Canadian Van Lines

Make sure you are aware that this is NOT the same company as the Great Canadian Van Lines which is a reputable solid moving company. Canadian Van Lines appear to be basically one person (in each location) working out of their garage I think with no credentials whatsoever in this industry. Their website lists an erroneous address in Langley and we couldn't find a business licence for them in BC.

When we attempted to contact their "customer service" we learned their phone system is primarily a voicemail router and we never did get a call back from them. The dispatcher (James) was very poor at communicating about our delivery and basically we were finally told they were holding our goods until we agreed to pay IN FULL BEFORE they would deliver to the final destination which delayed the delivery by 2 full days costing us money and time. The drivers (independent contractors) told us later that they were being held up intentionally until final payment was received. We never disputed the final payment, just wasn't aware it was all due up front! A practice not common in the moving industry according to many sources. After many debates over this, we agreed to pay in full in order for them to deliver our goods, and when we asked for them to send us an invoice showing the final amount owing they argued they didn’t need to do that as we would get a FINAL invoice showing the payment amount. I don’t know about you, but I’m not keen about allowing someone to charge our credit card without knowing the amount. After more arguing, James finally did email an invoice and we got everything processed. Of course by this time the drivers had been re-routed for other work and hence the delay. They finally showed up at 11pm, 2 days late. It pays to research these companies before agreeing to anything, as there are seemingly many horror stories out there, and nobody to regulate them. Pick one with a solid reputation, been around awhile and has a good BBB rating.