Moving Tips & Scams

Moving Day Tips

When moving day arrives:

• Be on hand when the movers arrive.
• Discuss the delivery arrangements fully with your mover.
• Have beds stripped and ready to be packed.
• Save your energy-let the moving crew disassemble goods.
• Read the Bill of Lading (the contract) before you sign it.
• Tell your mover how to reach you at your destination.
• Keep in contact with the mover at your destination while you are in transit.

Moving Referral Scams

• Never rely on a price estimate over the phone or over the Internet. A legitimate mover will insist on a home survey of your household goods whether in person or on the phone, in order to receive a more accurate price estimate. Magnum will always provide you with a written estimate.

• If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Most honest professional movers are competitive, and their prices will differ but be within a reasonable range. If a mover comes in with an estimate way below all the others, that should be a red flag to examine the basis of the estimate before accepting it.

• Legitimate movers cannot legally ask you for a deposit unless it is for advance packing materials. However, scam movers frequently require large deposits even for the simplest and least expensive moves.

• The majority of legitimate interstate moving estimates are based on the weight of your shipment while some scam movers will attempt to bill you on square footage your goods take up in the truck.

• Household good brokers whose names sound like real movers, which they are not, host many Internet moving sites. These brokers turn over your shipment to a mover, many of which are rogue movers instead of professionals. Be sure to ask if your shipment is being brokered and insist that the identity of the licensed mover be provided prior to doing business with a Web-based broker.

• The principle governing industry tariff specifies that Interstate household goods rates (prices) should be based on the weight of your shipment (and that weight should be determined on a scale that has been certified by an official state agency). If the mover you are considering tells you that he is going to base your charges on the number of cubic feet in your shipment (which means there is no way for you to verify the amount you will be charged), you may want to consider using another mover.