My moving experience with Golden Valley Van Lines was bad enough that it actually made the Seattle evening news. You can view the clip below. It would take a lot of space to cover everything that they did so I'll let the clip do most of the talking but the bottom line is that they will lie to you and say whatever they need to get you to hire them and they won't follow through with any of it.
They prey on people who have never used a professional moving company before. Their moving consultant, Aaron Petrolia lied to me repeatedly and used social engineering techniques to try and gain my trust. They give you a low bid and once they have your stuff, they jack up the price and hold your stuff hostage to force you to pay. The reporter from KOMO TV News researched them and said that the government has actually shut them down but they are still operating using shady practices.
They have their contract written in such a way as to absolve them from any liability for anything. If you have the money for a lengthy legal battle, you will most likely eventually win a judgement against them but they will just declare bankruptcy and then just begin operating under a different name. It looks as if this has happened before so it's not worth the effort. I asked for a partial refund and they laughed at me.
I'm not getting any money back from this but I'm making it my mission to warn others away from this horrible, dishonest company. Also, their BBB rating means absolutely nothing as it is based on their level of responsiveness to inquiries from the BBB, not on actually fixing issues or resolving complaints. I have gone through all of their Google reviews and they appear to be fictitious and paid for by the company unless you really believe all the people who are based in foreign countries who wrote them came here just to use their services and then returned to their home country.
Of the US based people who wrote reviews, if you look over their other reviews, they have written several for other moving companies as well and based on the dates are apparently moving every two months and hiring different companies to perform the move despite how happy they claim to have been with Golden Valley Van Lines in their review of their moving experience with them. https://komonews.com/news/consumer/how-to-steer-clear-of-rogue-movers-who-hold-your-property-hostage-for-higher-payment?fbclid=IwAR1dcAl7jCJCe-xCv3wWoyhO8Fej2lHu7VPGyf
The first time hey showed up they showed up with a truck that was much smaller than requested, so their for they couldn't get everything and had to set up another day. They have never showed up on time and they refuse to answer the phones when they don't show up, when you finally get ahold of someone on the phone (lady named Christine) or something like that. SO RUDE OH MY GOSH! I am so discussed by this company! And not a single one of the movers spoke English so their was a huge communication barrier when they FINALLY showed up.
Do not use this company! You get what you pay for--in this case, little.
Pick up was 1 day late on interstate move.
Truck to pickup was too small, which I noted upon arrival. It was not the "18 wheeler" Christine promised the day before. They loaded it anyways. The foreman lied to my face and said it was big enough and a 21000 cu. ft. truck. Christine from co. told me later it was truly only an 18000 cu. ft. truck. She then got angry at me saying that I allegedly got their estimate wrong. I told her I don't have a cu. ft. estimator.
Towards the end of them loading the truck, they finally realized that the truck was too small. They wrote up a second estimate, which was $2000 more than the original. I refused to sign because of their deceit and errs.
Delivery was three days late after their rep "Christine" lied to me repeatedly about delivery the next day, which kept moving. She hung up on me repeatedly when I called to get info. She kept saying she couldn't hear me even though I had made several other calls from that cell phone and place that day. She repeatedly told me that my driver had called me. I repeatedly told her that I'd never been contacted by my driver.
Finally, the day before the delivery, after I kept calling the company, Christine told me that they had loaded my stuff in a much larger truck and picked up several other moves, which they were delivering ahead of mine. I told her that was inconsistent with the "direct" move we negotiated, agreed upon, and paid for. She again blamed me because their estimator underestimated the quantity of our belongings.
Finally, the day before the delivery, the driver, Guy, called me. He told me all of the specifics about why had yet to receive our belongings. He apologized.
The delivery ended up being on a Sunday, the worst possible day for me, because that is my most challenging workday as a minister.
The company seems to only care about money. Christine kept repeating that I had better have the cash or money order upon delivery.
Even though we had already paid in full for the entire move before arrival, something we did not have to do, the driver insisted on the additional payment of $2000 before unloading our belongings. The driver and foreman (different than original) put me on the phone with an alleged manager from GVVL whom I had never spoken. He insisted we pay in spite of the many company lies & delays. I told him we should have received a greater discount than $200 for their lies & delays. He wouldn't budge. He says we had to pay that Sunday. He "promised" that he would call me the next day to compensate us for our losses. Not surprisingly, we never heard from the company again. We paid grudgingly because we needed our belongings.
The unloaders were gruff, crude, and clumsy. One older man smelled like he lived on the street and hadn't bathed for weeks. He contaminated our downstairs guest bathroom within 1 hour, which we smelled all that day. He also walked around our house rubbing the boxes on the walls and marring the paint. A younger man told me, "I have never done this before." Ironically, he was the nicest one of all of them.
They damaged a lot of our belongings, including our baby's mattress, our mechanized couch, our mattress, a bathroom cabinet (irreparable), an end table, and scratches and marks on many of our belongings. They also caused significant paint scratches and marks on our walls and floor molding.
Towards the end of the unloading, the driver/foreman and one of the unloaders became very impatient and angry with us for some unknown reason. All of a sudden, they refused to reassemble the many piece of furniture they disassembled, including two desks, a basic patio furniture table, and our baby's furniture. The foreman said that they did not have to assemble anything by contract. I told him that was not in our signed agreement with the company. Notably, he did not have a copy of that original agreement. I asked him why his unloaders had already assembled so many other pieces of furniture. He said that was them just being "nice."
Golden Valley Van Lines Reviews
My moving experience with Golden Valley Van Lines was bad enough that it actually made the Seattle evening news. You can view the clip below. It would take a lot of space to cover everything that they did so I'll let the clip do most of the talking but the bottom line is that they will lie to you and say whatever they need to get you to hire them and they won't follow through with any of it.
They prey on people who have never used a professional moving company before. Their moving consultant, Aaron Petrolia lied to me repeatedly and used social engineering techniques to try and gain my trust. They give you a low bid and once they have your stuff, they jack up the price and hold your stuff hostage to force you to pay. The reporter from KOMO TV News researched them and said that the government has actually shut them down but they are still operating using shady practices.
They have their contract written in such a way as to absolve them from any liability for anything. If you have the money for a lengthy legal battle, you will most likely eventually win a judgement against them but they will just declare bankruptcy and then just begin operating under a different name. It looks as if this has happened before so it's not worth the effort. I asked for a partial refund and they laughed at me.
I'm not getting any money back from this but I'm making it my mission to warn others away from this horrible, dishonest company. Also, their BBB rating means absolutely nothing as it is based on their level of responsiveness to inquiries from the BBB, not on actually fixing issues or resolving complaints. I have gone through all of their Google reviews and they appear to be fictitious and paid for by the company unless you really believe all the people who are based in foreign countries who wrote them came here just to use their services and then returned to their home country.
Of the US based people who wrote reviews, if you look over their other reviews, they have written several for other moving companies as well and based on the dates are apparently moving every two months and hiring different companies to perform the move despite how happy they claim to have been with Golden Valley Van Lines in their review of their moving experience with them. https://komonews.com/news/consumer/how-to-steer-clear-of-rogue-movers-who-hold-your-property-hostage-for-higher-payment?fbclid=IwAR1dcAl7jCJCe-xCv3wWoyhO8Fej2lHu7VPGyf
The first time hey showed up they showed up with a truck that was much smaller than requested, so their for they couldn't get everything and had to set up another day. They have never showed up on time and they refuse to answer the phones when they don't show up, when you finally get ahold of someone on the phone (lady named Christine) or something like that. SO RUDE OH MY GOSH! I am so discussed by this company! And not a single one of the movers spoke English so their was a huge communication barrier when they FINALLY showed up.
Do not use this company! You get what you pay for--in this case, little.
Pick up was 1 day late on interstate move.
Truck to pickup was too small, which I noted upon arrival. It was not the "18 wheeler" Christine promised the day before. They loaded it anyways. The foreman lied to my face and said it was big enough and a 21000 cu. ft. truck. Christine from co. told me later it was truly only an 18000 cu. ft. truck. She then got angry at me saying that I allegedly got their estimate wrong. I told her I don't have a cu. ft. estimator.
Towards the end of them loading the truck, they finally realized that the truck was too small. They wrote up a second estimate, which was $2000 more than the original. I refused to sign because of their deceit and errs.
Delivery was three days late after their rep "Christine" lied to me repeatedly about delivery the next day, which kept moving. She hung up on me repeatedly when I called to get info. She kept saying she couldn't hear me even though I had made several other calls from that cell phone and place that day. She repeatedly told me that my driver had called me. I repeatedly told her that I'd never been contacted by my driver.
Finally, the day before the delivery, after I kept calling the company, Christine told me that they had loaded my stuff in a much larger truck and picked up several other moves, which they were delivering ahead of mine. I told her that was inconsistent with the "direct" move we negotiated, agreed upon, and paid for. She again blamed me because their estimator underestimated the quantity of our belongings.
Finally, the day before the delivery, the driver, Guy, called me. He told me all of the specifics about why had yet to receive our belongings. He apologized.
The delivery ended up being on a Sunday, the worst possible day for me, because that is my most challenging workday as a minister.
The company seems to only care about money. Christine kept repeating that I had better have the cash or money order upon delivery.
Even though we had already paid in full for the entire move before arrival, something we did not have to do, the driver insisted on the additional payment of $2000 before unloading our belongings. The driver and foreman (different than original) put me on the phone with an alleged manager from GVVL whom I had never spoken. He insisted we pay in spite of the many company lies & delays. I told him we should have received a greater discount than $200 for their lies & delays. He wouldn't budge. He says we had to pay that Sunday. He "promised" that he would call me the next day to compensate us for our losses. Not surprisingly, we never heard from the company again. We paid grudgingly because we needed our belongings.
The unloaders were gruff, crude, and clumsy. One older man smelled like he lived on the street and hadn't bathed for weeks. He contaminated our downstairs guest bathroom within 1 hour, which we smelled all that day. He also walked around our house rubbing the boxes on the walls and marring the paint. A younger man told me, "I have never done this before." Ironically, he was the nicest one of all of them.
They damaged a lot of our belongings, including our baby's mattress, our mechanized couch, our mattress, a bathroom cabinet (irreparable), an end table, and scratches and marks on many of our belongings. They also caused significant paint scratches and marks on our walls and floor molding.
Towards the end of the unloading, the driver/foreman and one of the unloaders became very impatient and angry with us for some unknown reason. All of a sudden, they refused to reassemble the many piece of furniture they disassembled, including two desks, a basic patio furniture table, and our baby's furniture. The foreman said that they did not have to assemble anything by contract. I told him that was not in our signed agreement with the company. Notably, he did not have a copy of that original agreement. I asked him why his unloaders had already assembled so many other pieces of furniture. He said that was them just being "nice."