Problems with Moving Brokers
Last updated May 2024
Do an internet search for “local movers” or “best movers,” and many of the listings will be for brokers posing as local outfits. These middlemen usually do not own or operate any trucks, or employ movers; they simply collect a deposit and sell your job to a moving company, which does the work.
If you use a moving broker, you have no control over who actually performs the work, and you may get stuck with a lousy company—and little recourse for problems. Brokers typically collect fees up front, and may be uninterested in mediating disputes for whoever they hire. Plus, brokers sometimes can’t find moving companies to handle jobs they’ve taken on, leaving customers scrambling.
Even worse, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration warns that some brokers mainly work with unlicensed or otherwise disreputable moving companies. Consumer agencies receive high numbers of complaints about brokers, many filed by customers who got stuck with rogue movers that refused to honor price estimates.
Unfortunately, many moving brokers employ savvy salespeople who mislead customers about what their companies do and don’t do. If a moving company can’t provide a local address where it parks its trucks or won’t come to your home to prepare a written estimate, those are big red flags—you may be dealing with a dishonest broker.
