No matter how excited you are to furnish your new home or office, you’d always dread the moving day. Packing things is arduous, and the logistics don’t usually go as smooth as you want it to be, even if you’ve hired movers. But that’s just reality; we’re all meant to experience minor mishaps when we’re making a major change in our lives.

And by minor mishaps, we mean incidents that can be put under control immediately. Though out of anyone’s control, bad weather can also count as a mishap because you can always wait out the storm, ensuring your safety as a result. But sadly, not all people are lucky to only experience little accidents on their moving day. Some faced disasters that had made their moving day a nightmare.

Below are some personal accounts of moving horror stories, which are fortunately avoidable as long as you plan thoroughly.

1. Getting Scammed

When you look for professional moving services, it’s safer to search from Google, social media, blogs, or ask for a referral from your friends. Searching from risky sites like Craigslist may up your chances of being scammed.

Of course, this isn’t to say that freelance movers are automatically untrustworthy. But if you’re dealing with fragile or sensitive items, like expensive home decor, office equipment, medical equipment, and the like, you’re a hundred times better off with a moving company. Movers from a company are trained in handling those kinds of items and are professionals.

On the other hand, some movers off of Craigslist and other similar sites may entice you with their low prices but provide flawed services in return. One couple shared a story like this with Refinery29. They hired a cheap “moving company” from Craigslist because the company promised that they could move their apartment in two hours.

Hence, the couple expected a moving truck on the day, but the movers arrived with a van. They managed to fit 90% of the couple’s apartment into the vehicle, but the work had been akin to a game of Tetris. The process took long, and the couple had to return to their apartment to haul the remaining 10% of their belongings.

To avoid being scammed, verify a moving company’s credibility by checking if they have licenses and insurances. Read reviews from moving websites as well. Don’t be fooled by too-good-to-be-true deals because excellent service doesn’t always come cheap.

2. Packing Disasters

It’s easy to think that you can pack your things fast, so you’d delay the task until a few days before the moving day. But packing is more challenging than people realize. Even if you only have a few stuff, you can’t pack them up fast because they need to be sorted. You can’t put your clothes into the same box as your plates, for one thing.

A packing disaster happened to a student who also shared her story with Refinery29. With a paper due at midnight, she only started packing a few hours before moving out of her apartment. She and her boyfriend packed with haste, but they only had one check-in bag and two carry-ons to fit everything in. To make that work, she was forced to throw out around 75% of her belongings. They all went to an alley behind her apartment, so the people living there had scored a new bed, clothes, and even a few high-end bags.

This disaster could’ve been avoided if movers were sent into the picture. Movers can handle packing tasks if you’re too busy for it. If you don’t want strangers touching your things, your friends or family members can help you instead. Throwing away 75% of your belongings is entirely unnecessary.

3. Misbehaving Movers

Misbehaving movers are those who act unprofessionally. They may break your things, handle your valuables and fragile things roughly, or refuse to move an item because it’s part of their “non-allowable,” which they could’ve warned you about ahead of time.

But worst of all is a mover who would attempt to cozy up with you. Such a thing was experienced by an anonymous woman, whose story is also posted on Refinery29. Her move went well, which was fortunate, but she noticed one of the movers staring at her longer than was comfortable. A few weeks later, the same mover sent her a drunk-sounding text asking her to meet up for a drink. He confessed to getting her number from the moving company’s invoice.

While it’s fine to be friends with your movers if you want to, it’s unethical for them to contact you outside of work if you don’t permit them. Not to mention staring at a client for too long is utterly wrong.

Though instances like this are impossible to predict and thus difficult to avoid, you can control the aftermath. Reporting the misbehaving mover will help. Don’t ignore it because they may target other vulnerable females next.

Moving is a tedious process, but thankfully, reputable movers are there to our rescue. Do your homework before moving, which means packing, researching, and tidying up to avoid these moving disasters.