Complaint Review: Keep Austin Moving Matt Colbert

I hired Keep Austin Moving to complete a local move I made on 9/26. I purchased the first two hours of service with a voucher I found on Living Social. I did almost an identical move last year in 3-4 hours for $300. But with more items! So I expected to pay no more than that this time. Nor did I expect it to take longer because some of my belongings were in storage and I handled moving those items myself. It took them 7 HOURS. 3 hours was simply unloading. And I HELPED them for 2.. Upon arrival to my new apt, they told me I was being charged by the hour. So parking, driving, phone calls, paper work. All of it. This was NOT what I signed up for. Upon realization of these facts, I expressed my concern & tried to get the guys to move faster. There seemed to be N) sense of urgency. After completing the move, they told me I owed them an additional $436 to the $258 I had already paid them. (for the first 3 hours-valued at $367) This included the hours that I was helping! I was clearly shocked and not comfortable with this request. I waited for about 10 minutes for the movers to talk to their manager about this. The reply I got from him when they asked if they could knock down the hours was "absolutely not.'" The manager also said "We're in the business to make money, not buddies." Not knowing what to do, but desperately wanting the guys out of my apartment, I handed them a check for the additional money but asked to have the manager call me as I strongly disagreed with the charges. I tried calling Matt Colbert myself the next day and got no response. I called my bank and stopped payment on the 2nd check until the issue was resolved. Once the owner realized what I did, he called me back. Monday. While I was at work. I called him back on my lunch break & did not hear from him again until Friday,10/3/14. (4 days later) I very nicely explained in detail, what I wasn't ok with, and that I was NOT comfortable paying the requested amount.

Not only did Matt refuse to come to a reasonable agreement he told me he was going to garnish his employees wages. I filed a complaint with the Austin Better Business Bureau on 10/4/14 and hoped to resolve this issue. After 2 false responses from Matt, the complaint is listed as "unresolved." Keep Austin Moving is not accredited by the BBB and has an F rating.
10/21/14, I was served papers by Christopher M. Colbert. (Matt Colbert/company owner's legal name). I learned that he was suing me for the additional $436. Upon further research I learned that even though Keep Austin Moving advertises that it's a licensed moving company, but it isn't!! Keep Austin Moving's license status shows up as "revoked" on the TxDMV website. I then searched for "Man Logistics, LLC" (the company that showed up on the papers I served). The status of that license is "Inactive." Additionally, Keep Austin Moving's website provides a TxDMV license number. Not only is this different than either number affiliated with Keep Austin Moving and Man Logistics, LLC, it doesn't exist! I learned this after a quick search of TxDMV records.

Had I known that Matt's company wasn't actually a licensed mover, I would have never hired them in the first place. Ironically, his own website has a section with moving tips that stresses the importance of hiring a "licensed mover." keepaustinmoving.com/#!m…
I have no idea how Mr. Colbert is still in business after engaging in so many false, misleading and deceptive business practices. All of which are in violation of Texas law! After searching Mr. Colbert's name directly I found FOUR other moving companies that he either owns or has owned in Texas. ALL of which have either unregistered, revoked, incomplete or transitional moving licenses!!
Lastly, I have also found and saved a large number of negative reviews on Yelp and other social media that mention Matt directly. The public records of The Justice Court of Precinct One in Travis County, TX informed me that he served three other people yesterday. This seems like further proof of Matt's use of fear and intimidation to get what he wants.

I am a single, working mother doing the very best I can to provide for my son and I. To say that I don't have a ton of free time would be a gross understatement. And I have already exhausted literally hours of my time attempting to resolve this very upsetting issue. Additonally, the move that I hired this company for was extremely emotional. I had been living with a close friend who had recently been diagnosed with Stage 4, very aggressive cancer. My son and I moved in with him and his daughter to help out. He passed away in June. Moving is stressful without grieving one of your best friends, which is why I hired movers in the first place. Not only did this company fail to alleviate some of my stress, the added to it in a drastic manner.