Moving Scam – Get Your Belongings

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Packing Service Inc

Moving Scam, Get Your Belongings.

How to Get Your Goods Close To Your Door When the Moving Truck Can’t?

Most of the time when moving long distance, the estimate cost that a moving company will give you includes many assumptions. One example is that the van will be able to deliver the goods from the truck to the door. But sometimes, the van won’t fit into the private access road, driveway or complex leading to the homeowner’s entrance way. When this occurs, the moving company and the home owner are bound by a tariff agreement which provides that the homeowner will pay extra for a service to shuttle his goods from the truck to his home entrance.

But what happens, now, if the situation is more complicated, and the homeowner and truck driver disagree, as to whether the truck can approach the house. In this situation, moving tariff’s specifically spell out that the driver has the right to decide if entering the road or driveway will potentially endanger his truck or cause damage to property. And if he believes there is a chance of damage, he has the right to refuse to drive close to the house, and the homeowner must choose one of the other means to bring his goods into carrying range of the home.

It is only right that the truck driver should have the final say. He is the one who bears responsibility for any damage; he is the one who would have to answer to any damage to the truck.

In truth, more and more scrutiny is being given to the problem of interstate van lines trying to pull up close to a small apartment dwelling in a residential complex. Many complexes, in California, for example, ban trucks over 40 feet long, and even these vehicles are only permitted to enter during the day.

Now, what about the extreme case, where the driver is lying, because he works for a moving scam company that deliberately wants to push up the cost of the move. In that case, it is best to play along with the company and try to gain back the lost money through arbitration. Stopping the move to argue about the problem only prolongs the work time and risks incurring steep overtime charges. Afterward, the victim can go to arbitration. However, considering the costs of the long carry and a shuttle, a victim is unlike to gain much if any compensation through legal means as the court costs will eat up any possible gain.

How do shipping and moving companies charge for a Long Distance move?

They charge by Cubic Feet or by the amount of Weight, and Packing Materials needed:

Cubic Feet: Cubic feet means by space: the more space your items take up in their truck the more money you will pay.

Weight: The companies will weigh the truck before they show up at your doorstep, to know the weight before placing your items inside. After your items are loaded, they will go back to weight the truck again. This will determine the difference in weight and ultimately how much you’ll end up paying.

Packing: When it comes to long distance shipping, the company will charge for the packing and shipping materials used and not for their time.

One Reputable company you can count on is Packing Service, Inc. who offer Flat Rate Quote Guarantying the price with the completion of the move in writing. Our motto is to help you avoid Moving Scam.

Posted in Move Scams Tips, moving scams | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Moving Scam – Before and After

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Packing Service Inc

Moving Scam – Before and After.

The Challenge of Getting Insurance Compensation When You’ve Been Victimized by a Moving Scam.

Insurance claims against scam movers may require some special procedures to insure that you get compensation for your lost and damaged goods.

The classical moving scam includes a low ball moving cost estimate followed by rapid escalation of the price, after the goods are loaded onto the truck. With virtually all moving scam companies, your goods will be put into storage, until the move is subcontracted to the delivery company.

When your possessions finally reach the destination they have passed through the hands of at least two moving companies, and one storage facility, and are probably going to be damaged and broken, with many items missing.

The basic requirements for filing a claim include making an immediate inventory of the damage, in the presence of the truck driver, and getting him to sign. The next two steps are based on regulations detailed in the Carmack Amendment, and preserved for nearly 90 years by the Federal laws and regulations governing interstate moves.

You must file your initial complaint with the moving company before the lapse of 9 months, and go through any recommended arbitration process. If you don’t put in your complaint, in a timely fashion, you lose the right for subsequent claims. Should the moving company be unwilling to come to terms with you, the next step, is to put in a claim in civil court. However, by law, you must wait until the end of the 9 month negotiation period before going court.

The last step is particularly pertinent to people who have been victimized by a scam outfit. But it isn’t that hard to do. The victim must track down the insurance carrier the mover was using when he moved the goods. I say “was using,” because many scam movers will have multiple company names, and will often change their insurance policy or carrier. This last step must actually begin before the move, because all homeowners moving with a lesser known carrier must be sure the companies making the move have a active license. If not, they won’t have insurance either.

Be sure to check out the company’s DOT number to make sure they are licensed. If a moving company is not actively licensed, then they have no insurance. Check out their BBB status, and check for information on the BBB website, that will show you how to see if the company is licensed.

Once you’ve gotten to the last step, there is a handy way to track down a company’s insurance carrier, and that is to use the FMCSA web site. Go to web address
https://lipublic.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_menu.prc_menu and put in the DOT number of the company, and their MC number and you should be able to pull up their current insurance record. The FMCSA web site not only lists the carrier’s current insurance, but also previous insurance policies, and dates. You must claim your money based on the insurance policy the company had at the time they moved you.

Just as a reminder, all of these steps taken after the move is over, won’t help at all if you didn’t make a packing list and have it signed by the mover before the move began. If movers do not agree on the Inventory and value of the items you moved, they can claim you subsequently falsified the insurance filing by asking money for goods that were never moved or were damaged before the move. Finally, keep in mind, all of these steps won’t help at all if you didn’t make a complete packing list, and go over it with the movers on moving day. Also you will only be entitled to .60 a pound compensation for your goods, unless you contracted with the movers to insure all or part of the value of the items you moved.

The best way to protect yourself from being caught in a moving scam is to take steps right from the start of your move. An ideal way to insure a safe move is to hire an honest packing company with a Flat Rate Quote. Then have them load your goods into locked shipping containers or Pods Containers, for which only you hold the key. Packing Service, Inc. is an honest packing company that is dedicated to protecting consumers from moving scams. They will not only pack and load your goods expertly; they will also help you find an honest shipping company to transport your belongings to the new location.

Posted in moving scams, Moving Scams Tips, Packing Services | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Moving Scam – Origin of Word Scam

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Packing Service Inc

Moving Scam – Origin of Word “Scam“.

The origins of the words scam go back into antiquity, through many derivations. The modern form of the word is first noted in a 1963 entry in an American slang dictionary. It is considered a “carnival term of unknown origin. Perhaps it’s related to 19th century. British slang scamp “cheater, swindler” This is the most plausible explanation of the word and provides a clue for further research.

In a dictionary published in 1837, the word scamp is defined as “do in a hasty manor.” From this reference, it is traced back to a Scandinavian source. The origin n Old Norse, from which the word may have derived is the word “skemma” to shorten. And “skemma” is believed to derive from skammr “short.” Thus far, imagistic ally, we can see a definite relation to the word scam. A scam artist, for example, might “short” his customer by not providing him with the full value of the service requested. He might do this by providing service in a hasty manor.

In this line of thought, the origin of the word seems to be the Old Norse word skamt, a form of skammer which dervies from the Proto German skamma related to the old OE scamm, all meaning “short.” The word scant, itself is said to have derived back in 1350 from the Old Norse word skamt, a form of skammr, which derives from the P Germanic skamma. So directly or indirectly, it appears that scam derives from the Germanic skamma, and the OE scamm, Interestingly, all of these terms are related to the old Germanic word. skemmen “to shorten” . Since taking off the top of something will shorten it, the word skemmen is sometimes taken to mean “hornless,” and one must wonder if there is a connection to the word” skim,” since the skimming process takes the top off of a food product. In any case, one might tie the meanings together, when one considers again, that a scam artist, “shorts,” a person.

Yet another possible derivation of the word scam goes through the word scamper, which means to run away. Scamper is related to the “Flem. schampeeren, frequentative of schampen “run away,” from O.N.Fr. escamper (O.Fr. eschamper) “to run away, flee,” from V.L. *excampare “decamp,” lit. “leave the field,” from L. ex campo, from ex “out of” + campo, ablative of campus “field” Both scamp, a likely derivative of scam, and scamper, connote haste. While it might be the result of coincidence more than intent, it’s worth noting that people who do scams, such as people who do moving scams frequently scamper away to avoid being caught.

Should the word scam derive from the word scamper, it is interesting to note that the Latin word campuse is related to the Proto Indo European word kampos a “corner” or “cove” from the base word kamp – “to bend”

It would be interesting to know if there is a Semitic derivation for the word scam. The common origins of Semetic languages and Indo-European languages go back 60,000 years, so it is impossible to know for sure, however, it is tempting to suggest that the word Kpoph, meaning “to bend” is distantly related to kamp “to bend,” since both words have the K and P sounds.

This report was sponsored by Packing Service, Inc. and is a national chain dedicated to providing excellent packing and loading services. Packing service Inc offer Flat Rate Quotes and are dedicated to protecting consumers from moving scam, and takes time to educate their customers regarding the best way to transport their prized possessions form one location to another.

Posted in moving scams, Moving Scams Tips | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments