Don’t get scammed

By: Jerry Zaf

A little about me and what I’m trying to achieve with my blog.

I started my involvement in the moving industry 9 years ago. I worked for a moving company located in the Bronx, NY. I was a helper for about a year and was then worked my way up to local foreman, long distance driver and ended as a semi trailer driver. 

You can say that I have went through all the stages of moving and now for the last 5 years, I am the owner of my own moving company. I met my wife when I moved her, and built my house from moving salaries.

While working in the moving industry I have seen many things, particularly the way moving companies deal with customers. I have seen the good and I have seen the bad, but I have always kept my ways straight and honest. I have witnessed customers getting ripped off, sometimes so badly that they are crying and begging for a break. I have seen people getting overcharged thousands of dollars and were still happy and even tipped the movers (very strange huh?). When I opened my moving company, my vision and philosophy was that I am going to make a difference in the industry, but I quickly discovered that making a difference is not that easy. I found myself competing for the business with companies that low ball the customers and get the business by telling lies. I also found out that it is almost impossible to convince a potential customer that the quote that they got is not real, and that they will end paying so much more. But the low price is a powerful weapon and that is the way the companies get you! Part of my fight is this writing this blog, and trying to explain and educate my customers and anyone that is moving, particularly long distance.

By now my company has relocated thousands of families. I cannot say that they were all perfect and smooth but I can tell you that at least 90% of my customers will use me for their next move.

There are no perfect moving companies but there are some that try to do the right thing while others are just here to make money by any means.

You don’t have to be another victim of the moving industry, all you have to do is research to avoid the problems, just be open minded don’t focus only on price.

My next blog will be about national movers vs. local movers

Moving? Weight or Volume?

Weight or Volume?
By: Jerry Zaf

Anyone that has ever experienced a long distance move out of state knows that a moving company will calculate the cost of you move either by weight (pounds) or volume (cubic feet). 

Just to give you some background information, about 10 + years ago, the only way to moving companies calculated the cost of a long distance move was based on the total volume loaded or cubic feet. Many customers were taken advantage of  by moving companies who basically "stole" extra space on the truck and charged the customer more by making their load seem a lot bigger than what it really was. Moving companies preyed on the customer's trust by either poorly stacking the job or in some extreme cases added a lot empty boxes to the load to make it appear larger. Unfortunately some companies still operate this way and these unethical practices can cost the customer thousands of dollars.

In order to make the calculation process more honest, the American Moving & Storage Association (AMSA) came up with the idea of calcuating the moving cost based on weight. The idea is simple: weigh the truck empty, load the customer's belongings, weigh the truck after and voila the actual weight is calculated. Or so you think! Moving companies found a way to beat the system here too by again taking advantage of the customer's trust. They would often come to the customer's house with almost empty fuel tanks and then before going to the final weighing, would fuel up the tanks. Full fuel tanks can add 200-300 pounds. Sometimes they would even have all the movers stay on the truck at the final weighing adding again more weight to the truck and more weight to the customer's bill. 

So, what is the best way to go: weight or volume???

I'm afraid to report that neither one is better than the other. But you can avoid being scammed by being involved in the process every step of the way. If you go by cubic feet, don't be afraid to watch the movers loading the truck, check it out, watch how they stack it. If they see that you are keeping a watchful eye, they will less likely look to pull a fast one one you. If going by weight, make sure you go to the weigh station before and after. Ask questions, let them know that you know what you're talking about!

And as always, do your research! Check out DOT information and BBB information on these companies! 

My next post will touch upon why some companies feel the need to cheat to make it.

http://www.houstonfinestmovers.com
http://www.dallasfinestmovers.com

 http://www.fortworthfinestmovers.com
 

Moving - not that simple

In my blog I will explain about local and long distance moving,  Avoiding bad movers smart ways to research your movers, how to save on your move without risking the quality and will be happy to answer any quoins that any one will like to ask, so let’s start with the most interesting moving topic and that’s is Price!

Ok how much should we pay for a move? No one want to be taken to the cleaner, regardless if you are poor or reach, so how do you avoid paying way to much without risking dealing with bad movers? Aha! that’s is the quotation because that is how bad movers get you, they will give you the price you want to pay,  it’s too good to pass, so you forget the research aspect, and just go with them. As a mover sometimes we get calls from customers that asking for a quote, and when we give them the quote they say wow! That’s way more than my other quote,  and when I hear the price of the quote that they got I can see clearly that the price does not make since, the price it will hardly cover the fuel, and most of the times when we explains that to that person they usually don’t get convinced, and I can only guess how there move ends.
The first thing in choosing a mover is the elimination process, if the price sound to low it’s probably a scam, if  you get 3 quotes(witch is not enough in moving you should get at list 4-5 quotes)and one is $100 and the others are $200 you know that the cheaper one might be fake! Today trucks that use diesel make about 6 mile per gallon and a gallon is about $3.80, and let say the movers need to get to you and back every 6 miles will cost them $3.8 means that if they drive 40 miles the fuel will cost them $25, so let say if your job will take 5 hours and you have 2 movers and the company pays them(avg pay for a foreman is $12-$15 per hour and helper $10-$13 per hour)the cost for the company will be $165 so if you get an offer to move you for $150 or even $165 it does not make since! Company need to make some profit, the right price for this move will be more like $380-$450, don’t forget companies pay drive time for the movers and need to pay taxes insurances and many other expanses.
So first lesson is get at least 4-5 quotes, if one or more is way low just let it go, you can kind of try to make your calculation how much the move will cost to know if the quote that you got can be real.
Choosing the right movers