Written by and updated over the years by various contributors
If you’re new to the MovingScam.com message boards, we’d like to welcome you. This is a very active community of consumers and volunteers who are gracious enough to donate their time (and often a lot of it) to help folks who are preparing to move.
To find what you’re looking for faster, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the information below.
Most importantly
We’d like to thank you for using MovingScam.com to help you with your move. MovingScam.com’s ability to help people comes from the many hours that you and others have put in, taking the time to write about your experiences, both good and bad. It’s those experiences that help others, whether they are looking for a reputable mover, or find themselves in a troubled situation with a fraudulent moving company. Your input truly is what drives this website, and we greatly appreciate your support!
Frequently asked guestions:
Q. Can you recommend a good mover to move me from Oldtown to Newville?
We used to say “no.” Out of an abundance of caution, we urged people to do their own research and make their own decisions based on that research. In recent years, we’ve started recommending and actually endorsing a few companies that have a large number of excellent reviews and few or no complaints. However, we still provide you with tools to find a reputable moving company on your own. We’ll be there along the way to help you investigate and narrow down your list of companies to choose from, but because you know your geographic area better than we do, you should be the one to do the initial research. We’ve provided you with an abundance of tools, such as the Super List and the Review Verification System to get you started.
The good news is that not all movers are bad, far from it!
To help consumers identify the good ones, this website has compiled a list of reputable and not so reputable movers that we call the Super List. This list brings together almost everything that has been posted here about moving companies since 2003. It is an attempt to help people find a good mover, and avoid a bad one, based on MovingScam.com visitors’ actual experiences with specific companies.
The movers that are listed at the top of each state’s posting with a “
” in front of their names are the ones with bad comments here–companies that have been described as abusing customers. The ones with “
” in front of their names are companies that people should probably be cautious about using–again, based on reviews and comments posted here. And the ones with “
” in front of their names are companies that, while they are not scammers that set out to victimize people, have significant negative comments here describing poor service quality.
Since the beginning of 2013, the decision was made to phase out the Super List, in favor of our new Review Verification System, which is helping us take some of the work out of reviewing for both us and you. As we have a limited staff, and moving reviews from the forums to the Super List is a time-consuming task, we ask that you find your mover in the RVS and post your reviews directly to your mover’s page. Simply click “Reviews” at the top of the page, find your move, click the link that will allow you to review them and start typing! It’s that easy. If you can’t find your mover in the RVS, you can add them here, but please be sure to be as thorough as possible when adding information to our database so that consumers who are new to this site don’t get confused. When adding a mover, please be aware that it may take up to 48 hours for that mover (and your review) to appear in the database. This allows us time to check for spam and research the situation before posting the moving company information and any accompanying review.
Q. Can I trust a recommendation that someone makes when I post on the message board asking for help in finding a good mover?
If a person recommends a specific moving company in response to your question, please be SURE that the person is either a moderator or a long-time poster on the message board. If the person is not a moderator, you can always send a Private Message to one of the moderators for confirmation that the company is reputable. As of 2/10, “twalker“, “MusicMom” and “Jeff.Walker” are moderators. Some long-time posters that you can trust are “BillAdams“, “BigLeeCalif“, “Movinghelper“, “ArchieWhite,” “PMueller,” “JAHaddow,” “BigDog”, “John Adams” and (for international moves) “Noone“, “INTL-GUY”, “JAHaddow” and “hardatwork.” Although some of them are moving company employees or owners, all have proven themselves to be fair over many years of posting here.
Q. When I start doing my own research on moving companies, how do I begin?
A good place to start is the article on this website titled “How to Find a Reputable 
Moving Company“. This article provides you with important information on where to look and what to look for. It will help you get going in the right direction when you’re looking for a reputable moving company. In fact, there are several good articles on this website. Just visit the “Articles” page for information and the Links page for external links to web pages helpful in researching your mover.
Q. Can I myself recommend a moving company on the message board?
Yes, as long as you’ve used it yourself. Self-advertisements by moving company employees and owners are not allowed.
Q. I’m thinking about using XYZ Movers. How can I find out whether anyone has had any experience with them?
As mentioned earlier, this is a very active community, and often the same companies are asked about over and over. Try using the Search page to see whether the company you’re considering has already been discussed. (If the company name is more than one word, put it in quotation marks.) Also, be sure to look at the Super List to see whether the company is included there. If you don’t find enough information, or if the information isn’t helpful enough, then by all means ask away.
Q. I’m thinking about using XYZ Movers and they aren’t mentioned on the Super List or in the RVS. How should I ask about the company? [PART 2]
When you post an inquiry about a company, help us out so we can research the company more quickly. Provide as much of the following information as possible: addresses, phone numbers, websites, email addresses, and especially DOT and MC license numbers. The moving company is required by law to provide you with its license numbers, so if a company won’t give them to you then you can bet that you don’t want to use that company anyway. Also (very important), let us know whether your move is a local (or intrastate) move, or whether it’s a move to another state (interstate) move. [Special note: van line agents almost always use the licensing authority of the van line for interstate moves, so they will commonly give you the van line’s license number if you ask. This is completely legitimate and nothing to worry about. It just makes it difficult to research the particular van line agent on www.protectyourmove.gov and other sites.]
New to the site? Try these tips:
Try a search first
Your question may have been covered in a previous topic, and the advantage is that you will get an immediate answer. Also, remember that when you are searching on the name of a moving company that consists of more than one word, you have to put the name in quotation marks to get reliable results. Keep in mind that URL searches won’t bring manageable results because all cases in which a .com or .net extension appears will come up.
Be sure to post essential information
When posting a question or situation to the message boards, it is helpful if you can provide as much detail as possible from the start. Tell where are you moving from and to, the dates when you moved or want to move, your budget for the move (if appropriate). In the event of a scam situation try to be as detailed as possible and include things like the date of your move, name and location of your mover, if possible the DOT and MC numbers as well as what happened (lowball estimate followed by demands for more money, delayed delivery, damage, hostage load, etc.).
Give your post a descriptive short title
(Example: “My move with All Star-New York”). Posts with simpler titles are easier for others to find and Google picks up topic titles more readily than posts within topics, so include the name of the moving company in the title if appropriate.
Follow up when it’s all over
To help others, please come back with a final report on your move, by posting your review in the RVS! Your review helps others determine if it is safe to use the company you just used, so keep in mind that if you had a good move with a company we want to hear about it as much as if you had a bad move. Most importantly, we want the TRUTH! No matter how your move went, detailing both the good and the bad helps give others a feel for your experience, and how it might affect them if they go with the same company. So please make sure you leave a detailed review after you move.
Related Articles:
How to Find a Reputable Moving Company
Consumers Guide to the Review Verification System
Positive Reviews are Just as Important as the Negative Ones
