Colonial Van Lines

I was told Colonial would be moving my mother directly, not a contractor or third party. That was a lie. 2 men showed up in a Penske truck, 6 hours late, the police came twice and I had to ask they finish the next morning. When they arrived yesterday, JR Trucking “crew lead” refused to unload the truck until I paid the FULL balance due and tried numerous times to threaten me that I would pay for him waiting 1:30 hours to unload the truck, when there is a 2 hour grace period.

I wish I'd read the reviews when I searched this company. First off, it was quoted to take 3 days to pack and load, they did it in two really long days which made us worry. Pros: 1.Stuff got there in a timely manner. 2. The driver was knowledgeable and reasonable. Cons: 1. Communication internally is a mess. I started with one person, was handed off to two different people, (email, call, etc) then at one point was handed to another person. The only clear communicator was the driver. 2. Broken stuff.

First of all - Colonial Van Lines is a broker - they outsource the heavy lifting to a company called Cal Van Lines. I moved from CO to NYC the end of August. I was missing 17 boxes, as well as my mother's wheelchair, a mountain bike, a table, and a Dyson vacuum. I was also told that 3 other people in my same truck were missing their items as well.

UPDATE: I am unable to find the review I posted for the second interstate move I scheduled a few months after this one. Assuming it may have been taken down. I had a completely different experience in August 2025 with a second interstate move. Colonial was minimally involved in this move with Posh Movers managing this move. The reason I used Colonial was that I was told they do not subcontract! Posh delivered at 10pm in the pouring rain with only one worker.

Part 2 8. Our Colonial Van Lines coordinator: Unreachable, did not immediately return phone calls, made promises and did not follow through, lied, threatened and defended the actions of the movers/packers. Our problems began on a Sunday which no one was available to assist. But did not get my first phone call after several messages left until late Monday afternoon.

AVOID COLONIAL! I will try to keep this brief as other reviewers have provided detailed accounts that reflect my experience: 1. Cost - the estimate on the phone is significantly less than what they will end up charging you in the end. They specifically leave out costs services like boxing your items, which they imply are free 2.

I hired Colonial to move my stuff from Washington State to New Jersey. Everyone I interacted with at the company was nice enough and professional, albeit hard to get ahold of. Upon receiving my quote I was provided a delivery window of April 3rd to April 10th. The next day I moved forward with their services and the communicated delivery window had shifted to the 3rd-16th. Confusing how that happened, though they ended up arriving on the 11th, so no huge complaints there.

The top scenarios you wish to avoid in a long distance move happened for us with colonial van lines. Our things were supposed to arrive the 14th of the month and arrived 23 days later. There were approx 7 boxes that were wet and crumpled. One had framed art work in it. Several others had clothing, blankets, and throws that all had to be washed after sitting in wet boxes. The couch was partially wet as well. The kitchen table legs were so damaged the table was unusable.