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After watching ABC Nightly News with David Muir last night we here at Cord Moving thought it would be important to outline some don’ts when looking for a mover.

Finding a moving company on craigslist is one of the mistakes you must never make whenever you are moving your home or office to a new location. Your moving should be left for professional moving companies like Cord Moving and Storage agents for North American Van Lines to provide you with the most efficient moving services from packing and wrapping up all equipment found in your home or office to unpacking and putting them into their new spaces in your new location. Finding movers on craigslist has been identified as one of the easiest ways of turning your moving experience into a very unpleasant one Hiring movers on craigslist is associated with one problem or the other. Outlined below are the ten top reasons why you must never find a mover on Craigslist.

Many movers listed on craigslist display no trace of professionalism in their service deliveries. Craigslist movers are sometimes known to stop taking your calls as soon as your moving date is a few days away. Most times, the movers you find on craigslist will fail to show up at your home or office to effect the moving for which they were contracted.

Unlike what you get when you hire real professional moving company, movers you find on craigslist are always known to operate on the premise of insincerity in their service charges and the likes.

It is a well-known fact that most of the movers on craiglist are not insured as professional movers should be and must be in most cases. This increases the chances of loss of valuable items such as frames, mirrors, etc. during transit without hope of full recovery.

Most craiglist movers can handle short distance moving, but do not have the experience and expertise required to convey those fragile office or home appliances without causing any damage to the items.

The internet is known to be the home of scammers and fraudsters who are always in search of gullible internet users to rip off. Some of these scammers can be found on craigslist claiming to be a genuine moving company.

It is always hard to verify the claims of craigslist movers concerning their skills and experience. It is not easy locating people whom the moving company has helped move in the past.

Finding movers on craigslist comes with the problem of inadequate skills and experience on the part of the moving personnel as they lack the required knowledge to get the job done and if they have any skills at all it is because they once worked for a moving company and think they know what they are doing but there is a reason why they are still working for them.

Finding movers on craigslist increases your chances of losing very valuable items as these movers lack the professional ethics required to make sure items are taken good care of by packaging them well in containers or stacks that can be easily loaded into the truck and taken to the new place.

It will surprise when you get to know the number of so called movers on craigslist who are only interested in knowing your new home and getting familiar with the environment to enable them vandalize your home easily without much difficulties.

Judging by the large number of people who have been disappointed by the moving companies they found on craigslist, you will agree that they cannot be trusted to keep their words when they promise to show up.

Moving is one of life’s most stressful events. There are so many considerations to make. You have to think about all your belongings, whether to move them, throw them away or give them away. Once you have decided which of your possessions will be moved, you have to pack them and make an inventory. Next is the most critical part of the move which is choosing a moving company. The internet is a good source of information when it comes to finding a mover but there are sites that should not be used, like Craigslist, for example. This free classified ads site may be useful for some people but the moving services should be avoided like the plague.

Here are ten reasons why:

1. Craigslist is full of scammers. It is where moving scams hang around looking out for prey. To find out more, just Google ‘Craigslist scams’ and you will see plenty of examples. This is not to throw mud at the website, just a warning that using the site should be done with loads of extra care.
2. You cannot investigate the company. This is one of the reasons moving scams use Craigslist. All you get is a short, tempting ad offering low rates. You have no way of checking with the Better Business Bureau and other consumer protection programs, which moves us to a related reason.
3. Craigslist has no consumer protection policy. One thing that should be pointed out very clearly is that Craigslist is a free ads site, so all the administrators do is post ads. The site itself washes its hands on the issue; just go to their scam and fraud page.
4. Posting an ad on Craigslist is so easy that anyone anywhere can do it. There is no verification or background check on people who post ads there.
5. You have no idea who you are dealing with Pictures, whether personal or corporate, are not even required. Scammers would just add a contact number to an enticing ad claiming that they are a reputable and affordable moving company.
6. You cannot see their office or equipment. Again another reason scammers use Craigslist they want to be invisible and they can be invisible by using the website. They will not use an office if they intend to run away with your money or goods as happened to the lady on ABC News last night she lost everything. You cannot see their equipment, whether it’s a truck, van or loading gear that you want to check out, for the simple reason that they do not have any.
7. They do not have a claims process. Reputable movers have a claims process to ensure that damages will be replaced or paid. Moving scams do not have this
8. You cannot get an estimate. This is another red flag if the movers do not offer on-site estimates; worse, they offer to give you a quote over the phone. Reputable movers like Cord Moving and Storage with offices in Saint Louis, MO Memphis, TN Belleville, IL and in Dixon, MO will tell you that they have to see the goods that will be moved to give an accurate estimate.
9. Scam movers will ask for money up front. Because you can’t see them, they have the guts to ask for a down payment or deposit which is illegal.
10. Last but not least because you should never try to save money to move your prized possessions. Admit it, you go to Craigslist because you want to stretch that budget to save a few hundred dollars. The reality is that there is just no way for a move to be inexpensive. You get what you pay for, as they say and in this case it could be worse, as in you lose more in an effort to save.