What we expect of partners we feature.

Why this exists

A consumer-advocate site that doesn't enforce its standards is a marketing site. The point of publishing the standards — instead of keeping them in a private partner agreement and citing it vaguely — is so that readers can hold us to them. If a partner falls short of what's on this page and we don't act, the gap is public. That's the integrity mechanism.

These standards are not lawyer-language. They are a working code of conduct, written in plain language, that maps directly onto the clickwrap agreement every partner signs.

1. Pricing transparency

Featured partners agree to pricing practices a reasonable consumer could verify and rely on:

• Written estimates are honored within FMCSA tariff rules. Binding estimates are billed at the estimate; non-binding estimates may bill higher only within the regulator-defined limits, and the partner discloses this distinction in writing before service.
• Quoted prices match what's billed absent a documented scope change the customer agreed to in writing or by recorded line.
• Deposits are refundable per the disclosed terms. Whatever the cancellation window is, it's stated up front in the booking confirmation, and the partner honors it.
• No surprise fees. Long-carry, stair-carry, shuttle, fuel, packing materials — every fee that may apply is disclosed before booking. Fees applied at delivery without prior disclosure are returned on request.
• No quote-stacking. Partners do not raise prices mid-job by inflating weight or volume estimates relative to what was committed.

2. Service standards

The basic operational commitments. Reasonable people can reasonably miss these occasionally; sustained failure is what triggers removal.

• Show up. On the agreed date, within a documented arrival window. If the window slips, the partner notifies the customer in advance with an updated estimate.
• Honor the agreed scope. The scope of work in the contract is the scope delivered. Material changes in scope require customer consent before the change is performed.
• Communicate proactively. When things change — a delay, a damaged item, an inventory discrepancy, a route reroute — the partner reaches out to the customer rather than waiting for the customer to notice.
• Crew identification. Crews showing up at a customer address are identifiable as the partner's employees or vetted subcontractors. No unbranded labor showing up at the doorstep with no chain back to the company.

3. Complaint handling

The standards here are not about whether complaints occur — they always do — but how the partner responds when they do.

• Respond to consumer complaints within 14 days from the date the complaint reaches the partner, regardless of channel (direct, BBB, FMCSA NCCDB, state AG, MovingRated). "Respond" means substantive engagement, not an auto-acknowledgment.
• Maintain a complaint-resolution rate above 70%. Calculated from BBB complaint history and FMCSA NCCDB. A partner whose rate falls below this threshold and stays there for more than 60 sustained days is in scope for removal.
• No retaliation. Partners do not condition refunds, settlements, or service completion on the customer withdrawing a complaint, deleting a review, or signing a non-disparagement clause.
• Honor disclosed valuation. If a customer purchased Full Value Protection or third-party insurance, claims are processed per the disclosed valuation, not the federal default of $0.60/lb.

4. Regulatory compliance

The compliance baseline. These are not aspirational; they are the floor.

• Active FMCSA operating authority. Maintained continuously. FMCSA out-of-service orders trigger immediate suspension of featuring pending resolution.
• Required state-level licensing. Maintained in every state the partner advertises service in.
• Insurance at or above federal minimums. Cargo, liability, and workers' comp where applicable. Partners disclose lapses in coverage to MovingRated within 7 days of the lapse.
• Tariff and disclosure obligations. Required FMCSA forms (OMB 2126-0008 written estimates, "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move," etc.) provided to customers per the federal schedule.
• State Attorney General actions. An active AG consumer-protection action against the partner is a featuring suspension condition. The partner notifies MovingRated within 7 days of receiving notice of any such action.

5. Marketing standards

What featured partners agree not to do, on their own surfaces and in our co-marketing.

• No deposit-then-vanish. Partners who collect deposits and then fail to perform — or who perform under a different legal entity than the one collecting — are removed without right of reply.
• No bait-and-switch. The provider quoted is the provider performing. Subcontracting is permitted only where the customer is informed in writing before the booking is confirmed.
• No fake reviews. Partners do not solicit, generate, or pay for reviews that misrepresent the customer's actual experience. Incentivized reviews are disclosed per FTC guidelines.
• No misrepresentation of MovingRated. Partners do not claim a relationship with MovingRated beyond the actual featuring relationship, do not represent that MovingRated endorses operational decisions outside our published standards, and do not use MovingRated trademarks outside the brand-guideline scope provided at onboarding.
• No exclusive endorsement claims.MovingRated features multiple partners. Partners do not market themselves as "MovingRated's #1 pick," "the only company MovingRated recommends," or any equivalent claim that misrepresents the relationship to consumers. Featured-partner status is real and disclosable; exclusive-endorsement framing is not accurate.
• No misrepresentation of consumer rights. Partners do not tell customers that filing an FMCSA complaint, a BBB complaint, or a state AG complaint will void their service contract. Customers always retain the right to file with regulators.

6. How violations are surfaced

Four channels feed our partner monitoring (full detail on /how-we-rate):

• Reader complaints submitted via /report
• FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database monitoring
• BBB grade and complaint history monitoring
• State Attorney General consumer-protection advisory monitoring

Each complaint is verified before being acted on. We do not act on uncorroborated single-source claims. The verification, classification, and escalation process is documented internally and applied consistently across partners.

7. Removal process

When a violation reaches the threshold for action, removal proceeds as follows:

1. Notification. The partner receives written notice of the specific standard at issue, the underlying evidence, and the proposed action (suspension pending cure, or removal).
2. Right of reply — 14 calendar days. The partner may respond in writing. The response is considered before final action and is published alongside the removal entry if removal proceeds.
3. Final decision. If removal proceeds, all active campaigns deactivate, the partner stops appearing in featured slots, and an entry is added to /removed-partners with date, neutral source-cited reason, and the partner's right-of-reply statement (if provided).
4. Audit trail. Internally, the action is recorded with decision-maker, evidence, and any prior warnings. Public-facing language is intentionally narrower than the internal record.

A single severe violation — for example, an FMCSA out-of-service order, a state AG cease-and-desist, or a corroborated deposit-then-vanish pattern — can result in immediate removal without the suspension-pending-cure step. Right of reply still applies and is published if exercised.

8. Reinstatement

Removal is not necessarily permanent. A removed partner can apply for reinstatement when:

• The underlying issue is resolved (BBB grade recovers, FMCSA order lifts, state AG action closes, complaint patterns abate)
• The partner has sustained the resolved state for 90 calendar days
• A fresh full vetting cycle is completed and passed

Reinstatement is documented on the removed-partners log alongside the original removal entry. We do not quietly re-feature a removed partner. The record is permanent; the status is current.

9. What partners get from us in exchange

The accountability runs both directions. Partners we feature get:

• Featured placement on state hub, route, comparison, and city pages relevant to their service area, ranked by editorial fit not bid amount
• Co-marketing into our email list of in-market readers
• Notice of reader complaints with time to investigate before any public action
• 14-day right of reply on any removal action
• A public commercial relationship that's defensible to their own regulators and customers (vs. opaque "best of" placements they can't speak to)

10. Our commitments to partners

What MovingRated agrees to in exchange:

• Apply the standards on this page consistently across partners. We do not remove a small partner for an issue we'd ignore from a large one.
• Verify reader complaints before acting on them.
• Notify partners of complaint patterns before they escalate to a removal action, where possible.
• Use neutral, source-cited language in any public removal entry, and publish the partner's right-of-reply statement alongside it.
• Maintain the audit trail and produce it on request to the partner whose action is at issue.

11. Version history

The version of this page in effect on a given date is the version a partner agreed to at signing. Material changes are versioned and partners are notified before material changes take effect.

This page is a living document but not a moving target. Where a standard tightens, partners get notice and a reasonable cure period before the change takes effect for them.

Becoming a partner

Vetting is detailed on /how-we-rate. To inquire, email [email protected] with your USDOT and a primary contact. We respond to all qualified inquiries within five business days.

Reporting a problem with a partner

If you've worked with a featured partner and something went wrong, the fastest path is /report. We verify every complaint and we act on patterns. The reporting form is independent of any partner; partners do not see complaints before we have classified them.