DENVER, COLORADO–Better Business Bureau serving Greater Denver and Central Colorado issuing a warning against Denver-based Special Ops Storage and Moving Co., along with several other local moving companies that have close ties to the business.
Consumers blame F-rated Special Ops for causing as much as $70,000 in losses, accusing the company of a variety of unsavory practices such as dramatically increasing prices on moving day, arriving several hours late to scheduled jobs, damaging items and property, exhibiting rude or threatening behavior towards customers, and failing to deliver customers’ belongings on time, or in some cases, at all.
One such complainant, Lana Barrett, alleges that Special Ops Moving owes her over $20,000 in damaged items, as well as nearly $9,000 in missing belongings that include a treadmill, a 60-inch television, and jewelry. According to Ms. Barrett, it will cost even more than that to replace everything.
Further, Ms. Barrett claims that Special Ops over-charged her when they demanded more than $1600 for 12 hours of work, despite having quoted a rate of only $85 per hour. The company charged Ms. Barrett $277 for “hours at the warehouse,” a charge she says Special Ops only added to her contract after it had already been signed.
“Cannot say I’ve met a more deceptive company in my life, and I’ve met a few,” Ms. Barrett told BBB.
For a period of approximately nine days, describes Ms. Barrett, Special Ops could not account for her belongings, after which time the company returned some of her items in trash bags. Other items arrived in boxes that had been opened or had sustained water damage.
Ms. Barrett claims that one of the business's employees, Leslie, tried to bully her into believing she was in the wrong by playing “good cop bad cop” with another employee.
“[Leslie] told me she did ‘not understand why I was so confused, I must not have read the contract,’” Ms. Barrett wrote in an email to BBB. “When I said the math did not add up, she hung up and let [a different employee] talk to me.”
The employee in question denied this allegation to BBB, calling it "false and [without] evidence."
Special Ops Storage and Moving Co. was incorporated in 2016 by Sarah Thorpe and the company’s general manager is her husband, Mike Gayton. Previously, the two did business under the name Special Ops Moving LLC, transferring their PUC permit between companies in early 2018 and maintaining the same Cherry Creek business address throughout. Ms. Thorpe has also done business under the registration Movers Connection Inc.
The employee who Lana Barrett accused of bullying her over the phone has been involved with each of those three companies as either a relocation specialist or registered agent.
“Unfortunately, it’s too easy for a company in the business of preying on consumers to change its name and registration with the state in order to evade accountability and continue to impact our local marketplace negatively,” said Kim States, President and CEO of BBB serving Denver/Boulder.
In addition to Thorpe and Gayton, Leo Shifrin identified himself at a Public Utilities Commission hearing as the operations manager of Special Ops. Mr. Shifrin has ties to at least two other moving companies—Mover’s Connection and 67th Ave Movers—both of which BBB associates with similar issues to those found in the complaints against Special Ops. Further, in 2011, a Denver district court issued a $1 million judgement against Mr. Shifrin for mortgage fraud charges brought by Attorney General John Suthers.
Lana Barrett says she filed a lawsuit against Special Ops in Denver County Court, although that court is limited to a jurisdictional maximum recoverable amount of $15,000. Ms. Barrett is considering pursuing the matter further in civil court.
According to Ms. Barrett, on one occasion, Leo Shifrin of Special Ops “showed up in court claiming to be Mike Gayton.”
In June, Special Ops participated in a legally binding BBB arbitration session, but failed to pay the amount the arbitrator awarded to the complainant.
The Public Utilities Commission has already fined the owners of Special Ops several times. The Commission revoked the business’s permit on July 20 for its failure to pay said fines.
In the past year, Special Ops has received 22 reportable BBB complaints. The company provided an answer to every complaint but only resolved one.
Aside from tens of thousands of dollars in losses, some of the consumer allegations against Special Ops Moving during the past year include:
- Door to the moving truck opened en-route.
- Customer had to break up a fight between movers.
- Movers smelled of marijuana; mover asked one customer to “smoke them up”; customer’s belongings smelled of marijuana once returned.
- Customer who called to inquire about delays called a “p*ssy a*s f*ggot” and threatened with physical altercation.
- Company sent a mover who “does not lift heavy items.”
- Mover drank Coors Light on the job and threw boxes marked “fragile.”
- Company postponed a customer’s move by a full day because one of the crew members was a felon and therefore not allowed to access the customer’s home on military property.
- Movers loaded a truck in such a way that “stuff came flying out the back” when it was opened.
- Driver stopped for a beverage on the 4.3-mile trip between homes.
- Truck full of belongings left unattended mid-move.
- Company cancelled a job at 5pm (originally scheduled for 10am) on a customer with a broken foot whose lease ended that day.
- Movers who smelled of marijuana failed to take measurements before attempting to move a 1000 lb. gun safe through a stairwell, resulting in extensive damage to the customer’s home.
- Parked moving truck on customers’ grass and plants; drove truck over newly laid sod four times, requiring the customer to refill her entire yard’s soil in order to avoid permanent unevenness (after being evaluated by three different landscapers).
- Repeatedly refused to wrap a customer’s belongings in shrink wrap or blankets, using insults and profanity towards the customer.
- Hid damaged items in the garage and under blankets.
In an email statement for this news release, Special Ops claimed BBB reported on the company unfairly, writing, “The bottom line is that a majority of our customers are happy with our services. The small percentage of complaints we do have are taken seriously and resolved internally as fast as possible.”“We just hired a new customer service person to coordinate resolutions with consumers faster and more efficiently and are taking further steps to better our service,” the statement continued. “We will continue to work hard with customers and the BBB to resolve any issues that may arise in the future.”
Just under 47% of the BBB Customer Reviews of Special Ops are positive. Unlike formal BBB complaints, BBB reviews do not impact a business’s letter grade and their purpose is to share information rather than resolve disputes.
Special Ops Storage and Moving is currently F-rated with BBB due to a high complaint volume, as well as several unanswered and unresolved complaints. BBB is also reporting on a pattern of complaints against the company due to concerns around delivery issues, service issues, customer service issues, and billing issues.
BBB encourages consumers to visit Special Ops Storage and Moving Co.’s Business Profile to read complaints and reviews.
If you are planning a move, make sure to read BBB's tips on hiring a mover.