Imagine this little drama (if it hasn’t already haunted your nightmares!):
You’d planned your long-distance move for a long time.- You examined three different Denver interstate moving companies, all of which seemed reputable, and finally decided on the one that gave you the cheapest estimate.
- It’s now Moving Day.
- The moving crew loads your belongings]21] on the truck.
- The truck takes off for your new home.
- And it never gets there. It disappears – taking with it most of your worldly possessions.
Ah, get real! That doesn’t honestlyhappen, does it? Sadly, it does. But that is an unusual scenario. What you’ll more likely find with, shall we say, “less than legit” movers is that they won’t steal a homeowner’s shipments outright; they’ll simply hold them hostage until the homeowner forks over more money. Of course, these are but two of many types of moving scams. Sites like
Moving.com and
MovingScam.com will show you more.
So if you’ve had any misgivings – any nightmares – about something like this befalling you, consider them a warning: DON’T HIRE A MOVING COMPANY UNTIL YOU KNOW THAT COMPANY’S LEGIT!
Avoid moving companies that …
- don’t have a physical address. P.O. boxes are a good sign they don’t. Consult the phone book. And check online at Google Maps or Google Earth.
- have a poor record with the Better Business Bureau. Go to bbb.org. There you can read reviews of better than 20,000 moving-related companies.
- make you pay for an estimate. That’s not anything a reputable mover would do.
- don’t offer written estimates – or tell you they’ll figure your charges after loading. Again: that’s simply not done by respectable movers.
- provide you with an estimate that seems to good to be true. It surely is! (You know the old adage!)
- ask you to sign documents that have blank lines to be filled in later. All details should be described fully in writing and agreed upon before you put your signature to anything. (Another old axiom you must know!)
- don’t have a current U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) license,
- don’t have a current 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 corroborate 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 have to be licensed and insured for interstate commerce.
Here’s still another ripe cliché 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 contemplating before you hire can save you a lot of drama and despair when your move is in progress.
And your best source of information? The Internet! Or it is if you’re not just going to the websites of the movers you’re considering. Follow the links we provide above for solid, reliable third-party confirmation of a long-distance mover’s credentials … or lack thereof.
While you’re at it, we invite you to use these sites to look into A-1 Freeman Moving Group here in Denver too. We’ve been
long-distances movers – not to mention local and intrastate movers – of great repute for many decades. And we’re happy to provide tools like these to help you make savvy decisions for smooth moves.
