What changed, and why it still confuses people
For decades the California Public Utilities Commission licensed and policed household goods movers in this state. It wrote the consumer booklet, it issued the CAL-T permit, and it published the maximum rate tariff that caps what an intrastate mover may charge. Oversight has since moved to the Bureau of Household Goods and Services, part of the Department of Consumer Affairs.
The handover is visible in the tariff itself. Maximum Rate Tariff 4 was issued by the Public Utilities Commission as recently as its 2014 edition; by the 2019 edition the same document is issued by the Bureau of Household Goods and Services, Division of Household Movers. Same rules, different agency on the cover.
The confusion persists because a great deal of moving advice on the internet was written before the change and never updated, and because the CPUC genuinely does still regulate other things. It is only household movers that left.
How to check that a California mover is licensed
Every company moving household goods within California must hold a CAL-T permit. Look the number up on the Bureau of Household Goods and Services licence lookup and check that the name on the licence matches the name on your written estimate, because a permit belonging to a different entity is the most common thing an unlicensed operator hides behind.
For a move that crosses a state line the rules are federal instead, and the number to check is the USDOT number on the FMCSA website. A company doing both will have both. Gorilla Movers is CAL T-192729 and USDOT 3801918.
Checking takes about a minute, and it is the single most useful minute you will spend on a move. The bureau has been opening investigations into unlicensed movers on consumer tips and referring them to city and district attorneys.
Where a complaint goes now
Complaints about a California household mover go to the Bureau of Household Goods and Services, 4244 South Market Court, Suite D, Sacramento, CA 95834, (916) 999-2041. Not to the CPUC, and not to the Better Business Bureau if what you want is enforcement rather than a public record of the dispute.
Bring the paperwork with you. The written estimate, the agreement for moving services, the inventory, and any change order you signed are the documents the bureau will ask about, and they are also the documents that decide whether what happened to you was unlawful or merely unpleasant.
The state consumer booklet, in full
The guide itself is worth reading before you hire anyone, this company included. It explains what a written estimate does and does not commit a mover to, what the maximum rates cover, how released-value protection pays by weight rather than by value, what a carrier may and may not do about payment before unloading, and how to file a claim. We publish it complete and unedited.
It still refers to the Public Utilities Commission throughout, because that is how it was written. Read those references as the Bureau of Household Goods and Services and nothing else changes.