How to Verify a Packers and Movers Company Before You Pay Anything

Moving fraud in India follows a pattern: a very low quote, pressure to pay an advance, goods collected, and then the price triples with your possessions as leverage. It works because the customer has no way to tell a real company from a phone number until it is too late. These checks take about twenty minutes and close most of that gap.

1. Ask for the registration and GST number, then check them

A GST number can be verified free on the GST portal. It should return a business name that matches the one on the quote. A company that will not give you a GSTIN is either unregistered or does not want the transaction recorded — neither is good.

2. Confirm there is a physical office and warehouse

Ask for the address and look at it on Street View, or better, visit. A genuine mover has premises, vehicles and stored materials. A broker has a phone. Brokers are not automatically bad, but you should know you are talking to one, because the crew who turns up will be someone you have never been told about.

3. Get the quotation in writing, on letterhead

With the vehicle size, crew size, materials, insurance level, taxes and delivery window named. A WhatsApp message with a single number is not a quotation.

4. Read the reviews in the middle

Five-star reviews are often solicited and one-star reviews are often edge cases. The three- and four-star reviews are where you learn how a company behaves when something goes wrong — which is the thing you are actually buying.

5. Never pay a large advance

A modest booking amount is normal. Paying the majority up front is not, and paying to a personal account rather than a company account is a clear warning. Insist on a receipt against the company GSTIN.

6. Ask what the insurance actually covers

Specifically: the per-item cap, the exclusions, and whether goods you packed yourself are covered. If the answer is vague, that is the answer.

7. Ask who is doing the move

"Is this your own crew and your own vehicle, or is it subcontracted?" Subcontracting is common and not disqualifying, but you deserve to know who will be in your house, and who is accountable if something is broken.

8. Check they will do a survey

A company willing to quote a full household move over the phone without seeing it is either padding the number heavily or planning to revise it later. The survey is free and it protects you more than it protects them.

Warning signs, in order of seriousness

• A quote far below every other quote you have received
• Pressure to decide today, or a "discount that expires"
• Payment requested to a personal account
• No written quotation, or refusal to put terms in writing
• No verifiable address
• Reluctance to name the insurance provider or coverage limits

Any one of those is worth a pause. Two together is worth walking away.