Scam Type
Moving Scam
Business Name Used
Small Move Movers
Date Reported
Sep 15, 2022
Victim Postal Code
32757
Total Dollars Lost
748
Scam Description
First, names. The “owner” of this “business” is Shawn Thompson, shawn@yourmoverquote.com, office number 1-866-414-9888. The agent who set up our move is Jaime Fonte, 1-954-314-2616, forte@yourmoverquote.com (email address isn’t even valid and doesn’t match her name so that should tell you something already). The “operations manager” is Cindy Jameson, 1-954-870-1447. The listed address for the company is 3635 Park Central Blvd N, Pompano Beach, FL 33064.
We were moving 2 big pieces of furniture a couple miles down the road into a storage unit and needed someone fast. We get a call back from Jaime. We discussed the details and she said she could price match or beat another offer to get our business. The other quote we had was $300 for the entire move (including shrink wrap/supplies/etc.). Jaime calls back and gives us a quote of “$293.25 for the whole move.” The quote she sent had the contract attached, which I’ll discuss later. In the quote there was a $51.75 discount for a “same day reservation discount.” The quote included the labor charge for the movers along with the travel time charge. These charges were stated in the contract as well, so those were accurate charges.
The movers were from a company called Moving Forward Trucking, LLC out of Fort Lauderdale, FL. They moved our stuff, but upon arriving at the destination, they do not unload the truck until you pay the balance. The mover kept saying something about “needing to get the final price from the company” at which point we started getting a little nervous they would change the price. We were right. Final bill comes: $1,041 …for a 2 mile move!
Naturally we try to call Jaime…no answer…after a few more tries, we actually get a receiving message that her number was no longer in service. So at this point we know we were scammed. We get a number from the movers, which turns out to be Cindy’s number. She was rude from the start and blamed us because “it’s all in the contract.” So we look for discrepancies between what’s stated in the contract and what was in our initial quote, and wow there was a lot of vague and non-specific wording, which allows them to make up the charges as they go.
They charge $1 per mile, so we asked how did we end up with $60 charged for mileage? Cindy said “that’s the travel mileage charge for the movers,” but the travel charge was already included in our quote! They also charged us a different $187 for an “intrastate fuel & mileage” charge, which was stated nowhere on the contract we received. They also charged $149 for an “OD Fee” and we literally got no explanation for what that was nor is an “OD Fee” referenced in the contract we received.
The other thing, that $51.75 “discount” Jaime had given us…yeah, per Cindy’s words “discounts don’t apply if you go over the quoted price.” So there’s another fraudulent business practice because OF COURSE YOU’RE GOING TO GO OVER THE QUOTED PRICE!
They also do not accept credit cards for payment, which was fishy at first but I suppose you could make the assumption that they only take cash, which other businesses do as well. But now it makes sense…no credit card transaction means you can’t dispute charges and get your money back. There is one picture of part of the contract that goes over the extra charges. Note how nothing is stated about a charge for the “intrastate & mileage” for the movers. The $1/mile charge is simply stated with no clarification, so they use this to make up things as they go.
They do have a Facebook page as well under Small Move Movers. There, you can find that they have a 4.5/5 star “rating.” Upon further review, you can tell that the “positive” reviews are all from fake accounts – they don’t have any locations listed, no posts, no friends, and many even use stock photos! The “positive” reviews use vague language with no specifics or names. There are many of these in between the negative reviews from actual people, so it is clear that this scam company uses fake positive reviews to push down the negative reviews that expose them, making anyone who visits their page think they are a good company.
The address listed I’m sure is fake too. I searched it up, and there are other moving and storage companies associated with the address (Storage Vaults and Moving Forward), but nothing about Small Move Movers.
I wish we would have done more research, but I guess these people specifically target those who are in need of a quick move.
If you live in Florida, avoid these people like the plague. I hope more people report these people and maybe even find them and expose them in front of others. They need to be stopped. They are cowards and snakes, especially Shawn, who resorted to insulting my mom who tried to call for clarification about their address so that our lawyer could send a letter. He refused to give the address, which lets me know their listed one is most likely fake, and said he would send an attorney after her for harassment…I guess asking for an address of a company is harassment nowadays?? Regardless, he’s a coward. If you’ve had an experience with these scammers, please report them, and call the company office! Make them nervous because they think they can keep getting away with this!
