Yelp Movers Should I Trust Those Reviews?

Did you know that 84 percent of people trust online reviews as much as friends ? If you’re one of those 84 percent, don’t be ashamed. It’s completely understandable that you would trust a real person and their experience with a company or service over the company or services own site and promotional content.

With this said, websites like Yelp that provide users with real reviews for the moving companies they are considering to work with are a great source for a look into the business’ reputation and experience. However, Yelp practices do have a lot of controversy surrounding them as well. That’s why it is important to use Yelp as a tool as often as you can but to also know what to look out for with a moving company’s Yelp profile.

By doing this, you can ensure your own personal safety, find, for example, office movers and packers that are right for you, and ensure that your local or long distance move will go by without a hitch.

What to Look out for With a Moving Company’s Yelp Profile

Although Yelp is an excellent tool, it does not guarantee the quality of the mover and still allows for unlicensed and low-quality moving companies to advertise on their platform. Not to mention the fact that Yelp algorithms sometimes filter reviews and promote companies that don’t deserve the promotion whatsoever which can lead to a serious issue for you and your moving process.

Fortunately, by reviewing these six elements below, you can ensure that the Yelp experience you have regarding the moving company of your choice yields the results you desire and sheds light on the kind of company you plan to work with.

1. Fake Reviews

Consider a fake review as a virtual pat on the back from the company themselves. Most times, fake reviews stem from employees, friends, family, or even paid writers—and they can seriously con movers relying on this information for a closer look into the business they’re interested in most. 

Fortunately, fake reviews are typically pretty easy to discern as most fake reviews will either come from people obviously associated with the business or from accounts that have little to no additional information on them.

In order to determine if a review is fake or not, look at the context they provide, the way that they write, and their Yelp profile for reference. If the text is overly promotional or written poorly, the review is more than likely fake. Similarly, if the profile is blank other than this one review or shows a picture that is clearly a stock image, it is likely a fake as well.

2. Verification and Proof of License and insurance

In the state of California, Yelp plays a huge role in the decisions made when choosing a moving company. Unfortunately, having positive Yelp reviews does not mean the company has a current license and is insured.

Unfortunately, if the company is not currently licensed and insured, this means that they are not as professional as their reviews may seem and if, in the event that your items are damaged, you could easily be left with all the repair costs on your own.

To verify their license and insurance information online, do this:

• Go to cpuc.ca.gov/tmis
• Choose carrier type – ‘Moving Company (MTR or HHG or T)
• Choose carrier ID – For example, 191707 (Got2Move)

Through this site, you can ensure that you and your property are safe and insured during the big move with the company of your choosing.

3. Bad Reputation

Here’s the deal—if a company has a bad reputation, it doesn’t matter how reasonable their prices are or how professional they may seem, a consistent flow of bad experiences means the company is not as perfect as they may look on paper. 

You must remember that the best con artists in the world are the ones that seem the most genuine and professional. Sincerity is the key to scamming people—and the last thing you want is to be the one that gets scammed.

With this said, look over their reviews, see whether or not they are more positive or negative, look at their overall rating, and don’t settle for anything below a four-star rating.

4. Pay Closer Attention to bad Reviews and Find Patterns

If you do happen to find bad reviews, the best thing to do is to analyze them and find any patterns between them. After all, a bad review isn’t the end of the world. In fact, if a moving company has no negative reviews but hundreds of review submissions, it’s likely the work of fake reviewers.

On top of this, the truth is that the customer can absolutely be at fault or be wrong in the situation and the best way to analyze this is to compare their review to others and also see if the company responded as well as how they responded to the reviews.

For instance, if multiple customers all said that they packaged the items improperly or were rude on the phones, this may not be a one-off situation but rather a true judgment of the negative side of their character.

Furthermore, if a negative review appears and the company takes it poorly or argues with the reviewer, this may further solidify the fact that they are not as professional or experienced as they claim to be.

5. Paid Yelp Recommendations

Have you ever typed in a search on Yelp and a series of sponsored profiles popped up first? In some cases, Yelp may simply just be suggesting a location because it is trending or new but, in other cases, this is because a particular business paid to be at the top of the list.

This can make finding a qualified moving company on Yelp significantly more difficult. After all, with scammers, a few hundred dollars to promote their business and get more people into their web of lies is well worth it.

This is why it is important that, when you search on Yelp, you opt for the unpaid choices and also look at the entire list of reviews instead of solely the highlighted ones which are often solely the most positive reviews and nothing else.

6. Cross-Reference With the Moving Company’s Website

Even with all of the Yelp reviews and positivity, the best way to ensure that you are not fooled by a scam moving company is to cross-reference this information with their website and review the information we outline in our article 9 Red Flags Before Hiring Movers.

This is the best way to not only make sure that the company of your choosing has positive reviews but is also reliable and trustworthy in their actual business model, prices, and qualifications.

In the end, Yelp is clearly a useful tool but you should not trust Yelp 100 percent of the time. Instead, you should use it as just one of the tools in determining if a moving company is worth their salt or not. Unfortunately, Yelp does not guarantee the quality of the movers and allows unlicensed businesses to advertise on the platform which can lead to deception and damage in the long run.

This is why, by using these steps along with the ones outlined in our other articles, you can find a mover that is professional across all platforms and is guaranteed to make your next local or long distance move as easy as possible.