Moving Companies Should Make Your Move Easier, Not Surprise You With Extra Charges
It used to be that leader in the complaints department -at least in terms of letters written to my column- was the used car sales industry. Today, that dubious distinction belongs to moving companies. It seems that more people are trying to save money while moving than are looking to buy a used car these days and money so often seems to be the root of their complaints. It’s understandable, especially given the current economic climate. If you don’t have a lot of money, you’re downsizing your home and you go with discount movers who advertise the lowest prices, then get saddled with a bill for a bunch of extras, you are not going to be pleased about the experience.
Moving companies have always been a source of consumer complaints. Part of the issue is that there’s considerable turnover in the industry; many companies are only around for a short time, and they don’t have a reputation to protect. Then there’s that practice of slapping on extra charges. I suppose they do that to keep the advertised price low, but it causes no end of confusion with the public and seems to generate nothing but bad will. I’ve had a number of readers write in with an alternative to typical moving companies and I had a chance to try them out myself when I recently moved from Boston to Los Angeles. The company is called ABF U-Pack (their web site is www.upack.com) and by using this company instead of the movers I went with last time, I not only saved a considerable amount of money on my move, but when it came time to pay, the invoice matched the initial estimate -that’s right, there were no hidden costs! No fuel surcharges, no penalties to pay for returning a rental van on a one-way trip, no insurance fees, no surprises. This is the way that moving should work.
As the name suggests, ABF U-Pack differs from other moving companies in that you pack and load your belongings yourself. However, there’s no driving involved. They park a container (or trailer) at your house, you load it up and they drive it. Then you have several days to unload at your leisure. No movers, but you save a lot of money. They’ve been in business for over 80 years and care about their reputation. Best of all, no surprises when you receive the bill!
Janice Drake is a consumer advocate and author of a syndicated customer complaint newspaper column, where Moving Companies are a frequent target. “I probably get more letters from people who have had a poor moving experience than from any other segment of the population,” says Drake. “I don’t know why that has to be. It’s not like most Movers are bad people, it’s just the industry has so many hidden charges and I think many people come out feeling they’ve been overcharged for the service they received.”
Tags: movers, moving companies
