The Loophole In Moving Regulations That Even Moving Scam Experts Overlook
Postings on a prominent anti-moving scam website indicate that people fighting moving cost estimate are still not seeing the forest through the trees. Ask any one of them to describe the typical scam, and he will tell you as follows: The moving company offers a “low ball” estimate over the phone to entice the customer; Once the goods are loaded on the truck, he will raise the price; The moving company will then hold the goods hostage until the victim agrees to pay the increased price. This scenario seems to imply that the scam movers have cheated the customer, and violated the agreement. But the truth is, the movers may be using a legal technicality to void the agreement that is known and even described on a government consumer’s rights web site.
The basis of the technicality is the fact that most online “movers” who arrange moves are not really movers, they are moving brokers. To entice customers, they will make an online moving cost estimate, at a low price. The customer will feel secure, believing he has made a “binding” or non-binding” agreement with the moving company, because even a non-binding agreement forbids the mover from charging more than 110% of the estimate, on delivery.
But the truth is, that no agreement has been made at all!!! Because as is noted on “Protect Your Move,” the official web site of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration:
“You should be aware that if you receive an estimate from a household goods broker, the mover may not be required to accept the estimate. Be sure to obtain a written estimate from the mover if a mover tells you orally that it will accept the broker’s estimate.”
Once the broker has closed the deal and received his deposit, he will subcontract the move to a moving company. On moving day, the movers will take control of the goods, and then see no need to honor any pre move agreement made by brokers. Even, if as noted above, they orally accented to honor the brokered agreement, that may amount to nothing in a court of law.
The moving regulations have actually created a catch 22 situation for consumers wishing to move safely. If they sign any papers on moving day, that will void the previous binding agreement. If, based on the above technicality, they fail to sign any papers, that might give Carte Blanc to the moving subcontractors to claim there is no agreement at all, and they have the right to make their own price.
The front line challenge in this tricky battle of wits, is for someone to confront a moving company that uses this technicality and ask him, if you don’t accept the brokered agreement, what premove estimate did you accept? Every mover is required to give a premove estimate, so he must come up with some answer. The answer is that not enough cases have yet come to light to answer the question.
Thanks to Packing Service Inc. for sponsoring this report. Packing Service Inc. provides Florida and New York packing services and is currently opening branches in every state. They are dedicated to protecting consumers from movign scam.
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