poppela

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.