Greg's Corner

Phony movers could hold your property hostage

By Greg Collier

Recently, in the Kansas City area, many people have come forward claiming that they’ve been ripped off by a moving company that they found online. The company is not only accused of allegedly damaging a lot of customer’s possessions, but they’re also accused of holding on to a lot of the items while asking the customers for more money. One man claimed that the company is holding on to half of his belongings while the other half were mostly damaged. The man claims it’s been six months since his move to Kansas City and still hasn’t gotten the rest of his possessions.

The problem with some online moving companies is that anybody can put up a website and claim to be a moving company. A quick web search of the moving company mentioned in the Kansas City news story brought us to a Better Business Bureau page which stated that the company had not obtained required licenses for the city and state they’re supposedly headquartered in.

Scam movers may not even have warehouses or trucks. Some of these companies may not even have employees as some just hire day laborers to load their trucks.

There are many ways to tell if you’re dealing with a shady moving company. If they give you an estimate over the phone without coming to your home to inventory your belongings, they’re probably not on the up and up. If you call their office, and they answer with a generic sounding name like ‘moving company’ the odds are they’re a fly-by-night operation. Lastly, if their moving vans are just rental trucks they’re obviously not legitimate.

That’s not to say that all moving companies are bad. You should just do some research before business with them. Even if the movers were referred to you by a realtor or broker you should still do your research.