Complaint Review: Moving Relocation Systems LLC - Wallington New Jersey

Sound like you are stating that the 31 missing /stolen boxes weren't possibly ever put in the moving truck.  If this is your case then why did they tag these items as they were loading them onto their truck.

31 items that they tagged did not make it to our new residence in Florida.  Key word they tagged and on the moving manifest.

I am glad you are so knowledgable about the moving world ~ as I said I am not a big move person.  Luckily I am a senior citizen and have only had 2 big moves in my lifetime.

As far as large items a 17.4 cf stand up freezer is not small.  4 piece oak barrister is not small.  Night stands, TV entertainment centers, Lg. picture, power washer.  Brand new gas grill still unopened in the box dented and badly banged up still in the unopened box.etc.  Corelle dishes slammed around and shattered.~ all these things are not small items that got destroyed.

Having personal items missing like my Grandmother's & Great grandmother's antiques gone.  Lots of Stain glass items.  Brand new instapot, brand new air fryer never been opened ( bought for our new home).  Electric griddle.  Pyrex baking & casserole dishes.  Antique Apothocary Jars that I had collected for 45+ years.  Fans that my mother in law got me in Spain and in China and Japan.

A few words of encouragement would go a long way than to keep telling me who we hired was bad.

PBO (or Packed By Owner) allows a 3rd party insurer to deny your claim because the 3rd party will claim you didn't pack your items, or they simply didn't make it onto the truck.  From their perspective, if the boxes were lost, and they were PBO, then they didn't make it onto the truck, and then it becomes the customer's responsibility to move and not the mover's.  Again, this is their perspective.  Now, if the items are PBO, and the boxes arrive damaged at your destination, then the 3rd party can claim since you are an inexperienced packer and don't know how to pack your boxes, then it cannot be the fault of the mover if the box was poorly packed.  Again...excluded.  The 3rd party will generally pay when something large like a piece of furniture is damaged.

I think you get the picture.  The 3rd party company works for the interest of the mover - not the customer.  That's why the mover will simply pass you off to the 3rd party who gets to be the bad guy in all of this.  On top of it, the interstate mover has special protection under the law so that if you decide to hire a lawyer, you are prevented from suing the mover for such things as fraud, misrepresentation, negligence, and other civil torts.  It essentially limits you to exactly what the contract says.  The specific statute is referred to as the Carmack Amendment.

If a consumer hires a moving company, it actually becomes in the best interest of the consumer to actually allow the moving company to pack everything; this puts the moving company on the hook for everything.  It also becomes important for a consumer to select FRV or Full Replacement Valuation, which actually operates similar to insurance without the name "insurance".  It costs money and there is a deductible, but in a case where there would be a lot of damage, and the moving company packed everything, the moving company would be on the hook.  Is it expensive to have a packing service done?  Absolutely.  Which is why most people don't utilize the service.  Until of course they move, there's damage, and then the moving company asserts the PBO exclusion.

I also tell people if you end up packing everything, you should seriously consider renting a truck and doing the journey yourself.  You can hire guys through YouPack at origin, and at destination to load and unload.  It can be a lot cheaper as an alternative and you're in control of all of your belongings.

I'll leave you with this:  Years ago when the Federal Agency responsible for overseeing the moving industry was shut down and merged with the DOT, the head of the agency went before Congress (late 1970's) to testify.  When he was asked if he had to move across the country, and he needed to select a mover, which one would he choose.  His answer?  I would move myself.  Enough said.  Best of luck to you.

Thanks for your words of wisdom ~ a little too late.  I'm sorry I am not a big mover and am not experienced at dealing with unscrupulous scam companies.  I took them at their words for information, that is why I asked lots of questions before hiring them.  One being that I was fully insured if things wer broken or damaged ~ I would get replacement value and they kept reassuring us of this.

So what you are saying is that they can come in steal what they want and only pay me for items that show up damaged but nothing for missing items because of PBO.

Since being scammed by this company is the reason I am spending the time to put all of this in writing on the different consumer sites.  So in hopes that others will not be taken advantage of.

I had $4,695 worth of damaged or totally destroyed items because of their inability to tie down any items in the truck and just let things slide and settle as they would.  Small movers like the one you chose do not utilize air-ride technology in your trailer, which means stuff will likely bounce all over, whether the items were strapped to the sides of the trailer, or not.  HHG that ride in an air-ride trailer don't bounce around.  The only companies that use air-ride trailers are the large legit moving companies.

The company overcharged me $1,519+ for additional cubic feet for this move for which they then tacked on more fuel surcharge of $75.  I think you assumed the original quote was binding - it is not.  The original quote you received was worthless and not binding; it should not be relied upon for anything.  The only way it would have been binding is if someone had come out weeks before the move to see everything, and then provide you a quote in pounds - not cubic feet.  When you're quoted in pounds, then it doesn't matter how tightly packed the truck is.  Scam movers use cubic feet because they can charge more when the truck isn't so tightly packed.  Fuel surcharges are customary and are a cost related to every move.

When I contacted the company about these problems they told me to contact their insurer's and they would take care of everything once they had my claim filed.  I filed my claim for a total of $11,850 including $100 per day that I had to wait around my home for delivery because driver stated every morning for 4 days he would be there that day at 9am.  If you check your contract, I suspect the only thing the 3rd party company would pay for is damaged items at $0.60 per pound.  Delay claims are not covered in your contract, nor would they be.

I was told and under the impression that my things were fully insured for $61,162.  They marked an X in the box on their forms that stated .60 on the poundage for my lost or damaged items.  Sounds like you made a very bad assumption.  The mover has insurance to perform a move BUT that insurance does not extensd to you.  The reality is that movers cannot sell you insurance for a move because you need an actual insurance license in the state to sell insurance.  Instead, you are offered valuation.  Legit companies will offer you Full Replacement for a cost, and $0.60 per pound for free.  Sounds like you got the free valuation, for which you received about $267.  That might be correct.

I entrusted this company with personal family heirlooms stolen from me that no amount of monies can replace.  I was chargd for full service which includes disassembly and reassembly of furnishings, loading of all items and unloading and placement of items at final destination.  This statement alone is amazing, and why choosing the right mover is SO important.  With all of the legit movers like United, Allied, North American, Bekins, Mayflower, and a few others out there that move people everyday - people that have irreplacable belongings they consider priceless, then opt to choose a mover because they were quoted a good price that was too good to be true.  So if these items were so priceless, then why would you entrust these priceless belongings to a low-price mover???  I mean really??  I will never ever understand this thinking at all.  BTW, full service includes all packing of every box that's moved.  If they didn't pack the boxes, then you didn't really have a full service move.  On the other hand, you didn't really pay for a full service move either.

Upon arriving at our home in Florida at 8:20pm driver Julio and helper Warren  (whom I found out was hired off the street at the local gas station in town to help unload for 2.5 hours at $32 an hour ~ not a contracted bonded individual working for the MRS company.)  No moving company (scam or legit) has employees who perform moves for the moving company, let alone bonded.  I doubt any mover has bonded contractors; they're insured and that's about it.  You will find they're all independent contractors who may work with several moving companies, and scam companies...sometimes can only get the guy the mover finds off the street.  The only employees for a moving company work in the office, and perhaps the warehouse - although warehousing is often contracted out as well.

This company claimed that they had to rent a smaller shuttle truck to be able to come into my communitee.  Pictures are worth a thousand words.  Truck JJK LLC owned by the driver out of Clifton, NJ was not a rental shuttle truck.  You're assuming the driver is an employee of the company.  He isn't.  Since the mover didn't own the truck, then the company had to rent the truck, and they would have rented the truck from the driver - who again would not be an employee of the mover.  Even the legit moving companies - when you see one of their trucks on the highway, the trailer with the company's name on it - belongs to the company.  The tractor that is pulling the trailer belongs to the driver, who is an owner-operator and an independent contractor - not an employee of the moving company.

They are not even willing to pay me the federally mandated .60 on the pound for missing and damaged items.  If you packed the boxes in question (referred to as PBO) that are lost or missing, then the 3rd party company is going to claim those lost items as an exclusion against your valuation policy because the boxes were PBO.  The only way they would have to pay the missing items is if the mover packed the boxes in question and based on what you wrote, it sounds like the only thing the moving company did was move your items.

Moving is not an inexpensive venture.  It is labor intensive and every move is different.  Research the practices regarding interstate moving on the internet, but NEVER select a mover from the internet, as scam movers populate the internet.  Look for movers who are local to you that will come out and see what it is you have to move BEFORE your move takes place.  If the price is too expensive, consider moving yourself.  Choosing a mover from the internet is cheaper in the short-term.  Long term....it's much more expensive.  Best of luck to you.