Interstate Moving

[Clay Fink]

I just moved my Mother from Lexington, KY to near where I live in Silver Spring, MD. The estimate I got was for $2,800 (which I thought was low, but higher than what I got from what seemed like a fly-by-night). The estimate was based on 3300lbs at $0.49 a pound and $850 in packing costs. The total cerified weight ended up at 6000lbs and the packing was$250 for a total of $3900.

It was a little higher than I expected (my Mother had gotten an estimate of $3300 from a large commercial mover that moves multiple households and delivers in a week to ten days). Still, these guys were on time in Lexington on Tuesday and on time in Maryland on Wednesday. The mover were sober, polite and spoke english. Nothing was broken or missing as far as I know. So I figured the extra $$ was worth the fact that everything went smoothly.

The problem is that my brother, who ahead of time had agreed to split the moving cost, is throughing a fit over. Anyhow, I told him what the estimate was and was pretty clear that I thought it would end up being more - probably around the original $3,300 estimate from the large commercial mover.

Jusy wondering if: 1) anyone has payed for an interstate move lately, and 2), if anyone has been in the same situation with a sibling. My feeling is that we need to pay attention to getting my mother settled than haglong over what is essentially a few hundred dollar difference.

[Jim Dye]

There was an expose on some TV news show recently that showed the scams going on in the moving industry. From what I see, your mother got off pretty cheap. Many fly-by-night places will low ball you on an estimate and then hold your stuff unless you pay some incredibly high fees. 8 to 10 thousand dollars in some cases. The police aren't much help either.

I wouldn't worry about it. All her stuff made it in good condition. It could have been much much worse.

[Clay Fink]

"It could have been much much worse."

That's always been my motto. The problem is that my brother is used to wheeling and dealing and getting a "deal". I'd rather just pay and tolerate the minor BS that comes along. Given that I moved her on Tuesday/Wednesday and was still able to make it to an appointment in Baltimore Wednesday afternoon and then get back to work on Thursday is worth it to me.

This isn't the first scrape over $ with my bro over taking care of my mom and it probably will not be the last (but I hope it is). My wife had a time with one of her sisters over the care og HER mom when she was sick. This sort of thing is very common.

Thanks.

[RBS]

Can you calmly tell your brother that you think that there was no intent on the moving company's part to rip you off, and that your mom's health is more important than anything else?

Is he strapped financially, or is this just a character thing?

[moneyp]

Smack him upside the head.

[jesus marion joseph]

Smack him upside the head.

LOL! Unless he's bigger than you, in which case you might tell him you're going to hire someone to smack him in the head and split the cost with him.

Clay, my original post was off so much that I just deleted it to give you some actual numbers that you could use. When we moved from Florida to Missouri last october we went through Atlas. We had a total of 6671 lbs., and the total price was $2601.15. So we paid right around $.40 a pound.

I can't tell you if there is a difference due to the fact that they packed it or not because we did all of our own packing(I mean other than the packing charge itself).

Also I know it's cheaper when you have multiple loads on the truck, which was the case with us.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Yore brother warn't brung up right, that's all. Go tell yore ma, Clay.

[Tanager]

Man, money and family just weren't meant to mix.