Karen Miller just moved to New Braunfels from Georgia. She gets around in a wheelchair. But for now, her new apartment in the Texas Hill Country is empty.
It’s been empty for over a month since the moving company she trusted never delivered.
“I want to get my stuff back,” Miller said. “And I want them to eat the cost of it, because it's just been a nightmare.”
Miller says that Unified Van Lines picked up her belongings from her apartment in Georgia on May 31 and was set to deliver her things in New Braunfels on June 5. But they never showed up on that day.
In fact, she says they didn't show up until a month later.
“From June 5 until July 5, I kept calling them every day and the dispatcher would never tell me a date,” Miller said.
When they finally arrived, Miller says that they demanded a cashier's check for $5,600, an amount Miller says she never agreed to.
“He calls me up and says, ‘We can't do it that way so we have to put it all in storage,’” Miller recalled.
Since July 5, the movers took off with her belongings and she hasn’t been able to get a hold of the company.
According to the Better Business Bureau, Miller is just one of up to 900 victims scammed by fraudulent movers across the country.
Unified Van Lines advertises themselves as the No. 1-rated moving company in the U.S on their website. But the company is listed as one of 12 charged by a federal grand jury in an alleged moving company scam in which five people were arrested last week.
Miller had no knowledge of the indictment. She said that the news was a tough pill to swallow.
Even tougher, though, is possibly losing what she says can never be replaced.
“What possible value to anyone else could my mom's book be?” she said. “It's just personal. You can't replace that. You just can't.”
KENS 5 reached out to the company several times on several different lines but never reaching them. Then, a notice on their website announced that the company was closed.
Miller still hopes to somehow get her stuff back. She has hope, but she also has some words for the company.
“I think your company stinks,” she said. “I think you're fraudulent!”
If you believe you are a victim of this fraudulent activity, please email hotline@oig.dot.gov or call the Victim Hotline at 1-800-424-9071.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the business's name from United Van Lines to Unified Van Lines.