If we lived in a perfect world, you would never have to worry about getting scammed by a moving company when you hire professional moving services to move from one place to another.
In fact, under ideal conditions, you would probably not have to move house in the first place.
But we are all well aware of how flawed our world is and how unfair life can be sometimes. Knowing this, you just have to be extremely careful not to fall victim to a dishonest moving company (a rogue mover) that will try to scam you in any way they can during the house-moving process.
The good news is that if you do your homework in advance, you and your possessions should be pretty safe simply because you will know how to protect yourself from moving fraud and will hire the high-quality services of a licensed, insured, and reputable moving company.
Read on to get reminded of the most common moving scams, and more importantly – to learn how to avoid moving scams.
What are the most common moving scams?
You should be aware of these common moving scams before you say YES to a moving company.
The thing is that the better you understand how rogue movers operate, the safer you will be simply because you should be able to sense that something is not quite right and you will take preventative measures whenever needed to stay out of trouble.
Low-ball estimate
The most common moving scam is to get low-ball estimates from dishonest moving companies.
A low-ball estimate is a price estimate that is deliberately much lower than it should be in reality. The main goal of such too-good-to-be-true offers is to allure customers into saying YES. Once the moving job is secured, scam moving companies find various excuses to increase the final price, thus forcing their unsuspicious customers into paying them by often holding their household items hostage (see below).
Rogue moving companies tend to give moving cost estimates over the phone or via e-mail, almost always refusing to visit the homes in person for accurate cost estimation. The reason for this is clear: it is against their interest to provide their clients with accurate cost estimates.
Large deposits
Dishonest moving companies will often demand, in advance, large deposits in cash. Once they are paid those abnormally high deposits, they often keep the money for themselves and never care to arrive on Moving day like they said they would.
Read on to learn how you can protect yourself against this type of moving fraud.
For your information, a deposit asked by an honest moving company, oftentimes during the height of the moving season, should be no more than 10-15% of the estimated cost of the move and can be paid with a credit card.
Incomplete or blank documents
Another type of moving scam used by rogue moving companies is when they request their customers to sign incomplete documents and then add more text – very unfavorable terms and conditions – aimed at stealing more money from their clients.
Scam moving companies are well aware that most people don’t have enough time to read carefully the entire moving documentation and they use their customers’ trust to come up with various scamming techniques.
Luckily, this type of moving scam is fairly easy to avoid – see below what you should do in such cases.
Items held hostage for ransom
This is by far the worst moving fraud orchestrated by fraudulent moving companies. It can happen when a rogue mover loads up your household items into their truck and then keeps your things hostage until you pay a ransom to get them back.
In such cases, there are specific steps you should take if it ever happened to you, but needless to say, prevention still remains the best form of protection for you and your prized possessions.
See also: What are the most common moving scams?
How to protect yourself against moving fraud: 10 Steps
Luckily, there are specific things you can do to ensure you never hire a scam moving company that will try their best to cheat you in any way.
Follow these steps to avoid falling victim to a moving scam when moving from one place to another using the services of a professional moving company:
Step 1. Request quotes from pre-screened movers
It’s very risky to hire movers through Craigslist so you are strongly advised against it. Also, you should not trust random classifieds promising high-quality moving services for a price that’s too good to be true.
Instead, be smart and use our Moving Cost Calculator to get in touch with the best movers near you – properly licensed, adequately insured, and greatly experienced moving companies with excellent reputation.
Step 2. Ask for on-site cost estimates
You should never trust a moving company that refuses to visit your home for an in-home visual inspection. There’s absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t do it so you have to be adamant about it.
For your own safety, you’re advised to away from movers that only give you cost estimates over the phone or via e-mail – such moving quotes can never be accurate enough and may be a sign that you’ve contacted a scam mover.
Step 3. Think twice before choosing that amazing offer
As explained above, issuing a low-ball estimate is one of the most common moving scams. So, what should you do if you do receive a moving quote that is way lower than the rest?
It’s easy – there must be a specific reason why the quoted price is that low compared to the rest of the quotes. If you don’t see it, contact the moving company in question and ask for clarification.
Not getting a satisfactory answer from the moving company means that you should walk away from their offer.
Step 4. Research your movers
Do your homework in advance and you should stay quite safe throughout your relocation. Your priority task before hiring movers is to actually research the moving companies you have shortlisted.
- Check whether all movers are legitimate. All interstate moving companies must be licensed by the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to operate legally. Click here to check the USDOT number of each mover.
- Check movers’ reputation by reading customer reviews at MyMovingReviews and Yelp.
- Check movers’ professionalism by confirming they are proud members of the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Step 5. Never pay large deposits in cash
During the peak of the moving season (May – September), it’s customary for perfectly legit and honest moving companies to request deposits in order to reserve a date.
Thus said, you should never pay more than 10-15% of the quoted price of the move as a deposit. What’s more, you must always use a credit card to pay that deposit so that you can dispute the payment in case of a problem.
Movers have no right to request the deposits to be paid in cash only.
Step 6. Never sign incomplete or black documents
You should always be extremely careful about where you put your signature when working with professional movers.
No matter how trustworthy the movers seem, do find the time to read the documents you are given before you sign them. Never sign blank documents (!!!) or ones that look incomplete in any way.
If you struggle to understand certain clauses from the contract or from any other type of move-related paperwork, ask for clarification before you say YES with your signature.
Step 7. Don’t trust movers with your valuables
You should not trust movers with any valuables that you can comfortably take with you to the new home – jewelry pieces, for example, or valuable collections of stamps or coins. Keep those valuable items with you at all times.
When you have no choice but to let movers pack and transport any expensive items such as a big flat-screen TV or an antique piece of furniture, then make sure you purchase additional insurance (Full Value Protection) for those high-value articles, either through the moving company or from a third-party insurance company.
Step 8. Recognize the red flags when hiring movers
By now you should be able to recognize the red flags when hiring a moving company – the subtle (and sometimes not that subtle) clues that something is just not right and you’d better stay away from a certain mover.
In summary, here are the most obvious signs that you should not use a moving company as your relocation partner:
- a moving company answers the phone only with Movers or Moving company instead of stating the actual company name;
- a moving company refuses to perform an in-house visual estimation of the household items you have for moving;
- a moving company gives you an unusually low estimate of the moving costs compared to the other moving estimates you have received;
- a moving company demands a cash-only payment or a very large deposit;
- a moving company withholds essential licensing and insurance information from their website, if they even have a website;
- a moving company refuses to offer you Full value protection for your goods.
See also: What are the red flags of moving fraud?
Step 9. Know your rights and responsibilities
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has published a booklet with useful information for all people who are about to move from one place to another and consider hiring a professional moving company.
The booklet, entitled Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move, will help you stay protected from scam movers as well, so it’s a good idea to take a look at the information it contains.
You can download the booklet for free from the link above.
Step 10. Trust your gut feeling
Sometimes you may get that old familiar odd feeling that something is not quite right when you’re negotiating with a moving company. Even though you can find it hard to pinpoint exactly why you feel that way, if you have the gut feeling that you should walk away from a mover, you’re advised to do so.
There are many great nationwide moving companies so if you do your homework right, then you should be able to easily keep yourself out of trouble.
Every trouble-free move begins with finding a legitimate, licensed, insured, and reliable moving company that will prepare, protect, and move your household goods quickly and safely from your current home to your new residence.
How to find reliable movers? Use our Moving Cost Estimator and they will find YOU.
