They made it to Florida, but their possessions didn’t. One couple’s relocation nightmare

On May 13, Richard Norman and his wife, Christine, embarked on a cross-country move from Marina del Rey, California, to Florida. Richard Norman, 73, had just retired from the furniture design industry, and the couple was looking to enjoy their golden years somewhere sunny and affordable.

But soon after they hired a company to move their possessions — the acquisitions of a lifetime — they found themselves in what they describe as a nightmare scenario involving late pickups, left-behind items, and snowballing additional costs amounting to thousands of dollars. It’s a common scam that Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody calls a pervasive crime, but seems powerless to stamp out.

Richard Norman says two companies took part in the move: Alliance Moving & Storage and All Time Moving. While both companies denied all wrongdoing to the Herald, most of what the Normans say happened has been alleged by many others about countless van lines. The patchwork of regulators struggles to keep up with the copycat names, constantly inflated invoices and made-up online testimonials to supposed superb service and friendly crews.

For the Normans, it all began in early May, when they hired Florida-based Alliance Moving & Storage to relocate their belongings. A man who called himself Johnathan Steel, an estimator for Alliance, gave Richard Norman a written “binding” cost estimate of $16,500 after viewing their house and furniture via a video conferencing tour. Records show that Norman paid $1,050 on April 9 to secure the move, and an additional $5,000 on April 20. The remaining $10,450 from the $16,500, Norman says Alliance told him, would be paid in two more installments: one upon pickup of the items and the second upon delivery.

But on May 11, two days before the move, Norman received a call from Alliance. He said the company told him that the price had been adjusted to nearly $24,000 — almost 45% above the original estimate. The representative asked him to pay an additional $3,220 before the move. As the date of the move was upon him, Norman felt he had no option but to accept the new price. He forked over the additional amount to Alliance that same day. At this point, Norman had paid Alliance a total of $9,270, according to receipts from that company.

What Norman says he didn’t know was that the money would be going to two different companies — because Alliance isn’t actually a mover. Rather, it is a broker, which means it sets up customers with other movers, who actually transport the goods.

“No one I spoke to at Alliance ever told me that the deal we had would be handed off to another moving company — a company which I knew nothing about, had never spoken to, and a company which added thousands of dollars to my negotiated price with Alliance,” Norman told the Herald. “It could hold and sell my furniture, now in storage, unless I pay their price.”

Tell us about your moving experience

Records show that the second company, All Time Moving, sent a crew to pick up the Normans’ possessions on May 13. Upon their arrival, Norman says, a representative told him that he needed to sign an Interstate Bill of Lading Contract before they could begin packing his things. In the contract, which both he and the representative signed, Norman says he agreed to give the movers $7,250, which he paid on the spot, as well as an additional $7,250 upon delivery. The movers had him make out the check to “AJ Pro Logistics,” which records show is a separate, inactive moving company in Chicago whose Better Business Bureau profile and Yelp reviews, unbeknownst to the Normans, were rife with allegations of scams, property damage and theft.

The crew had arrived late, without enough movers or packing materials to get everything on the trucks in time, Norman said. He was forced to push back his flight so the movers could come back the following day to finish the job.

On May 14, the workers came back. Because of the change in Norman’s travel arrangements, he said, he had to leave before they could finish packing up his house. He asked them to text him a photograph of the trucks — there were two — once fully loaded, which they did, one of which he shared with the Herald.

About that previous cost estimate...

The Normans made it to Florida. The plan was to stay at a friend’s house in Fort Myers for a few months and keep their things in storage with Alliance while they finished putting the final touches on their new home, before having their furniture delivered in December. The contract called for three months of free storage. But on May 20, a representative from All Time Moving texted Norman a bill of lading that stipulated that a balance of $11,450.00 would be due upon delivery, instead of the agreed upon $7,250.00.

On the invoice signed by Norman on the 13th, multiple new charges had been added. The amendments were scribbled into the margins of the original contract in barely legible handwriting — although it’s a violation of federal law for interstate carriers to raise the price of a move after loading a customer’s items. These add-ons included $1,200 for extra bubble wrap, and a further $2,200 for unspecified additional packing materials.

Norman would have accepted the charges, he said, if he had actually needed extra packing materials. But to him, the opposite seemed true. A photo that the movers had sent Norman showed that one of the trucks appeared to be just three-quarters full. In fact, he said, the movers had actually left behind some of his furniture, which he found out when his landlord texted him the following day.

Norman told All Time that he wouldn’t pay the $11,450.00, but the company insisted he must. He complained to Alliance — the company he had actually chosen — but he says he was told this was a matter between him and All Time Moving.

In the meantime, the fate of all his worldly possessions hung in the balance, and Norman feared that by the time December rolled around — when he expects his new home to be ready — he wouldn’t have any possessions left to reclaim.

“My entire home just disappeared off the planet,” he said. “And has now become a bargaining chip in this mess. It’s shocking that there are no legal systems set up to stop this kind of thing from happening.”

Alliance Moving & Storage LLC is operated by Richard Joseph Falcone. The 29-year-old has also registered a string of other businesses in Florida, including a “consulting group” that manages five different moving companies (some active, some not).

In 2019, Falcone was sued by moving company Atlas Van Lines Inc. for trademark infringement. The lawsuit alleged that Falcone had offered his company’s “services to the public under the fictitious business name ‘Atlas Moving and Storage’ ” instead of his company’s corporate name at the time, and had incorporated “the ‘Atlas’ logo mark into its advertising and marketing materials in hopes of associating their business activities with Plaintiffs’ [Atlas’] goodwill and reputation.” Falcone agreed to stop using the name Atlas. In just the past three years, 126 complaints have been filed against Alliance with the Better Business Bureau. According to the organization, the complaints “generally allege difficulty canceling, price increases on the day of moves, late delivery and damages to their goods.”

Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit has recently been filed against Alliance in Colorado, claiming the company has defrauded hundreds of customers. Norman said Tuesday he had just been contacted by a lawyer involved in the case.

Follow the fine print

Falcone told the Herald that his company selects only carriers that are fully licensed and insured by the U.S. Department of Transportation. But he deals with over 700 moves a month, he said, and it’s almost impossible to vet every carrier properly.

“I’ve gotten rid of 40 to 60 carriers just this year,” he told a Herald reporter.

His company contract contains lots of fine print and unusual provisions, including clauses aimed at reducing the company’s liability if something goes wrong and a 5% “processing fee” when customers pay by credit card — a significant amount when a move can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

On June 21, Falcone declined to speak to the Herald further and said his lawyers would be in touch with an official response on his behalf. The Herald reached out to Falcone on June 23 after his lawyers failed to communicate, and Falcone said they would be in contact soon. The Herald sent a follow-up email about the matter on July 12 and again on August 2. As of today, Falcone’s lawyers have yet to contact the Herald. On July 27, Falcone replied to an email from a Herald reporter by requesting that a reporter not contact him again.

A representative from Alliance who called herself “Sofia” contacted Norman after the Herald sent Falcone one of its requests for comment, Norman said. Sofia told Norman the firm would be sending him a check with a partial refund of $2,200, he said, and that Falcone would be calling soon to “work everything out.” But roughly a month later, Norman says he never received a call from Falcone, nor a check.

The Herald reached out to Falcone one more time for comment when a reporter fielded additional complaints against the company. Falcone said he is a broker, not a mover — though his website says he is both — and that price quotes are only estimates, although the word “binding” is there at the top in headline-size letters.

Norman remains at a standstill with All Time Moving. Initially, he refused to give the company his delivery address until it confirmed in writing what the final price of his delivery would be. But the company refuses to budge, he said, and on July 26 he received an email from a company representative who identified herself as Tova Silber. The email informed Norman that All Time Moving could not ensure that there wouldn’t be additional charges upon delivery, and, for instance, if his address isn’t “trailer” accessible, he would need to get his own shuttle or use All Time’s shuttle service.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to do,” Norman told the Herald at the time. “They won’t confirm in writing what the final price will be, no matter how many times I send them emails asking them to clarify. Instead they keep asking me to give them an address. But if I give them my address, I don’t know what if anything they may require upon delivery. They’ve never given me a [final] dollar amount. And if I don’t give them my address, I don’t know what will happen, maybe they’ll just dump everything I own on the side of the road.”

On July 30, Norman finally gave in and provided the company with his delivery address. After Norman did so, the company’s representatives stopped replying to his emails. Neither All Time Moving nor Alliance has been in contact with him since. Meanwhile, he has yet to receive an updated bill or a final dollar amount for his delivery from All Time, both of which he says he has requested multiple times.

All Time Moving’s invoices list Daytona Beach, Florida, as the company’s address. But its unique USDOT number traces back to a 10-month-old LLC operating out of an apartment in the suburbs of Chicago, with only one registered truck and driver. The company also operates under a DBA, which is short for “doing business as,” an industry term for a name that a business operates under that isn’t its legal business name. This DBA is Rapid Van Lines, which has the same address as All Time Moving, but a separate Better Business Bureau profile that overflows with scam allegations. The company’s manager is listed only as “Complaint Handler.” The phone number and website listed on the BBB profile is not its own, but that of a different company in South Bend, Indiana, by the same name with over two decades of experience.

John Pynn, the manager of still another All Time Moving that has been operating out of Michigan for 30 years, told the Herald he’s been flooded with calls over the past few months from aggrieved customers who say they’ve been scammed by a company in the Chicago suburb going by the same name, apparently referring to the company Norman has been fighting.

Using the phone number that All Time Moving gave Norman, the Herald identified Baraa Awwad as the head of the company run out of the suburban apartment. Not much information was available about Awwad, except that he was charged in 2015 with trafficking contraband goods after he was caught selling cigarettes tax stamped in Missouri across the border in Illinois. Awwad, 31, pleaded guilty and in February 2016 was sentenced to five years probation and fined $12,196.80. His probation came to an end earlier this year. Awwad’s phone number is also linked to a completely different trucking company in Chicago, I&D Trucking INC.

Awwad confirmed to the Herald over the phone that he is the head of All Time Moving and can speak on behalf of the company, although it is unclear if there are others with whom he runs the firm. He refused to discuss the matter. He denied engaging in price-gouging or taking possessions “hostage.” He would not say whether he knew anything about Norman or his possessions. He also told the Herald that while his company does operate through brokers, he has no recollection of Alliance Moving & Storage nor anyone named Richard Falcone. Norman, however, says he spoke to multiple All Time Moving representatives, including Awwad, about Alliance.

The feds, the state and the BBB

Investigating and preventing moving company complaints falls under the purview of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation. The agency oversees the National Consumer Complaint Database and requires companies to obtain unique identifying numbers from the DOT. These are known as USDOT numbers, which can be deactivated by the agency if a company fails to meet federal requirements. But according to a database on the Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s website, out of the 28,055 enforcement cases opened and closed against companies since 2015, only one has been against a broker.

In extreme cases, the Justice Department becomes involved in cracking down on moving scams. In 2018, 12 individuals, some in Florida, were charged in a racketeering indictment with defrauding approximately 900 customers. According to a news release, the schemes involved creating new moving companies and lying to customers about how long they had been in business; fabricating positive online reviews; and either registering or operating under a name similar to that of a better known, more reputable moving company.

Another common tactic, the Justice Department stated, was providing customers with low “binding” estimates for their move and then bumping the price mid-move, often refusing to return the customer’s possessions until he or she pays the inflated price.

Throughout the second half of June, Norman complained about both All Time Moving and Alliance to the Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. On July 28, the federal agency called Norman to inform him that it was investigating both cases, and had filed his dispute with All Time Moving as a “hostage situation.”

Aside from the feds, the attorney general of each state is responsible for handling mover complaints. In Florida, Ashley Moody has filed six lawsuits targeting 14 moving companies. As of January, her office had successfully litigated four of these cases, with the companies ordered to pay a combined total of $2,732,000 in restitution to customers. But the problem persists, and earlier this year Moody issued a “consumer alert” about “malicious moving companies.”

Then there is the BBB, which tries to keep tabs on the industry and issued a study in June 2020 revealing that scammers “price gouge, take belongings hostage and destroy goods.”

Not only can customers lose their furniture but they can lose their right to complain about losing their furniture. Alliance’s contract stipulates that customers cannot publicly express their concerns or experiences with the company in a way that could damage the company’s “upstanding name and reputation in a public forum,” and that doing so will lead to “an IMMEDIATE forfeiture of their deposit and denouncement of any claims made against the company.”

The provision is legally dubious, but still concerning, lawyers told the Herald.

An additional seven people have spoken to the Herald about All Time Moving within the past few weeks, claiming similarly to be victims. Most say they were set up with All Time Moving by Alliance, and share experiences almost identical to that of the Normans.

The stress of his ordeal has taken a toll on Richard Norman. On July 5, Norman checked into Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers to undergo cardiac surgery after suffering a heart attack. He said he attributes the episode to weeks of worry and anger over dealing with Alliance and All Time Moving.

His furniture and other possessions remain missing in action.

Moving scams can be reported to the Florida Attorney General’s Office by calling 1 (866) 9NO-SCAM or filing a complaint online at MyFloridaLegal.com.

This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 6:30 AM.

Allie Pitchon

Miami Herald