Complaint Review: EkoMovers - Cincinnati OH

You provided a host of bad advice for anyone reading your review, so let's really correct this for others:

I read all the reviews before booking and I assume you will do the same and weigh the risks. My advice is to cover yourself and take all the insurance you can. You are a transaction and your personal belongings mean nothing to them or the insurance company.  Reading online reviews is a meaningless exercise primarily because many movers you will read on the internet eiither provide their own glowing reviews or changed the name of their business so you may never find the review of a specific mover you are looking for.  You went ahead and read all the reviews and at the end of the day, you still ended up choosing someone unqualified to perform your move.  What you should have done is find out how an interstate move works given the fact you've never done one in your life.  Some of the documents you legally should have received prior to your move would have helped you, and most importantly, speak to professionals who do this for a living.  You did none of those.

The latter part of your comment exemplifies that you still don't understand what you just went through.  Movers cannot sell you insurance as a matter of law in every state.  What they are allowed to sell you is valuation.  The reason I know you went with a scam mover is that scam movers only pay $0.60 per pound when a claim is filed, and you have no legal recourse to get more than that.  A professional mover - like the ones you would find locally in your phone book or maybe see in your city - sell you what the industry calls Full Replacement Valuation or FRV.  A scam mover will never sell you FRV.

I have never hired anyone for a long distance move so I would say I had a great experience until the actual moving day.  Of course, because a scam mover simply butters you up before the hell that's going to come your way.  Moving is an incredibly stressful time prior to the move because you're supposed to be preparing for the move prior to it actually happening.

 he delivery seemed to go well and I didn’t detect anything until I began to unpack. Boxes of antique china had been dropped and contents broken. Antique mirror broken. Hardware to furniture taken apart all lost. Scratches in furniture. An antique cabinet leg had been broken, wrapped in packing tape and a board shoved under to hold it up – didn’t notice until weeks later when the painters tried to move it.  If I had to guess, you packed a number of items in boxes yourself.  By doing so, the mover is contractually not obligated to pay you one dime for any damage to your china or your mirror because they didn't pack anything.  Your contract states very clearly that any box packed by owner (or PBO) is not covered for valuation.  I always tell people if they plan on packing everything for a move, then they may as well do the move themselves.  Damaged furniture is paid at $0.60 per pound and scratches are a part of a move.

So after I tallied all the damage and got repair estimates EkoMovers wash their hands of it and defer to the insurance company who denied my appeal three times. They only offered me $60 because the insurance was solely based on weight (I was asking under $2k in compensation). The one china piece alone will be over $300 to replace.  Contractually, they only have to pay you $0.60 per pound, so if you received $60, then they evaluated the damage at 100lbs. and none of the china is covered because you packed the contents in the boxes and per the contract you are responsible for the damage.  The adjuster is not going to consider your request for less than $2K because you signed a contract agreeing to $0.60 per pound.  So yes, your appeal would have been denied as many times as you wish to appeal.  Even if you were to take the mover to small claims court for the difference, even the judge would have denied your case.  The contract is pretty clear.

In short, you went into this move without knowing a single thing about what was going to happen.  There are moving sites on the internet that could have helped you prepare.  Instead you went into this move with expensive china and antique furniture and decided to hire a mover based on price?

Moving is not an inexpensive venture.  Choosing a mover based on price is going to be far more expensive for you in the long run than if you had simply hired a professional mover (United, Atlas, North American, Bekins, Mayflower, and a few others are good examples) to pack, load, and deliver your goods.  It would have been more expensive up front, but look at what this move really cost you?  Best of luck to you.