laden staff member I asked to speak to a manager. I was forwarded to a manager's line and was connected to her voicemail. I am still waiting to have my call returned from the manager and that was over a week ago.

I guess that Atlas is of the opinion that when you spend many thousands of dollars to have them move your belongings, expecting them to arrive intact is asking too much - even when they tack an additional $900.00 on the cost with little explanation.

Most terrible company that I know of. We are Military and you would think that we would be treated with respect, not just as another job. Atlas was late to deliver our goods, most of our furniture was broken,cracked, or scuffed up. No one called me to notify that they were running late by a few days.
But the worst part is they puffed the weight they were bringing accross state. I did a partial ditty move where I get paid to move the poundage that I can fit in my truck and U-Haul trailer. I have around 9,000lbs in house hold goods. I moved about 2k myself. But Atlas said they moved 9,000lbs on the dot, so in turn I will not be paid for my 2,300 mile road trip home because the driver lied and said he moved exactly what a Sgt is allowed to ship, and it so happens to be 9k on the dot. His weights ticket said 9k, not 8,999lbs or 9,002lbs. That should be a red flag to his highter ups when its a whole number.
And in order to make a claim about them puffing the weight(more they carry more money they make) I have to write a letter, not call, but send a letter. One of the movers that was here at my house left due to how messy our things were brought, and he said he wouldn't be apart of such a moving disaster. He later told me over the phone he was sorry for leaving and that Atlas puffs there weight all the time and that they dont care if they screw you out of your moving money, even if your Military. So now im in the process of writting a letter and possibly getting legal advice against Atlas Van Lines. Please do not use this company especially if your Military and if you would like to get the money for your move. And ask for the weight ticket upfront, because you can tell them to go re weigh before they download your stuff. But they didn't tell me I had that option untill they were done downloading. U guys are Horrible and I hope you go out of buisness as a whole.

If i could give a negavtive star I would. First off my husband is in the military, the military told us our things would be to our new home by the 15th of july they picked it up july 1st. So before we start our drive we get a letter stating from atlas van lines that they wont have our things until the 29th of july. We were upset but we understood. It is now the 30th of july and they called to let us know (july 28th day before we get our things) that they truck has not left our home town. We were very upset so we called the company, and they told us there was no driver scheduled, no delievery date, nothing! my husband had the paperwork filled out in may! It's a complete mess and they havn't contacted us to let us know when it gets here, so who knows! I would never recommend this company to anyone and i hope the military will never use them again.

could have moved it ourselves! very upset

My husband and I just moved 1500 km with Atlas Van Lines. When the movers showed up at our house they moved quickly and we were surprised at how efficient they were. It wasn't until we arrived at our destination that we realized how careless they were with our stuff. I don't know how they managed, but they turned some of our furniture into kindling, and broke a lot of glass items. When making the claim they denied half of our items and what they did accept they only gave us haft of the value for. Now we live in a small town and have to buy new stuff, only hitch is the stores here are much more expensive and the moving company "doesn't pay for upgrades", even though there are only a few store here to pick furniture from and what they have is all that's available to us. I will never go with Atlas again. If you have to make a settlement claim with them, be sure to say you have really expensive furniture or you will not get what you deserve for your belongings. I had a terrible experience with Atlas and will never ever recommend them.

Atlas Van lines still has my stuff. here it is june 14th and i still dont have any household goods, they were scheduled to be delivered on june 10th. best i can tell from the poor customer service and run around ive been getting from the dispatchers is that the driver has two deliveries in tenn. and one in austin texas before he even gets down here. this is a horrible company and i will steer clear of them at all costs.

I hired Atlas Van Lines to facilitate a local move on 11/21. The drivers showed up late, did not follow direction, moved extremely slow, and the foreman was constantly on the phone. I hired the company for three hours, so every minute was precious to me. I prepared for the move by putting a large amount of the boxes outside, and the remainder in the front room, by the door. Everything was labeled and ready to go. I was in another room getting some things together when the foreman asked me to enter the room he was working in. He put shrink wrap around my couches, cushioned ottoman table & side table, & book case. He then proceeded to tell me how much each item cost for wrapping. I did not authorize him to wrap these items and no where in my contract did it state that these items needed to be wrapped. I asked the foreman to continue with loading the truck and to not wrap any other items with out my consent. I left the room and called the company to inquire about the items the foreman was wrapping. The dispatcher told me that these items needed to be wrapped to go on the truck even though the contract did not state that. When I re-entered the room, the foreman had wrapped a dresser and several other items. At this point, two of my three hours had been used and not even ¼ of my things were in the truck. I asked them to please pack the items they had prepped and leave the rest so that we could go to the other location before my time ran out. They slowly put the items in the truck and then proceed to sit there for 15 min doing who knows what. Finally we reached the new location and the foreman presented me with the bill. He said they would not unload the items until I paid them in full. To my surprise the bill went from the $223.20 I was quoted to $628.77. He then proceeded to tell me I had to pay in cash. I was very upset, and phoned the office to inquire why the bill was so high, and why the foreman demanded cash when the contract did not state that, and they had my credit card number on file. The dispatcher was rude and hostile and said I had to pay in cash or they wouldn’t release my items. I refused. I asked for a manger but was told there wasn’t one available to speak with since it was Saturday. I was told I had to wait until Monday. I reluctantly agreed to pay the amount and speak to the manager on Monday since I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to get my things, and felt threatened by the company so I agreed to pay the outrageous amount and figured I would speak with the manager on Monday for my refund. Next they demanded I pay the full amount in cash. Nowhere in my contract did it state I had to pay in cash, and when reserving the company I gave my credit card number over the phone. I was told I could pay by card but the foreman supposedly did not have a slip to process the card. For the next hour several calls were made from myself to the office, and the manager to the foreman. They continued to demand cash, and I continued to refuse. Finally they conceded and used my credit card number on file and the foreman magically produced a credit card slip. When I received my receipt by email, another company’s name was on it. Shamrock Van Lines. I have placed several calls to the company and no one had called me back. I plan to dispute this charge with my credit card company, but I feel like this company should have some sort of consequence for their actions. I would also like to help prevent this from happening to other people in the future.

I was in the moving business for 21 years owned my own trucks, ive worked for almost all major moving companies in the US. It takes a special person to use the TLC it takes to move peoples lives and belongings Don't allow a few bad apples spoil the whole bundle...

I just finished a cross-country move with Atlas/JBL. It was terrible from the first moment, and just got worse from there. If you POSSIBLY can, save yourself the trouble, the money, the aggravation and move yourself. I would have been happier had I done it myself (with only local help) and could have saved myself around $5000.

First off, my driver was instantly aggravated the moment he walked in my door and saw that my house wasn't "packed up" and ready to go. True, my computer station, TV, coffee maker, and beds weren't packed, but what are you supposed to do the night before a move? Spend more money on staying in a hotel? No way! And every other LOCAL move I've done, the stuff gets packed in the first hour the movers get there. The Atlas/JBL guy spent a couple of hours whining, complaining, griping, and calling his office to say that we weren't ready.

(When I booked my move, I told the agent that I was very familiar with hiring local movers and paying professionals to move me across town... but that this was my first cross-country move. Apparently he didn't hear that part or didn't care. You need to do things ENTIRELY different for a cross-country move.)

I finally had to sign a paper saying that the original estimate was now no longer valid because I wasn't ready to go and that they would have to hire local "packers." I wasn't too shocked by this, figuring that they'd have some scam in place to get them out of their original estimate... but it was sooooo aggravating to have to deal with people who expect you to "know" how to move, but won't tell you what to do.

Here's what you should know about a CROSS-COUNTRY move:

Pack EVERYTHING ahead of time. You can't leave out a bag of trash, a coffee cup, a remote control, or a laptop unless you're planning on moving it yourself. If they touch something to "pack" it rather than "load" it, you've voided your estimate.

Pack EVERYTHING ahead of time. And I mean EVERYTHING. They wanted the couch cushions cocooned in shrink wrap, the artwork preserved as if they were originals, and the glass floating on a layer of foam peanuts at least 5" thick. Glass tables or glass shelves (inside buffets or credenzas) put these people in a packing frenzy.

Don't be surprised when (unlike a local move) they have to tag everything with a bar-coded sticker. This took our driver HOURS. He kept saying that it's HIS personal truck and if anything is lost or broken it comes out of HIS pocket. That's fine... but if you're expecting guys to come in and start busting butt to get stuff in the truck right away, don't hire Atlas/JBL. You're paying by WEIGHT not by the hour, so don't be surprised when things go slow.

I told the driver, the booking agent, and anyone else who would listen, that the truck would be delivered to Texas the next week, and I would NOT be able to meet it. I gave them the address and my brother-in-law's information for him to receive the truck. I gave them the dates that I would be driving. But, after giving them my credit card number to BOOK the truck, they arrived at the destination and WOULD NOT start unloading until I faxed them another credit card approval with the exact amount on it.

Of course by this point I was driving across West Texas with NO cell signal, NO Kinko's, NO Fedex and no way to fax or email. It was almost hilarious how many messages I got on my cell phone. They threatened to charge me a storage fee and told me how many dire circumstances were going to happen if I didn't give them their money. But when I finally got a signal, received all the messages, and called in to the office on the 800 number, the ONLY guy who could take my credit card number had left the office.

At 3:00pm.

So much for it being a dire emergency.

I don't know why they didn't mention any of this ahead of time... there are a million ways around that kind of problem if they would have told me about it before. The guy that I spoke to, Jeff, told me repeatedly how he'd been doing this for 19 years. But I have to say, I was shocked that someone could make that many stupid mistakes... not give ANY communication or information to their client, and still be in business after 19 years.

In the end, they went from an initial estimate of 13,000 lbs of weight for $6000 to a total of 16,000 lbs of weight for a final cost of $8400.

Like I said, I've hired local movers before and they bust their butt trying to get you packed, in the truck, out of the truck and unloaded as fast as possible because you're paying by the hour. I should have hired local guys to load a truck, driven it across myself (I already had to drive my car 1600 miles anyway) and then paid another local set of guys to unload it for me.

I did overhear the Atlas/JBL guys saying that all moving "companies" are really just independent owner/operators of 18-wheelers. When my brother-in-law received the truck, he said the driver picked up locals in the closest town from another moving company... so they're all freelance anyway. The only true moving "company" is Graebel... a family owned business.

Next time, I'll move it myself, or sell it all and use the $8400 to buy new stuff when I get there. It would have been a lot less aggravating and probably a lot more fun.

Either way, I will NEVER HIRE Atlas/JBL again.

While it's true that every agent is different, we used Read's out of Jacksonville, FL for a move to WI.
We have moved several times with different companies, and this was by far, the best move.
The driver kept us up-to-date on every step of the move. They changed delivery date for us because we had an emergency. They handled all of our belongings with kid gloves, and they were the nicest, most professional people we have ever dealt with. We will probably be moving again, and I wish that we could use Read's again. True professionals!

I do not recommend Atlas. We hired the Peabody, Massachusetts carrier to move us from New England to Florida and they added $500 in extra charges that were NOT on the original estimate and not related to extra weight or packing. They added these charge without explanation and without our authorization. The Peabody dispatcher/manager is rude and dishonest and threatened to not deliver my goods when I disputed the charges. Although my goods were delievered safe and sound, I am continuing my over charge dispute with the Atlas corporate office in Illinois with minimal success. I say AVOID Atlas and look elsewhere.

It seems that this company feels it is within their rights to deliver whenever they feel like, including on dates you absolutely tell them you cannot accommodate. Then they try to strong-arm you into accepting delivery or they charge you for storage. Avoid at every cost.

My husband and I just relocated from Calgary, AB to Toronto, ON (Canada) and we are in the process of making a claim for damaged/ lost items! We had ALL our belongings stored with one of their agents, namely Jay's Moving & Storage in Calgary for 2 years & when we moved back to Toronto and had all our stuff delivered, we only received 2 out of the 3 crates (1,900 sq ft home). They claim that the 3rd crate is missing and although they are looking for it, they seem to have no explanation for the disappearance!! We are prepared to go to the media as well as sue should our claim not be settled (as per replacement value) as most of the items were either custom made furniture or wedding gifts! I would NOT recommend Atlas Van Lines of any of their agents ever!! Unfortunately, Atlas was recommended by the company we work for as they had used their services in the past with respect to a corporate move! It doesn't matter how well known they are...their negative reputation precedes them...and for those of you who have used them, you know that they are definately not cheap! I would not even give them a 1 star but I am forced to rate them, hence the one star rating. I have written a letter to the V.P. Operations and I fully intend to send one to the President and C.O.O. seeking an explanation as to how an entire crate could get lost within a storage facility!

What a mess! We moved with Atlas/Berman over the summer from Cleveland to Phoenix. We have moved 5 times corporately so we knew/know what to expect. But this was our first move with Atlas/Berman. They are by far the worst amongst a bunch of dishonest and distrustful companies. I give higher ratings to used car salesman and realtors.

With our prior exp we still were shocked by the behavior of the local agent (Berman) and Atlas corporate (2 separate entities which will work against you later). The driver and help were very smooth. We bought lunch every day, tipped them $100-$200 each of both ends of the move, and generally had a great rapport.

The worst part is even after expecting some lost stuff, damage, and general BS along the way; even we were shocked by the actions and screw-ups of Atlas and Berman. Biggest complaint: if you buy 'replacement value' insurance, you expect Atlas to act in good faith and to honor it. Yet they will play every shell game possible, point fingers, pass the buck and actually blame you to avoid paying a claim. How insulting! You paid for insurance solely to protest you in the event of a problem, then the problem occurs and they jerk you around with the claim! These are your lifetime possessions, yet they could really care less. They will also negotiate and reduce the value of items versus actual replacement costs! Be careful and really understand what you purchase when you buy replacement value. Of course the salesman will lie thru his teeth and make all kinds of promises. If you have any local storage as part of the move, they will really jerk you around and use that as a reason to not process your claims. Yet they took the insurance money upfront!?!?

Also, no matter how painful, take 3-4 hours to walk around the house and check off EVERY sticker on the manifest at the load and delivery. Write notes on the mainfest as this is your only proof of anything. They will surely use this during any discussion (and avoid negotiating with Meredith at Atlas corporate). Everyone will be pissed-off! as the driver whats to dump and go, but you will only screw yourself later. The driver will tell you to trust them, evertything is there, etc, etc. Too bad, I'm checking it all! Once you sign, Atlas will be completely distrustful and dishonest in all discussions and negotiations, and blame you for not noting missing stuff. Eventhough you don't know it is missing until you unpack a box or go to use something and discover it is not in the pile of stuff sitting in your garage!

Atlas is self insured and has a huge incentive to pay as little as possible for insurance claims. They are judge, jury and chief negotiator. You have NO leverage at all. They already have their full payment at the time of any claim.

I believe if you make a 'corporate' move, your employer has leverage and can resolve problems much easier. But if you are paying on your own, you will be screwed by Atlas/Berman. They know up front you are a one-time customer and could care less about doing the customer right, or at least in our experience with Atlas/Berman!

Remember they move many households, you only move once. They have the advantage, they know the law and they have 100% control over everything, you have NO control. And they will do everything possible to advantage themselves - they don't deliver on agreed-to dates, they usually will take several weeks to get ALL your stuff to your destination over mutiple trucks and over long distances - a real inconvenience - but they don't care, it's not their stuff, and they will lie, cheat you and in some cases will actually steal stuff from your load! - Other than that, it's so much fun for a family to go thru so much emotional stress thinking the experience will be great!

Lastly, we did have the best experiences with United Van Lines!

there are problems in every moving company, regardless of what they say or what you see. i have moved many times with many companies. atlas has moved me a few times and were great in almost every aspect. everyone seems to jump on a company for one bad experience written about by someone they never met. on the whole, movers are'nt appreciated like they should be. give your movers a chance, talk to them like they are people, not just hired help. always read your paperwork closely, and always check off numbers when they bring your possessions in the house. treat them well and they will do everything they can to treat your stuff well. maybe offer lunch if the job is going well, tip at least a little, it will be appreciated. we tip the waitress $20 for bringing us a nice dinner, yet many people i talk to wont tip the guys who moved their possessions hundreds of miles, just think about it. most movers are professionaly trained and they are worth much more than they are paid. try to do their job and see how feel at the end of the week. best of luck with moving....be attentive and friendly and you should have a good experience.

First of all it's called a Fuel Surcharge & is a Tarrif regulated item, you should get your facts straight. George, you don't have a clue what you are talking about.

I would not recommend Atlas Van Lines. First of all the estimate that was given doubled in price when we arrived at our destination. We had to help move our belongings and then they lost some of our cartons. I even contacted the president by email with no response. We were also offered an item that did not belong to us by the driver. We received an item that did not belong to us and when we informed Atlas they told us just to dispose of it. We moved from Ontario to Alberta and we would never use Atlas again!!!

When we moved with Atlas they forgot our pick up date, did not deliver our furniture for three weeks, and when they did deliver, they only had two people to move the furniture. My knee was in a soft cast and I had to be in the truck unloading it and my wife ended up moving a lions share of the items into the house. Then they sent us a bill for an extra $400 saying they underestimated. Needless to say they rescinded that after they received our 6 page complaint. I would never use Atla again.

If anyone has used atlas or any other moving van line, check your bill to see if  there was a sir charge added, pay close attention to the gas portion of the bill, this violates some state and federal law, we are invertigating how pervasive this practice is . If you find a sir charge on your bill please respond to my email asap

I unfortunately used Atlas (also known as Philpot in Atlanta) for a move from Atlanta to Charlotte, storing my possessions with Atlas for three months between move out in Atlanta and move-in in Charlotte. During the time in storage and when we were trying to arrange for the move in at Charlotte, Atlas/Philpot representatives would go long periods of time without returning our calls. Logistics were all but impossible to arrange with these unresponsive people.

When the shipment finally arrived in Charlotte, we discovered that Atlas "lost" a computer, expensive table, and other items. Atlas damaged numerous other items, including a Weber grill (which we watched the movers drop off of the back of the truck, and which the movers admitted they damaged) and a glass-paneled china cabinet that was not packaged properly. In addition, unknown movers wrote offensive grafiti over the boxes, maligning us personally. Two movers arrived in Charlotte to do a job that took three men much of the day in Atlanta. As a result, possessions (such as the grill) were dropped and damaged that would not have been damaged if Atlas had provided sufficient labor.

At the end of the move, the movers told my wife that they would not leave until she signed a claims slip stating that the possessions were all accounted for, and instructed her that she could file a claim later. Intimidated, she signed the slip. Now that we have claimed the items, Atlas has stalled throughout the entire process. Examples of stalling include demanding information regarding the destroyed grill that we watched their employees destroy, even after it sent claims people to examine it, and taking the position that it does not have to compensate us for the stolen (or "lost") computer because my wife was intimidated into signing the claims slip without indicating the missing computer on it (even though we promptly claimed the computer when we realized it was missing shortly after the move). We are now in the position of having to file in the courts or with the BBB to be compensated for items that Atlas admits were damaged or stolen.

This concerns my move from North Carolina to New Hampshire. The short story is that Atlas Van Lines sent only one (overweight, out-of-shape, bow-legged, old) mover for the move-in at New Hampshire. Because of the mover's condition I helped him move my own stuff in. If I hadn't, the job would likely have taken him at least two days total. I paid over 2200 dollars for Atlas' service, and I had to move my own stuff. If you like to pay lots of money to some company so that you can haul your own things yourself, then hire Atlas. I will never use them again. The long story: I should start by stating that the North Carolina side of the move was very professional. When my wife and I were moving out, Atlas sent three very professional movers. Two of them were huge body builders and the third guy was smaller, but he was fit enough to carry my queen sized mattress down two flights of stairs by himself. They were very efficient and hard workers. I was looking forward to the experience. When the driver (different person from those who loaded in N. Carolina) arrived in New Hampshire, he came by himself and told me he was not able to get help (it was July 3rd and no one was willing to come out). He told me that in situations like this it would be nice if I helped out. What the heck is this about? I have to move my own things? Since it was a holiday weekend I couldn't reach anyone at Atlas. Also, since it was a holiday weekend I wanted to get my things in the apartment ASAP. If I let the driver/mover do it by himself, it would have taken him at least two full days. So I worked. He was nice, but he was bow-legged and out-of-shape. I live on the second and third floor and I don't know how many times I saw him panting and wheezing after carrying a box up those flights. I did more work than he did since I didn't have to stop to take breaks. Even if I didn't help him, there were large items that he could never have delivered by himself. Ultimately, it took us seven hours to complete the job. When the truck first arrived I noticed that many boxes were crushed and bookcases were heavily damaged. I learned from the driver that my stuff was moved many times from truck to warehouse. I was led to believe this was common practice, so if you have a lighter load like mine (6700 pounds) then expect things to get busted up. I accept that it was my choice to help the guy. But my other choice was to sit by and watch this guy take two days to complete the job. I didn't want to sit there on July 4th, or maybe even into July 5th, watching this guy kill himself on those stairs. I feel that Atlas was negligent in putting me in this situation. They later stated that it was common practice to send one person out for a 6700 lbs. job. If so, why send out three guys the first time? Why not just two (one to label and the other to load?). At least send someone who is physically fit. Additionally, several items were broken (toaster over, lamp, desk drawers, broken picture frames, many crushed boxes). Get the full, no deductible insurance. That was the only kind of refund I got from Atlas. They also offered to pay me 300 bucks like I as worker for them. That's insulting, I think. In my opinion, Atlas left me stranded and they could do this to you too. I paid over 2200 bucks and I had to move my own things. I could have gotten a van, paid a friend, moved myself, and still had money left over. Atlas is the worst moving company.

I used these guys about a decade ago. They were a little pricey, but the service and competence was great. If I was making a major move, I'd certainly get them to quote on the job.

HORRID. LIARS. STOLE FROM US. DISORGANIZED.

I worked for Atlas for a while, and one thing that you should know about them is that they are very decentralized - one Atlas franchise might be very good, while another might be horrible. The one I worked for was pretty bad. The management team was usually intoxicated, and the drivers were pretty erratic as well. Because of this uncertainty about individual franchises, when I myself moved across the country, I gave my business to Bekins.