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The ongoing saga of an unregulated moving industry and frustrated consumers Is there a viable solution to improve public protection?
By Ritika Dubey | The Registrar
Moving to a small rural community in Nova Scotia from southern Ontario was distressing and expensive for Jenny’s family. In February 2020, the family hired Move Me Again Transportation to coordinate and manage the move of their personal items to the Maritimes. They spent a considerable amount time comparing quotes from various moving companies receiving quotes that ranged from $8,000 to $12,000 and settled for the least expensive estimate of $2,000.
Warrillow shared with The Registrar that on moving day, she was hastily rushed into signing documents by the moving truck driver, unknowingly agreeing to a “flat rate.”
“Key to their scam was a section about the flat rate. The driver had checked off a box to say we agreed to pay a flat rate for the move instead of the quoted rate based on the weight,” she said. “But the conversation we had with him was that we wanted him to weigh the contents of the truck and we would pay based on that.”
The bill handed to them was now for $6,700, a 108 per cent difference from what they had been quoted.
Hundreds of similar cases have surfaced since 2018—when multiple scam companies were charged, but the Crown dropped the charges because of lack of evidence. In 2019, over 600 complaints and multiple inquiries about movers and moving companies, were registered with the Canadian Association of Movers (CAM) and the Better Business Bureau (BBB), a report says.
Nancy Irvine, president of the Canadian Association of Movers (CAM)
However, there’s no governing body to protect consumers from fraudulent moving companies.
“I’ve spoken at length with an official at the Ministry of Consumer Protection regarding my case, and he couldn’t help me,” says Warrillow. She’s now helping other victims through a Facebook group.
The moving industry was deregulated in the 1980s to improve consumer-oriented services like cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and reliability.
However, accountability is only voluntary through organizations such as the Better Business Bureau.
“Moving is widely known as one of the top three stressors in your life,” Nancy Irvine, president of the Canadian Association of Movers (CAM) says. “You’re moving because somebody died, or you got divorced, or you’ve got a new job in a new city.”
While already struggling with changes, “these moving companies get a consumer confused without the consumer knowing they’re confused about things,” Irvine says.
Irvine tells The Registrar that scammers first appear professional and convincing — borrowing company names like legit firms, lowballing estimates, and providing detailed Excel sheets to appear genuine. After the pickup, these scammers either keep the household items hostage for more money than agreed upon or flee with the upfront fee while unloading the items in a garbage dump.
Rocco Giordano Scocco, principal lawyer at Scocco Law
Consumers, on the other hand, can’t approach the police for help in this situation. Irvine explains that a moving company asks for an upfront fee — considered a civil issue —leaving little power to the police to interfere.
There are ongoing efforts by CAM and BBB to educate consumers on scam moving companies, but the rising cases and helplessness among consumers falling victims has been overwhelming for governing bodies, investigators, and lawyers to resolve all the cases.
Warrillow told The Registrar that despite developing links with the Toronto Police division that deals with the “prolific group of companies,” the division can no longer refer complaints to the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. “...because the Ministry said there were too many and please could they [the police] just tell victims to file their own complaints,” she said.
“The simplest way to crack down on rogue movers is to have licensing,” says Rocco Giordano Scocco, a principal lawyer at Scocco Law in Toronto, who works in consumer protection and has been actively working with victims in mover scams.
Scocco believes a licensing body would ensure companies are upholding the ethics, ensuring they’re abiding by Consumer Protection Act laws, and if found in violation, the license could be revoked.
“It’s just a box you check off: licensed or not licensed,” says Scocco. “If a company is found scamming, they’d be operating without a license. All a police officer would have to do is just find them. It’ll make it very difficult for scammers to operate in the long term.”
While penalizing fraudulent practices, the potential regulatory body shouldn’t come as “a burden on the good movers,” Scocco says. “We want a system that doesn’t hurt businesses of good movers, or over-complicate it,” Scocco tells The Registrar. “The rules for licensing should be simple. It shouldn’t require a lot of paperwork or filing.”
Since March 2020, tens of thousands of Canadians have relocated to Nova Scotia from Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. This migration has resulted in a lucrative market for moving companies that offer deals so low, it becomes lucrative to budget-conscious families.
Geoff, 45, also recently moved his family from Ontario to Nova Scotia. He says he too could have been scammed and stresses the importance of not taking the deal that seems too good to be true. “I think caveat emptor is the Latin term for ‘buyer beware,’” he says, adding that although quotes for his move ranged from $2,000 to $12,000, scam artists were easily identifiable. “When unrealistic promises are made, contracts aren’t signed, or the fine print isn’t read, then we open ourselves up to fraud,” says Geoff who wishes to withhold his last name. “Unfortunately, that’s when the unscrupulous professional wins and will keep on winning.”
Although a licensing body would help reduce the rising number of scams, it wouldn’t solve the issue. There will still be companies trying to make a quick buck, and consumers trying to save some money with the cheapest option.
Regardless, there seems to be a huge “oversight that our government has let this one slide,” Scocco says. “Families are being hit right at their home where their entire life gets loaded onto a truck and held ransom. It’s unfortunate that our government hasn’t paid attention, because there have been attempts, and people have asked for attention to this matter.”
