A Maple Ridge woman wants to warn the public after a bad experience with a moving company.
Debi Pickering was told by a mover that he would keep her possessions unless she met his financial demands. She said he threatened to sell or burn them.
Pickering, 64, was making a short in-town move from her apartment on Edge Street to another on Royal Crescent – a distance of about four or five blocks. She had a one-bedroom unit with a den, no appliances. Everything was packed into boxes, by her and family members.
She said the mover quoted her $400 to $500 for the move, based on the cost of a moving truck and two men working for four or five hours in total.
“He was so nice,” she said, adding the ma said he took care of seniors.
The movers arrived at 2 p.m., and she was surprised that by 4:30 p.m. they were still loading the truck, with lots of work to do.
Rather than load up an elevator as full as possible, go to the ground floor, then unload it, she said the movers were dawdling, carrying one box down at a time.
When the truck got to her new place, the moving company owner arrived and told Pickering it would take at least four hours to unload, and that she would have to pay $800 total.
When she protested the sudden rate hike, she said he asked for cash and threatened to keep her possessions on his truck.
He told her he could sell them to pay the bill.
She said he even threatened to take her stuff and burn it.
“I burst out crying,” she said.
Her daughter-in-law tried to negotiate with the company owner, but to no avail. Instead, Pickering said, he insisted on getting her credit card information. She was reluctant to give it up, feeling that she was being cheated.
The company owner became irate, she said, pounding on the dash of his truck and making racist claims.
Pickering said she would go to the bank, but instead she went to the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment.
The police accompanied her back to the truck, and helped to mediate the dispute. An officer watched while the workers unloaded her possessions. Other than that, they refused to get involved in a civil matter.
She paid the movers $625, but they refused to finish the job, leaving left her dressers, bed and all of her boxes and furnishings on the side of the road.
“They literally took my stuff, and put it on the sidewalk, and they were laughing,” she said. “It was a total disaster.”
Later, Pickering, with the help of three other women and a 10-year-old, got everything into the apartment in two hours.
She said two professional movers would not have taken four or five more hours.
RCMP said the issue is a dispute between two parties, as opposed to a criminal investigation.
“This is a civil issue between a customer and a business,” said a spokesperson. “Ridge Meadows RCMP recommends getting a contract and agreeing to terms in writing before work commences when dealing with contractors of any nature.”
According to the Better Business Bureau, there is little regulation of movers, and anyone with a truck can get into the business. Its advice is to find an accredited mover, with a high grade on the BBB website, one with no complaints.
“The moving industry is one where you can see a lot of complaints,” said Evan Kelly, with the BBB.
He said people should get three quotes before they move, and get the details in writing.
Unfortunately, he added, it is not unusual for movers in a dispute over payment to threaten to keep their client’s possessions.
“It [moving] is a stressful time, and shady companies can take advantage of that.”
The BBB says to get everything in writing, including the time and date of the moves, ask for references, avoid cash deals and keep an inventory of everything being moved.
Pickering wants to warn the public, so other people don’t have their possessions held hostage.
“I don’t want other people to have the same thing happen to them,” she said.
