Mover Scam

[Chopstick]

Yesterday was moving day for me. I was just moving from an upstairs apartment to the next building and a downstairs apartment. The whole thing was just going to cost four to five hundred. The movers showed up late of course and from there everything proceeded normally. They loaded all of my stuff and drove the truck to the next building.

Then they locked the truck and demanded one thousand and thirty two dollars in cash or cashiers check or they were not going to unload the truck. I said I don't owe anywhere near that. They said I could get some money back after they were done. How am I going to get change from a cashiers check? They said I can talk to the boss if I want to. Well, the boss was no longer answering the phone. I called him four times. The odd thing is that he was answering the Nextel walkie talkie phone the moving guy had.

I called the police. The police arrived and checked out the situation. They looked at the contract and figured out what I actually owed and ask me if I had the cash. I did. We went over to the movers and the officers told them what I owed by what was on the contract and I held out the money. The guy would not take it. The officer asked him if he was refusing payment for a lawful contract and the guy said he was refusing.

The officer turned to me and said, well you just got a free move. If he refuses payment you are not obligated to pay him. Then he turned to the movers and said I am issuing a lawful order to unload this truck immediately. Failure to comply will be a class C felony that is committed in our presence and you will all(four movers) be arrested and taken to jail immediately. The police went a couple of rounds with the boss on the phone. When they started to show some interest is arresting him also the movers accepted the money and unloaded the truck.

Yes I have stuff damaged and missing. This ain't over. I slept on the floor last night with several weapons. I thought I had gotten past the point in life where I would ever have to do that again.

[eg8r]

When I was in college a moving company tried to do that to my neighbor. Well my neighbor did not take any crap. He immeadiately walked out to the truck and popped all the tires (every single one). As the movers began to move in on him my neighbor's buddies stepped up and took care of the movers. After that, they broke the lock, unloaded all their stuff then went back to the truck where the movers were piled up in the front seat. He told them he had called a wrecker to pick the truck up and take it to the tire store and he dropped the cash on the seat along with the signed contract. I thought it was hilarious.

When campus police finally arrived the movers jump all over him telling him to arrest my neighbor and such. After hearing the story from all sides, the policeman hit the side of the wrecker and told him to take it to a garage to get the tires repaired.

You wonder how often things like this happen.

eg8r

[Gayle in MD]

Good for you for calling law enforcement, Chop. Anytime you have to deal with towing company's and moving company's you're at risk. If you have a video camera, you might want to consider aiming it at your vehicle at night for a few months, and leaving it running. You could check things out in the morning, and then hide it somewhere in you home, aimed at an obvious target for theft.

They're more likely to strike for financial gain, while you're asleep, or away from home.

Good luck!

Gayle in Md.

[SKennedy]

I thought they only did that type of stuff in NJ. Sorry for your trouble. Makes honest people mad as hell!

[Deeman3]

I had a similar thing happen years ago. The moving companies are very crooked in their estimates and contracts. Thankfully, my company, who had made the arragements, brought several of our lawyers out along with the local police and resolved it. i often wondered what I would have done on my own. Now I have a template in case it happens in the future.

Good goin" Chopstick. You know if you need more firepower, I'm a short ride away... /ccboard/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[wolfdancer]

What you really needed for this situation was that Asian Negotiator from my latest post.

[Chopstick]

What they pray upon is that sudden pang of fear when you visualize them driving away with all of your stuff leaving you alone with nothing. Well it didn't scare me. It made me mad and it ain't the first time I've had a full rack of gold teeth in my face.

Coincidentally, There is another friend of mine from Whitehaven that lives a couple of miles away. He had called the Sheriff just before I had. Some guy had broken up with his girlfriend and was tearing through her neighborhood in a company van burning the tires and doing dough nuts by her house right when the elementary school was letting out. The sheriff was at his house when I called. They caught the guy and arrested him. He got fired.

I called him after I had called the police and he came over with his boys. They are a family of big men. They pulled up right after the sheriff did. The sheriff just spreads his arms like Huh? We all laughed about it. I guess Wednesday was just not a good day to be screwing around with Memphis boys.