Nore Salman hired Master Movers of Indianapolis to move her from Chicago to Oklahoma City. She ended up with a move from hell.
None of her bad experiences will come as a surprise to regular readers but they do once again show the importance of thorough research before trusting any moving company with your possessions.
Master Movers has 66 reviews on Yelp and is rated with one star, the lowest possible. Interestingly 57 reviews are ‘not recommended’, including the recent one from Nore Salman. Yelp uses automated software to classify reviews as ‘not recommended’ and it would seem that strong language is a factor. For example recent ‘not recommended’ reviews include “Run away from this establishment as fast as you can”, “Worst company ever”, and “This company is a complete fraud and I would not recommend them to my worst enemy”.
Better Business Bureau rate them a ‘B’ even though there have been 38 complaints in the last 3 years. This is because Master Movers is a BBB Accredited Business i.e. has paid BBB an Accreditation Fee and ratings are often inflated for these companies.
Nore Salman was given a $2,400 quote but the price was increased by $3,500 while her goods were held hostage. Her estimate was non-binding (which means that actual charges can increase) and Master Movers do claim that there were 10 addition boxes. However a demand for 246% of the original estimate is obviously not reasonable. As usual in these cases calls to the company were not returned.
Eventually, after the intervention of KFOR-TV and paying over double the original estimate, her goods were delivered. Unfortunately almost everything turned up either wet or damaged, or both.
A wet, dirty, torn mattress and a broken jewelry box with ripped out screws.
What’s left of a dresser and a stained chair.
Nore Salman has filed a complaint with Indiana’s Attorney General and is in the process of filing a claim with Master Movers. As is so often the case her chances of a successful outcome are remote. As we always say, avoid using companies like this by doing thorough research before hiring.
Full Service Van Lines in South Florida has been shut down by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) following an investigation that found fifteen violations of federal safety regulations.
These included failing to implement a random drug or alcohol testing program, requiring or permitting drivers to work longer than the law allows and using a driver before drug test results were received.
Full Service Van Lines came to the attention of the DOT because inspectors have this year received more complaints from consumers about the company than any other of comparable size. Consumers had been encouraged to use the company after reading hundreds of five star reviews on moving company review sites. Unfortunately these reviews are fake.
Analysis of 722 reviews of Full Service Van Lines on one well known moving company review site showed the typical pattern (chart below) demonstrated in previous posts e.g. Idiotic Fake Reviews. A typical moving company with 10+ vans would be doing well if it received an average of 2 reviews per week. Full Service Van Lines procured an average of 12 five star reviews a week with 4 vans.
A couple of review sites are getting better at spotting fake reviews and will show a banner alerting consumers to unusual activity. The two images below popped up for Full Service Van Lines on Yelp and MyMovingReviews recently.
Full Service Van Lines president Maxx Socher is the brother of Joshua Socher who was banned a year ago from engaging in the intrastate moving service business. With the complaints mounting up it can’t be long before Maxx follows in his brother’s footsteps.
Below is a clip from an NBC6 news item on the shutting down of Full Service Van Lines where Maxx Socher is interviewed by Tony Pipitone.
Amber Carlton moved from Aurora, CO to Fargo, ND using Moving APT brokers who subsequently contracted her move to Americawide Movers. Her belongings were picked up on August the 18th and Amber is still waiting for delivery.
Regular readers will not be surprised as APT Moving has a history of contracting out moves to rogue moving companies e.g. Moving Company Takes 3+ Months To Deliver and Moving APT Broker Scam. The Better Business Bureau has recorded 86 complaints in the last 3 years against Moving APT but for some peculiar reason is still showing a “C” rating rather than “F” rating.
With no response from Americawide Movers Amber asked a friend to visit their office in Aurora at the address listed on their website. The friend reported that the office was abandoned, at which point Amber became really concerned.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) shows Americawide Movers with 15 complaints so far this year. These include 7 complaints where the owners possessions have been held hostage and 4 for loss or damage.
Amber has notified Aurora Police Department who say they are aware of similar reports filed against Americawide Moving.
We can’t say it too often – never use a moving broker and research your intended moving company thoroughly.
Update: Amber Carlton finally got her belongings back from Americawide Movers on 19th October. Was anything missing or broken? Perhaps Amber will let us know when she has had a chance to unpack….
Better Business Bureau don’t always get it right and you should never use their rating as your only reference. Take for example Just In Time Moving And Storage which today is is showing an A+ rating on the BBB website.
Last week Just In Time Moving And Storage and the owner (Haliru Gusau) were ordered to pay $114,127 and cease business by a Superior Court Judge resulting from an action brought by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.
Judge Thomas J. Walsh ordered Haliru Gusau and his companies to pay $61,390 in civil penalties, restitution, attorneys’ fees and investigative costs after finding that they committed 23 violations of the Public Movers Licensing Act, Public Movers Regulations, Consumer Fraud Act and Advertising Regulations. Haliru Gusau and his companies must also pay $31,187 in civil penalties and $21,550 in consumer restitution, under terms of a March 29, 2005 Consent Order that he failed to honor.
The Final Judgment and Order also provided for the permanent annulment of the corporate charters of Just in Time Moving & Delivery Service, Inc. and Just in Time Moving and Storage, Inc., as well as the immediate shut down of defendants’ website.
If BBB can rate Just In Time Moving And Storage A+ after 10 years of violating the law and scamming consumers then it really is time to worry about BBB’s rating process and procedures. Mistakes do happen and this is probably a rare one but do make sure you have multiple references for your moving company, not just Better Business Bureau’s.
Anna Spencer was making the long journey from Savannah, Georgia to Fairbanks, Alaska in a 26ft U-Haul moving truck containing everything belonging to her family of seven. She was moving the contents of their four bedroomed home with an estimated value of $100,000 to join her military husband at a new posting.
During an overnight stop at the Ramada Plaza in Abbotsford just over the USA /Canada border the truck was stolen.
We have also suggested what you can do to prevent thefts of this kind if you really do have to leave everything you own unattended. You can immobilize the truck with a good quality wheel boot, ask a friendly mechanic to show you how to disconnect a wire or remove a fuse from under the hood, take out the truck’s battery or sleep in the cab.
If you don’t take precautions you may end up giving a distressing interview to the police like the unfortunate Anna Spencer in the video below.
Police also released a security video (below) that captures the theft of the truck. However such is the poor quality of the footage that for all practical purposes it is useless. Message for the Ramada Plaza in Abbotsford – If you are going to have CCTV surveillance at least make sure it is fit for purpose.
The truck has since been found but most of the contents are missing.
The Arizona Attorney General has at last taken further action against Allstar Moving & Storage and its owners. We have been calling for a response to the scamming activities of this company for over a year.
Allstar Moving & Storage of Chandler, AZ have also operated as:
In 2010 Allstar Moving & Storage were fined $33,000 restitution for consumers, $37,000 as civil penalties and $10,000 for investigative costs and attorneys’ fees. The Attorney General’s lawsuit claimed that the company routinely added random charges to consumers’ invoices, placed misleading advertisements and engaged in other illegal activities. The company still owes for the civil penalties.
Allstar Moving & Storage of Chandler, AZ continued to operate under various names:
Allways Moving & Storage
Easymoveaz
Allstars Movers
Movers and a Truck
The Moving and Storage Company
The 2010 action did not stop them scamming and now the Attorney General has fined them $77,000 as restitution for consumers, $107,765 as civil penalties and has ordered the owner Amru Abdalla to pay the remaining unpaid 2010 amount of $45,234 plus interest.
The judgment also prohibits Amru Abdalla from engaging in the moving business for two years and his brother Emad Abdalla from engaging in the moving business for three months.
There are of course a few exceptions but in general the level of customer service provided by moving companies is probably the worst of any business sector in the public arena. Moving Company News is full of examples of moving companies who have ripped off consumers in many different ways and for whom customer service is an unknown concept. However Flatrate Moving in the Bronx, NY appear to have devised a new way of alienating customers and generating bad publicity.
Lynn Myerson was having her Manhattan apartment completely redecorated and needed her furniture temporally removed. She used Flatrate Moving to collect, store and return her furniture. When the furniture was returned an $8,000 designer side buffet was damaged and a leg had been broken off (image below). Although Ms Myerson had opted for $10,000 insurance cover and subsequently made a claim, she was offered only $250.00. As a regular contributor to Yelp she had no hesitation in writing a critical review of Flatrate Moving detailing their lack of customer service and lack of communication in general.
What happened next is incredible. A Flatrate executive wrote to Ms Myerson’s boss claiming she was trying to bad-mouth the company for her personal gain. What ever the merits of the facts contained in the review this is probably one of the dumbest reactions it is possible to have and not unnaturally Ms Myerson is claiming damages for alleged defamation.
So if you are writing a critical review of Flatrate Moving send a copy to your boss alerting them that they may well receive a letter of complaint from a Flatrate Moving executive. Bizarre isn’t it?
Some moving companies will offer to transport unwanted items to a waste disposal location at an hourly rate plus any fee imposed by the disposal facility. The question is did Starving Students Movers, West Oakland CA charge the owners of the couch, cabinet, rug and other trash they illegally dumped on the sidewalk? The video below shows the driver caught in the act of jettisoning the stuff out of his truck.
The video taken last Saturday was captured by Edison Lenehan right outside of the Lenehan Architectural Glass studio. Starving Students Movers who are neither students or starving have some explaining to do…
Pick of the moving company news during the previous week.
Yet another moving company truck was stuck under a bridge this week. The JK Moving truck was traveling southbound on the Rock Creek Parkway in DC when it collided with the K Street/Whitehurst Freeway overpass. In previous posts we have suggested that these regular bridge collisions are partly caused by inadequate GPS systems.
There are special GPS devices made for motor-carriers that will tell drivers where they are restricted from driving, either by weight or by height. Moving company drivers should request these devices as a matter of course from their employer, simply on safety grounds.
In spite of the accident JK Moving of Sterling, VA are a reputable moving company. They probably have one of the best training programs of any moving company in the country.
This week they announced that their training house (where crews are professionally trained and tested on moving best practices) had been used for dog training! The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) which is part of the U.S. Department of Justice chose the two story training house because it allows the dogs to practice searching for explosives on stairs and in smaller rooms and because it is scrupulously clean.
An anonymous driver for North American Van Lines managed to save a customers personal possessions from certain loss when his tractor trailer caught fire on the highway near Shrewsbury, MA.
The quick thinking driver was able to detach the trailer and drive the tractor far enough away to avoid the trailer catching fire. There were no injuries to firefighters or the driver.
The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs has in the last year been investigating unlicensed movers who have been targeting Asian and Latino communities in New Jersey. The targeted companies would advertise their services in Spanish or Korean through internet postings or foreign language newspaper advertisements.
As a result the following eight companies have been issued Notices of Violation (owner and/or company official in italics):
Blumworld Moving, LLC Sharod Thompson, Newark.
Canaan Express, Inc. Sangsook Kim, Palisades Park.
Carlos Pato Movers, a/k/a “Carlos Pato Moving” Carlos Pato, Newark.
Moo Goong Hwa Moving Corp. Kwang S. Tony Kim, North Bergen.
Double Oh Seven, LLC, a/k/a “007 Moving, LLC” Yong Ho Kim, Palisades Park.
GOM Cargo, LLC Sungsu Kwan, Ridgefield.
KS General Services, d/b/a “Doremi Moving General Service” Myeong Hie Choi, Ridgefield.
Valverde Brothers Corp., a/k/a “Valverde’s Moving” Guido Valverde, West New York.
Each Notice of Violation requires that the company pay a civil penalty of $2,500. The civil penalty can be reduced to $1,250 if the company submits an application to the Division for a Public Mover’s license within 15 days.
Nore Salman hired Master Movers of Indianapolis to move her from Chicago to Oklahoma City. She ended up with a move from hell.
Full Service Van Lines in South Florida has been shut down by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) following an investigation that found fifteen violations of federal safety regulations. 
Regular readers will not be surprised as APT Moving has a history of contracting out moves to rogue moving companies e.g. 
With no response from Americawide Movers Amber asked a friend to visit their office in Aurora at the address listed on their website. The friend reported that the office was abandoned, at which point Amber became really concerned.
The Arizona Attorney General has at last taken further action against Allstar Moving & Storage and its owners. We have been 
Yet another moving company truck was stuck under a bridge this week. The JK Moving truck was traveling southbound on the Rock Creek Parkway in DC when it collided with the K Street/Whitehurst Freeway overpass. In previous posts we have suggested that these regular bridge collisions are partly caused by 
In spite of the accident JK Moving of Sterling, VA are a reputable moving company. They probably have one of the best training programs of any moving company in the country. 
An anonymous driver for North American Van Lines managed to save a customers personal possessions from certain loss when his tractor trailer caught fire on the highway near Shrewsbury, MA. 
The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs has in the last year been investigating unlicensed movers who have been targeting Asian and Latino communities in New Jersey. The targeted companies would advertise their services in Spanish or Korean through internet postings or foreign language newspaper advertisements.