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Avoid Costly Moving Scams
Phoenix, AZ, August, 2006, Elizabeth Rose Moving is no fun. It’s worse than a dentist visit. Cleaning out the basement, packing boxes, arranging utilities, registering kids for school….the activities are overwhelming and endless. However, sometimes there is excitement around a move...maybe you’ve received a promotion or a new opportunity. Anxious or excited; overwhelmed or organized, it’s still a huge undertaking. One of the most challenging and time consuming tasks is selecting a moving company. Who do we hire to pack great-grandmother’s antique china, and move our cherished treasures along with the bunk beds and the lawn mower at the lowest price. After all, isn’t that how we base our selection for a mover – lowest price? True confessions reveal that we really don’t know about this arena. But off we go….our fingers do the walking through the yellow pages, we scrounge through the local paper, and we Google and surf the internet. The providers ask for inventory lists along with number of rooms, they talk in cubic feet and weight. Whew, a daunting task - finally presto! Once the information is completed it only takes minutes for the responses begin to pour in, the phone rings, the email dings – talk about overwhelming! After comparing estimates, we select the one that can meet our time schedule at the best price then pat ourselves on the back for accomplishing this major task and getting such a great deal. We’re off to begin packing. So now moving day arrives, but rather than having a pleasant experience, it turns out to be a nightmare much like the Richard Pryor comedy, “Moving”, where a New Jersey family moves out west and everything goes wrong. The movers are late….hours or sometimes even days. Finally they arrive and seem to be a few people short. The leader of the pack walks through the front door and as he is standing in the foyer announces, “oh boy, this is a lot more than you said. This is going to weigh a lot more. It’s going to take more men, more hours, a bigger truck……” Or, he waits to make such statements after the truck is loaded. So your $2500 estimate is now $5,000. You’re between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to run, nowhere to turn, so you consent. The truck is loaded, doors closed, and down the street they go with your possessions. Now you arrive at your new home and haven’t heard from the movers. After repeated attempts you finally reach someone, only to hear them say that they never promised your belongings would be delivered on a specific date. Then comes the various pretext: they really aren’t sure when the scheduler will put together a schedule; they don’t have any trucks in the area; they don’t have any available workers. Bottom line: they don’t know when you’ll receive your belongings. You end up waiting days and sometimes weeks just for the scheduler to schedule it. What kind of business is this? Now you’ve been hijacked. Like most people, you are most likely not aware that moving scams exist, much less how big a problem they have become. The moving industry seems to be much more scam-ridden than many other industries. It's becoming an all too familiar story...moving companies baiting consumers over the internet with lowball estimates, then switching the story on moving day. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is finally cracking down on some of these rogue movers, but when they do, only they benefit. The moving company has their hand slapped with a nice, fat fine, the government keeps the restitution and the consumer is still left in the lurch, picking up the pieces. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration imposes only civil penalties. Their suggestion to defrauded consumers is to take the moving company to court, which is usually just too expensive to be a viable option, especially when the consumer has already lost a lot of money. So how do you protect yourself? Here are some things you can to make sure you don’t become a victim of rogue movers: 1. Sell everything.. Ok, maybe that’s a bit extreme, but dozens of people who've had their household goods held hostage by a moving company wish now that they had done this. 2. Do-It-Yourself. While this isn’t very attractive, nor always practical it's something worth considering. Rent a truck, plead with your friends to help pack and load your household goods (throw in pizza and beer), and drive away yourself. There are several reputable firms from whom you can lease a vehicle and 'do-it -yourself.' 3. Chose a hybrid Do-It-Yourself. Rent a truck then hire a company to pack and load the rental truck for you. Drive it yourself, or hire a driver. Then, hire another company at the destination to unload the truck for you. If you decide to hire a moving company, do your homework. It might not be fun, and can be very time consuming, but diligence will pay off. Get referrals from local real estate firms, friends and neighbors who’ve recently moved. Ask for references and check them out very carefully. Be especially careful with Internet-based movers. There are obviously reputable firms online, but there are an unusual number of horror stories from customers who hired movers online. Do everything you can to check out the moving company in advance. Search online to make sure the company isn't already a known scammer; drive by the location of the company and check out their yard and their trucks. Visit www.movingscam.com and click on The Black List to see if your mover is listed. Another site to visit is www.scambusters.org/moving/html. Once you think you've found a reputable company, here's a list of the information you want to get from them: 1. The full legal company name (including any 'dba' names). 2. Length of time in business. 3. Full legal company address and all phone numbers. 4. Get their Dept. of Transport and any other State or Federal license numbers. 5. Most importantly, ask for references -- and call them. 6. Find out if the company is insured... start here: http://www.safersys.org 7. Call the FMCSA's consumer complaints hotline at 1-888-368-7238 to inquire about the company's history. Finally, make sure you are given a copy of a booklet called "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move." Moving companies are legally obligated to give it you. But needless to say, scammers will NOT want you to have that information. You can get a copy online here: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/factsfigs/rights.htm. Here’s a few more things to be watchful of:
Final note: There are certainly good and reasonable moving companies. So, be careful but realize that all movers are NOT scam artists |
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