How to Protect Your Move from Rogue House Movers

Fraud is inevitable, in the general sense and in the moving sense. Though small movers are usually working hard with their customers, offering high-quality services and several options to choose from, there will always be one in ten rogue movers in the mix. The problem in dealing with rogue movers is that they will not only take your belongings, and hold them for ransom, but some might actually damage the goods with their lack of expertise. However, there are some ways you can prevent yourself from becoming the brunt of fraud. One thing you can do is to purchase moving insurance, and another is to properly screen the moving companies themselves. However, many people fail to use caution when it comes to hiring house movers. In fact, there are thousands of complaints being filed against movers every single year. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), around 3,600 clients have filed complaints regarding moving fraud in 2016 itself! 39 percent of these customers reported losing parts of their property or noticing damages. 37 percent of them had been overcharged, and 15 percent had been involved in a hostage situation. With all this in mind, here are a couple of ways you can protect yourself from being scammed by moving companies:

Pick your house movers

Do not make the mistake of hiring just about anyone to handle your prized possessions. When it comes to making sure that your move remains secure you will need to put in extra effort into finding house movers that are trustworthy. The first and foremost thing you can do is see whether the company has been licensed or not. If a company has been licensed by the state to make sure nothing goes wrong, they will be answerable legally when something does. All of the professional interstate house movers will have a license number that is issued by the United States Department of Transportation. You can check the company’s license number and complaint history on the FMCSA website itself. However, before you settle on a moving company we highly suggest that you obtain quotes from three different moving companies. Also make sure that you never accept any estimates from the moving company over the phone, a professional mover will always have a tour of your house before giving you an estimate.

Look at what the valuation covers and doesn’t cover

Firstly, you need to be aware of the fact that the valuation coverage is definitely not in the same category as moving insurance. Before moving, you will need to do your research on the valuation coverage and figure out what it covers, and what it does not cover (more importantly). You could be wrong if you feel that the valuation will cover everything during the move. If, let’s say you are packing your own boxes, then you cannot make any claims against the items that were damaged within those boxes. Also you cannot hold your movers liable for damages done by natural disasters like rain, hurricane, etc.

Estimates

A rogue house movers will never give you a proper estimate, what is worse is that they might not even visit your house to look through your things before offering you a price. Standard procedure calls for movers to inspect your house and belongings and then give you an estimate. They will also let you know that this is a tentative amount, which is subject to change according to the circumstances of the moving day. A rogue mover will also ask you to pay a price upfront, which at any cost you must not handover. All the monetary transactions are done on the day of move, after the job has been done.