Think about this little sketch (if it hasn’t already haunted your nightmares!):
You’d planned your long-distance move for months.- You contacted three different Austin interstate moving companies, all of which appeared to be dependable, and finally chose the one that delivered the most reasonable estimate.
- You’re ready for Moving Day.
- The moving crew loads your belongings]21] on the truck.
- The truck takes off for your new home.
- And it never gets there. It disappears – along with most of your worldly possessions.
Ah, come on! That hasn’t really happened, has it? Lamentably, it has. But that is an extreme scenario. What’s more probable with, shall we say, “less than honest” movers is that they won’t run off with a homeowner’s possessions outright; they’ll merely hold them hostage until the homeowner agrees to pay a higher fee. Of course, these are just two of many kinds of moving scams. Sites like
Moving.com and
MovingScam.com reveal more.
So if you’ve suffered any apprehensions – any nightmares – about something like this happening to you, regard them as a warning: DON’T EMPLOY A MOVING COMPANY UNTIL YOU KNOW THAT COMPANY’S FOR REAL!
Avoid moving companies that …
- don’t have a physical address. P.O. boxes are a good sign they don’t. Check the phone book. And check online at Google Maps or Google Earth.
- have a poor record with the Better Business Bureau. Get on bbb.org. There you’ll find reviews of more than 20,000 moving-related companies.
- make you pay for an estimate. That’s not anything a reputable mover would do.
- don’t give you written estimates – or tell you they’ll tally up your charges once they’ve loaded the truck. Again: that’s simply not how creditable movers operate.
- turn in an estimate that looks to good to be true. It undoubtedly is! (You know the old adage!)
- ask you to sign documents that have blank lines to be filled in later. All specifics should be spelled out in writing and agreed upon before you sign anything. (Another old proverb you surely know!)
- don’t have a valid U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) license,
- don’t have a current Motor Carrier (MC) license, and
- don’t have a DOT or MC number that’s less than 3 years old …
- or aren’t insured. You can check all this out at the DOT website’s Mover Registration Search, https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gove/hhg/search.asp. Don’t forget, all moving companies for hire as interstate movers are required to be licensed and insured for interstate commerce.
Here’s yet one more ripe cliché for you: It’s better to be safe than sorry. Exercising a certain amount of due diligence up front and ferreting out all you can about the movers you’re considering before you hire can save you all sorts of pain and woe when your move is well along.
And your most useful information source? The Internet! Or it is so long as you’re not just going to the websites of the movers you’re reviewing. Follow the links we provide above for solid, reliable third-party corroboration of a long-distance mover’s credentials … or lack thereof.
While you’re at it, we invite you to use these sites to look into A-1 Freeman Moving Group here in Austin as well. We’ve been
long-distances movers – not to mention local and intrastate movers – of excellent repute for a long, long time. And we’re happy to provide tools like these to help you make good decisions for smooth moves.
