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5 On Your Side looks into Youngsville woman's trouble with mover

If you're looking for a mover, a Google search can turn up everything from small local companies to big national brokers. That's why it's important to know who you're hiring and the right questions to ask them.

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By
Keely Arthur
, WRAL consumer reporter
YOUNGSVILLE, N.C. — If you’re looking for a mover, a Google search can turn up everything from small local companies to big national brokers. That’s why it’s important to know who you’re hiring and the right questions to ask them.

5 On Your Side spoke to one woman who thought she had a good deal, but ended up with a bad experience.

Elyse Holdaway just had surgery and searched online to find help moving. She hired a broker, Allegiance Moving and Storage, who contracted Carefree Movers Incorporated, to move her belongings from Asheville to Youngsville.

"We had gotten lucky in the past with the other brokerages we had worked with," Holdaway told us about the decision to hire them.

As soon as moving day began on May 12, though, the problems did too.

Holdaway said the mover tried to charge an extra $1,200 because there was more to move than estimated.

The mover also said things to a friend who was helping Holdaway pack.

"He was trying to make romantic advances," Holdaway said. "It was very disturbing when she told me everything."

By the time Holdaway learned what happened, the driver was gone with the truck full of her belongings.

She reported the harassment to Allegiance and Carefree fired the driver immediately and later apologized. However, now Holdaway couldn’t get in touch with Carefree and couldn’t get answers from Allegiance about when all her things would arrive at her new home, or even where they were!

"Every phone call I had was the conversation about what’s the update on the truck and they’d say it’s coming today," Holdaway said.

Carefree Movers is from Iowa. They have one truck and 15 complaints against them just this year. They’re also not certified as a residential mover in North Carolina.

Carefree told us they lease that certification from a different North Carolina-based moving company, but we checked and that local mover said that’s not true.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission, who regulates the moving of household goods, requires each mover to have their own certification and there are penalties for operating without one.

The truck with Holdaway’s belongings finally arrived four days later, but she says this experience will be in her mind the next time she has to move.

"I will probably reach out to local companies first," she told us.

There are several steps you should take when hiring a mover:

Even more helpful information can be found in the North Carolina Utilities Commission’s Moving Consumer Guide

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