NEWARK – The Attorney General’s Office and Division of Consumer Affairs have filed suit against eight moving companies for alleged violations of the State’s Public Movers and Warehousemen Licensing Act, related regulations and the Consumer Fraud Act, Attorney General Zulima V. Farber and Consumer Affairs Director Kimberly Ricketts announced.

“Consumers entrust movers with their household furnishings, which typically are worth tens of thousands of dollars,” said Attorney General Farber. “We allege that these companies failed to comply with the State’s laws and regulations, putting consumers’ valuable possessions at risk.”

The State is seeking assessment of civil penalties and the payment of restitution to customers, as well as full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Among the alleged violations committed by the named companies and their principals are:

• Operating as movers and/or warehousemen without being licensed by Consumer Affairs to do so;
  
• Operating without the required insurance coverage;
  
• Failing to provide consumers with required written estimates;
  
• Failing to provide consumers with the required brochure titled, “Important Notice to Consumers Utilizing Public Movers”;
  
• Failing to file rate tariffs with Consumer Affairs; and
  
• Failing to adjudicate consumer claims in a timely manner.

The specific alleged violations vary for each of the eight movers.

The eight moving companies named in the State’s complaints and the town where each company is based are as follows:

• A. Bell Installation and Relocations Services, Inc. Fairfield
• A Professional Movers, Inc. South Hackensack
• A Safe Self Storage Place, Inc. (doing business as Safe Self Moving and Storage) Hackensack
• East Coast Assembly & Moving (doing business as East Coast Assembly, East Coast Moving & Storage, East Coast Movers) Farmingdale
• Lakeland Moving & Storage, LLC Ringwood
• The Padded Wagon of New Jersey, Inc. (doing business as The Padded Wagon of NJ, Inc., The Padded Wagon) Parsippany
• Pollard & Son Movers, Inc. East Orange
• Zealous Enterprise (doing business as A1 Rose Movers, Manchester Movers) Plainfield

“Our laws and regulations protect consumers if their furnishings are damaged or lost during a move and also define a process for resolving disputes. Customers of these movers allegedly were deprived of their full legal protections and in some cases were not even told about their rights as legally required,” Consumer Affairs Director Ricketts said.

Deputy Attorneys General Frank A. Coppa, Jeremy S. Crawford and Jonathan D. Rudolph are representing the State in these matters.

All companies conducting moves within New Jersey are required to be licensed with the Regulated Business Unit of the Division of Consumer Affairs. Presently, there are approximately 375 movers and warehousemen licensed by Consumer Affairs. Before hiring a company, consumers can check to see if a particular company is licensed and inquire if complaints have been filed against the company. The Regulated Business Unit can be contacted at 973-504-6442 or 973-504-6512.

Additional information about movers and warehousemen can be found on the Consumer Affairs web site at http://www.nj.gov/lps/ca/pmovers/movfaq2.htm.

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