Moving scam

Moving scam

A moving scam is a scam by a moving company in which company provides an estimate, loads the goods, then states a much higher price to deliver the goods, effectively holding the goods hostage.

Contents

History

The moving industry in the United States was deregulated with the Household Goods Transportation Act of 1980. This act allowed interstate movers to issue binding or fixed estimates for the first time. Doing so opened the door to hundreds of new moving companies to enter the industry. This led to an increase in competition and soon movers were no longer competing on services but on price. As competition drove prices lower and decreased what were already slim profit margins, "rogue" movers began hijacking personal property as part of a new scam.

Scam

There are many versions to the moving scam but the basic scam takes place as follows. A prospective client contacts a moving company and requests a cost estimate. In today's market this often happens online via moving directories or brokers, or phone calls. These moving brokers are salesmen prone to quoting sometimes low, but usually reasonable prices with no room for the movers to provide a quality service.

Once the rogue "moving company" has secured a move by providing a non-binding or binding estimate, they arrive to pack and deliver the goods. Often the scam movers use deceptive pricing or weight measurements including prices based on the gross weight of the moving vehicle. After packing and loading, the client is informed that their goods went over the expected weight estimate and the additional weight will be charged at a substantially higher rate (often double the original price per pound). Rogue movers will not inform a client of these discrepancies until the client's goods have been weighed at a certifiable scale, far from the client's original pickup location. The new price may be four or five times higher than the original estimate. The scam movers know that most people will be forced to pay these exorbitant rates based on their need for the personal effects.

Regulation

The interstate moving industry in America is regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Only a small staff (fewer than 20 people) is available to patrol hundreds of moving companies, making enforcement difficult.


See also

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Moving company — Removalist redirects here. For the 1970s Australian play and movie, see The Removalists. Early movers from 1885, Montréal, Québec …   Wikipedia

  • Scam (canción) — Scam es una canción que forma parte del segundo álbum de Jamiroquai. Habla sobre la política y sus constantes engaños por motivos de poder y provecho propio. Trascendencia Su sonido se inicia con un solo de trompeta. Existieron planes para lanzar …   Wikipedia Español

  • Scam (Jamiroquai song) — Song infobox Name = Scam Caption = Type = Artist = Jamiroquai alt Artist = Album = The Return of the Space Cowboy Published = Released = 1994 track no = Recorded = Genre = Funk / Disco / Acid Jazz Length = 7:00 Writer = Jason Kay Composer = Toby… …   Wikipedia

  • White van speaker scam — Not to be confused with White van man. A fraudulent MSRP and product tag on an Image Reference Model IA 1901 speaker system …   Wikipedia

  • Confidence trick — Con games redirects here. For the film, see Con Games (film). Scam redirects here. For other uses, see Scam (disambiguation). For the short story by John Wyndham, see Jizzle. A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by… …   Wikipedia

  • Fraud — Criminal law Part of …   Wikipedia

  • Advance-fee fraud — African sting An advance fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance sums of money in the hope of realizing a significantly larger gain.[1] Among the variations on this type of scam are the Nigerian Letter (also… …   Wikipedia

  • List of The Real Hustle episodes — This is an episode list for The Real Hustle. All dates are the first broadcast on BBC Three in the United Kingdom. Contents 1 Series 1 2 Series 2 3 Series 3 4 Series 4 …   Wikipedia

  • Darren Osborne — Ashley Taylor Dawson as Darren (2011) Hollyoaks character Portrayed by Adam Booth (1996–97) Ashley Taylor Dawson (1999 ) …   Wikipedia

  • NYPD Blue (season 10) — NYPD Blue Season 10 Country of origin United States No. of episodes 22 Broadcast Original channel ABC …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”