North American Van Lines

What an incredibly easy process! I had been left high and dry by another moving company and needed to ship items in a short window. Staff were professional, communicative, and made the entire move superb and worry free. Definitely recommend this company!

Reading other reviews, I guess I got lucky! My driver seemed to be an independent contractor (he owned his truck) and very reliable. The trucks are MASSIVE, they did fit on Villebois roads so I didn't have to pay the $350 shuttle fee to get items on the truck. All my items were delivered, with no damage or missing items. They do an in-person visit to quote you, which led to a much less expensive quote than all other places except 1 because they had a more accurate gauge of my furniture. They didn't care that I ended up swapping some items out for others, because ultimately they'll charge by weight and as long as you're under the estimate you'll pay what they quoted.

Awesome driver. Good loading team. Met challenges in a positive manner. Delivered early which made my day. Would use u again if I had the same driver.

We were very pleased with the moving company, North American Van Lines. They knew all of the paperwork that needed to be done at the border between Canada and the United States.

North American Van Lines was great especially their driver Kelly Jones. He was so responsive to our needs and kept us informed of his progress.
The packing company, MODA, was the opposite…inefficient, sloppy, careless. They should be fired. In the event of another move, I’ll call North American but specifically exclude MODA.

they arrived when they said they would. They left some of our stuff because another client had put 4000# over. we have yet to recieve the balance of our load. The driver Kelly was great unloaded , was professional

The driver was great he made sure the items were being transferred in a smaller size truck, but one of the individuals was thoughtful about it was taken care of, soo the took over many times.

Thanks! We "worked" with mayflower Florida then bekins Illinois or Colorado when we were kids. I worked with Allied Oregon and California after high school.

A few damaged items otherwise would have given 5 stars

During the negotiation/quoting phase the rep (Neil Gordon) for the company gave a good price stating that there are no hidden charges and that is exactly what I'd pay. The fine print on subsequent documents, however, counts every step of your building and states possible Shuttle charges.

Quote:
SHUTTLE CHARGE:

If the authorized motor vehicle carrier/agent cannot get within 100 yards of the customer's given address, the customer agrees to pay and will be required to pay an additional of $1 per cubic foot with a $350.00 minimum for the shuttle to bring them to the designated moving truck and or customers home.

End of quote

The trick is - they send to your destination huge 50+ ft trucks with your furniture even though it fits into pretty small UHall trucks, and the size of the truck is not specified in the Shuttle Charge clause. You'll find out about it only when you already partially paid, and the pick-up team arrives to your place requesting information if such huge trucks will fit onto your destination property. And it is, of course, up to the truck driver to decide if it fits or not, and out of my estimation and the words of the delivery driver, in 90% of the cases his truck does not fit to any destination point.

The driver says he gets angry customers almost every day because even if the customer considers the destination as fitting for such a truck, most of the customers have no clue about the real size of the truck and in most cases they miscalculate and such a big truck just does not fit. In fact, I called the apartment complex office and asked them about their property in regards to the size of the truck (as I had never been there and rented the apartment online). The office rep said she had no clue and just sent the apartment complex plan directly to the delivery company, which did not help anyway.

In other words, the company lays on customer's shoulders the logistics of the delivery and the customers will almost always pay extra shuttle/steps charges in case they do not know or miscalculate something.

In my case I did not read the fine print and eventually paid for the extra 10 steps to my second floor (the first 10 steps according to the fine print are included) - $75, and the shuttle cost me extra $350. But besides, I delayed and made uncomfortable the driver (who had nothing to do with this scheme) during the shouting match with the pick-up company (Condor Moving Systems AFAIR) and got upset that this information was omitted during the initial quote negotiation with the First National Van Lines,. When I got on the phone with the First National Van Lines, the rep just said - read the fine print next time you're signing anything.

I am giving 2 (instead of 1) stars only because the price was originally considerably (about 40%) cheaper than other moving companies I had contacted, the delivery was still made without almost any losses (for now just the lamp shade is missing, and a few minor scratches on the furniture. I am still unpacking, however), and the actual truck guys (especially the very patient delivery ones) were pretty good at what they did during both the pick-up and delivery.
Had they not hidden the charges employing the above-mentioned tricks, I'd have given them 5.

Also, be aware, that the First National Van Lines is just a broker. The delivering will be done by the actual moving companies, and they can be different upon the pick-up and delivery. So you'll be speaking with a lot of different people during the process and to most of them you'll be explaining the same thing over and over again.

Do Not use North American / Moda Moving! Our delivery for our items from Portland, OR to Boulder, CO window was Jan. 3-8 (2024). Items were delivered at 3pm on Jan. 8, but only 2/3 of our items fit on the truck because they a) waited until the end of the window to pack our items and realized they would not fit and had no extra time because they packed it so late in the window and b) underestimated how much of a truck was needed for our items. we are still without our things. Called this morning and we were told their driver is still picking items up around the northwest and won't be leaving their Wilsonvillle lot with our items for another 5 days until Jan. 20! Our items won't be leaving Oregon until 12 days after the end of when they were "guaranteed" to be delivered! So delivery won't be for at least another 2+ weeks. Dan the salesperson made several claims that did not occur: told us our items would be packed onto the truck (all on 1 truck), that they'd be kept separate from other households stuff (they were not, and our items weren’t on the truck and our table got mixed in with other items and was delivered to another family), be delivered within the guarantee window (it is looking like it's going to be 3 weeks past that window) and that we'd know 48 hours ahead of timing of arrival so we knew when to drive to meet the van ( We were told things were being picked up on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, so we left CA to drive to CO to meet the van. Then we called Tuesday to learn when things would be delivered, and they said they decided to put it on another truck later in the week and would be loaded Thursday...so we arrived too soon in CO and had to go to a hotel for a couple nights.) Communication was inaccurate and we have had to call them to get updates (no word for almost a week after our items didn't make the truck)! The company's primary focus is profit and not the customer. They need to make this right by hiring a driver to deliver our missing items. We are having to wait until Jan. 20 departure because they want to maximize profit by fitting our remaining items onto a truck with other folks stuff coming to CO. They need to apologize and take accountability that they made mistakes (not just blame the driver). DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY if you want regular updates on where your items are and if you want to get them within weeks of when it's supposed to arrive.

Well, where does one start? Stars selected is one, but not what we truly wanted to select which is a negative 10 Stars. There is good reason!
It's been almost 1 year to this date our nightmare of a journey began, and has now just been completed. I will say upfront that there are 2 parties involved, Moda Moving out of Oregon and North American Van Lines. North American Van Lines Custmer Service Department (upper management) did their best to satisfy us with compensation for all damages to our property.
This was our first time hiring a moving company, past moves we always did on our own. It was different this time as I was disabled. During moving day I was unable to observe entire crew packaging items as there was 3 levels to the house and crews on each level. We did pack most boxes, leaving Moda to pack and wrap almost all large items which included a brand new refrigerator (that received dents and scratches on both doors as it was not wrapped in anything when offloaded from truck), brand new bedroom set (had scrathes at end destination) and cement outdoor garden items (not wrapped in any protection and put in cardboard boxes and they weighed over 100 lbs each), broken heirlooms again not wrapped etc. In addition we were charged for disassembly and assembly at end destination of multiple items. Shelving was to be disassembled and wasn't and completely damaged. Assemly at end destination was attempted but driver said not his responsibility. We were charged for all those services in addition to regular moving fees.
We were told that our property would be in storage then put on a trailer direct to the end destination. Come to find out midway thru the trip across the country our belongings were removed from one trailer to another without our knowledge. This added the possibility of more damage to our belongings.
While Moda is packaging your items they have a process, they do not explain thoroughly to you and yet expect you to sign that you agree to what they have documented about your items. There is a numbering system they use which includes descriptions of damage your belongings have at the time of pickup. What was amazing is that this process, we discovered in the
end was misleading. It seemed to be that almost every item Moda was responsible for packaging and moving they stated there was already damage to those items, when there was not. We discovered this once we were collecting information for our damage claim. An example of this was when they marked on the sheet that an item had damage and when looking at the item at the end destination there was no damage at all to that item. I would venture to say this is a sly way of CYA for Moda and any damage created by their neglect of proper protection to your property. It explained why the sheets of paper were completed by the supervisor not in the vicinity of said items when itially documented, but in another location of the house. A suggestion is if you choose to use any moving company ask the movers to point out exactly where the damage is and get a visual first hand and initial each said damage listed on their paperwork.
I truly hope that the Supervisor, Vlad, who handled our packaging and loading of our belongings has been reassigned to a different position within the company. I did send information to the company once our belongings arrived damaged and some broken in pieces on how disappointed we were. The lack of care and handling our belongings was so disappointing especially when you are being compensated greatly for it.
This review might be one year late, but hope if you do choose Moda that you watch every move they make.
Would not recommend!

Delivery was late, incomplete and there are numerous damaged pieces of furniture. Final delivery took an additional 18 days after the original promised date. Communication throughout were abysmal.

Look at the Better Business Bureau reports on this company before you hire these crooks!

I called North America Van Lines to move us from Oregon to Montana. They farmed out the job to Moda Moving.

Moda Moving is the most dishonest, unethical, and incompetent company I have ever dealt with in my entire life.

We filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau, Oregon Department of Justice, FTC, FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, ATA (American Trucking Association), and U.S Department of Transportation because so they were so unethical and incompetent.

Four of our biggest complaints were:

Item #1 – Moda Moving relocation consultant that came to our home knowingly and deliberately deceived us.

Item #2 – Moda Moving was negligent in moving our household items in a timely manner.

Item #3 – Moda Moving was negligent in the handling our items multiple times and storing in a warehouse for two weeks, which resulted in numerous damaged and missing items.

Item #4 – Moda Moving did not respond to phone calls for status of our move as well as our complaints.

Beware of this company.

The estimator (Zane) who come out to our house is a master at “bait and switch”. Everything he promised never happened. He will lie to directly to your face about what the move rate is, among other things. What you sign is not what he promises you.

We were told our items would be loaded on ONE truck and unloaded ONCE. Instead, our items were loaded onto multiple trucks, unloaded in a warehouse in Wilsonville, left sitting in a warehouse for two weeks, loaded on a truck AGAIN, and then went through Seattle, before finally arriving in Montana.

We paid over $4000 a month in advance to “guarantee and reserve” that our move would happen the week we planned. Instead, we had to wait over two weeks for our items to arrive.

Moda Moving is clueless about how logistics and scheduling works. The destination agent on my signed agreement (Montana Transfer Company) was not even used. This, despite the fact they had multiple empty trucks in the Portland area the week we moved and could have brought our items to Montana.

We were told we would have “professional movers” handle our items with care. This did not happen. We had movers that could not ever figure out to turn a chair 90 degrees, so it fit though our front door easily. Instead, they just smashed it through the front door. They dropped a treadmill on its side, and it shook the entire house. Then, the supervisor has the gall to tell me that whoever assembled the treadmill broke it.

By the time we finally received our items, they looked like they had been through a war zone. And items were missing and never showed up. This was due to the careless and reckless way they were handled by Moda Moving.

I contacted their management (Chris Hill, Randy Peacock, Joe Transini), but my concerns about their unethical practices just got dismissed. Or not answered at all.

We received over $1600 back in damaged items/claims from Moda Moving parent Company, North American Van Lines. This was through a tedious claims process. Yet, two months after filing the claims on missing items that never got delivered, we still have not received money for lost items.

I have told North American Van Lines of all the unethical behavior, reckless behavior of Moda Moving, but they have done nothing.
And dealing with North America Van Lines has been a nightmare.

One of the worse decisions we ever made was to call North America Van Lines.