Consider this scenario (if it hasn’t already given you nightmares!):
You’d been planning your long-distance move for months.- You reviewed three different Wichita Falls interstate moving companies, all of which seemed reputable, and finally decided on the one that delivered the cheapest estimate.
- Moving day comes.
- The moving crew loads your heads out for your new home.
- And it never shows up. It disappears – along with most of your worldly possessions.
Ah, get real! That doesn’t actuallyhappen, does it? Sadly, it does. But that is an unusual scenario. What you’ll more likely find with, shall we say, “less than honest” movers is that they won’t run off with a homeowner’s possessions outright; they’ll simply hold them hostage until the homeowner agrees to pay a higher fee. Of course, these are but two of many sorts of moving scams. Sites like
Moving.com and
MovingScam.com alert you to more.
So if you’ve experienced any qualms – any nightmares – about something like this befalling you, regard them as a warning: DON’T EMPLOY A MOVING COMPANY UNTIL YOU KNOW THAT COMPANY’S TRULY REPUTABLE!
Be wary of moving companies that …
- don’t have a physical address. P.O. boxes are a good sign they don’t. Look them up in the phone book. And check online at Google Maps or Google Earth.
- have a bad record with the Better Business Bureau. Go to bbb.org. There you can read reviews of more than 20,000 moving-related companies.
- bill you for an estimate. That’s not anything a well-regarded mover would do.
- don’t provide written estimates – or tell you they’ll figure your charges only after they’ve gotten the truck loaded. Again: that’s just not how respectable movers do business.
- hand over an estimate that sounds to good to be true. It very likely is! (You know the old adage!)
- ask you to sign documents that have blank lines to be filled in later. All contractual elements should be spelled out in writing and agreed upon before you affix your signature to anything. (Another old saying you certainly know!)
- don’t have an active U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) license,
- don’t have a valid 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 confirm all this 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 must be licensed and insured for interstate commerce.
Here’s still another old axiom for you: It’s better to be safe than sorry. Exercising a bit of due diligence up front and learning all you can about the movers you’re reviwing before you hire can save you lots of drama and despair when your move is underway.
And your most useful research tool? The Internet! Or it is on the condition that you’re not just visiting the websites of the movers you’re reviewing. Follow the links we provide above for solid, dependable third-party corroboration of a long-distance mover’s credentials … or lack thereof.
While you’re at it, we recommend that you use these sites to look into A-1 Freeman Moving Group here in Wichita Falls too. We’ve been
long-distances movers – not to mention local and intrastate movers – of outstanding repute for a long, long time. And we’re pleased to present tools like these to help you make good decisions for smooth moves.
