FOX 5 I-Team helps recover $12,000 after moving disaster
COVINGTON, Ga. - Moving is stressful. You hire a moving company then hand over your worldly belongings to strangers who you hope you can trust.
Phyllis Plear said in her recent move it took longer than planned and cost more than three times the original estimate. It was not the Southern welcome she expected to find.
"I’m fighting off the tears, in and out of depression," she told the FOX 5 I-Team.
We met Phyllis Plear outside of her Covington home on folding chairs. It was about all she had when we met her. You see, after more than three months, the movers still had some of her possessions and a lot more of her money than she expected.
"I guess the red flags started going up when they picked up, but I felt like I was between a rock and a hard spot," she recalled. "Like, what do I do now?"
She contracted with a moving broker who would select a moving company for her move from Ohio to Georgia. The estimate - $3,683.77. Her contract showed she paid upfront more than $1,100 and would owe the balance moving day.
The broker picked All Time Moving with Florida and Illinois addresses. On the big day, they arrived with a truck and lots of surprises.
"They said the amount had increased because of the amount of goods and boxes I had," she said. "Then it was like $3676 and, ‘When we deliver in Georgia because you have too much stuff it’s another $3676.’"
A second contract, this one with All Time Moving, now brought her total up to $9,353.05. More than two and a half times the original estimate.
Sounding tired she told me, "But we get here and the nightmare continues."
In a complaint filed with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Ms. Plear wrote that the driver arrived in a tractor-trailer but said, "he could not deliver due to hanging branches that would scratch his new rig." So, he left.
Days later, she told me, a smaller truck arrived half full. She told Covington Police she was charged another $1,000 for this partial delivery in a smaller truck.
"They only had a portion of our things," which she showed us in pictures she had taken.
In order to get the rest of her possessions she told police, it would cost her another $1,000. And All Time Moving, she said, wouldn’t take a credit card which would have allowed her to dispute the charges later.
"You can only pay with cash or postal money order."
Let’s do some math. She thought her move would be just more than $3,600. In the end, her fresh start cost her $13,035 and some change.
Turns out she’s in the majority. The Better Business Bureau reports that federal data shows 57 percent of moving complaints are customers who say they were over charged.
The Fox 5 I-Team tried several numbers for All Time Moving. No one would speak to us. And their DOT number is now showing as "inactive." There is another company with the same name out of Roseville, Michigan that is unaffiliated with the troubled mover.
Management at the moving broker Allegiance Moving out of Florida said it had a short relationship with All Time Moving and they will get "no further jobs." And, while not contractually obligated to cover any issues but their own, Allegiance has agreed to repay Ms. Plear more than $12,800.
She’s relieved, but she still believes now what she told her husband during the ordeal about All Time Moving.
"They’re holding us hostage to get more money."
Here are links to help you if you are planning a move.