I’m devastated my parents’ ashes were ‘sold without my knowledge after I hired fake moving company’ – here’s my warning
A MAN said he lost everything he owns, including his parents’ ashes, after hiring a seemingly "fake" moving company.
Dan Zimmerman had spent 25 years living in Oregon but decided to move in 2021 to be closer to family in North Carolina.
Around October, the physician’s assistant searched for a moving company that would help him move across the country.
Problems arose when Zimmerman realized how expensive the move would be. Renting a U-Haul would cost him over $7,000, not including labor to load and unload the vehicle.
Another quote to rent storage containers to have them driven to Wilmington, North Carolina would’ve cost him nearly $20,000.
In order to raise some money, Zimmerman began selling everything he could, only keeping sentimental and high-value items that he couldn’t be without.
More Scams and Frauds
With only a week left to move, he decided to choose a company called Mayflower.
“They scheduled it, I paid them $1,300 with instructions that I’d pay them three payments: $1,300 at the signing of the contract, $1,300 when they come and pick up my stuff and another $1,300 when they finally delivered my belongings,” Zimmerman
The movers came and packed up his things and Zimmerman drove to Wilmington, North Carolina. He made it so the company would store his items in a storage facility while he found a house.
Zimmerman eventually found a home in December and called the company to schedule a delivery.
That’s when the excuses started, he says. First, the mover reportedly said he was having issues with his truck. Then, the mover suddenly came down with Covid-19 and would be out for two weeks.
“I said, ‘OK, I can understand, but I’m still looking for my stuff,’” said Zimmerman. “First week of January, they stopped talking to me and would not answer their phone calls.
“They would never return anything. And then all of a sudden, [in February], I got a text. All along, they had told me that my stuff is in Charlotte, North Carolina in a storage unit.
“And I said, ‘OK, give me the address.’ ‘Well, it’s in a secure place. We can’t give you the address,’” Zimmerman said, relaying the conversation.
The company has over a dozen complaints against them, including some from people like Zimmerman who say they never received their belongings.
Beginning to panic, Zimmerman called the numbers he had for the movers every day. He learned that Mayflower Relocation Services had contracted his move to a mother company, Efficient Moving and Storage.
After making even more phone calls, Zimmerman reached out to someone who informed him that his items were stored at Central Self Storage in Boise, Idaho.
“I called and sure enough, somebody had told them that I would be calling them looking for my belonging. And she said, ‘I’m so sorry, but your belongings have been auctioned.’ And sent me pictures. And it just ended my life. I mean, literally, it was unreal,” he said.
Some of his items included expensive sporting equipment, antique clocks made by his father, and a guitar worth over $30,000.
Most troubling was that his deceased parents’ ashes were apparently sold, along with jewelry and all his family photo albums.
“She said I would need a warrant to get access to the people that bought it. She wouldn’t help me out any other way. The Boise Police said they went over, there’s nothing that they can do, absolutely nothing.
“I called the Eugene [Oregon] Police, too, where my stuff was [picked up]. I told them and they told me that they are going to see what they could do. But it’s out of their state. And so I’ve called federal agencies, everybody, no one will help. Nobody,” said Zimmerman.
Because Zimmerman had entered into a business agreement with this company, law enforcement told him the issue was a civil matter, not a criminal one.
He went on to contact the Attorney's General in Oregon, Idaho and Florida to find someone who had jurisdiction. He also filed a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in Washington, DC.
TRACKING HIS BELONGINGS
After getting a warrant from the Eugene Oregon Police Department, authorities were able to find the people who purchased Zimmerman’s belongings.
Sadly, by the time the buyers were contacted, they had already thrown away many of Zimmerman’s pictures and personal items, not realizing he was looking for them.
They offered to mail the remaining photo albums they had but were not able to find the ashes of Zimmerman’s parents. In regards to the other valuable items, the new owners would not return them, saying they are trying to recover the money they spent purchasing the items in the storage unit.
Zimmerman said he was frustrated that there isn’t a better system in place to police what he called phony movers.
“I thought I was safe. I already had all my belongings packed, they were sitting in an apartment in Eugene. All they had to do is come pick it up and then deliver it. I never ever, ever perceived that I would lose my entire family history. Gone. Everything,” he said.
NOT ALONE
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, there have been over 7,000 complaints about moving scams in the last year alone. The number has increased greatly since the start of the pandemic.
The FMCSA is a civil agency, meaning it does not have criminal authority and can’t prosecute the movers it regulates.
However, if there is a large number of complaints against an individual company, the case is referred to the Department of Transpiration’s Office of Inspector General for possible federal prosecution.
“People need to make sure they have everything in writing when it comes to organizing their move,” said FBI Special Agent Kieran Ramsey.
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“That includes making sure that they understand whether the people they are in contact with are a broker or a moving company because oftentimes these scams start with an unscrupulous broker.”
The Sun has reached out to Mayflower Relocation Services by phone and email but has not received a response at this time.
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