Secret trackers and hidden cameras expose how some movers could be ripping you off

A group of moving companies is offering low quotes and then increasing the total cost of moves by thousands of dollars — in some cases grossly over-estimating the weight of goods to be moved, a CBC Marketplace investigation has found.

Questionable moving practices are on the rise, industry experts say. It's a problem heightened by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring of 2021, more Canadians moved to another province than any other time since 1991, according to Statistics Canada.

Ontario's Ministry of Government and Consumer Services received 59 complaints about moving companies in 2021, up from 36 the year before. In the last two years, at least 24 complaints were related to the group of companies in the Marketplace investigation, which includes Safe Bound Moving, Roadway Moving, O Canada Movers and Move Me Again Transportation. These companies conduct moves across the country and are operated by friends Dogan Celik and Cemal Ozturk. 

To document the companies' contracts, sales tactics and quoting practices, a CBC Marketplace producer went undercover, posing as a customer of Roadway Moving. The company was hired to transport the contents of a one-bedroom apartment from Toronto to Sudbury Ont.

What Markeplace uncovered mirrored the claims of some former customers, who say that after getting a quote based on an estimated weight of their items and putting down a non-refundable $200 deposit, they felt pressured to sign a new contract with a higher flat-rate weight on moving day. 

Once the movers drive away, the company sends an invoice with a higher total price. In some cases, customers say they're told their belongings will be withheld until the new price is paid. 

"It is definitely the scam of the season," said Nancy Irvine, president of the Canadian Association of Movers (CAM), whose organization receives complaints from the public about moving companies and different types of alleged scams. 

Irvine says CAM has received many complaints connected to the family of companies in the Marketplace investigation. These companies are not affiliated with her association, which has a rigorous certification process. In fact, CAM issued a warning about the companies on its consumer alerts page in June 2021.

Roadway Moving first quoted the Marketplace producer $895 to move 1,000 pounds, based on what the company calls an "industry standard" weight. It then sent an inventory spreadsheet for the producer to tally up the weight of her belongings. Each piece of furniture and size of box on the list had an estimated weight. According to the spreadsheet, the Marketplace producer's belongings added up to 3,050 pounds. 

Based on the new estimated weight, the company sent another quote for $1,495 before tax but said in an email that, "you will be invoiced for less if you are less in weight."

But when movers arrived to pick up the items, they brought out a new contract, pressuring the undercover producer to sign off on a flat rate of 4,000 pounds. 

The contract also had a different company name at the top — O Canada Movers. 

WATCH | While Marketplace producers waited for their delivery, hidden GPS trackers showed the truck unexpectedly completing an entirely different move first:

The movers said the office wouldn't conduct a move of that size for less than 5,000 pounds, but would cut the undercover producer a deal by offering a 4,000 pounds flat rate. In previous correspondence, the company said the minimum was only 1,000 pounds.