How to avoid critical moving mistakes

It's a good idea to read every moving company review you can find, avoid moving company brokers, and spring for full coverage insurance.

It can take months for moving companies to make a decision on a claim. Thus, ot's worth considering transporting something yourself if it's of value.

Moving company mistakes can cost you thousands of dollars. We want to help you avoid thi nightmare like ours. Not doing enough prep work and research can be very costly.

A personal story

I spent days searching for a company that would help my family move long distance and was responsible for finding it. I couldn't find anyone who was willing to come to the house to give us an estimate due to COVID-19.

I took one of their representatives through every part of the home during a Zoom call by the company. She looked at everything from the furniture to the boxes in the basement. The company promised a fixed price and sold me on that. I was grateful to know how much the move would cost, between the cost of selling our house and taking out a mortgage in a new state.

The people I spoke with by phone were professional and knew their stuff. All of the reviews on the company's website were positive. I did not check the Better Business Bureau website. I would have seen a preview of what we were going to see.

Things were wonderful until we paid our full deposit. The salesperson became difficult to connect with all the sudden. I would call at any time of the day. He would say "Oh!" when he got on the phone. You are on my list of people to call today.

Someone from the company gave me a call the night before the move in. He told me they misquoted the move, and it would cost more.

We didn't pay the extra thousands, but it was a fight to get back to the original price. They insisted that things like an elliptical machine, universal weight system, snowblower, lawnmower, and other items were pushing us beyond the quoted amount.

This call would have been expected if I'd checked the website. They would often call other customers to tell them there was a problem with their original quote.

'Never hire a broker'

I believed they would be the company transporting our goods because of the words "van lines" in their name. We made our payments to this company, but another moving company showed up to move us. One of the men on the crew told me, "Never hire a broker."

I've learned from reading reviews that the company dislikes being called a broker. Another customer complained that the company was 30 days late delivering his family's belongings. The day they were set to move out of their old home, the movers showed up and told them they would take up more space than they expected and they would need to pay more money.

The company's only response was to complain about being a broker. The "van line" states that 32 independent moving companies work under their service umbrella and act as proxy employees.

One example of why we should have hired a moving company is we had a storage unit. The belongings from the storage unit were put into the back of a personal pickup truck by the packers and transported to their warehouse. The driver broke his hand when the pickup truck flipped, and our belongings fell on the side of the road.

We didn't have a point of contact with the company or a way to reach them after we met them. We could have called for help right away if we'd worked with one company all the time.

Ful insurance coverage is a must

Not springing for full coverage insurance was the mistake of the day.

I was on my way out of state when the move was made. The house was being moved. The contract we signed stated that we didn't want to pay more for full insurance coverage. Midwesterners buy earthquake insurance regularly. If we had taken the time to decide on insurance, we would have bought more coverage.

I realized we were only covered for $0.60 per pound when we began to add up how much we lost. The moving company had four months to decide whether to accept or reject claims.

I would like to give you an idea of how much it helps. The king mattress and box spring were lost. The mattress weighed 100 pounds. After four months of waiting, the most we could hope for was $60.

Bottom line

If you're planning on moving, make sure to check every moving company review you can find. If you're dealing with the company by phone, make sure they are the moving company. Hiring good movers is worth it.

It is necessary to pay extra for full coverage insurance. You don't know when you'll need it.

I can't change how things turned out for us, but it would make me feel better to know that we saved someone else's life.