US National TR Moving Systems charged us over $6,800 more than our SIGNED contract FL West Palm Beach Florida

However, US National contracted our move to TR Moving Systems who contacted us to tell us that we had to pay them $6,799 in cash or USPS money order or they would not deliver our items to us.  This should hardly have been a surprise.  If you had done any research on the DOT website, you would have known US National is a moving broker - they have no trucks, no moving license, and no capability of moving your items.   In fact, this statement is on their own website:

Please note that US National Movers (MC#992460 / DOT #2936759)*** is a properly licensed interstate Broker, and when acting as a Broker will not transport an individual shipper’s household goods, but will coordinate and arrange for the transportation of household goods by another FMCSA authorized motor carrier, whose charges will be determined by it’s published tariff.  (underline is mine)

I have to tell you - at least they're honest about it - many companies won't even tell you that.  So what does a broker do for you?  Very little.  They take your items submitted and find someone who will move your items from origin to destination.  Therefore, the contract you signed with US National was not binding on anyone.  You end up with a new contract with TR Moving for more than $6700.  They were well within their right under Federal Law to do exactly what they did.

When I told him that he was in breach of the contract we had with US National, he said he didn't have anything to do with the contract we had with US National. Absolutely 100% correct for all of the reasons I just stated.  They have nothing to with that.  A moving broker finds the mover, and once the mover takes your move, the broker's responsibility is completed.  If the mover doesn't show up, it's now an issue between you and the mover, not the broker.  BTW, the broker gets a commission from the mover.

When they finally delivered our items, we signed the money orders over with "paid in protest" written on each check (per our attorney's recommendation) only to find that most of our items were damaged, ruined or completely missing!  It would not matter what your attorney told you about writing those words on a check - they won't help you for reasons I will describe later.  Your attorney also likely assumed the broker and the mover were the same entity; the advice he gave you would be consistent with that assumption.  However, since they're not the same, the advice the attorney provided was not entirely correct.  However, he was correct that you needed to pay the full amount.

We filed a police report and filed additional disputes with the DA's office as well as the Better Business Bureau and are working with our insurance company and attorney to recoup the damages/stolen items.  The police won't be able to help because the items were not stolen, at least from a criminal perspective.  The police can do very little.  Your insurance company will likely not cover you for damages during a move - that's generally an exclusion under a homeowner's insurance policy.  Your attorney won't be able to sue because of the Carmack Amendment - a Federal law that prevents consumers from suing a moving company for anything like, fraud, negligence, additional damages etc...  I suspect you can file a claim against TR Moving for valuation under your contract, which limits your liability to $0.60 per pound (standard) and that's pretty much it.  Carmack will prevent you from collecting more than that.

The moral of the story is this:  Moving is not an inexpensive venture.  Anyone who says it's cheap is lying to you.  Choosing a mover off of the internet based on price often results in things like this happening.  Choosing a legitimate mover in your local city, where they can send someone out to view what needs to be done and what needs to be moved, is more expensive in the short-term, but can be cheaper in the long run when faced with a household full of damaged or missing items.  If you truly want to stop movers like this, then your best advice is to stay off of the internet when finding a mover.

Best of luck to you...