American National Movers Complaints Log
This article acts as a complaint database showing how American National Movers addresses negative reviews and works to resolve complaints.
What to Know About Moving Industry Complaints
When checking a mover's reputation, the number of complaints can sometimes feel overwhelming. This is especially true for interstate and long distance moving companies.
The industry of moving items between states is notoriously known for its complaints and horror stories. This causes many consumers anxiety, and leads them to ask, "Why do movers have so many complaints?"
Here is what to know:
Damages
Transporting furniture across multiple states can come with a high risk of damage. As a consumer, there are ways to reduce that risk — such as switching to a dedicated truck and paying for premium packing. Nonetheless, there will always be some risk of damage. From time to time, damage complaints are bound to happen, especially when a moving company is popular and services many loads.
Delivery Delays
Depending on the transportation method you choose — shared load versus dedicated truck — a delivery delay can happen. Shared load deliveries are the main cause of a shipment taking longer. As a result, please be advised that if you agree to truck sharing, a delay can sometimes be out of our control.
Price Increases
Across the long distance moving industry, many companies receive the common complaint of unexpected price changes. Unfortunately, in some cases price changes are bound to happen. This is because the entire industry's price structure is based on an estimated calculation of volume or weight. While a responsible mover should ensure their estimates are reasonably accurate, a price increase can still occur if the scope of your move changes.
Addressing the Core Complaints With Movers
Based on the points above, the most common issues people have with movers are damage claims, delivery delays, and price increases. Here is how we address each of these complaints:
Insurance Claims
For insurance, we offer standard coverage, which is 60 cents per pound, or full valuation protection. Many consumers prefer the standard free coverage to avoid paying extra surcharges. However, with free coverage you are only insured at 60 cents per pound, per item. Despite choosing the standard coverage, some consumers still expect to be fully compensated if damage occurs to their shipment — but that is not how this level of coverage works.
How We Address It
If you don't opt for full coverage, a moving company is only liable to cover 60 cents per pound of the item's weight. This means if a ten pound item breaks, we are only liable to pay $6.00. In some cases we may offer more than the basic coverage, especially if the damage was proven to be negligent on the mover's part.
Delivery Delays
Our review management page states that delivery windows vary but can take 12 days or more, based on your transportation method (shared load vs dedicated) or if your delivery state is uncommon. Please note that your delivery window is heavily influenced by your transportation method. If you agree to our economical shared load option, we cannot always control or guarantee your delivery date.
How We Address Delivery Complaints
Our estimators are instructed to be transparent about our long distance moving options and what each means for your delivery window. If a customer states they are ready for delivery, we ask that they allow the movers up to three weeks to arrive with the shipment. If the shipment happens to take longer, we may be inclined to offer reasonable compensation for the delay, based on the circumstances.
Estimate Increases
Last minute price changes are unfortunately common with long distance movers — not because they are intentional, but because of the way costs are calculated. Sometimes it is difficult to estimate a load's true cubic feet or weight until the items are already loaded on the truck. This is especially true for 4+ bedroom homes or jobs that request full packing services.
How We Address Estimate Increase Complaints
As mentioned above, it can be hard to determine a load's true weight or volume until your movers arrive on site and begin the labor. Again, price changes are not intentional — it is the nature of moving estimates. Binding estimates can help avoid this, but even a binding estimate can change if you add items that were not outlined on the contract. In the rare event we receive a price change complaint, we investigate why the change occurred. If it was due to an estimator's negligence — and not the customer — we may offer compensation.
Complaint Management Database
As occasional complaints are submitted against American National Movers, we will continue to update this log. As a striving, reputable national moving company, we always attempt to rectify disputes with consumers. In some cases customers are happy to allow us to fix an error; in other cases the consumer prefers to leave a negative remark. Please be advised that we are a popular brand that services several loads each month. As a result, occasional complaints are bound to happen given the high volume of loads we handle. Nonetheless, rest assured that we always strive to make things right with consumers in the event they are dissatisfied with our services.