We moved from Victoria BC to Barrie ON in Sept 2018 and I STILL think about how amazing Great Canadian Van Lines were during that stressful time so I thought I'd write a review to tell my story.
We arranged for another company Canadian National Van Lines to move our stuff at the end of the month, as they were recommended by a friend who had recently moved (it was cheap, and they had some damages to their things but overall not bad). Well, on the day of moving, they didn't show up! They were also unreachable by phone or email. We had to be out of our apartment that day because new tenants were moving in so we had to scramble to figure out what to do with our stuff. I had already gotten a quote from Great Canadian Van Lines, so I reached out to see if they, by some miracle, could fit our stuff in their truck. Because it was month end, they were not able to that day, but Sara was super helpful and reassuring that they could move our stuff within the week. We just had to figure out where to store it and how to get it there. The funny thing was that she had WARNED me about going with this other company saying you get what you pay for... and she was right!! So, we end up driving an hour to get the ONLY U-Haul truck left that would fit our stuff, and then drove it to a U-Haul storage centre that was infested with rats (and rat pee), and the ONLY storage unit that could fit our stuff was 4.5 feet tall, including the HALLWAYS to get our stuff there. It was a busy place (again month end) with lots of really grumpy people waiting for the freight elevator to get/move their stuff, much of it wrecked by rat pee. We knew we only had to store our stuff briefly but still chose to buy plastic covers for couches, chairs, mattress.
Great Canadian Van Lines charged an additional $75 fee because of the difficulty of getting our stuff out of a 4.5 foot high space which is honestly completely understandable given how much of a nightmare it was to move. Luckily my husband and I realized we could choose our attitude, and just decided to make the best of a crappy situation. It took us 12 hours to find a truck, load our stuff, find a storage locker, move our stuff.... by that time, it was dark, all of the large moving trucks had been parked at the UHAUL storage facility but we had to bring ours back to where we got it. We tried to get out of the parking lot, and ended up backing into another vehicle. Icing on the cake!
In the end, we drove across the country in our car, reached our new home, and our stuff came exactly on the day and time that was arranged, with plenty of communication by phone, text and email. Our truck driver was a class act, and his partner (a local gentleman) was also professional, efficient, helpful and friendly. None of our stuff was damaged, and they had even taken extra steps to preserve our antique furniture (removing those small casters from the bottom which I never though to do). Our stuff was all labelled with numbered stickers and each piece accounted for. I cannot thank Great Canadian Van Lines, Sara and our driver/mover for their transparency, communication, professionalism and care with our belongings - especially given the moving crisis we were put in by the movers we had originally hired. Highly recommend!!!
Laura R.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $6,100.00