There are very few events in life where your patience will be tested as much as it will while you are relocating. This endeavor requires a lot of time, money and energy even if everything goes according to plan, and things often don’t. Things get lost, deals get broken and people test their tolerance and patience. But on top of all of that, you still need to make sure that you don’t get scammed while you are moving. There are many ways this can happen and although we all want to believe that people we are dealing with would not be so keen on robbing us but even when we have the best intentions other people maybe won’t so it’s best to be protected. Professional moving companies play a big part of the actual move, considering that they are the people responsible for carrying your things from your previous home to your new one. In that process that sometimes takes a lot of time, plenty of things can go wrong and they do have a lot of responsibility. If you don’t choose a proper company you can end up getting scammed and that is not a good place to be in. In order to prevent yourself from being a victim in this situation, we will help you to do your homework right and make sure that you have nothing to worry about when it comes to the company you hired.
In order for you to better understand what does it mean to be scammed by a moving company we have listed a couple of red flags that should warn you that you are not dealing with someone that is going to provide you with a quality service:
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You can get scammed with the estimate of the cost
One of the first things that you are going to discuss with your potential moving company is the estimate of the cost. And the best way to spot a potentially fraudulent company is to check if the price they gave you is too low. Moving requires a lot of money and spending less of time may not be such a wise decision down the road. By giving you an unrealistically low figure the company is sparking your interest, but that does not mean that they will provide a quality service. They can either trying to get anything out of you and not provide you with service at all or they are giving you a false estimate only to surprise you with a bill that is far bigger than you have expected. You can prevent this by not choosing companies that do this estimates over the phone and email, without even looking at your things and asking twice about the distance. You should also always ask for a second opinion, and check out websites that offer ballpark estimates, such as this one.
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Don’t trust a moving company that has a suspicious web presentation
Not everything you read on the internet is true, so don’t fall for reviews that are difficult to verify and credentials that can’t be confirmed. That is most likely a scam by a moving company. It is very easy to pay someone to write amazing reviews from a bunch of different fake profiles, but it is also very easy to detect such cases. Be very thorough, be suspicious and when it comes to good (and bad reviews!) try to find a friend or someone from your family who went through the similar experience and you can trust them that they will tell you the truth. When it comes to credentials it is very easy to verify does the mentioned association or society even exists, and if it does, can you verify that they have given a certificate to this particular company (not a mother or a daughter company, or to a company with a similar name). Just like we have already said – don’t believe everything you read.
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Always be suspicious if they are asking for too much money
Giving a deposit is quite common, but if what they are asking is too much it might be quite clear that they have no intention to come back for more. Having said that a lot of money-related activities can be a good red flag when it comes to avoiding scams when moving. While you are making the agreement with the company how keen are they to put everything on paper? Do they have an official stamp, logo on the contracts, valid numbers on a website? No company should ever get your money if you can’t easily verify any of these things. It is also not a common practice to ask for more than 20% of the entire sum to be given in advance, so have that in mind when dealing with the companies.
Unfortunately, we live in such a world that it is not possible to trust anyone, and no one will consider you rude if you go the extra mile to verify if a company is eligible enough to do business with you. After all, it is your money and your belongings they will be taking care of. The market is highly competitive, and if you don’t trust one company you can hire another one without any problem, so have that in mind, you are not limited by the number of companies. If by any chance you do end up in a messy situation don’t hesitate to contact the authorities and report such incident. You should also file an official complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation and explain everything you have went through. There is no need for someone else to go through the terrible experience that you have endured. And when you do pick out the best company, check out this article and prepare yourself for the actual move.
The best way to prevent yourself from getting scammed by a moving company is to do your homework and not fall for reviews, credentials and estimates you can not verify. If something is too good to be true, it probably isn’t, in life and in moving industry.