Moving Scams - Movers Holding Your Stuff Hostage
9 August 2006Having just gone through a move myself, I’m a little sensitive to this. It turns out interstate moves can be highly risky if you aren’t careful, because they aren’t very well regulated. According to Liz Pulliam Weston at MSN Money, unscrupulous moving companies have a scam where they agree with you on a price, and then hold your stuff hostage. While you’ve already moved into a nice, empty new home several states away, the movers have stashed your things in a warehouse somewhere. And they’re now asking three to four times what you originally agreed on to get it back.
You’ve got a couple of options to avoid this scam:
1) Call the Better Business Bureau and ask about the company.
2) Ask friends who they’ve just moved with. If they got their stuff without a hassle, the company is probably OK.
3) Get in-person estimates. Companies that refuse to do this are often scam artists because it’s very hard to figure out how much your stuff weighs without looking at it. So the scammers will just give a fake estimate and then grab ahold of the stuff.
4) Don’t do business with a company that is new. If they haven’t been around for a few years, they may not be safe.
5) Hire a mover in the state you’re moving to - it’s easier to go after them that way because you can sue them in your new hometown.
6) Don’t move anything that is high-value and small with the movers. Computers, easily carriable televisions, small electronics, art - all these things should go with you personally. It might not show up at the new location if you don’t bring it with you yourself.
Discuss this on the Free the Drones Forums here.
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