‘All of our belongings were about to be lost’: Florida ranks No. 1 in moving complaints

ORLANDO, Fla. — Moving scams continue to plague Florida.

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New numbers just released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is part of the Federal Department of Transportation, show the state ranks first with the highest number of complaints.

There were 3,907 complaints nationwide reported by the FMCSA in 2023, 1,871 of which came from Florida.

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Laura and Patrick Barret and their two children moved from New York to Florida last year to stay close to family. They hired a moving company to help them and keep their items stored locally while they looked for a home, but things took a turn.

“The items were not being stored in Kissimmee; they had only been moved about an hour away from our home in New York; they were being stored at a self-pay storage location in Pennsylvania,” said the couple. “We tried contact with the moving company, with the broker who connected us to them, but no one was listening to us, no one was helping us.”

All their items – including pictures and baby toys, were stuck in a storage facility they didn’t even have access to because it was opened under someone else’s name. To make matters worse – the items were almost sold online.

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“All of our belongings were about to be lost,” the couple said. “We ended up finding the storage unit, and they told us they found the account and that all the items were up for an auction; the auction closes in three days.”

Although the Barrets are not the only ones dealing with the so-called moving scams, the number of complaints has gone down in the Sunshine State. In 2022, there were 7,647 complaints to the USDOT’s FMCSA – about half of those, or 3,338, came out of Florida back then.

“Unfortunately for Florida residents, these companies take advantage of customers,” said Spero Georgedakis, Good Greek Moving & Storage, a local business that is nationally certified to provide the service. “The typical moving scam is when a customer is given a quote, over the telephone; usually, we call it ‘lowballing estimate.’ Then, when the truck arrives, and they begin putting stuff into the truck, perhaps all the belongings in the truck, all of a sudden, the movers say, ‘Hey, you got more stuff, it’s double the price,’ and more often than not, they only want cash.”

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Good Greek Moving & Storage also works with the national government to crack down on moving scams; the partnership also helped with reducing the number of complaints in the state.

“I always recommend that people do some research with the Florida Department of Agriculture. There you can see whether a mover is licensed in the first place, which means that they at least have the minimum insurance coverage,” said Georgedakis. “You can also see their complaints - how many, the nature of the complaint, how they were resolved if they were resolved in the first place.”

The CEO also suggests customers make sure they are reading their contracts, never pay upfront fees, and check if the company is licensed and certified to provide the service. “At the end of the day, as the old saying goes, if you think a deal is too good to be true, it probably is.”

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