Scam moving companies hold customers' belongings hostage

Florida is cracking down on a group of moving companies accused of defrauding customers around the country the Florida Attorney General filed charges in federal court last month against 14 companies it investigated the movers faced allegations ranging from damaging property using deceptive marketing tactics and even extortion meg Oliver has been tracking one of the companies under investigation Meg good morning good morning we looked into a company called Spartan van line after reading through scores of complaints from customers who claimed their belongings were held hostage until a cash ransom was paid many of the people we spoke to say they had no choice but to pay while others we met are still waiting for their most prized possessions to arrive the walls in dolores Keens apartment are bare no pictures of her late husband or children what do your wedding pictures mean to you oh my god everything he's gone now I had nothing to remember him by the coffee cup that he used to use that I kept with me you know she hired Spartan van lied to take her belongings from storage in Texas to a one-bedroom apartment in Maryland Skeen was quoted around $3,500 which she paid in full but Skene says that after they loaded her stuff they jacked up the price to nearly $12,000 eight months later nothing has arrived in December the Florida Attorney General filed a civil suit against Spartan Van Lines which is named as one of 15 aliases the company is used since 2014 the allegations range from using unskilled untrained laborers to holding consumers property hostage are they holding your stuff hostage yeah they want more money to me that being a hostage we called three highly rated moving companies and used schemes to furniture for a comparison the estimates came in between six and eight thousand dollars well below the twelve thousand demanded by Spartan van line in an email the company told scheme that if she doesn't pay her belongings will be sent to auction there's no reason for this you know other than people trying to make money her misery is echoed across the country angry Spartan customers like Jennifer Taylor Behl are still waiting for items in Illinois when I said no I will not give you cash I will give you the money order the man never showed up that's extortion yes in Florida davina traffic and her caves and paid an extra seven thousand to reclaim her furniture and [Music] when Amanda Peterson Steph arrived in Arizona items were damaged beyond repair this is how they delivered my expensive TV back to me you consider them bandits oh absolutely Pennsylvania senator Dave Argyll passed a bill to crack down on scam movers he says the underground market is hurting legitimate businesses we kept getting complaints about consumers who were being ripped off something would be you know broken in the move some old artifact from great-grandma and of course they found out that while they thought they had hired real legitimate movers they had hired bandits our goal says legitimate business owners are also being targeted Josh Hall owns a Florida moving company called Spartan Van Lines he says that rogue movers are illegally using his company name definite impact on the business Hall estimates business is down 50 percent because of the negative reviews generated by the other Spartan van line a company that says they're located outside philadelphia spartan van line told us their hub with a fleet of trucks was located here at this Doylestown Pennsylvania address but when we arrived we were told all they have here is a mailbox over a thousand miles away in Hallandale Florida we tracked down the company owner Joshua Vaknin he refused to talk on camera but denied all accusations of fraud in her empty apartment Delores is still recovering from surgery this is your retirement yeah no personal belongings no no furniture yeah no clothes no this is it and you know obviously I can't work anymore so are you depressed very this is horrible what this company has done to people not the only one we reached out to spartan van line to help locate Dolores's property they finally told us her things never left texas and are still in storage spartans owner told me her property will not be released until the remaining balance of nearly nine thousand dollars is paid in full all of these consumers are hoping the florida AG's office can recover some form of restitution because that case is ongoing of course she says she can't afford that money either now it's out to these people i know is there a website where you can check to see if your mover is legit yes and it's moving org and they ranked reputable movers so it's a good idea to check that and make sure that there are no complaints against them thank you as you can use thank you Mary

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 33,328

Keywords: video, cbs, news, Florida, defrauding consumers, moving companies

Id: zd5Tmj3BiP0

Length: 5min 20sec (320 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 28 2019