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Dirty Secret of the Moving Industry

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You may discover a home you can’t live without; it might be the location, plot, floorplan, view, or amenities. You ask the seller for a price and receive this response: “I’ll let you know once I do an appraisal.” Doesn’t it seem rather unjust? This exact scenario occurs every time a household goods transfer occurs in the history of the business.

When a mover is contacted to give a quote for moving a residence or an office, a salesperson sets up a meeting with the customer onsite. That’s correct; while the move is being carried out, the same business that is performing it is also conducting the survey to determine how much capacity will be needed, which ultimately determines the price. The salesperson receives a commission based on the amount of revenue generated by the move for the firm, which likewise benefits from revenue. At this stage, there’s a good chance revenue will improve.

After the salesperson submits the estimate to customer service, representatives usually find that they don’t have enough capacity on-site to carry out the move.

This is one of the main issues customer service reps face during a move. They also realize that an easy solution to this problem is asking operations for more people to come and help with the move. So, in order not to get into trouble, customer service reps will slightly inflate their estimates.

The operations team now has the ball and is eager to dispatch the crew and truck to service the transfer.

Tighter labor regulations have prompted more businesses to use independent contractors rather than hourly staff, and those individuals have compensated a commission for the transaction.

The commission is a percentage of the revenue, so if the estimate was too low and additional hours are needed to finish the job, they still get paid. What’s more, they’re not employees of the company so there’s no need to pay payroll taxes or provide employee benefits.

Several rules have been implemented to regulate how movers operate in light of the deregulation of pricing in the sector in the 1980s. A 10% overcharge is an obvious example that is directly linked to pricing. A mover may not charge a customer more than 10% above the estimate given at booking. At this time, movers who are financially motivated and aware of this regulation may push up the paperwork by another 10%. In reality, according to research conducted by TW Solutions, 90 percent of the time this happens!

Surprisingly, no accountability exists because everyone involved makes more money and is thus motivated to turn a blind eye to the problem.

Today, over 80% of moves are overbilled by at least 26.5 percent as a result of document manipulation since one firm owns every paper connected with the transfer from start to finish.

In reality, there is no way for a customer to know if they’re being overcharged for their move. The only way someone may find out is by conducting an audit of all documents related to the move and comparing them to the actual services performed. This process is very time-consuming and complicated, which is why most people don’t bother.

While video survey companies have recently stepped in to fill this need, they are often ordered by the mover and handled by the mover themselves. This leaves room for manipulation of the surveys before an accurate estimate is given to the customer.

Most video survey companies are now owned and operated directly by movers.

Before deciding whether or not to offer a mortgage for the buyer, home mortgage lenders have solid reasons to request third-party appraisals on houses. Join NexMuv in fighting this injustice in the transporting sector. We believe that customers should only be charged for the services they receive, nothing more and nothing less. We conduct video surveys on every move we do to make sure that you are only charged for the services you receive.

What’s more, we’re completely transparent about our pricing. We give you a binding estimate upfront so that you know exactly how much your move will cost. We don’t add any hidden fees or charges – what you see is what you get.

If you’re tired of being overcharged for your moves, contact NexMuv today and let us help you move the right way.

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