1. 'We'll hijack your stuff'
Just ask Spyro Malaspinas, a victim of a botched move. He says Nation Van Lines, which he hired to move his belongings from Austin, Texas, to Chicago in January 2003, raised his bill from an estimate of $1,050 to nearly $4,300. The movers, according to Malaspinas, said his goods measured 500 cubic feet more than anticipated. When Malaspinas threatened to call the police, the drivers made off with his possessions, which he estimates were worth $47,000.
Despite an FBI investigation and the March 2003 arrest of Nation owner Eli Peretz by the FBI for alleged crimes with another moving company, Malaspinas wasn't thrilled with the final results: He got only about $25,000 -- and never saw his belongings again.
The experience was "paralyzing," he says. "It's not like somebody stealing your wallet; they have stolen everything you've got." (Peretz's lawyer did not return our calls; Nation Van Lines has since gone out of business.)
2. 'We're popular, especially with the FBI'
Too bad Patrick and Tammy Runion didn't get advance word of Advanced's alleged practices. The couple booked the company for their move from Toledo, Ohio, to Lake Forest, Calif. Patrick says Advanced movers locked their stuff in storage in Chicago when he refused to pay an additional $500 because the load's weight had been miscalculated by a driver.
"We were so stressed and frustrated" by the ordeal, says Patrick, who eventually paid $1,000 to find the storage space. Attempts to contact Advanced officials were unsuccessful, and the company has since gone out of business.
3. 'Don't mess with us; we're virtually untouchable'
Scammers are tough to stop. Local police hesitate to get involved in moving disputes because they're considered civil matters, and while the FBI will investigate complaints involving interstate moves, getting property back is not its priority.
There are also federal laws to contend with that, historically speaking, have tended to protect moving companies more than consumers. It used to be, for example, that while dissatisfied customers could sue their moving companies for goods lost in a move, they stood very little chance of recovering even their basic monetary value, let alone winning any punitive damages on top of that amount. But the advent of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act in 2005 has given consumers and the federal government more authority in going after scofflaw movers; it "has helped the agency greatly in curbing abuses" in the industry, according to a spokesman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
Today movers are being held liable in a way they never were before for at least replacing the value of lost items -- so long as the customer opted for full-value protection for their belongings in the initial moving contract. For more information, visit the FMCSA's Web site.
4. 'Someone will deliver your stuff -- it just might not be us'
Beware: In the hectic summer months, a mover might get so busy that it asks another company to help out with a job. That's fine, but the consumer should be notified in advance of the deal. A spokesman for the American Moving and Storage Association says, "For a completely different company to show up at your house with no prior arrangements, that is totally unacceptable."
No need to tell Carole Stowers that. She shelled out $5,375 to Elite -- the original estimate was $1,700 -- to get all her possessions back. "We almost went bankrupt trying to save our furniture," she says. (Both Majesty and Elite have since gone out of business.)
5. 'Our movers might have zero experience'
Similarly, many moving companies contract with independent truck drivers -- a concern if the mover arrives in an unmarked rental truck. That's a red flag, indicative of a fly-by-night operator with limited fixed assets -- who would be difficult to go after in court. Swing by the company's offices before you choose a mover. If the company doesn't appear to have its own trucks, do yourself a favor: Cancel the job.
6. 'Our pricing policies are wacko'
Tim Walker thought he'd caught a break when he booked a mover online who gave him a lowball quote of $1,800 for a Virginia-to-Nevada move. But once his goods were on the truck and measured in cubic feet, Walker says, the price was jacked up to $5,012. He could pay only the original amount, so the movers held his belongings until he ponied up the cash six weeks later.
With an in-house estimate, you're likely to get a more precise idea of the cost. But you also need to consider how the mover is reaching that estimate -- is it by total weight or by cubic feet? Go the weight-based route, if possible. That will at least entitle you to witness all weighings.
It's pretty easy to check your bill to see if you've been overcharged. Simply divide the total weight by the number of items. If the average amount per item is more than 35 to 45 pounds, there's cause for suspicion. The trouble with cubic-foot pricing is that actual charges could depend on how the mover packed your items.
7. 'Extra fees and charges? You can count on it'
There are also charges related to the specific circumstances of a move. You might get dinged for a "long carry," when the distance the movers have to haul your belongings from their truck to your door exceeds a certain limit; this is often applied in cities, where movers can't always secure parking directly in front of a residence, for example. Then there's the "flight charge" for having to lug goods up and down stairs in the absence of elevators.
"You just have to make sure you know all of these costs upfront so you're not surprised at the end," says a spokesman for the National Endowment for Financial Education, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting financial security and education. "If you start to incur these separate charges that weren't estimated before, you're going to have sticker shock."
8. 'We've never met a schedule we didn't ignore'
But it doesn't only happen at peak times. In January 2002, Tyrone Kelley was set to move from Stoughton, Mass., to Las Vegas, but the movers didn't arrive until 6 p.m., seven hours late. Says Kelley, "It's a common tactic to arrive after business hours so that it's too late for you to find another moving company." He wishes he had, because U.S. Movers charged him more than double the estimate due to allegedly wrong weight calculations. They also locked his stuff in storage when he didn't have cash to pay for the job. It took three months to persuade the local police to serve a search warrant on the storage facility so he could reclaim his stuff.
U.S. Movers' executive vice president, Tom Timen, denied the weight was false, saying Kelley had more than twice the number of items listed on the estimate. "All we asked was to be paid for the services he agreed to," Timen said in 2003. U.S. Movers has since gone out of business.
9. 'Surprise! Our insurance isn't worth much'
The American Moving and Storage Association estimates that one in five moves involves a claim for damage. That said, you're better off getting some real protection -- say, through a rider on your homeowners insurance. At the end of the move, look over your possessions carefully before signing a receipt. If you sign and later discover a huge dent in your Chippendale dresser, the mover will point to the receipt as proof that the dresser was fine when he dropped it off.
10. 'We change addresses as often as our customers do'
With so little manpower, the FMCSA lacks the muscle to rein in rogue movers. The agency fined 117 carriers in 2007 at an average amount of $13,000 per carrier -- chump change for an industry that brings in $10 billion annually. And companies that do get censured often remain defiant.
"Typically, they will not pay the fine; instead, they close down and reopen under a different name," says an FMCSA spokesman. Until regulators toughen up, take the FMCSA's advice: "Educate yourself before you hire a mover. Once you hire one, most of the time it's too late for us to do anything to help."