Avoiding Scams While Moving or Relocating

Moving scams are rampant on the Internet. From stories about goods held hostage to movers selling goods from storage, there are many ways to get scammed. The Internet is a dangerous place to find a mover, both for local and long distance moving companies. If you've ever been the victim of a scammer for your move, tell us all about it in the comments, and maybe help some other people avoid it! We'll reveal the common moving scams companies use today.

Six years later, the move still bothers me. How I missed the signs. How I allowed incompetent, non-English speaking movers into my home to handle my stuff. Although I am much more educated when it comes to movers today, and it will not happen again, the fact that it did happen will haunt me, and serve as a warning to laxness.

In 2006, I had found a new job located 3 states away, and we had to move fast to make it all work. Consulting the trusty old Internet, I found a place that would do quotes for you, based upon the weight you entered, and then have lots of companies bid for your business. These are called brokers. Most don't actually move anything, they facilitate the transaction for OTHER companies.

I got a quote from a company in the next state, and it was pretty darned good. Of course, they said it might be a little more, but they doubted it. They also didn't even worry about an in-home estimate. This is warning flag number one. Reputable companies will always come out and have a look to give you a realistic estimate. So we set up a time and date, and began to make plans. I had another look through the house and redid my weight, I figured I had just a bit more. I called and updated it with them, and they told me not to worry about a few extra hundred pounds. My move was going to cost me $3500.

So on the fateful day, the movers were nowhere to be seen. I called and called, and no one answered. Finally, 12 hours after they were scheduled to arrive, 3 foreign-speaking movers came to start the move. They started at 3pm. While the movers packed and boxed, and moved everything out, they seemed pretty nice. Showing me all the paperwork, signing insurance forms, etc. I went so far as to buy them water, since it was hot that day. After all the breaks they took, and around 9pm, they still had about an hour to go. One of them asked if I could park my car behind the truck and put my high beams on for an hour, to help them out. That didn't happen, since I really didn't want to run down my battery, or waste all that gas. So at 10pm, they are down, and ask for half the money. I handed them the check, and of course, that was no good, must be in cash. I was specifically told that a check was acceptable. Reluctantly, they took the check, but not before asking for a huge tip. I told them their tip would be when I received my goods. (I had helped them move a few things toward the end; I was in no mood to give them anything else.)

So after three weeks, and four days of living on the floor of our new home, the movers arrive. Knowing I want this to end quickly, I tell them not to assemble anything, and I stand at the door with the checklist and direct each moving person to the appropriate room. They move it in very quickly, about 2 hours, and that's when the final battle began. The balance, as I knew, stood at $1250 with some tip money. Instead, they demanded I pay another $3500 in cash, plus tips, and I lost it. I was so stressed over this that I was getting a bit ill, and they would not leave. My wife, god bless her for being the bulldog that she is, saw I was faltering and stepped in.

My wife demanded to see all the paperwork they had, including the weight slips. They could not produce them, so instead, she asked them to call their supervisor and explain what they were asking for. The supervisor agreed to drop $500 off the cost, but that was not good enough for her. She told them that without weight slips, they could not legally ask for any more than what was agreed upon. They finally relented, and asked for it in cash. The answer was, "You're tips will be in cash, the moving payment will be a check. If that's not good enough, you can always take us to small claims court." That shut them up quickly. She gave each of them a $50 bill as tip, and asked them to have a good day. They hemmed and hawed, looked around a bit, and headed for the door. On the way out, one of them said, "Pain in the asses" and my wife heard it. Her response went something like, "If you have a problem you can say it to my face." I wish she had just let it go, but yeah, that wife of mine can be ornery. This could have gone bad, and knowing these guys, they might have been armed. Thankfully, I was too, having got my concealed license recently. I moved up from behind her, and slowly put my hand in my jacket. I think they got the picture, and very rapidly went for the door, got in the truck and gassed it, all in about 10 seconds. I rarely ever feel the need to go for my weapon, except to protect my family.

The moral of this story is you have to do research, and not just trust anyone from the Internet with your stuff. While there are many moving companies that will try to scam you, there are many professional moving companies, some that even have good rates. The Internet is a double-edged sword, you can learn a lot, or you can lose a lot. Hedge your bets, and don't make a bad gamble.