There is a growing trend in the moving industry, and it is not necessarily a good one for consumers. More and more moving companies are choosing to do things their own way. They are writing their very own set of rules, and they are breaking all of the rules that have already been written. The government is cracking down on these rogue moving companies that are choosing to play by their own rules, and they should be. These moving companies are not treating people fair. They are out for one thing, and one thing only. They are out for money. These moving companies don’t really care about you, your family or any of your personal belongings.
The government has placed many undercover sting operations in parts of the country where moving is happening more often. One such operation uncovered some very interesting things in New Jersey. 25 moving companies where found to be operating without a license, and most of these 25 moving companies were also found to be operating without any type of insurance. Of course these moving companies are facing some pretty steep fines, but will the fines be enough enforcement to stop these rouge moving companies?
Some of the people busted in the sting were not even moving companies. One such person decided to take the truck from the company that he worked for and use it for his own personal “moving” services.
All of this information was gathered in a very short amount of time. The undercover sting only lasted for a total of four days. If the government uncovered this many rogue moving companies in this short period of time, just imagine what a long country wide investigation would turn up. They would find that there are thousands of moving companies out there that are operating without a license.
Moving is a really big business, and just like any other big business, there bound to be a few bad apples in the bunch. Approximately 37 million people move every year. This number is just going to go up as the population continues to grow. The numbers are looking good. Of those 37 million people moving only a very small percentage of people filed complaints. The government has setup a hotline for consumers to help report these rogue moving companies. The more people that help with this problem, the better off the 37 million people who move every year will be.
How can you protect yourself from these moving companies
It is pretty simple actually. The best way to protect you, your family and all of your personal belongings is to not choose a dead beat moving company. You can do this by staying away from the free classifieds websites on the internet. If the moving company is not willing to pay for any advertising, then they are most likely not even a legitimate moving company, and as always, if the deal sounds to good to be true, then it is. Don’t become part of the moving scam statistics. Doing a little bit of research on the moving company before you sign any documents can be a really big help.