Presidential Van lines Stole money from my elderly mother then vanished! South Daytona Florida

According to the Federal Department of Transportation, this company is only authorized to broker a move - they aren't actually a moving company.  You are not in need of a moving broker in order to contract for a move.  On top of this, you chose a company in Florida to move your mother's items from St. Louis to Utah.  In other words, you would have had to hope that a rogue moving company (and yes, they would have only used rogue moving companies) to come and pick up your mother's items.  What you should have done is either contact a mover in the St. Louis area who would be nearby to do what you needed to have done.  They would have been there on the specific day you needed, and that would have been that.  Or rent a U-Haul and do the move yourself.  The latter would have been cheaper.  The former would have been more expensive and complicated.

She told me that the extra day was as a buffer for my Mom in case she needed it but that they could GUARANTEE pickup on the day we needed. I asked her to verify if that was true and asked her if this was a recorded conversation as well. She reassured me multiple times that this was absolutely the case.  LOL no moving company would ever record a conversation.  They're telling you whatever you needed to hear to get a sale.  They have no idea during your conversation whether there would be a rogue company near St. Louis when you called.

I asked multiple people if my Mom wold get her deposit back if they couldn't get our stuff picked up and they said yes of course! The pick up never occurred and the dates expired.  Doesn't matter what they tell you.  The written contract is all that matters.  When the mover "tosses" the written contract in your face, figuratively speaking, it's important to know they write the contract.  They don't do anything more.

I will be considering taking legal action on her behalf. I did everything I could to protect and assist her and they have taken advantage anyway.  I don't know how much the deposit was, but you won't be able to collect.  They arrived before you were ready, and that, under the law and your contract, constitutes an attempted pickup.  If they don't pickup, you are out the deposit.  As far as the latter, it looks like no one did any due diligence on this company.  It took me less than one minute to find out there was no way they could have done any move, let alone yours.  This is a really old scam and there is nothing you could have done to protect her once this company was selected.  The worst part is that the law protects the mover, which is why the scam works so well, and why trying to collect back your deposit is next to impossible.

Moving is not an inexpensive venture.  It costs way more than you think and often if something sounds way too good to be true, it really is.  Choosing a mover off of the internet, often results in events like this, and once selected, your move becomes way more stressful than it should.  Best of luck to you....