Moving can be stressful, especially when it involves relocating across the country.
One Dartmouth woman claims she ended up being charged a much higher amount than the original estimate she was given. The moving company handling her move to Calgary says a “detailed inventory” was never done and that the end weight of her belongings was much heavier.
“When I first called in and got my estimate, [the booking agent] estimated me between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds and then I agreed to the estimate. Now they’re asking for just under $5,100. Originally it was $1,630,” said Crissy Travers.
Travers had booked with Smart Way Moving, which is headquartered in Ontario.
READ: Moving scams: How to avoid being ripped off
According to Victoria Taylor, who is a booking agent with Smart Way Moving, the majority of correspondence with Travers was done through email, and that further questioning about the process wasn’t pursued.
“We just never really corresponded through the phone until everything was said and done. It was mainly just through email, just really quick like I said. So, I figured maybe she had a good idea of what she was moving,” said Taylor.
“She didn’t really have any questions about how the weighing works, what’s involved with that, what an average weight for this and that is. Maybe that was my fault but I just kind of assumed maybe she had a good idea.”
While Travers says she agreed to the estimated weight of her belongings being between 2,000 to 4,000 pounds, the actual weight ended up being 6,320 pounds at a government weigh station.
Travers claims she hasn’t been provided any proof of the scale weight, but the company tells a different story.
“If she truly wants to dispute the weight or believe that it’s not that amount, we can do a re-weigh, we have those options, there’s no issues with that,” Taylor said.
Travers’ belongings have still not arrived in Calgary and are still en route.
According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the moving industry is one that people should invest a lot of time researching before booking.
“If at all possible, you should work with a company that can actually visit your location in person and do a quote based on the belongings that you actually have,” said Peter Moorhouse, the president of BBB serving the Atlantic regions.
“It’s really important to realize that any estimate that you get over the phone when the company hasn’t actually seen the actual physical premises and your belongings, that’s really just an estimate, there is no way to know over the phone how much stuff you actually have.”
According to the BBB’s website, Smart Way Moving has had several complaints registered against them.
“It’s important to note that all 16 of those complaints have been within 2018. So, in a relatively short period of time there’s been that many issues. Twelve of the complaints the company hasn’t responded to at all and one of them has been closed as unresolved all together,” said Moorhouse.
So, this is one of the ways where pre-purchase research really can be useful.”
A representative from the company told Global News they are willing to work with customers who openly communicate their trouble with being able to pay their owed balances
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