Rockefeller Asks Search Engines to Examine Report on ‘Unscrupulous’ Online Moving Companies

These moving companies employ a “bait and switch” tactic, Rockfeller wrote, as brokers provide prospective customers with one estimate online and carriers then charge higher fees. According to the report, in a sample of more than 1,000 customer files from two of the examined carriers, the price increased from the original estimate in 90 percent of the moves. In 35 percent of the moves, the price increased by more than $500, and in 15 percent of the moves, the price increased by more than $1,000. According to the report, customers are not notified about these increased prices until after paying a desposit, which, unbeknownst to the customer, goes to the broker rather than the carrier. Typically, customers are told about the increased prices within a few days of the scheduled move or after the carriers have loaded the moving trucks. In cases detailed in the report, if a customer is unable to pay the carriers the higher prices, the carrier will hold the belongings “hostage” or auction them off.

Customers were unaware they were dealing with a broker rather than directly with a carrier company in most cases examined by the committee. When customers are confronted with an unfamiliar carrier and higher prices, they are very often unaware that the broker and the carrier are affiliated, according to the report. Adding to the confusion, the report said, these brokers often model their company names after nationally recognized moving companies. The report described complaints from customers who, in part due to their interactions with the companies’ employees, thought they were working with well-known Budget Truck Rental and United States Van Lines. In reality, they were working with Budget Van Lines and United Van Lines, which are affiliated with one another but not with the nationally recognized brands.

There are laws to prevent these kinds of practices, the report noted: the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act of 2005 and the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, signed into law earlier this year. Additionally, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires that carriers do not stray from their estimates. However, carriers may increase their fees “if the shipper’s actual household goods do not match the binding estimate’s inventory,” according to Jason Romrell, Budget Van Lines president and chief legal officer, who testified at last week’s hearing (http://xrl.us/bnrisr). In most cases detailed in the committee’s report, customers were told by the carriers that the weight of their items exceeded the estimated weight, which would result in a higher price.

By using questionable SEO practices to “game the system,” Rockefeller wrote, these brokers are misleading customers about their business and their legitimacy. The companies “appear to be using paid links to inflate their popularity,” he told Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. “I know that your company devotes significant time and resources to improving the quality of your users’ searches,” Rockefeller wrote, asking that the companies review the report and its findings.

Google is “always looking for ways to make it harder for scammers to trick consumers,” a company spokesman said, so it appreciates the letter from Rockefeller, whose “concerns point out how important it is that search engines continue to have the ability to constantly and quickly improve our results for our users.” The spokesman said Google makes “more than 500 improvements to our search algorithms every year,” including an update in April to fight the kind of practices described by Rockefeller. We couldn’t reach Microsoft or Yahoo for comment.