Moving Scam

coolone

Registered Users (C)
Beware of moving scam:
Friends,

Recently, I moved from Massachusetts to Arizona and I hired East Coast Moving systems, based in Florida, to move my personal goods. It is more than 9 weeks now and still I have not received my stuff. To get back my stuff, I talked to Mass, Arizona and Florida Police departments. They were helpless as they treated this as “civil case” and also one not in their jurisdiction. Then I called the Attorney generals’ office in all the three states and got the same reply – “Not in their jurisdiction”. I did not give up and called US attorney general’s office and guess what they replied “Not within their jurisdiction”. I am confident that the guy in AG office is wrong but that is the answer I got.

Then the issue with the insurance company – I had renters insurance and my agent told that my stuff would be covered during the move. But now, the claim office says otherwise. They will not consider this as “theft” and therefore no claim will be allowed.

Basically, I lost hope of getting them back.


Why am I writing this to you?

We come here miles away from our near and dear ones to make living. By the time we get our green card, on an average, we move 3-5 times within USA. And while moving (in fact, in any situation), I don’t want you to be victimized and lose irreplaceable things in addition to the financial loss. And I strongly suggest you to keep the following tips while moving:

1. Do it yourself – Get your friends and relatives to help you out with the move. Use packers to load and unload. (with the saving, throw a party to your friends for helping out with the move)
2. You cannot move yourself – then sell the furniture and the heavy items and move the rest with UPS or FedEx.
3. You cannot move yourself and you are attached to your items – Use national level reputed moving company. Beware of similar company names that may deceive you. Talk to your friends and relatives and get reference. If the quote is by Cubic Feet and/or by phone without seeing the load, then it is a fraud company.
Go to MovingScam.com, ripoffreport.com or google.com and search for your moving company. Talk to FMSCA, DOT and BBB. I personally feel that they are useless. Even if they give you a good report, you are still taking chance.
4. Buy full insurance and make sure about the coverage. Take time to read all the small prints because devil is in detail.

Under all circumstances, carry with you all-important items like Jewels, passports, documents etc.


All the Best with your move.
If you need more info or help with the move, write a private message to me.
 
I sympathize with you, wrong forum for the thread though. If you made any kind of payments to them through CC or check, may be you will be able to locate them.

May be you have to press with Massachussets Police, since the scam happened there.

I did little bit research for you already, there lots of complaints about them on the net but mostly people have been able to get their stuff back after lot of harrassment and mostly they got their things broken. Check this...

http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/complaints/complaint2934.cfm
 
Last edited by a moderator:
relatives had same problem

similar case - move from NY to AL - the movers were actually freight brokers and waited till they had a load to move from NY to AL before they sent the stuff - over 2 months before they got their things.
 
Sorry to hear your situation. Did you find them from yellow pages? What did they say when you call them? You can complain on Dept of Consumer's Affairs + Chambers of Commerce (at Masschusett where Yellow page is listed).

I moved couple of times using movers. Never had any problem. But one of my friends lost his printer ($100 worth) when he moved (received refund within a month though). Moving companies do provide quotes by phone - in fact I never saw any moving company that came to my apartment to give me a quote. Normally they give quote based on number of rooms (for example 2 bedroom + 1 living room) and number of furnitures.

Bad things happens in life, but there is no reason to think that all the movers are bad.

You have to consider following things:
1. There are two types of movers. Type 1: who has its own moving freights/transport. Type 2: who does not have own transport but contracts to 3rd party vanlines. Always try to opt for first type. Ask them what kind of transpprt they have.
2. Ask them how long it will take to move. For good moving companies, normally they can transport within 2-3 weeks coast-to-coast. In fact most of the good moving companies provide 1 month free storage after they move your stuffs (useful when you are looking for apartment/home in your new place).
3. Most of the moving companies cover certain amount of damage for free (for example $500.00). If you want to cover more than that. buy insurance.
4. Just like car repair shop, it's a bad idea to go for the cheapest mover.

BTW, it's a wrong subforum. It's better to post this kinf messages in "Unnrelated" subforums.

coolone said:
Beware of moving scam:
Friends,

Recently, I moved from Massachusetts to Arizona and I hired East Coast Moving systems, based in Florida, to move my personal goods. It is more than 9 weeks now and still I have not received my stuff. To get back my stuff, I talked to Mass, Arizona and Florida Police departments. They were helpless as they treated this as “civil case” and also one not in their jurisdiction. Then I called the Attorney generals’ office in all the three states and got the same reply – “Not in their jurisdiction”. I did not give up and called US attorney .....
 
I have moved 4 times in US

Friends,
Thanks for sympathizing. I am looking for any resolution from this forum. This is informational only. I look at it this way- I saved 224 persons so far.(224 views).
I suggest you to caution your friends and relatives.

Cheers
 
typing error in my earlier post-

Friends,
Thanks for sympathizing. I am NOT looking for any resolution from this forum. This is informational only. I look at it this way- I saved 224 persons so far.(224 views).
I suggest you to caution your friends and relatives.

Cheersl
 
I've not heard anyone(very few) having a good experience with movers,except the ones paid for by companies(charged exorbitantly)....
I moved within the state (NY) last week..luckily got hold of a good moving company..
 
Back in 99, I moved from AR to NJ using North American vanlines. My stuff arrived within correct time. No matter how vigilant are we, sometimes things like this happens. I was victimized myself when I hired a building contractor to finish my basement. He vanished with my money along with couple of other people's money as well. Couldn't do anything, calling the police station didn't help as well. Thats my experience...
 
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