When you’re looking to hire a moving company to help you pack and move your household items to another home, it’s difficult to know which company you can trust with your valuable possessions. And unless you have good reasons to believe otherwise, oftentimes, you will most likely be genuinely worried that the moving company you end up hiring could try to rip you off in a very dishonest way.
But that’s not all. You may also worry that the movers you book could turn out to be rather incompetent and inexperienced, which can result in many of your things being broken or damaged on Moving day or after the move.
The thing is that you’ve heard and read too many horror stories about dishonest (rogue) movers, scamming people left and right. So now, before you hire a moving company, you want to make sure you find a moving service provider that you can really, really trust.
One good way to know that you’re hiring a trustworthy moving company is to make sure they are BBB-accredited cross country movers.
What is the Better Business Bureau?
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is an association that describes itself as “an ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers can trust each other.” In reality, the BBB is much more than a place where you can find BBB-accredited businesses – that is, companies that you can trust enough to do business with them.
The Better Business Bureau can help you in your search for a reliable moving company by providing useful information about each accredited mover so that you can be better informed before you decide to do business with them. Also, the BBB can help you resolve a complaint you may have against a moving company in case you feel that your move wronged you in any way before, during or after the house move.
The Better Business Bureau sets and maintains high standards for trust between consumers and businesses and requires businesses to abide by the BBB Accreditation Standards in order to be accredited by the Bureau. In your case, you will be glad to learn that all BBB-accredited moving companies have been check to adhere to the following BBB Standards for Trust:
- Build trust,
- Advertise honestly,
- Tell the truth,
- Be Transparent,
- Honor promises,
- Be responsive,
- Safeguard privacy, and
- Embody integrity.
Keep in mind that the BBB Accreditation Standards are built on the above-mentioned Standards for Trust – the principles that summarize the essence of what creates true trust between businesses and consumers.
How to find BBB-accredited moving companies
Knowing that you’ll be working with a professional moving company that’s been accredited by the Better Business Bureau will give you the peace of mind that you mover will not try to scam you in any way and that your cherished belongings will be in good and competent hands from the very beginning.
When you access the official website of the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org), you can search for BBB-accredited movers by typing MOVING COMPANY in the FIND field, then narrowing down your search by entering your city, state or ZIP code in the NEAR field, and finally clicking on the SEARCH button.
The information displayed on the BBB website about the moving company you’re researching will include several important segments:
- Business card. Right away you’ll be able to access the most important contact information of the moving company: headquarters location, website, e-mail address, phone number, and hours of operation.
- Accreditation. Here you can see whether a mover is BBB-accredited or not. If it is, you will see the BBB-accreditation logo, since when it’s been accredited and the overall years in business. If it’s not, you will see the text THIS BUSINESS IS NOT BBB ACCREDITED in red letters.
- BBB Rating. The Better Business Bureaus assigns overall ratings to businesses – from A+ (the highest) to F (the lowest). The BBB rating is based on important information that the Bureau has obtained about the moving company, including customer complaints (see below). It’s important to note that BBB ratings are not a guarantee of the reliability or performance of a company, and therefore that rating should be considered together with other critical information about the business in question. Keep in mind that Customer Reviews are not used in the calculation of the BBB ratings.
Here you can learn more about BBB ratings.
- Customer Reviews. Here you can read customer reviews left about the moving company in question. Customer reviews are represented from 1 to 5 stars, 1 being the lowest rating and 5 being the highest one. If a moving company has any reviews, you will see the average star rating of those reviews. If a mover does not have any reviews left by customers, you will see the text THIS BUSINESS HAS 0 REVIEWS.
Also, you have the option of leaving a review about the moving company you’ve used by clicking on the Leave a Review button. - Overview. This segment from the BBB webpage gives you general information about the moving company you’re reviewing. Usually, you can find more information about the services offered by the mover, their national coverage in terms of states and areas, and so on.
- Business Details. The business details section lists important information about the moving company such as the address of their headquarters, years in business, business incorporated, accredited since, type of entity, and number of employees. Also, there you can find the hours of operation of the mover, their business management, and their contact information.
- Customer Complaints. You should pay special attention to this section as it will give you a good idea of the number of customer complaints filed against a specific moving company and you can actually read those complaints to judge them for yourself. Remember that you’re looking for a mover with either zero customer complaints or a few that have been answered and explained by the company itself.
Also, you are given the chance to file a complaint against a professional moving company by clicking the File a Complaint button (see below for more details).
Read also: How to compare moving companies
How to file a complaint against your mover with the BBB
If you happen to have an unresolved issue with your mover after the move is a fact, then the Better Business Bureau will give you the opportunity to file a complaint against that moving company through their website.
Click here to start your complaint.
Once you lodge an official complaint against a moving company, the BBB will get in touch with that move within 48 hours and then will give them 14 days to reply to the pending complaint. At the end of that period, a BBB representative will contact you and will inform you about the result of your complaint.
Practice shows that in most cases, claims filed against movers through the Better Business Bureau will get resolved roughly within a month.
See also: How to file a complaint against a moving company
BBB accreditation matters because it serves as proof that the BBB-accredited long distance movers or the BBB-accredited local movers you hire will be trusted professionals who will do exactly what you expect of them, and do it well. Since you’re about to hand over your valuable items to complete strangers, the trust between you and the moving company becomes a vital ingredient for a mutually beneficial partnership.
