Belongings held in undisclosed warehouse

[BRandall94]

Hi,

I feel like everything that could go wrong did during my move this past Sunday, because of the many red flags I missed.

I was moving my stuff from Northern Illinois to Dallas, Texas. I am already in Dallas so I had a friend be present when the pick up happened. They packed up my stuff then almost doubled the rate after packing up. They transported the belongings to a warehouse in Chicago until payment is made.

I have contacted them asking for my belongings back but they will not give me my belongings until I have paid at least the rest of the initial quote (roughly $400 more than what I have paid so far). I asked where the warehouse was and they will not tell me until I pay them.

The only way online to pay is through a bank wire or money transfer, no credit card. At this point I would be willing to pay just to get my stuff, but I am not paying until I am in person in plain sight of my belongings.

I have opened a case with the US DOT anonymously. I feel very backed up against the wall with the moving company holding all the cards. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

[Jeff.Walker]

I would recommend the following:

1. First and foremost, contact Move Rescue immediately. They can help start the process of tracking down your stuff, helping you confront the fraudsters and, if you can find where your stuff is located, MoveRescue can help get a mover to complete your move. That being said, I want to be up front with you and let you know that I have no statistics on the success of MoveRescue, and again am not guaranteeing this will succeed.

2. Read our article “I’ve Been Scammed! What now?” which will give you many options to try to attempt to get your belongings back.

3. File a complaint with the FMCSA as soon as possible. Make sure you include details such as conversations (including where you were directed for reviews) and what led you to believe you were working with a reputable company. Include as many details as possible right up to when they left with your belongings.

4. Keep detailed notes going forward, and write up exactly what has happened up to this point. Make sure you log calls, conversations and times and dates they occur. This will help you keep track of things in case you ever need to use them in court. In addition, I’d advise writing down everything that happened up to this point while its fresh in your memory.


Let us know what, if any of our advice helped you.