ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The office of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has filed a petition against a moving company after consumers complained the company was responsible for "hostage loads."
Schmitt's office said Road to Load Best Movers, based in south St. Louis County, acquired household goods moving contracts from brokers and then failed to honor the brokers' quoted prices and other service terms.
This was the result of an I-Team investigation from February after the Better Business Bureau warned of this particular company as well as hiring moving brokers overall.
Consumers say this was essentially a bait-and-switch scheme. Many say they didn't even know Road to Load was coming to their homes because the customers unknowingly hired what's known as a moving broker, which then contracted Road to Load.
Billy Bowers says he hired a company called Gold Standard Moving when he retired in Atlanta and wanted to move to Alabama. He says he was surprised to be met with a man from Road to Load and calls it a nightmare ever since.
Bowers says the company upcharged him $5,000 when the driver got on site, broke his furniture, and left half of it in Atlanta. He's spent the last year trying to get his money returned.
"I hope everybody gets their money back," Bowers said. "It's horrible what they did, and I really hope these guys go to jail."
The attorney general's office says it's also received related complaints about some of the defendants, such as extensive damage to items. Bowers says family heirlooms were badly damaged in his move.
The petition is seeking restitution on behalf of consumers, as well as a permanent injunction to halt the defendants from continuing to conduct business and civil penalties.
“Moving is an incredibly stressful time," said Schmitt. "And bad actors may seek to take advantage of that stress and confusion to defraud consumers. We allege that the defendants, in this case, failed to honor quoted prices for household goods moving contracts, extracted excessive fees from consumers, and in some cases, caused damage to household items that were being moved."
Schmitt goes on to say in a statement that the office's Consumer Protection Section handles hundreds of thousands of complaints each year and works to resolve complaints through the mediation process. And while those mediation efforts have been successful, the office gathers complaints to spot trends, talks to consumers, and determines if civil or criminal action is necessary.
If you feel like you've been scammed, contact the attorney general's office.