Great Canadian Van Lines

Very much satisfied with Quick quote received by Sara and easy modification as per my budget . Excellent job to the Driver Amar and buddy .Delivered our stuff quick and good condition. Furnitures were wrapped . Boxes were intact .
Received a text messages prior to delivery. Will used their service again in the future and I will highly recommend Great Canadian Can lines . Excellent job Amar and buddy

The office staff was very professional and kept me up-to-date on what was required and if anything was outstanding - made it very easy and stress free.

The two movers were very professional and took very good care of al items that needed to be moved as there were many fragile items.

I would use Great Canadian Van Lines again and have recommended them to others.

Thank you for the great service!

Based on higher reviews, affiliation with the CAM and above average price (based on 7 quotes) GVCL seemed like a good choice. On loading day (May 31st) the paperwork I signed stated that the delivery window was June 5-13th which was great since we would arrive in Montreal on the 5th and it would give us plenty of time to get settled in ahead of a new job starting. The set up was that the driver would call you 24 hours ahead of delivery. After not hearing from them on the 5th we decided to arrive in Montreal on June 6th with a car full of necessities to get us through for the next week.
After not hearing anything by the 12th, which meant the delivery would not arrive on the 13th I emailed to follow up. Our delivery window on the online portal had changed and now stated that the 27th was the end of the window, which was a full 2 weeks later than our original date and meant living without our belongings for a total of 27, rather than 13 days. The customer service person I connected with never did get back to me to explain this change.
The change was inconvenient but living without our belongings for an additional 2 weeks wasn't the end of the world since the 27th still gave us time to unpack ahead of the new job. On June 21st the driver called me in Winnipeg to let me know he was picking up our shipment. I confirmed that we would need a shuttle truck since our new street was too small for a 53 foot truck. He seemed perplexed and stressed about his ability to find a truck so late in the month, even though this detail had been known and communicated to GCVL from the start. He assured me he would be in Montreal by the 25th, 26th at the latest.
Fast forward to the 26th and still no call. I tried to connect with GCVL and had to call three times over 6 hours before I would finally get a call back. The rep I spoke to let me know that it was not clear where the driver was since there was cell service issues around the city of Winnipeg. Having just made the drive, I knew this was false. The rep stated that the shipment would hopefully arrive in Montreal for July 1st but that he wasn’t sure. He hoped to clarify on the Tuesday the 29th with us after speaking to the driver. This was not acceptable given that it was a) 18 days past the original delivery window that our contract stated, b) the new job started that day. Waiting until the 29th would not allow us enough time to source the specialized equipment needed for the new job on the 1st. Without the shipment, we would need to buy new work equipment and clothing at a cost of $900, on top of some less specialized things that needed to be replaced due to how late it was. After much back and forth, GCVL did agree to compensate us $900 for the replacement equipment. It later came to light that our shipment got bumped off in Toronto for some reason which caused the delay. The delay also meant that there would be much less time available to unpack and get settled given that the new job hours were extremely demanding.
On July 1st I waited around all day and after not hearing anything until 4:00pm I finally called GCVL. I was told the driver would call me shortly and an hour later he did call to say he was on his was and would arrive for 6:30pm. At 6:30pm he called again to say he would arrive the next day instead for 7:30am. This meant taking another day off of work. This was never compensated or acknowledged by GCVL.
On July 2nd, 19 days after our delivery window had closed our driver arrived around 9am. The unloading went smoothly though one piece of furniture (a tall dresser) had not been wrapped in moving blankets like everything else and as a result three of the knobs were broken and there were a series of new deep scratches that would require re-finishing. After another back and forth GCVL offered $100 as compensation for the dresser, which is not sufficient to repair it to the pre-move state. As always, I had to follow up with them and they would not reliably get back to me without prompting.

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.

Great company. They provided all the information we needed to help us get organized and packed up. The estimate was fairly accurate and within what we expected. Movers very friendly and pleasant. Everything arrived safe and sound. Highly recommend them.

Sara was our moving rep and she was lovely. I had a lot of concerns about our stuff and she was so reassuring. The guys who arrived on moving day were helpful and professional. Once everything was loaded GCVL kept in touch with us every couple of days as to our delivery updates. And then everything arrived in perfect order and the guys who unloaded on the other end were great. Start to finish a GREAT experience.

GCVL Rep. Sara and staff at HQ Lana and Emily and Jane were extremely helpful and answered all my many many questions! I have never organized a move like this before.
All staff were easy to reach and responded quickly--usually same day.

Moving crew, Jai, and assistant were very patient and careful. All of my furniture was wrapped and taped in blankets. Arrival date was sooner than expected. Jai and assistant were thorough and did not leave until all questions answered and inventory checked. They helped place boxes and furniture where I needed them.

Very professional organized company!!

From Chris @ Riverbend Movers and all the guys who loaded and unloaded my stuff, everyone was amazing. It went so smooth. Jane in CS was easy to work with as well. Thanks to everyone .

My family had furniture moved from London, Ontario to mine and my sons house in Edmonton and Sherwood Park, Alberta. Most of the furniture was antique. Almost 250 years old and even though it was build very sturdy, had to be handled carefully. I'm very happy to say that it was delivered to both residences without any issues. No damage at all to the freight or newly painted walls. The dedication and service that these moving men extended to me went beyond my expectations. I was sure that I would have to pay a shuttle charge for a smaller truck to deliver to me. Since I live in a keyhole crescent and my son is in a condominium complex. The driver backed down 2 streets to get to the front of my house and both him and his helper carried some furniture about a city block just to help me out. In very cold weather too. Wade and Eli went outside the box for me and I would use them again in a heartbeat! Great Canadian Van Lines did an exceptional job for me.

We moved from BC to Ontario in the dead of winter. We received excellent service. The packing was well done by courteous professional individuals. The unloading team were equally professional and worked hard. Wade, our driver, and team leader, was very easy to work with. He kept us informed along the way and took responsibility for the truck contents.
We have moved multiple times and had some very bad experiences but I would recommend this company to anyone.