legal question, need help

[shazbot]

I'm in the process of doing a long distance move, and i hired a moving company. I give the girl a pretty complete list of items, and she quoted me the cubic feet for all of that stuff. The only problem is she severely underquoted me. I told her a 3 piece sectional, and she quoted me 70 cubic feet. The moving guys came, and said 1 of the sections is 70cf by itself. Anyways, her cubic feet estimation came out to be about 220 short, which translates to a good $2500.

I tried talking to the manager, but he says that you pay for cubic feet, and that we added on extra stuff, things not on the inventory list. Which is true, but we also didn't take some of the stuff on the inventory list, and opted to use that CF for other stuff. Anyways, is there any sort of legal backing to our case? IE misleading business practices or something? The supervisor said that we broke the contract by changing the items in the inventory, and that we get charged for how much space we use, and thats the bottom line. My only argument is with the quote and huge difference between it & the actual cost.

 

[minendo]

Keyword:

estimation

 

[Encryptic]

It's an estimate, not a solid figure. If they had specifically put this down on paper as the real deal and not just an estimate, you might have a case. Otherwise, you're pretty much SOL, unfortunately.

 

[torpid]

Yep.

some movers will come to your place ahead of time and give an official price quote by analyzing what you have. that's the only time you even have a remote chance of a case. on the other hand, if the person had quoted you an incorrect RATE per cubic foot, you might be on to something.

 

[TwinkleToes77]

my inlaws just hired a moving company and they guaranteed to be within 10% of the estimate. Do you have some documentation actually showing you gave her a list of specifics that would be in it? and how much did you actually add to make that much of a difference?

But besides that, your pretty SOL, you would have had to pay what you did anyways.. It just sucks that it caught you by surprise. Oh and if something seems like too good of a deal.. it probably is.

 

[shazbot]

they did the quote over the phone, and I gave her a pretty complete inventory. I told her a 3 section L shaped couch, with a 2 cushion section & 3 cushion section, and she estimated that to be 70 cubic feet. The guys came over, and saw the 3 cushion section, and said that itself was 70cf... This is such a headache.

 

[woowoo]

Moving scam
You are a victon of a widespread scam
Read and understand

 

[shazbot]

i follow the whole pay by CF deal, its just that the CF they quoted me and what they used was so different. it was off by 30%. I mean 10-15% is reasonable, but 30 is way too high.

 

[shazbot]

oh wow, that guy's story is just like mine, i don't have time to deal with this crap, I have to be in CA by next week, and start my job the following week. =\

 

[woowoo]

Originally posted by: shazbot
oh wow, that guy's story is just like mine, i don't have time to deal with this crap =\

Thats how the scam works.
They know it is a hectic time in your life.
Pay by credit card then dispute the charges......
It might work

Or make them charge by weight.

They will hold your stuff until you pay them
Get even on the backside.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

http://www.movingscam.com/theScam.shtml
Wow. Sounds like what happened to you hun?

 

[Rumpltzer]

I moved two weeks ago out of my university apartment. I owned no furniture (not even a bed!). Mostly I just have books and kitchen stuff, lots of clothes, a couple of large CRT monitors and the contents of my desk. It was about 45 cu ft total, and it could have been two-thirds of that if the guys didn't pack the way they did.

My company paid for a full pack and move (60 miles). The bill was $2800. My co-worker says he moved ten miles to a new place last year with all his furniture in a three bedroom house (wife and son). His estimate was $550 and it came out to be $800 in the end. I assume he didn't get the full packing, but wow. It seems moving costs are pretty variable.