Table of Contents
- 1. Hole in the Wall
- 2. Scary Hidden Fees
- 3. The Mover Got the Wrong City
- 4. Remember to Secure Your Load
- 5. Don’t Forget to Check the Weather
- 6. My Bed Moved to Tijuana
- 7. Cat in the Sofa
- 8. Always Get a Bigger Truck
- 9. Get Creative With Limited Resources
- 10. Only Choose Reliable and Reputable Moving Companies
Moving is never easy. It takes time to find a reliable moving company. You can deal with inclement weather, missing items, and unforeseen fees that make your moving trip a living nightmare. We’ve rounded up some moving stories to serve as cautionary tales of what to look for when planning a move.
1. Hole in the Wall

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“I had just moved into my new house and was excited to have my place finally. I had rented a moving truck and hired some movers to help me with the heavy furniture. Everything was going well until the movers accidentally left a hole in the wall. I didn’t realize it until they had already left, and I couldn’t get them to come back,” shares Chris Anderson, a teacher, and writer.
“I had to patch up the hole myself, which was a nightmare. Then, when I unpacked my boxes, I realized that some of my items were missing. I called the moving company, but they told me they didn’t have any record of my items. It was a nightmare-moving experience, and I would never do it again.”
3. The Mover Got the Wrong City
“Cross-country moving is costly. I quickly discovered this when we recently moved from Texas to New York,” says Todd Saunders, CEO of FlooringStores. Having decided to find a more affordable option, Todd hired a man with a large truck to fit his stuff. “We loaded up his truck, and he headed off to New York while we stayed behind for another day to finalize things,” says Todd.
Once the man confirmed his arrival at the house, Todd didn’t think much of it. “A few days later, he was ready to do the dropoff…except when we got to our new home, he was nowhere to be seen. He had the right street, house number, and city name – -but not the right state. He was in southern New Jersey, with all of our stuff.” Todd has to spend a day in an unfurnished home but earned a life lesson after all. “If we ever move again, I’m paying full price.”
4. Remember to Secure Your Load
When Kyle MacDonald, Director of Operations, Force by Mojio, moved across states recently, renting a UHaul truck with help from friends seemed the most logical idea. “The packing and the loading process went off without a hitch, and I was on my merry little way to my new state,” says Kyle. “The problem occurred the first night I stopped at a hotel for a few hours of sleep. Thieves broke the lock off the back of the UHaul and managed to get away with a few things.” Although they didn’t steal all the boxes from the truck, it was a big part of his items.
Luckily, Kyle likes to focus on the silver lining: “The hotel manager was apologetic about the incident and offered vouchers for my next stay with the hotel, which ended up being worth more than what was stolen.”
5. Don’t Forget to Check the Weather
When you’re moving, some things are bound to be out of your control. Like the weather, for example. “During a past move, I made the mistake of hiring a cheap moving company off Craigslist,” says Nick Mueller, Director of Operations of HawaiianIslands. “ It was clear from first sight that their truck was in poor repair, but at that point, I needed to be out of my rental and didn’t have time for other options.”
The move involved eighteen hours of spring rainstorms to Nick’s bad luck. “Almost every box in the truck had water damage, and many items inside were ruined past saving,” he adds.
6. My Bed Moved to Tijuana
When David Reed, Co-Founder of LLCStars, moved, he had a strategic plan with stops along the way. “Initially, the second stop was a consignment shop where I wanted to leave some extra furniture,” says David.
“Halfway through, the movers decided we must do that stop first. They had to offload some furniture to get the stuff back, then reload everything back into the truck.” While this seemed like an easy-to-do task for David, it caused some confusion among the movers.
After reaching their final destination and offloading the truck’s contents, the movers tell David they’re done for the day. “What do you mean, done? Where’s my bed? They left it on the loading dock of the consignment shop, which was now closed.” Flustered, sleepless and exhausted, David fell asleep sitting on an exercise ball leaning against the wall.
“The next day, I called the shop and learned they can’t accept beds, so they usually send them to the landfill. But in this case, an employee had taken it to donate to the needy. In Tijuana.”
7. Cat in the Sofa

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Everything went smoothly when Anna Chiranova, Founder of Uncanproudction, decided to move. After sending off non-essential items like furniture, extra clothes, and such, Anna thought she was off to a good start. “We go to head out and realize, um. Where’s our cat?” asks Anna. “We called the movers, and they said they’d keep an eye out for him. They found him hiding in a hole in the couch, terrified out of his mind.”
8. Always Get a Bigger Truck
“Just last month, my family and I decided to move from our small town home to the big city,” shares Chris Davis, owner of FaunaFacts. “We hired a moving company to help transport our belongings and were assured that everything would be taken care of. However, on the day of the move, we were quickly informed that our belongings would not fit in the truck,” adds Chris. Usually, this is one of the many questions you should ask a moving company before hiring them. Unfortunately for Chris and his family, that meant a different story. “We had to leave many of our furniture and valuables behind.”
9. Get Creative With Limited Resources

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Not everyone has the budget or time to plan a move. Allan Borch, growth hacker and founder of DotcomDollar, found a creative solution for moving from Texas to Ohio using Greyhound buses. “I moved with a trunk full of clothes and a wooden box,” says Allan. “I wore a big two-layer coat with the pockets stuffed full of underwear and a robe between the two coat layers I wore for the two and a half-day journey.” Now all Allan has to do is hop on another bus ride to get his cat and books that are still in Texas.
10. Only Choose Reliable and Reputable Moving Companies
Devon Wayne is a seasoned real estate investor, and he’s seen his fair share of moving nightmares. “A client hired some locals who claimed to be professionals to do the packing and moving,” says Devon. While that’s one of the first red flags when hiring a local moving company, some people still make this mistake.
“These strangers, having no idea of the packing safety, did a poor job. They arrived late, took extremely long, and slacked off amidst their work.” Other red flags like a truck in poor condition and poor handling techniques were clear. “The repairs and mending ended up costing twice the charge of professional movers and packers,” says Devon.
These moving stories are not sporadic. The Better Business Bureau estimates that moving scams in 2020 cost customers about $207,000. That’s still significantly lower than 10% of scams reported. To avoid moving nightmares, spend time researching moving companies, comparing quotes, and asking friends and family members for referrals.
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