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Know the Differences Between Moving Companies and Moving Brokers


When some people get an estimate for a move, they think its too expensive, but they still need to move. They decide to go with what seems like a cheaper option, but comparable service. This is when it is necessary to determine whether you are dealing with a moving company or a moving broker.

Moving companies handle your move at every step, their employees give you an estimate, their employees pack and load your belongings onto a truck, their employees drive the truck however far it has to go whether it be a local move or a long-distance move, and their employees are the ones who unload your inventory at the destination.

Moving brokers do not perform any labor at all. They coordinate your move by hiring separate companies for each phase of the move. One crew might come to pack your inventory and load them into a truck, but they might hire another company or maybe just an individual driver to drive to the destination, then contract with a totally different company to unload the truck at the destination. At that point, there have been a number of different people and companies dealing with your inventory.

If there is a damage or loss claim, which company will shoulder the responsibility? Did each company give you their estimate or was the price only presented by the broker? Georgetown Moving and Storage had a customer who unfortunately had to deal with this. This particular customer had come into our storage from an apartment in Washington. They were satisfied with our local moving service, and now wanted an estimate to deliver their storage inventory to an address in New York.

They found our estimate a bit expensive for their liking, and decided to go with a cheaper option. The company they hired gave them an estimate for their move and told them they would come on a certain date and time for the pick-up. Georgetown Moving and Storage needed proof of insurance from the company coming to pick up this customers inventory.

The company that this customer scheduled with told the customer that they could not send him their Certificate of Insurance. This was because that company had contracted out the move to another company. When the customer learned this, they were hesitant to continue with the contracted service that they had never heard of. At that point, the customer was told that if they cancelled they would lose their huge deposit.

They went ahead with the move. When their inventory arrived in New York, the contracted company gave the customer a total bill that vastly exceeded the estimate the customer had discussed with the moving broker company, and refused to unload the truck until the total amount was paid. When the customer called the moving brokerage company that he had originally hired, they told him that the bill had to be settled with the driver and that they had nothing to do with the final bill. Unfortunately, this customer was forced to pay the entire amount or forfeit their belongings.

The customer reached out to Georgetown Moving and Storage and said that using brokers was the biggest mistake of his live, he said he should do his move with Georgetown Moving and Storage Company first place and he will be very satisfy.


Tags: moving broker, the moving company, movers vs brokers, moving company dc

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