The Arizona Republic 07/26/2014 Page : F02

The Arizona
Republic 07/26/2014
PA G E F 2 || S AT U R D AY , J U LY 2 6 , 2 014 || T H E A R I Z O N A R E P U B L I C
How
to find
reliable
movers
Seek recommendations,
consult BBB website, get
estimates from 3 movers.
Stacia Naquin
12 News
So how do you find a legitimate moving company?
The best advice for anyone planning a move is to do
research, according to industry representatives and
consumer-protection professionals. Start with friends
and family and ask about
their experiences. Then, begin to look into companies
more thoroughly through
customer reviews and the
Better Business Bureau.
“Anyone can advertise
their business on the Web
with a good website, but that
doesn’t necessarily mean
they have a good reputation,” said James Negrete
with Budget Movers, an accredited moving company
with an A+ rating from the
BBB.
“There are plenty of companies out there that have a
bad reputation, but the public are still using them and
finding out the hard way by
not doing their homework.”
Dircks Moving & Logistics, which also has an A+ rating with the BBB, suggests
asking three questions when
deciding which company to
select:
» Does the company have
a physical address?
» Is there licensing information on the website?
» Is the company a member of the BBB or the American Moving and Storage Association?
If the companies you’re
researching meet those requirements, it’s time to get
in-home estimates. Representatives of the companies
interviewed all suggested
three in-home estimates.
“Three companies should
be enough after doing your
research,” said Charlotte
Smith with Family Moving
Storage, another moving
company with an A+ rating
from the BBB. “More than
that, it just gets confusing.”
But getting three in-home
estimates after you’ve done
your research can take time.
It’s important for customers
to remember that the more
time they allow themselves,
the better decision they can
make.
“If it can be avoided, don’t
wait until the last minute to
hire a mover so you can talk
to several companies about
quotes,” said Felicia Thompson, vice president of communications at the Better
Business Bureau of Central,
Northern & Western Arizona. “We often hear from people who hired a company a
day or two before the move
and then didn’t have a choice
but to pay undisclosed fees
because they had to be out
immediately.”
Accredited moving companies are well-aware that
rogue movers are out there
and might be enticing potential customers with promises
of a move at a much lower
cost. It might sound good,
but at the end of the day, is it
too good to be true? Companies point to the cost of actually doing business as something for customers to keep
in mind.
“What we do is a difficult
process for not a lot of pay,”
Smith said. “It is very costly
to keep a company going in
this day and age with insurance, truck payments, fuel,
taxes, good labor, workman’s
comp, medical, drug testing,
etc.”
Copy Reduced to %d%% from original to fit letter page
Movers
WHEN YOU HIRE A
MOVING COMPANY
Continued from Page F1
Many people don’t put a lot
of thought into picking a mover. They simply want a good
price, an on-time arrival and
an uneventful delivery of
their household items.
But sometimes advertised
prices aren’t what they appear to be, which is often the
first sign of a cascade of problems to come.
Shawn Marquez, acting director of the Department of
Weights and Measures, warns
of “rogue movers” who shake
down people and scare them
into paying more money than
necessary. Some companies
that appear to be legitimate
don’t have licenses to operate
in Arizona, he said. Some run
up costs, intimidate customers and damage belongings,
he said.
In the past six months, his
department has handled dozens of complaints, most of
them involving movers from
out of state. Marquez said his
hands are tied when it comes
to taking action. He has no authority to shut down a company even after complaints are
substantiated.
The best he can do is turn
those cases over to federal
regulators.
James Negrete with Budget Movers, an accredited
moving company with an A+
rating by the BBB, is familiar
with the “upsell.” He says
rogue movers pull in customers with a low hourly rate and
then surprise them before it’s
all over.
“There are upsells that
aren’t mentioned until their
items are already on the
truck,” Negrete said. “Shrink
wrap, long carries, fuel
charges, etc.”
In some cases, customers
find their items virtually held
hostage until more money is
paid.
Linda Bauer Darr, president and chief executive officer of the American Moving
and Storage Association, said
that even when companies are
shut down by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, some emerge with
new names and licenses.
Allstar, now All Stars
Complaints in metro Phoenix involve many issues and
span many companies, but
one Chandler-based company
is on consumer-protection advocates’ radar: a moving company owned by a family that
was hit with an $80,000 fine
for bad practices four years
ago.
The company: All Stars
Moving & Storage, which has
used the names Allstar, Allways Moving, Adams Moving
and Movers & A Truck.
All Stars has racked up 26
complaints with Weights and
Measures since 2009, including three so far this year and
four last year.
Weights and Measures
ranks All Stars as its worst offender by complaints. It is followed by Move 4 Less, Arizona Discount Movers and Movers of the Valley.
Marquez said a common
complaint against the companies involve the original price
of a move.
“Now it’s been jacked up
two, three, four and five times
that amount,” he said. “Another common complaint is they
agree to be at the moving site
at a particular time and they
never show up — and that’s
part of the scam.”
All Stars has an F rating
with the Arizona BBB and 137
complaints against it. Most of
the complaints have not been
responded to.
“Initially, consumers’ may
contact the company based on
a coupon received in the mail
or an advertised special for
movers and a truck,” according to a BBB report on the
company.
“Complainants allege that
the company, prior to the
move, conducts an ‘over the
phone’ estimate. Consumers
» Investigate the moving company
before signing a contract.
» Don’t hire a mover that requires
a down payment or payment in
cash.
» Ask for the exact price in writing. Make sure you get a written
statement ahead of time detailing
charges. Don’t hire anyone who
refuses to put a quote in writing.
» Ask about the company’s insurance and repair/replacement
policy. Some policies pay as little
as 60 cents per pound for damaged items regardless of value.
Brittany Bridgeman (center), with her parents Cheryl and Dennis
Johanson, says she was overcharged by a mover. TOM TINGLE/THE REPUBLIC
report that the business does
not honor the estimated price
and often adds packing and
supply fees that the customer
was not made aware of over
the phone,” according to the
BBB. “The company then requires consumers to pay the
increased price before the
business agrees to unload the
consumers' belongings.”
Alyssa Warner described
her experience with the company on a move from one
Chandler address to another
as “nightmarish.” She says the
movers overcharged her,
scuffed her furniture, broke
dishes and damaged the leg on
her antique jewelry dresser.
Before that, they refused
to unload her furniture until
she paid them.
“So I gave them everything
in my wallet. He (one of the
movers) looked at it and
looked at me and got closer to
me and said, ‘Where’s my tip?’
And I said I don’t have anything else on me, and he asked
again, ‘Where is my tip?’ I felt
intimidated
and
really
scared,” Warner said.
Warner said she called the
moving company and left a
message, but no one called her
back.
Warner then contacted Call
12 for Action, which was able
to negotiate a $200 refund.
It’s not the first time this
ownership group has been in
trouble. In 2010, then-Attorney General Terry Goddard
filed a civil fraud case against
Chandler-based Allstar Moving & Storage, which had been
the target of dozens of customer complaints and unpaid
court judgments.
Allstar, as well as Allways
Moving, was run by the same
family that owns the current
company, All Stars. To settle
the case, Allstar paid $80,000.
The company has no connection to Allstar Metro Movers of Glendale, which has a
top rating with the Better
Business Bureau.
Operation defended
Allstar’s owner, Mohamed
Elsayed, and its general manager, Amru Abdalla, were
named in the state’s 2010 lawsuit. The suit claimed Allstar
advertised flat hourly rates
but routinely added hundreds
of dollars to invoices. It says
the company misrepresented
that its moving crews were
experienced
when
they
weren’t, that Allstar was
bonded, which it isn’t, and that
it was insured. It failed to disclose that such insurance
would cover only a fraction of
any damage to consumers’
property, up to 60 cents a
pound.
According to several incident reports filed with
Weights and Measures, Allstar Moving employees would
demand additional cash above
the original price and threaten to hold customers’ belongings or drive away if they
didn’t pay.
Abdalla later obtained a
new license under the name
All Stars.
He said Elsayed, Allstar’s
owner, is his father. Elsayed
left the country and asked
Amru and his brother, Amed
Abdalla, to handle everyday
operations at the new company.
Amed Abdalla defended
his company’s reputation and
described it as a professional
operation.
“This is not the way we do
business,” Abdalla said of
Warner’s complaint. “We reacted quickly when we found
out about Warner’s treatment,
and we solved the problem the
next day. We do professional
jobs. We have satisfied customers.”
Stephen Mills of Scottsdale
said he had a similar experience with All Stars in April.
He was planning to move his
belongings from his Scottsdale home to a storage company when he received a mailer
with a coupon offering a discount rate from All Star Moving and Storage.
Although the movers from
All Star handled the job very
well, Mills said, his billing was
messed up. He said he was
overcharged, and the manager gave him the runaround
repeatedly when he complained.
“Well, I was very infuriated. Some of the furniture listed on my bill wasn’t even
mine,” Miller said. “I tried to
get them to address my bill,
but they wouldn’t.”
Brittany Bridgeman also
received an All Stars flier in
the mail advertising an affordable move.
“$39.99 an hour for two
men and a truck, $49.99 for
three men and $59.99 for more
than three movers. I wanted
three,” Bridgeman said.
Bridgeman said the move
took three hours and she paid
$960 in cash. She said she never received an invoice. Bridgeman, too, said some of her
furniture was damaged. She
said she complained about the
experience but no one from
the company called her back.
“It’s sad because people all
over the Valley are having the
same issue,” Bridgeman said.
Amru Abdalla disputed
Bridgeman’s version and said
it took the company six hours
to move her and Bridgeman
paid $220.
“I’ve only received one
complaint about my movers
intimidating anyone, and that
employee was fired on the
spot,” he said. “When you do
600 moves a month, you will
get complaints, and usually
when we hear about them, we
can resolve the issue. We are
the Number 1 moving company in Phoenix. ... We don’t
want unhappy customers
ever. When you factor that
four or five people have complained to Call 12 for Action,
that’s not much.”
Amru Abdalla denied that
the practices he and his father
were sued over in 2010 remain
in place.
“I’m not looking to do this
for money. I have plenty of
money,” he said. “My father
and I started this in 1994, and
after all this, I believe this will
be my last year in business. I
have lost too many people because of it, and I’ve lost my
reputation.”
Feds regulate movers
The Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration is
tasked with regulating the
moving industry, but it only
investigates movers from out
of state coming in. The federal
agency can impose civil fines
up to $25,000 and can revoke a
company’s license.
For local or in-state moves,
people can turn to Weights
and Measures either during
A Gannett Newspaper Copyright © 2014 The Arizona Republic 07/26/2014
Roberts
nessman who has raised nearly
four times as much as Smith
and will enjoy support from
the business community.
Page : F02
caid expansion. Tea-party
hopes lie with Vince Leach of
Tucson and Mark Finchem of
Oro Valley.
field Park councilwoman who,
to my knowledge, has never
tried to sleep on a bare mattress in an empty house to
» Have someone present when
your goods are picked up and
delivered.
» Go over items as they are delivered. Document any missing items
and note any damage.
» If a moving company is attempting to withhold delivery, contact
the Arizona Department of
Weights and Measures at
www.azdwm.gov or 602-771-4920.
OTHER RESOURCES
» For interstate moves: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, www.protectyourmove
.gov or 888-368-7238.
» Industry-funded group that
assists consumers: Move Rescue,
www.moverescue.com or 800-8321773.
Sources: 12 News/Arizona Republic
research, Arizona Department of
Weights and Measures
or after a move if they believe
they’ve been wronged.
Interstate issues
Interstate moves can be
perilous, particularly because
it can be difficult to tell what
company actually will be
packing and hauling your belongings.
“If we get 100 complaints,
you can bet 99 of them will be
about movers coming from
out of state,” Marquez said.
Three months ago, Erna
Pontillo, 53, drove from Fairfield, Conn., with her mother
and pets, hoping to make it in
time to meet the movers.
The movers never came.
Each day she waited, she
became more frustrated. If
she wasn’t there to meet the
movers at a moment’s notice,
her belongings would be sent
to storage, she was told.
“People don’t realize how
this messes your life up,” Pontillo said as she waited weeks
ago for the movers in her Gilbert home. “Everything, everything I own is in that truck.
Everything.”
That night, five hours after
the movers had been scheduled to come, they arrived.
State regulators and police
were there waiting — to supervise the move, cite the
mover for vehicle-safety issues and notify federal regulators who have enforcement
authority.
Pontillo chose Colonial Van
Lines, a broker company
based in Florida, because she
recognized the name. According to Weights and Measures
records, three other subcontracted companies were involved in Pontillo’s move. One
picked up her belongings, another delivered a quarter of it,
and another delivered the rest
June 9.
Colonial Van Lines checks
the moving companies’ insurance, license and complaints
with the U.S. Department of
Transportation before connecting them with customers,
said Cicely Cloudy, the company’s customer-service manager.
Marquez urged customers
to work directly with a moving company, not a broker, so
that they have one point of
contact throughout the move.
Includes information from Call
12 for Action reporter Stacia
Naquin of 12 News and Republic
reporter Michelle Ye Hee Lee.
July 28, 2014 4:54 pm / Powered by TECNAVIA
doesn’t chair a committee.
Seel is running as a team with
Thurane Aung Khin while the
district’s other incumbent,