National Moving Group Bait and Switch Boca Raton Florida
I contacted the company related to moving some of my personal items from Menlo Park, California to Morton Grove Il. Initially there were 10 medium boxes, i cabinet, 10 dining chairs, 1 dining table and 2 coffee tables. The quote given to me was for $1,751.82 and i was to pay $602.86 which i did. A few more items were added and the estimate went up $2,163.92 and the down payment increased to $853.92. I paid the differential in the downpayment of $251.06 for a total payment of $853.92. On the pick up date the driver refused to honor the contract and stated that it would cost nearly $5,500 to move the goods as in his view the goods to be moved had increased. I refused that as there was no increase in the goods to be moved. Since i refused to pay any additional amount from the originally contracted amount the driver left and the moving company refused to give back my initial deposit. They later offered to give me back 50% of the deposit which i refused as I want the full amount. This is a classic bait and switch operation.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
FloridaNative
Palm Beach Gardens,Florida,
USA
Sounds like they were acting as a moving broker
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, November 16, 2016
Moving is one of the few things that you really can't do strictly with an online approach. The mover has to actually come to your home to view your things to give you a written binding estimate. Otherwise, you will be ripped off - as you were in this case.
There are lots of moving brokers in the business that do nothing but collect a fee from you. That is the scam. They don't do the move, they don't even attempt to give an accurate quote. They can't quote for the third party moving anyway so their figures never line up with what you were told by the moving broker. In your case, there is a disclaimer on that website that they will work as a broker and not a mover, except in local moves (paraphrased). Look up the proper way to get your quotes, that you can do online (the research). But getting the actual quotes online or over the phone, no way. In 100% of the cases, you need to have the mover actually come to your place to walk through to give you an actual written contract. Once you do your research, you will see how often fraud happens in the moving industry. It is a real shame.