10 Things Moving Companies Won't Say

The moving industry packs in nearly 55 percent of its business during the summer months, but often leaves a trail of frustrated consumers in its wake. The Department of Transportation receives up to 4,000 household moving complaints annually, mostly about loss and damage, poor service, or overcharging. The Council of Better Business Bureaus, meanwhile, reports that complaints about movers jumped from nearly 3,800 in 1997 to more than 9,200 in 2007.

Just ask Spyro Malaspinas, a victim of a botched move. He says that Nation Van Lines, which he hired to move his belongings from Austin, Tex., to Chicago in January 2003, hiked his bill from an estimate of $1,050 to nearly $4,300. The movers, according to Malaspinas, said his goods measured 500 cubic feet more than anticipated. When Malaspinas threatened to call the police, the drivers made off with his possessions, which he estimates were worth $47,000. Despite an FBI investigation and the March arrest of Nation owner Eli Peretz by the FBI for alleged crimes with another moving company, Malaspinas wasn’t thrilled with the final results: He only got back around $25,000—and never saw his belongings again. The experience was “paralyzing,” he says. “It’s not like somebody stealing your wallet; they have stolen everything you’ve got.” (Peretz’s lawyer did not return our calls; Nation Van Lines has since gone out of business.)