It’s already scary using a moving company to move you! Most people worry about how the movers are going to treat them, and their furniture. Not only that but will they show up on time? Will they have the correct equipment for the job? Are the movers going to be clean and presentable? These are all good questions to ask yourself and the company you’re thinking about using. What if I told you there’s more to consider. You can really be taken advantage of if you don’t know how to protect yourself. Below I’m going to tell you what can and does happen to people and how you can avoid a disaster.
- Did you know if you don’t get a price in writing with a Not to Exceed price, the moving company can charge you whatever they want on the day of the move. That’s if they show up to move you at all. I’m sure you’ve heard about companies keeping your items on the truck until you pay more than quoted. Your items belong to the moving company once loaded. If you don’t pay the extra cost, they can legally keep and sell your items.
- Moving companies like to estimate by weight. An estimator comes out and gives you a low-ball price based on the weight of all your items. The price is low and sounds good to schedule. Once the truck is loaded, they take it to get weighed and it weighs more than estimated. Now you have to pay the difference and again the items belong to the moving company until you do.
- The moving company isn’t licensed at all. This means you have zero insurance, zero liability, zero workers compensation. ZERO.
- The large moving companies aren’t moving companies anymore, they’re call centers that subcontract out the moves to low cost local moving companies. These local companies use trucks that might say UNITED or MAYFLOWER on the box but on the door of the truck you can see who they really are. You think you’re using one company but really using another one that gets a percentage of the moves.
Avoid all these and more by doing your research! Always have the company come out to provide you with a free written estimate and make sure their estimated price is the Not to Exceed.
Use this search tool to check whether an interstate mover is properly registered with the U.S Department of Transportation.
