10 ways to avoid moving scams

By Bankrate.com

You've heard the stories. Movers load up your stuff one day and hold it hostage the next, demanding more money and threatening to dump your precious treasures if you don't pay.

You believe you've agreed upon a price, only to find out it's going to cost you a lot more than that.

"These salespeople are commission-based and will do whatever it takes to get a deposit on file and lock the customer into a signed estimate," says Tom O'Gorman, the sales director for Gentle Giant Moving. "Then, when push comes to shove, there's a lot of gray area around this estimate.

"They will say: 'The estimate was based on moving only these things. You weren't packed, so it took us four extra hours to pack.'"

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O'Gorman says some of these outfits give the impression that "you are dealing with a moving company, but you're really dealing with an online broker who passes the job off to some local moving company in some region for a commission. So you're not even dealing with the end user. You have no control over who ends up in your home."

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MoveRescue, an organization created by moving companies, says it receives 4,000 moving complaints a year. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association says more than $1.2 million in federal moving fines were issued in 2007. However, the association's information and investigations are only as good as the consumer complaints it receives.

"The consumers have to be diligent in reporting carriers," says Shashunga Clayton, an association spokeswoman. "Because a lot of them continue with the same poor practices."

Though the association oversees moves from state to state and maintains a federal complaint database, it handles moves only between states. Moves within states are regulated by the states, and local moves produce even more horror stories.

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O'Gorman says disreputable local movers take stuff and run, or "they deliver whenever they choose to. The problem is many overbook their schedule and pick the more profitable jobs, leaving the other customers high and dry."

To help keep this from happening to you, here are 10 tips to keep from being scammed.

Ask your real-estate agent

The general consensus among moving professionals is that word of mouth is the best way to find a good mover. Friends and family members are usually good sources, but O'Gorman believes real-estate agents know the ins and outs of the housing industry and have the most reliable information.

"Referrals are the key to good selection for a moving company, and using some reputable referral sources, such as the Realtors with whom you're buying or selling your home," he says. "Realtors want to make sure that your (moving) transaction is a good one."

Investigate the companies

Check with your area's Better Business Bureau to see whether any complaints have been filed and whether there are reliable Web sites dedicated to moving scams.

MovingScam.com maintains a blacklist with close to 400 movers currently on it. The site also endorses good movers, such as All Star Moving in New York and STS Movers in California. MovingScam.com maintains a message board filled with consumer experiences, bad and good.

Through ProtectYourMove.gov, a consumer can learn whether a mover's license is current and whether the company has ever had a federal complaint. Some states have consumer mover-advocate associations.

Make sure the company visits your home

"They should always have a representative come to their apartment or their house and physically look at the logistics and what has to be moved," says Jim Molloy, the CEO of Molloy Bros. Moving and Storage.

Good companies will spend 20 minutes or more with a potential client answering questions and giving packing tips, Molloy says, and should offer to show their warehouses for temporary storage.

"Many of these Internet companies don't even have a facility," Molloy says.

Make sure the weight of the load looks right. O'Gorman says a lowballing company will claim a 10,000-pound load is only 7,000 pounds so it can provide the low bid.

"They're not giving them a true, thorough description of everything that's being moved or planned to be moved," he says.

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