A bad Apple in a very rotten barrel

If this blog serves no other purpose, it is simply to alert consumers of a set of fraudulent moving companies in the hopes that no one else experiences what I and my family experienced. If you've followed this blog, or if you just now stumbled onto it, my story begins with an encounter with Apple Movers. Needless to say, our situation with this company went downhill pretty fast. We came pretty close to having our household goods held hostage - as it was our belongings made it to their destination on time, but not until after we payed what amounted to ransom for them. We were lucky. We could find people who could loan us the money in the nick of time. Had we not, we would quite possibly be still tangling with a company run by a notorious con artist.

Turns out that we are far from alone. Others have also been had by this same rotten Apple. According to the DoT, the number of complaints for this moving company, with just one truck to its name, has reached 14 and counting. There is a pattern of renaming this company. At one point it was Omni Vanlines, and also Abaco Moving & Storage. Later I would learn that the apparent owner, Tevel Bennoon, has been operating a series of these fly-by-night companies for several years. From Florida, Bennoon has also been running a company currently known as Florida Southwest Van Lines, Inc. The BBB's profile on Florida Southwest is not especially flattering. However, what caught my attention was this statement near the end of the BBB's report:

The BBB has known of Tevel Ben Noon since 2005. Since that time he has had numerous business names and addresses. Currently we are unable to verify a physical address for the company.

 The BBB lists a number of these companies:

Florida SW Van Lines
Omni Van Lines
Lonestar Moving Services
Movers Van Lines Inc.
Lonestar Relocation Services
Tevel Ben Noon
T & J Moving and Storage
All American Van Lines USA Inc.

 In addition, the report lists a plethora of addresses from which this laundry list of companies is supposed to operate.  It's mind-boggling. As I continue to research this list of companies, a pattern emerges. To give you an idea, here's a taste of what Movers Van Lines, Inc. was like:

Their one driver got pulled over for drunk driving, then it was found that he was driving after having been previously disqualified. THEN, he got pulled over again, and wasn't licensed for driving the truck he was in. They must be using rented trucks, since there are 4 different license plates listed for all their 4 violations.

Real classy, right? This is the same company that was paying its employees with bad checks, in 2006. Bennoon got in some legal trouble around that time for writing a worthless check, and had also been in jail for domestic violence.

I'm sure I'll have more to come. In the meantime, avoid this company (by any name) like the plague. Even better, avoid using Internet brokers altogether. We got relatively lucky. You might not be so fortunate.