Home Moving Company Fraud Red Flags

In part two of our three part series on home moving company fraud, find out what red flags you should be looking out for.

Red Flags About Movers

Usually the way fraudulent movers work is they give you a low estimate for the move over the Internet or over the phone, without ever coming out to your home or seeing what you want to have moved. Then, after they load it all on the truck, they raise the amount and refuse to deliver your items or unload them until you pay the higher amount. Here are ways to recognize moving fraud before you hire these “rogue” movers:

• There's no pre-inspection. The mover doesn’t come out to your house to do an on-site inspection of what you have and instead gives you a sight-unseen estimate, over the Internet or phone. Often, the estimate will seem like it’s too good to be true. Trust that instinct, because it probably is.
• You're asked for payment upfront. The mover insists on either a large deposit or the entire cash payment before your move.
• You aren't given “Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move.” The mover doesn’t give you a copy of the booklet that federal law requires movers give all of their customers when you are planning an interstate move.
• The mover has no local address, no license, no insurance. The website of the moving company does not list a local address or any information regarding their license or what insurance that they carry.
• The mover makes unsubstantiated claims. They claim that their insurance covers all of your household goods.
• The mover doesn't have a registered and formal company name. When you give the mover a call, the person who answers does so with a generic name, like “Movers” or “Moving Company”, rather than the name of a company.
• The condition of their office is subpar. The offices and warehouse of the movers are either in poor condition or do not exist at all.
• The mover has no branded moving van or truck. When the movers arrive on your moving day, rather than bringing a marked fleet truck owned by their company, they bring a generic rental truck.

Beware Of Blank Documents

You should always be very careful about the documents your prospective mover is asking you to sign. These documents are contracts that can be legally enforced, just like any other contract you sign, such as when you buy a house or a car. Always read the contract in its entirety and do not sign any documents that are blank. A mover can legally have you sign a document that is incomplete before they load your household goods, but it must contain all information relevant to the shipment. The only information that can be left off a contract before loading, according to FMCSA commercial regulations, is information they cannot determine before they load the truck, like the actual weight of the shipment.

Rogue movers sometimes give you mostly incomplete or blank estimates to sign. A lot of times, they will also ask you to sign “revised written estimates” or “rescission of old estimate.” Once you sign this, they can write in information onto the forms, which significantly raises the cost, sometimes to two or three times the estimate you were originally given. If you are asked to sign a revised written estimate or a rescission of old estimate, you should do so only if you and the mover have a mutual agreement to change the estimate. Under federal law, they are not allowed to ask you to sign these documents after the truck has been loaded.

Make sure you get copies of any documents you sign. If the mover says he doesn’t have a copy for you, insist that you can make one for yourself. If you don’t have access to a copier, use a digital camera and snap a good picture of any documents you have signed. If the mover changes the document later, the copies or pictures will help to protect you.

Consider canceling your move with the mover if he pressures you into signing documents that are blank or incomplete. It may be an inconvenience at the time, but it’s better that than having to handle the consequences of using a rogue mover, including the risk of losing all your possessions.

Make sure you research your mover at http://ai.volpe.dot.gov/hhg/search.asp before you sign anything.

If you missed part one of this series find it here: Consumer Protection: How To Avoid Home Moving Company Fraud

For part three of this series see, Consumer Protection: What To Expect From Your Moving Company And Avoiding Fraud