Making all the wrong moves

Jen Lawson

Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.

Moving tips

Suggestions from the Nevada Transportation Services Authority on how to improve the moving experience:

Obtain a list of certified local movers from the local Transportation Services Authority office, 2290 S. Jones Blvd., Suite 110, or call 486-3303.

Be sure the mover explains the various insurance options. You may need to purchase extra insurance to obtain full replacement of lost or damaged goods.

Get two or more estimates based on a physical inventory of your possessions. You are entitled to a binding, written estimate.

Get everything in writing. Don't accept verbal price estimates or pickup and delivery committments.

If possible, visit the mover's office beforehand to check out the equipment and warehouse conditions.

Discuss when and how payment will be made. Ensure that the contract reflects your understanding.

Decide whether you or the mover will pack your goods. Make sure your moving cotract will outlines what services the mover will perform and what work you will do yourself.

As goods are loaded, keep track of them on an inventory sheet. Check them again as they come off the truck. Note any obvious missing or damaged goods before movers leave.

Try to resolve any dispute with the company. If the dispute cannot be resolved, contact the Transportation Services Authority.

Make sure there are no surprises at your destination that will prevent the quick unloading of your goods.

Jeannie McGarrah's husband had just died and, in the midst of her grief, she decided to move out of the Las Vegas home they had shared.

She hired Smooth Moves Help-U-Move because it was the least expensive moving company she could find.

It was a decision she would soon regret.

Her move was anything but smooth. Nearly $20,000 in damage was done to her belongings and the movers were not insured.

McGarrah didn't know that state authorities consider Smooth Moves to be one of Southern Nevada's most prolific illegally operating moving outfits, and they say the company has a reputation for damaging belongings and not paying for repairs, jacking up fees at the last minute, holding customers' property hostage and taking longer than necessary to do a job.

On Monday, the Nevada Transportation Services Authority, which regulates in-state moving companies, filed a criminal complaint with the Attorney General's office against Frank Kahn, owner of Smooth Moves.

It is the first case in which a Nevada moving company has been pursued criminally, officials said.

Also on Monday, a task force, comprised of a host of state agencies, was formed to target illegal moving companies in a more streamlined manner.

"Our goal is to get these people out of business," said Byram Tichenor, chief of enforcement for the Nevada Transportation Services Authority. "I want to make sure no other people are hurt."

With Southern Nevada's real estate market booming, thousands of people are trading up or moving from apartments into newly purchased homes every month, and that makes the Las Vegas Valley a prime place for these movers to find business, Tichenor said.

According to Nevada Department of Motor Vehicle records, there were 89,888 changes of address for Nevada driver's licenses last fiscal year, and about 65 percent of those were in Clark County, Kevin Malone, DMV spokesman said. But many motorists do not update their license address when they move, so the actual number of intra-state moves is probably much higher, he added.

Meanwhile, movers that aren't certified by the state outnumber those that are: 80 uncertified movers are under investigation, and most are based out of the Las Vegas area. At least two or three people call the agency every day reporting problems with a mover, officials said.

As of July 2, there were just 27 certified moving companies across the state, with 18 of those in Southern Nevada.

"It's a bad situation that we're trying really hard to control," Tichenor said. "Unless you're an educated consumer, you're going to go with the biggest (yellow pages) ad, the snazziest ad ... You could be setting yourself up for a disaster."

However, Daniel Markoff, Kahn's attorney, said the transportation authority's regulations don't apply to the company because it gives moving referrals and doesn't do full-service moves.

Tell that to McGarrah.

When she decided to move in January she perused yellow pages ads and called several moving companies before Smooth Moves. Other companies were asking $70 per hour for each mover and Smooth Moves asked for $55.

The movers scooted the couches, chairs, table and bed frame across the concrete and threw items down the stairs, she said.

An appraiser estimated the damage to be just over $19,000. When she submitted the claim to the company, they sent over their own appraiser who pulled up in a karaoke truck.

"His shirt is all unbuttoned," McGarrah recalled. The man wasn't licensed or bonded, he told her, and just did this work on the side. "It's like a comedy. It's unbelieveable."

It's against the law for a moving company that's not state certified to advertise, but that doesn't stop some companies from doing it, Transportation Services Authority Investigator Art Lindsay said.

Licensed moving companies will have their certificate of public convenience and necessity number on their yellow pages or newspaper ads. Like McGarrah, however, most people aren't aware of that.

The uncertified companies can afford to charge less, Lindsay said, because they don't have insurance, don't offer benefits or overtime to movers, and don't pay the various fees necessary to remain in good standing with the state.

Smooth Moves Help-U-Move has a business license with the City of Las Vegas, but is listed as a moving referral company.

The city's business licensing department is investigating the company for operating outside the scope of its license, Jim DiFiore, the city's business licensing manager, said.

That agency is also investigating AAA Truck Rental, DiFiore said, which Kahn owns.

Legally, the companies have two separate business licenses, but they have been brought together and operate as one in the same workspace, Lindsay said.

AAA Truck Rental doesn't rent trucks to the public, it only rents trucks to Smooth Moves. In other words, Lindsay alleges, the company rents trucks to itself to skirt the law because it doesn't have a license to be a full-service moving company.

"It's really all just smoke and mirrors," Tichenor said.

Another way Smooth Moves is trying to evade the law is by saying they refer people to independent contractors, in some cases day workers, who aren't licensed or bonded, state authorities said.

But when a customer calls to set up a move, Smooth Moves sends the independent contractors without telling the customers that they aren't employed by the company and hold no insurance, Lindsay said.

"Illegal movers will just hire anyone, people of questionable intent," Lindsay said. "It seems to be an environment where theft would occur because they might not be back the next day and they have nothing to lose."

Sadly, Lindsay said, old people are often victims of allegedly rogue movers. He recalled a case in which a man in a wheelchair was charged $1,400 by movers who took two days to move him out of his one-bedroom apartment.

Elsie Collins, 65, alleges furniture and jewelry were missing and her bed was damaged after she hired Smooth Moves to help her relocate to a senior community.

The movers used her Simmons Beauty Rest mattress as a ramp to unload her furniture, she said.

A large octagon-shaped dining room table and chairs didn't make it to her new home, she said. Jewelry also was missing, but she didn't file a police report.

A few weeks later she discovered that her bed frame sustained serious damage. She was sleeping one night when she heard a thump.

"I got my flashlight and got on my knees and I was so shocked at what I saw. The legs underneath were broken," she said. "I'm sleeping precariously every night on this bed."

Property routinely gets damaged when handled by movers who work for certified companies, Lindsay said, but they have a system in place to compensate customers for damage and uncertified companies do not.

Elizabeth Boland said she found out the hard way that Smooth Moves lacked insurance.

A mover drove a truck into the back of her Ford F-150 pickup during the two-mile drive from a storage facility to her new apartment in March, doing about $1,500 in damage, she said.

The mover apologized, Boland said, but wasn't able to make amends because he wasn't insured to drive the moving truck.

Alan Mehr arranged for Smooth Moves to move his 80-year-old mother-in-law into a new home June 30. He said he had agreed to pay the three movers a total of $30 per hour, but after the move was complete they asked for $90 per hour.

Mehr refused and paid the original fee. The company accepted the check, but only after Mehr hesitantly agreed to give them his credit card number. He quickly canceled the card out of fear of theft.

"I told them, 'What you guys did was wrong,' " Mehr said. "I feel sorry for the seniors, these people who turn over their hard-earned money to these guys."

Transportation Services Authority officials hope the newly formed task force -- involving the authority, the state consumer affairs office, industrial relations, the department of taxation, labor commission and the investigative division of the attorney general's office -- will result in the illegally operating business being shut down or forced into compliance.

The authority has fined Smooth Moves $40,000 in the past four years but the company hasn't paid up, Lindsay said. No other moving company has been fined as much.

Under a law passed in the last year, the Transportation Services Authority can have the phones of uncertified movers disconnected, which effectively shuts the business down, Tichenor said.

But, Lindsay said, some companies -- like Smooth Moves -- just change their names slightly and get new numbers.

The company has been around since the mid-'90s. Smooth Moves was its third name, and last year Kahn closed that business and reopened it as Smooth Moves Help-U-Move, according to the city's business licensing office.

Authorities said they filed the criminal complaint because nothing else has worked. It accuses Kahn of seven counts relating to operating a moving business without proper certification.

If the attorney general charges Kahn, he could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for each count.

But the Transportation Services Authority isn't focused solely on Smooth Moves. One of the saddest cases investigated recently involved a teacher who hired a different illegal moving company.

She wrote the movers a check and they kept her property until the check cleared. But it bounced and before she could give them a replacement check, the movers auctioned off her all of her belongings, Tichenor said.

Then there was Cheryl Glantz's experience with Insta-Move in January. She knew from a prior move that her refrigerator was too big to fit through her doorway, and she was told by the company that the movers know how to remove refrigerator doors.

But the movers didn't, Glantz said, and began tugging on wires. They removed the handles and it fit through the doorway, but the ice maker and dispenser haven't worked since.

"They said not to plug it in for an hour because it could explode," Glantz said. She called the company to complain but was told it wasn't their responsibility. "I said, 'Well, why didn't they just bring a hammer and smash in the television?' "

Unlike Smooth Moves, the owners of Insta-Move "don't even attempt to use that ruse" of listing themselves as a moving referral company, Lindsay said.

Most people find these uncertified companies in the yellow pages. They also appear on lists of recommended movers handed out by other state agencies and real estate agents. A list of certified movers can be obtained through the local Transportation Services Authority office, and the agency is working on putting it online.

Although checking with the Better Business Bureau is better than nothing, its information isn't always accurate. It lists Smooth Moves, which went out of business in 2003, as a reliable company.

Markoff, Smooth Moves' attorney, objected to the Transportation Services Authority calling the company "illegal."

"You don't have to hold a certificate with them to do some aspects of moving," Markoff said. "They refer loaders and packers. They don't have to be certified by the TSA."

The customers who complain about the company should have looked at the yellow pages ad more closely, Markoff said.

People may see that the ad involves some aspect of moving without really reading it, he said. It says it provides "packing and loading crews."

The ad does what it says, Markoff said. Plus, packing and loading crews are not movers, he said.

"There are some folks out there who will complain about anything and try to get out of their responsibilities," he said. "If they don't read it, what can I say? ... It's an adage as old as the country, caveat emptor."

However, the ad does not indicate that it's a moving referral company. Smooth Moves is only licensed to operate in that capacity.

He suggested that perhaps the certified companies should be under a different heading in the yellow pages, apart from the lower-priced, uncertified ones, so consumers are clear as to what they're getting.

Tichenor says the ad is deceptive.

"This comes down to a consumer protection issue," he said. "It looks like they are providing full-service moves and it looks like a legitimate company but it's not."

Boland said the company "should be called Shady Moves."

"My advice to anyone is to get some friends and rent a U-Haul and do it yourself," she said.

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