by Dana Fowle
Aired August 6, 2021
We met Phyllis Plear outside of her Covington home … on folding chairs. It’s was about all she had when we met her. You see, few months later, the movers still had her possessions and a lot more of her money than she expected.
“I guess The red flags starting going up when they picked up, but I felt like I was between a rock and a hard spot. Like, what do I do now?” says Phyllis.
Ms. Plear contracted with a moving broker who would select a moving company for her move from Ohio to Georgia. The estimate – $3,683.77. Her contract shows she paid upfront more than $1,100 and would owe the balance moving day.
The broker picked All Time Moving out of Florida. On the big day, they arrived with a truck and lots of surprises.
“They said the amount had increased because of the amount of good and boxes I had.
Then it was like $3676 and, ‘When we deliver in Georgia because you have too much stuff it’s another $3676.”
A second contract, this one with All-Time Moving, now brought her total up to $9,353.05. More than 2 and a half times the original estimate.
In a complaint filed with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Ms. Plear wrote that the driver arrived in a tractor trailer but said, “he couldn’t not deliver due to hanging branches that would scratch his new rig.” So, he left.
Days later, she says, this truck arrived half full. She told Covington Police she was charged another $1,000 for this partial delivery in a smaller truck.
In order to get the rest of her possessions she told police, it would cost her another $1,000. And All-Time Moving, she said, wouldn’t take a credit card which would have allowed her to dispute the charges later.
Let’s do some math — she thought her move would be just more than $3600. In the end, her fresh start cost her $13,035 and some change.
Turns out she’s in the majority. The Better Business Bureau reports that federal data shows 57 percent of moving complaints are customers who say they were over charged.
The Fox 5 I-Team tried several numbers for All Time Moving. No one would speak to us. Management at the moving broker Allegiance Moving & Storage out of Florida said it had a short relationship with All-Time Moving and they will get “no further jobs.” And, while not contractually obligated to cover any issues but their own, Allegiance has agreed to repay Ms. Plear more than $12,800.
She’s relieved but still believes now what she told her husband during the ordeal about All-Time Moving and Storage… “They’re holding us hostage to get more money.”
It wasn’t the southern welcome one woman and her family were expecting when they made the move from Ohio to Georgia.
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