SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A woman tells Channel 2 Action News that she had a binding estimate from movers for her move to Atlanta for just under $5,000. When it was time to unload her things, MMG Movers demanded more than $14,000 on top of the $5,000 Angela Forte already paid for the contents of a 9′ x 10′ storage unit.

After a 10-month-long dispute, the moving company is threatening to auction off her things next week.

“They’re just holding it hostage. Holding my things hostage,” said Forte.

The preschool teacher said that her apartment has looked empty for nearly a year.

“For me to live like this, I am so ashamed,” Forte said.

Forte said that she signed a binding estimate for $4,600 with what turned out to be a moving broker who passed the job on to another company.

MMG Moving claims Forte signed a new contract when they showed up the day of the move from California to Atlanta.

She had already paid more than $5,300, but MMG said she agreed in writing to pay another $5,700 on top of that.

That’s more than $11,000 to move the contents of a 9′ x 10′ storage unit.

MMG claims that Forte signed off on the extra charges.

“No, I did not. I have a blank thing that I signed because I had to leave,” she said.

MMG demanded $5,700 before unloading the truck in Atlanta.

“He said, ‘Well, you do have a balance and it has to be paid before the things can get off the truck,’” Forte said.

Now, MMG said it will be auctioning off Forte’s things unless she pays up for storing her items over the past year.

“I can’t afford to pay that to anybody. Even if I had the money to pay, I wouldn’t pay because they don’t deserve that,” Forte said.

An MMG manager spoke with WSB who said Forte signed the new paperwork, so she owes the money, period.

Forte is adamant that the “balance due” line for $5,700 was filled in after she signed the document.

“When I signed, when I put my information here, there was nothing on it,” Forte said.

Jeremy Carter with MMG Moving claims that Forte is lying.

“We have everything to prove that that’s not the way it went,” Carter said. “She should have never signed and agreed to a price she’s not willing to pay.”

MMG Moving has a one out of five-star rating with the Better Business Bureau.

“Doing your homework will save you thousands of dollars and a lot of aggravation as well,” Lori Silverman with Clark Howard’s Consumer Action Center said.

She said to avoid this kind of a mess, customers need to research companies thoroughly beforehand using the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website.

Federal regulators have a whole list of red flags to watch for.

Silverman said to never sign a document with blanks on it.

“You’ve got to read everything in a moving document and the fine print,” Silverman said.

“I don’t know how they go to bed at night and sleep,” Forte said.