‘We had to leave our bed behind’: Family has complaints about moving company

CHARLOTTE — A family moving cross-country to be closer to loved ones says they had one problem after another with the movers.

Natalie Nation has a tattoo in Latin. “It means be patient and strong,” she told Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke.

She says she’s needed to be both lately.

“It was my first time hiring movers. I’ve always moved everything myself,” Nation said.

She went with a company called Good Move USA but says the business kept changing the price and that it was too expensive to move everything.

“So we had to leave our bed behind, our mattress behind our mid-century modern dresser, our other dressers, our dining room table, our chairs,” she said.

Nation says the company also tacked on storage fees that cost more than $500. She’s not sure why.

And then, there was the delivery date. She thought the contract said Aug. 1. She didn’t realize the fine print that says delivery would actually be 5-31 business days after that. She says the movers showed up about two weeks after that time period.

“We have a 13-year-old and a 12-year-old. They started a new school in a new state across the country with none of their things,” she said.

In addition, she says some belongings didn’t survive the trip and had water damage.

Which brings us to insurance. Nation says she would have gone with the higher coverage, but the company had crossed it off the paperwork so she only had one choice: the basic plan.

“If we don’t learn from it and other people don’t learn from it, then it just repeats itself,” she said.

Action 9 tried for more than a month to get in touch with the movers. It didn’t respond in time for this report.

Rules of thumb for moving:

- Get multiple estimates and get them in writing.

- Read reviews.

- Be aware: the company you call may not be the one that moves you. Some are brokers.

- Read all the fine print.

- Don’t sign anything that has blanks.

- Moving out-of-state? The mover must be registered with the U.S. DOT.

- Moving in-state? Your state may require a certain license.

- Your homeowners or renters insurance may not cover your belongings during the move. So, you may want to buy the insurance the moving company offers. Just make sure you know what that covers.

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