How to File a Moving Complaint

There is a lot that can go wrong on moving day, but having your hired moving company provide inadequate service isn’t something that you would expect—or something that you should just let go. Moving services are expensive, especially if you’ve done a cross country move or paid for a full service package. And as with all services, if you didn’t get the value that you think you should have out of what you paid for, then it’s worth seeking out recourse. And in this case, that comes in the form of making moves to file a moving complaint.

There are a few common instances that warrant going on to file a moving complaint. These include:

Minor or extensive damage of belongings due to improper care
Lost belongings
Rude and/or dismissive service
Late service for pick up and/or delayed delivery of your belongings
Deliberate prolonging of services, especially when you’re being charged hourly
Unexpected charges or overcharges

Of course, this is not a complete list. If at any time you are left unsatisfied by professional moving services, then it is your right to file a moving complaint. Aside from just starting the process of hopefully getting some sort of remedy for the situation, by alerting management to inefficiencies in their services, policies, or staff you give them an opportunity to do better for the next person. And in fact, a reputable moving company will actually appreciate you providing them with this type of information. Here’s how to do it.

How to File a Moving Complaint with a Moving Company

There are quite a few places you can go to file a moving complaint, but we recommend starting with the moving company itself before moving on to other organizations. This way, the company has a chance to address the complaint on their own end and offer a solution before the complaint becomes more public.

Follow these three steps to file your complaint.

Gather any and all evidence of your claim

Contact the company

Decide what to do next

Other Ways to File a Moving Complaint

Sometimes interacting with the moving company isn’t enough to remedy your complaint. Fortunately though, you do have other options that you can take.

File a moving complaint with the American Trucking Associations (ATA). In addition to connecting consumers with reputable moving companies, ATA also serves as an avenue for filing certain types of moving complaints. Any moving company who signs on as an ATA member agrees to comply with the ATA Arbitration Program, which is a program for filing and resolving complaints around billing disputes or property damage. Note that this is best for high level complaints—think getting charged hundreds or thousands of dollars more than you were quoted or damage to valuable furniture like couches and dining tables. However, you can also file more general complaints with the ATA through this form.
File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). You can file a complaint against a wide range of companies through the BBB, including moving companies. To get started, head to the BBB’s consumer complaints page, read through the information, and follow the necessary steps. Your moving company will be notified of the complaint within 48 hours and will have two weeks to reply to your claim. Whether the claim is resolved positively or negatively will be reflected on the company’s BBB business reliability report.
File a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The FMCSA is a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and oversees much of the regulation over licensed moving companies in the United States. Accepted complaints are those that involve claims over lost or damaged belongings, overcharges, or failure to deliver goods, as well as issues that you might be having related to the company’s license or insurance. Head to the FMCSA’s NCCDB page (it stands for National Consumer Complaint Database) and file your complaint from there. Your movers will have 30 days to acknowledge the claim and another 120 to either resolve it or dispute it.
Head to small claims court. A lawsuit isn’t the ideal way to file a moving complaint since it will cost you some money, but if you’re out of other options then it’s going to be your next best step. This is especially true if the moving company is denying responsibility for a claim where they are clearly at fault, or if they are refusing to offer adequate compensation. But because a small claims lawsuit may end up costing you more than it earns you, talk to a legal professional before pursuing this option so that you don’t end up spending more than it’s worth. If it is deemed to be worth pursuing, follow the necessary steps to initiate a suit in small claims court.

What Else Can You Do?

In a perfect world, all complaints would be acknowledged and resolved between the two parties—i.e. you and the moving company. Unfortunately though, it doesn’t always work that way. In that case, it’s always a good idea to share your negative experience through online reviews so that other customers don’t end up having the same situation happen to them. In addition to notifying others of what type of service they can expect to receive (and maybe encouraging them to go elsewhere if they want better service), writing a review also puts a bit of added fire under a company to resolve a complaint. Reviews hold a lot of weight for companies, and movers who weren’t open to resolving a complaint on the back end may change their minds once your complaint goes public.

While you might be quite angry about the situation by this point, follow the advice covered above about filing your initial complaint and try to be as clear and calm as you can when explaining your experience. This will lend more credibility to your review, and will also be more helpful for other consumers.

Hopefully you never have to file a moving complaint, but if you do, take comfort in the fact that there are lots of ways to go about it. As for your next move, use our online moving company directory to easily search vetted, reputable movers in your area.