(WSVN) - Many people looking to relocate are choosing to come to Florida, but one man arrived here with an unexpected and expensive delivery from a company hired to help with the move. The Nightteam’s Kevin Ozebek with 7 Investigates.
David Pasternack made a move to South Florida that ended with him being over budget and over wrought.
David Pasternack: “I’m really upset! I wanna cry! I mean this is my whole lifetime of stuff.”
David waited three weeks for his items to be delivered from New York to his new condo in Wilton Manors.
A lot of his things did not make it intact, like this “Wizard of Oz” figurine and this heirloom porcelain figurine from his grandmother.
David Pasternack: “It’s just that this was all I have left of her.”
Back in May, he got an $8,000 estimate from South Florida-based Gold Standard Moving and Storage, LLC.
Days before his move, he was told the cost had risen to nearly $12,000.
David Pasternack: “Gold Standard did not come to my house, and that’s literally who I thought was coming. A company out of Clifton, New Jersey came to my house.”
On moving day, the New Jersey movers packed up his things.
Once the truck was loaded, the price moved up even higher.
David Pasternack: “They now told me the $11,900 move was now $25,400. I almost fainted.”
After three weeks of waiting for his items to be delivered from New York, movers finally arrived at David’s new home.
They explained to David that he had called a moving broker, not a moving company.
David Pasternack: “They’re a phone bank. That’s what they are — a phone bank. A phone bank that takes the phone call, hires the trucking company, gets them to do all the work, and another company deliver it.”
David called Gold Standard Moving and Storage for an explanation on why the estimate was so off, but no one ever responded, so we went by the company’s office in Lauderhill.
Kevin Ozebek: “Hi, yes, Channel 7, can we speak to someone please?”
No one would speak to us on camera. We also stopped by a home address in Lake Worth listed for the owner and called him, but we haven’t heard back.
On its website, Gold Standard Moving and Storage, LLC, says that it is “… a federally licensed moving broker. It is not a motor carrier and does not own moving trucks.”
Cinthya Lavin, Better Business Bureau: “Hiring a moving broker is something we don’t recommend people doing.”
The Better Business Bureau says brokers outsource your move to other companies, which means you may not know who is actually coming to your home to pack your possessions.
Cinthya Lavin: “The common consumer doesn’t really know the difference between moving brokers and movers. They just think it is the lingo of the area, so it’s important to know that distinction.”
But this advice came too late for David. This hasn’t been the warmest welcome to South Florida.
David Pasternack: “When a box comes this crunched, whatever’s in there didn’t survive.”
But David is going to salvage what he can as he starts to build a new life in Broward County.
CONTACT 7INVESTIGATES:
305-627-CLUE
954-921-CLUE
clue@wsvn.com
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.