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A lot of people are moving right now, so I wanted to make a little PSA about a common moving scam to which I almost fell prey this week as I moved from CA to NM. The perp was @intlvanline. 1/?
I got a quote from a salesman named Justin Davis in June. It was in line with other quotes and IVL had good reviews. (At least if you don’t dig too deep.) I booked them and provided an inventory, which I updated over the course of the summer as I sorted and made decisions. (2/?)
Everything was going well until the day before the move, when I was informed that @intlvanline would not be doing the move themselves, but contracting with a local company, Y&O movers out of Oakland. Already had a bad feeling, which I should not have ignored. (3/?)
Day of the packing arrives. Movers are supposed to pack one day and move the next. They show up mid-afternoon after we have to call them several times. Nearly six hours late at this point. They do a walk around and immediately announce that we have “too much stuff.” (4/?)
They want 70 PERCENT over our binding estimate. They claim that there are things in our house (but decline to say what they are) that can’t be packed in boxes and they didn’t bring enough boxes, anyway. (5/?)
They say that unless we agree to the new higher price, they will only pack what they can put in the boxes they brought and we’ll have to figure out the rest. (6/?)
Meanwhile, we’re frantically trying to get Justin or anyone at IVL on the phone, and they are studiously refusing to answer calls or texts. Eventually, the “supervisor” of the moving crew calls and here’s where the real scammy fun starts. (7/?)
He basically says, used car salesman style, “What do I have to do to get your belongings into this truck?” He’ll knock off a *generous* one or two thousand off the “new” price if we just agree to let them start packing. (8/?)
Well, we decided on the spot to see if we could find other movers. This was extortion, pure and simple, and we weren’t playing their game. (9/?)
I have my husband start calling other movers right away while I stay on the line with the “supervisor” and keep trying to get someone from @intlvan to intervene, still thinking that this is a problem with their subcontractor and that they can fix it. (10/?)
Oh, and just for some #casualsexism fun, the “supervisor” demands at one point to “speak with my husband” because I’m not being reasonable. (11/?)
Eventually it’s already the end of the day. We’ve got hotel reservations. I’m starting a new job in a week. I have a 2-year-old. After being told that the “compliance officer” from IVL will get right back to me and she of course does not it occurs to me: I’ve been scammed (12/?)
At that point, we really don’t have any other choice. We book the other movers (who were great, btw; thanks, @Atlas_Intl!) and tell the scammers to go home. If we have this much trouble on the front of the move, what kind of extortion are they going to try at the end? (13/?)
We are still fighting to get our $2100 deposit back from @intlvanline. The scamster in chief—the “compliance officer” Daisja Brinson who never called us back when it became clear we weren’t going to be extorted—refuses to say what wasn’t on our inventory. (14/?)
She also refuses to refund our deposit or explain how it was unreasonable for us to cancel given that their subcontractor tried to extort $5-6000 more from us. (15/?)
Looking back, there were a lot of red flags here, from the subcontracting to the late arrival. But moving, esp long distance with a toddler, is a stressful, busy time. I’m posting this, like I said, so that other people don’t fall prey to @intlvanline ’s scam. (16/?)
I’m kicking myself for not digging deeper into their reviews. People who do corporate moves with them are generally positive, probably because they never see the bill. But individuals paying yourselves: steer clear! They do this all the time, according to @ConsumerReports. (End!)
