Feeling like you got scammed by your mover who turned into a Pit Bull from the Poodle you hired come payment time? Your mover got lost and now expects you to foot the bill for their sightseeing adventures? Or suddenly your’re faced with bulky fees, mileage charges, extra inventory, hazardous charges, padding charges* long walks, extra flights, elevator, broken elevator, disassembly, assembly, and hell, now a fragile fee and now you’re thinking “I gotta pay you to eat too? Jeez, did I hire the wrong mover or what”?
They know you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, the movers want twice the estimate and they know you have to get out today! Or even worse, they didn’t even tell you about extras beforehand and are now refusing to unload until you cough up the extra cash! And they don’t take checks either? Then the frustration boils; “I shoulda rented a U Haul…..on second thought, maybe just a better mover”. Or maybe it’s not always all the movers fault.
Moving is a very stressful and time consuming chore that can stretch you to your limits financially and emotionally. What better time for an opportunist to take advantage when your shorts are down. Fortunately this isn’t quite as prevalent as many would have you believe. By taking the time and effort to research for a good mover with competitive rates, you can save yourself a lot of grief in the long run. A little knowledge never hurts either. I hope some of this will help you in not only choosing a quality mover but also receiving an accurate quote.
ON TO THE MOVING SCAMS, REAL AND ALLEGED.
Are you sure you represented the move they’re about to do, or is it the move you’d rather pay for? Lets look at some of these charges closer. Granted, many of them are seemingly frivolous, and some of them are outright deceitful. Lets make sure the mover is pulling a scam though before anyone flies off the handle. Some of this might seem unsavory or even criminal….until you look a little closer, but some of it is a scam regardless.
- Lets take the most obvious scam charges out of the equation. Its easy for some movers to get caught up in the extra earnings from some of the easier profits of scamming, easier than doing the hard work that is. This is especially prevalent in a company that fraternizes the competition on raising move prices. Any mover who is gonna charge you extra for padding while packing it in the truck needs a hefty fine levied on him to begin with. Nobody would hire a mover knowing they intended on moving precious cargo (if you’re paying to move it, it must be worth something to you) without padding? This only the more obvious scammers pull. This is a type of extortion* in my opinion as the mover is “happy to do the job” without adequate protection that is, for “the agreed upon” price. I can’t stand this one myself and would never work a crew that tried this twice.
STEPPING ON THE SCALES?
While this one isn’t really very obvious, it’s always a scam when it occurs. An empty truck arrives for the load, with an empty weight ticket. The crew does the appropriate paperwork, loads your belongings, you sign the empty weight slip and continue on your way to finishing up your ends. The crew then heads to the weigh station to get the full weight…..after getting diesel. Trucks can carry quite a bit of fuel and diesel weighs around 7.3 lbs per gallon. Just hope the helpers were either weighed or not weighed each time, and not both. Now this is just lowdown! Unfortunately it’s almost impossible to prove too.
While additional insurance is available through some companies, it might not always be worth paying extra for. If you’re receiving 60 cents per lb per article with a maximum declared value not to exceed a certain amount, paying extra for more insurance still pro-rated at 60 cents per lb………what are you actually paying extra for? While increasing the maximum amount the companies liable for might help in the event of catastrophic loss, it still won’t amount to much at all! This one makes my head spin, I can only assume that it must instill some warm fuzzies. I’m not implying that all the extra insurance add-ons aren’t worth it, but some of them certainly aren’t. Read the contract, do the math. If any gaps exist, get a rider on your homeowners/apartment renters policy in addition to the companies liability.
In Moving Scams part 2, I’ll illustrate some more common scams and charges that are legitimate for the most part but sometimes overused and exaggerated. Consumers who get their estimates in writing and have these issues in writing have far fewer problems. Here again, simply taking a little time to verify that you and the estimator are on the same page can spare you some stressful and oftentimes expensive predicaments. Honest movers realize the difficulties consumers face when trying to accurately convey the details of the job. When the estimator asks a lot of questions, be patient, as he or she is just trying to avoid hassles come move day. The estimator that comes in with a low estimate and does not ask about these specifics nor document the mutual agreement might not have taken every scenario into account. Written estimates are a necessity to assure an accurate price.
*note; special packaging charges are not to be confused with this type of scam, items requiring special packaging are oftentimes not included in an estimate. Movers will sometimes encounter an item that may not ship safely without custom packaging, unknown to the customer. Check your written estimate to make certain if this is spelled out, if it’s not, make sure it is before move day for the best price.*
