‘It can be the Wild West out there’: BBB warns of summer moving scams

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Lots of people take advantage of the summer months for moving, but according to the Better Business Bureau, it’s for that reason people should especially be on the lookout for scams.

The BBB’s Cameron Nakashima said 64 Alaska residents filed mover complaints in the last year, with three others reporting moving-related scams.

What’s the scam exactly?

According to Nakashima, in most cases, it’s a hostage situation.

“They have agreed to pay a certain amount, they’ve given the deposit, everything gets loaded up, and then the mover holds their stuff hostage and says, ‘Actually, let’s double the amount,’” Nakashima said.

Sometimes, Nakashima added, it can be a legitimate company that simply miscalculated or was misinformed on the scope of the job by the customer, but where it starts creeping into scam territory is when threats of putting your stuff in a storage unit start getting made if you refuse to pay their demands.

That’s why Nakashima says knowing the contract inside and out in these situations is so crucial. It’s important to carefully read through the language because usually, there can be a contingency where a mover reserves the right to change the amount under certain circumstances.

Based on the way the contract may be written, Nakashima said legal recourse will not be an option, leaving the consumer with a tough decision of complying or paying monthly fees to retrieve belongings from storage.

“We’ve seen people report that they’re on a fixed income and they can’t afford to pay those fees,” he said. “Their stuff gets put into a storage unit and now they have to pay $200 a month to cover the cost of that, or they have to go to that storage unit and manually move the stuff themselves, which defeats the whole purpose of hiring the moving company in the first place.”

Nakashima said before you even reach the point of having a contract to review, you should take the time to investigate the company you’re looking to do business with.

“Is it a local moving company who’s got a good reputation? They’ve been around for several years,” he said. “It can be the Wild West out there if you’re not doing your homework.”

As part of that homework — another important step when selecting a mover — is knowing whether that business is a brokerage or an actual moving company. Nakashima said the difference is a brokerage company will bid the job out to different subcontractors, leaving you in a position of not knowing who might be showing up to help you move.

“They could hire it out to anybody they want to without really vetting them, and that’s where you can get into a lot of these situations,” he said. “That’s where we get the largest volume of complaints is these bad brokerages.”

Lastly, after doing all of the research, Nakashima said the BBB always recommends comparing estimates from at least three different companies, and always push for onsite estimates to ensure you’re getting the most accurate bid possible.

“A lot of times, what they’re bidding is going to be different from company to company,” Nakashima said. “Some do square feet, some do cubic feet, some do it by weight, some will factor in the distance traveled a lot more than others, so being able to get everything apples to apples essentially [is important].”

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