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A moving company runs a scheme where it holds people’s cherished family heirlooms hostage after loading it onto their trucks, then demands thousand-dollar cash ransoms to release it, a new nationwide class action lawsuit alleges.
Retired New York Supreme court judge Jeffrey Spinner and two others who hired moving company New Era filed an amended complaint in the Eastern District of New York April 13. They are asking for $5 million damages, alleging the movers held their property ransom, then delivered it damaged and with missing items.
Spinner’s experience with the company began in July last year when he hired the movers to shift his belongings — including antiques and irreplaceable family heirlooms from the holocaust — from North Carolina to New York.
Spinner paid a deposit, the company loaded the items in August, and four months later he called to have them delivered. However, he alleges the company told him the balance owed had increased from $9,300 to $10,542.00.
“Next, on or about December 19, 2020, Defendants texted Plaintiff from “Jorge” demanding $6,282.00 more in cash, totaling $15,582.00 in cash as opposed to the $9,300.00 binding price,” the class action alleges.
Spinner says he refused, and kept asking for his property to be delivered. He alleges he then got two calls from a man identifying himself as the general manager at New Era, threatening to auction his items. Spinner filed a lawsuit against the company.
He says, after two court orders, he found his goods “moldy, damaged and destroyed in a dirty trailer on the side of the road at Route 440 South, Bayonne, New Jersey.”
North Carolina Plaintiff Bill Pompliano says he had a similar experience when he hired New Era to transport his items, including items that belonged to his son who died three years ago.
“Defendants made the memory a nightmare by holding his son’s property hostage for more cash then stealing it during the move,” the class action alleges.
Pompliano says he paid over $16,000 for his move. When the delivery driver came to his house, he demanded $1,000 more to release the items, he says. Pompliano paid $500 cash “under duress,” but when he got the delivery many items were missing, including property belonging to his son, a piano, a custom table, a flat screen TV, dressers, electronics, and other valuable items.
“What was delivered was damaged beyond repair,” the class action lawsuit alleges.
Michigan Plaintiff Samantha Schwartz had similar allegations, saying the company withheld her property for over three months, stole most of it and delivered what was left damaged.
The class action says there were 19 other similar complaints about the company to the Better Business Bureau as of February this year.
The residents allege the company operates under different brands and shell companies with names New Era Relocation, Gold Standard Relocation, Moving Solutions, and Relocate US in an attempt to dodge liability. However, they allege the businesses share common officers, managers, owner and “mastermind” Margaret Drayton, employees and phone numbers, and are completely indistinguishable from one another.
“Thus, a declaration and injunction about these companies and Drayton’s involvement is also needed to protect the public from their shell game used to hold property hostage,” the class action states.
It is suing under the Carmack Amendment and general business laws, as well as for disgorgement of profits, fraud, breach of contract and negligence.
The residents seek certification of the class action, an order declaring the alleged practices as illegal, injunctive relief stopping the defendants from engaging in the alleged practices, damages and interest no less than $5 million, attorneys fees and a jury trial.
The group is looking to represent any person who used the companies to move anytime from December 2017, and then had the companies deny liability for property damage by claiming they were only brokers.
This is not the first case of a person suing a company that was meant to take care of their belongings. In 2010, a man described his “horror” experience dealing with a moving company.
What do you think of the allegations against the moving company in this case? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by Susan Chana Lask.
The New Era Moving Company Class Action Lawsuit is Spinner et al. v. New Era Relocation LLC et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-06288, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
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38 thoughts on‘Nightmare’ Movers Demanded Ransoms for Customers’ Property, Holocaust Heirlooms, Class Action Claims
OMG!!! Extremely horrible people. Missing boxes I believe to be stolen and broken items. Promises broken. Doubled the price. Delivery was not as scheduled.
(All American) Job #AA7205180 Quoted by Lisa Taylor. Would not deliver all items until everything was paid in full up front. $8000.00 later. Was quoted $4000. No written confirmation of quoted price. No phone call taken, no call backs.
When I asked about the broken furniture and other items, I was told to call this company Express Moving Claims. His name was Charlie. charlie@expressmovingclaims.com. No compensation was made. He wanted to settle for a mere $300.
Hi Charlie, These are emails and texts sent to the company by my daughter. Scheduled delivery was to be June 7. My daughter did not receive all of their belongings until Thurs July 1. All American breached their contract as well as doubling their cost. According to John the sales manager American had up until June 29 to deliver the rest of their belongings. All American said they had to pay “in full” in order for their belongings to be shipped out. A young couple with a 10 month old moving to Florida had to pay $8000.00!! That’s insane when you consider American’s original quote. Rude, uncaring people, extremely unprofessional and quite certainly NOT “All American”. All American took advantage of young people and gave them the runaround. They deserve compensation!!
Absolutely add me!!!!
Best Price Moving & Storage Inc in downtown Chicago is another corrupt player. Run away. Also, don’t ever use
a Broker!! Nationwide out of Delray, FL
are real conartists. The US needs total
government reform on this industry!
NOW. Would love to join a class action to prosecute all the corrupt characters!!
Move R Vanlines did this to me, they are based out of Las Vegad Nevada. Told me $2500, 3 men came over, only 1 spoke English told me it will be $11k! My friend helped me move!
I Am Going Through the Same Exact Situation Right Now, Where I Hired a Broker, That Has Been Helping Me File Claims Against a Fraudulent Moving Company, That’s Had 3 Different Business Names In The Last Year. 7 People Including Myself Have Been A Victim To This Moving Company. And All Of Us Got Their Belongings Returned Months Later all Water Damaged and Destroyed, . As For Myself. I Am a Recently New Widow and To Make Things Even Worse, I Lost My Child. my Son, In August Of 2022, From Complications. caused By The COVID Vaccine, Where Suddenly He Became Very Ill, and Immediately Went In To Cardiac Arrest. After 14 Times Of Franticly Telling The Medical Staff. Caring For My Son, Who’s Liver Suddenly Stopped Functioning, To Save My Child, I Was Forced To Give Up, And Let My Son Go. He’s Tragically The Second Child I Have Lost, Because of Medical Mistakes or From Not Being Informed Of Risks From a Vaccine. I Had Never Hired a Moving Company Before, I Always Had My Husband and Other Family Members There to Help Me, But This Time I Had No one. So I Didn’t Know What To Expect. I Have Paid Almost $10,000 To Have What Was All I Had Left In My Life. Moving From Bakersfield, CA. To Apache Junction, AZ. I Bought a New Cedar Chest For My Sons Special Belongings, Like I Also Did For My Husband’s, Both Were In Perfect Shape, When the Moving Truck Showed Up On November 29, 2022, and We’re Loaded On a Rented Moving Truck, I Was Charged an Additional $2000, on Top Of My Original Deposit of $1950.
Plus I Was Expected To Pay Half Of The Balance, Which Was $1743. And Even after Having To Pay More For Extra Cubic Ft. I Was Told I Needed, That Was Loaded in a Single Layer, In The Space I Was Allowed, They Claimed They Couldn’t Fit It all In That Load, and Would Have To Send Out Another Truck to Pick Up 3 Pieces of Furniture and A few Medium Box’s, Which Showed Up On December 6, 2022, Finally Later That Evening With One Mover, To Load it On Another Rented Truck, Which I Was Charged an Additional $1400, For That Pickup.. I Was Under the Impression That Both Movers Were Taking Inventory of My Belongings as They Loaded It on The Trucks and Labeling Them, But After They Were Finished and Had Been Paid, I Was Handed a Blank Inventory List To Fill Out, By Using My Own Inventory List, and Rushed Where, I Couldn’t Right It All Down, I Knew The Broker Had a Inventory List Identical to Mine, So I Assumed The Movers had Gotten a Copy Of It. I Heard Nothing From The Moving Company With My Belongings Until, The First Week In February, Where They Informed Me That It Was Being Delivered On February 14, 2022.. and Had Been Taken To a Warehouse in Utah.. which The Broker Found Out Was a Lie, It Was In Oregon, In a Warehouse Out In the Middle of No Where. The Same Place 6 Other Customers Had Had There Belongings Taken To, and Finally Delivered To Them Months Later..Right Before They Showed Up, I Was Informed That The Balance Owed Went From $1730, To $2483, and I Had To Pay The Balance in Cash or By Zelle, Or They Wouldn’t Unload the Truck. So Being a Fool and Just Wanting My Sons and Husbands Special items Returned To Me, I Paid Them. It Was Raining That Day. And Once They Opened The Truck, Everything Was Quickly Unloaded, and Placed In My Drive Way, After I Repeatedly Asked Them To Bring My Furniture Inside My Home, I Was Busy Grabbing What Boxes I Could and Bringing them Inside From the Truck, When They Were Finished, I Asked Them Where My Husband’s Handmade Tool Box Was, They Told Me, That it and a Few other Items Wouldn’t Fit In That Load and Would Be Delivered The Following Week. And They Jumped in Their Truck, Which Now had a Business Name on the Side of a Former Business, That ADOT Had Shut Down and Left in a Rush, Leaving Me to Move My Furniture Left In The Rain Alone. I Discovered Everything I Owned, Water Damaged About a Foot and a Half on the Bottom up. My Son’s Cedar Chest Severely Scratched up, With Chunks Of Wood Missing, and Holes athriugh The Top Of My Dresser and Legs Broken Off Antique Armerias, And Ever Box Had Water Damage from A Previous Time before it was Delivered. alot Of My Furniture Crumbled When It Was Moved To a Dry Location, I Took Pictures of Everything, I Had a New Bed Set, Taken In November, All I Got Back was the Top Mattress. And One of the Movers Sent a Picture of My Husband’s Tool Box and Some other Things That Were Left In Some Warehouse, Since Then I Have Discovered A lot More Missing, About Half Of What They Took, I Informed The Broker and I was Informed That 6 Other People That a Former Dispatcher had Changed Our Assigned Moving Company To This One, Without Authorization, and Everyday That Got Moved by This Company, Had The Same Results, Water Damaged Furniture, and Almost Every Box Contained Broken Glass and Broken Fragile Items, Out Of The Half Of My Belongs Delivered , I Could Only Save 2 Pieces of Furniture and There Without Legs Now. I am Still Missing A lot Of Sentimental Items and The Owner which Is Going By a Fake Name, Will Not Tell Me when The remainder of My Things Will Be Delivered. The Broker, That I Hired Has Been Extreme Helpfulll and Has Evidence of The Guys Real Name and Proof That He Just was Allowed Again To open another New Moving Company, That None of Them List Former Business’s, Attached To This Foreign Man. I Have Suffered Pretty Much a Complete Loss of My Belongings Because Of This Move, and it Has Been Suggested To Me to Hire a Lawyer, Which The Other 6 People, Might Possibly be Interested In a Class Action Law Suit, Against This Criminal., not Only For The Total Loss Of My Belongings, But Also For The Mental Anguish I Have Been Subjected To Following My Sons Sudden Death. The Broker Has Agreed To Share all Her Findings and Evidence To Make This Right For Me and The Others. She Has Copies of This Man’s Driver’s License and Proof Of Him Being Allowed To Open New Business’s, With No Former Business’s Showing Up To Warn Anyone of His Past Business Complaints, and Documentation of Lies Told to Her Company By Him, Concerning The Customers, and How He Trys To Look Like Part Of Other Business’s with Francizes. This Scamming Moving Company Needs To Be Stopped From Destroying Anyone Else’s Life.. and I Still Hope I Get Some Of My Missing Belongings Back, They Can’t Be Replaced, and Mean A lot To Me..
Gold Standard moving and storage moved our stuff with American home relocation and we would be interested in a class action lawsuit. Out stuff was moved from Indiana to New Jersey (in 2021) and we were charged about double our original estimate (same thing as above comments with them increasing our square footage). Also charged us for stairs at time of moving, they messed up our timing about 4 times and we had to hire 2 proxies, and we lost over $500 worth of clothing that they will not give us money for in addition to a $260 credit that they also have not given us. Please contact me if any class action lawsuits apply to us or anyone wants to start one.
Final Destination is a broker not the mover. Movers jacked up price by 500% on arrival. I refused to let them load anything. Now Final Destination will not refund deposit. Run as fast as you can from this company.
I am dealing with Final Destination Movers a broker by the name Jeremy Bowman. I don’t even know if that’s his real name or not. These guys need to be prosecuted. If anyone has info on how to start a class action please let me know!
If you find out let me know. I ended up having to move myself and they kept my deposit because price rose 500% when movers arrived.
My wife and l are dealing with another moving company located in Sacramento CA. Using same tactics, the original estimate was 2600$ .
Upon arriving , they said we had a little more cubic ft. that would have to be adjusted onto Bill.
After loading they told us the cost is 7,000 $ !!!!
My wife demanded they unload our belongings, which they refused. They now have our belongings. My wife said she wanted contract canceled and does not trust them to do the move. They now demand 2800$ just to release our property saying it covers drivers time and packing. “We packed Everything Ourselves….not them. We contacted later on the matter and hoping to get this resolved.