100% Scam!! Do not hire!!
My wife and I ended up with Stress Free Movers after a moving broker sub-contracted our move through them. The moving broker is a whole different issue, but for this I’ll try and stick to the issues with Stress Free Movers. Our move from NC to CA was initially quoted at $4852.50—that was door-to-door service, packing and moving materials included, fuel, etc. Our original quote was for 600 cubic feet—this was something that was pushed on to my wife after she had explained, in detail, the size of our two storage containers and the size truck we used to move everything. This is part one of their scam. They purposely underestimate the amount of stuff you have in cubic feet, which is confusing since we only measure gas and liquid in cubic feet—not a couch, and then jack up the price when they arrive and find “additional belongings.” So, for example, the initial estimate might be for something like $5 per cube. Then when they come to collect your stuff and it turns out you have 1800 cubic feet of stuff, they charge you for the overage at $8 per cube. Stress Free Movers arrives at our storage containers—one a 10x10x8 and the other a 10x15x9. Neither of our containers had been professionally packed and neither were full, and we had already been read on to this price change scam, so we assumed we’d be over by 800 cubes—so maybe 1400 cubic feet total. The head mover informs me I have 2800 cubic feet of stuff. I found this odd given the size of the containers. I’m not a math doctor, but 2135 cubic feet was the max amount of stuff I could have had if both containers had been completely full. I explain this to him, and he says, “I’ll see what I can do.” He gets all my stuff wrapped up and put on a truck and calls me, and as if he’s done me a glorious favor, and tells me he got it all down to 2500 cubic feet (350 more than what's possible) and the new price would be $19,137. Naturally, I laugh at him and tell him to unpack everything—put it all back, and that giving me a price that’s four times what was estimated is nothing short of ridiculous. He promises me a “heavy discount” and that I won’t pay $19,137, it’d be something closer to $10,000. That's still twice what I was quoted and beyond ridiculous, but at this point, we just wanted it to be over. While my stuff is on its way, I’m told I owe $14,000 of the $19,137--the discount has disappeared. I tell him I’m not paying that, and he tells me he’s going to send all my family’s belongings to auction. He was essentially holding my things hostage. I wrestle him down to $11,000 and he swears that’ll be it, but then when my stuff shows up at our new home, they refused to open the truck until I coughed up another $6608. This is an extremely common moving scam according to the US Department of Transportation and they recommend you report them. These scammers get your things on a truck and then hold it hostage and extort as much money from you as they can. DO NOT employ Stress Free