Dos and Don'ts for Dealing with Professional Moving Companies - Part III
Dec 20 '00
Welcome to Part III! For those of you still with me, this section deals with the unloading of your belongings at your new home. If you're new, please go back and read Parts I and II for other valuable moving tips.
After
Have a Plan: Have a general idea of where you want your furniture placed and direct the movers accordingly. They will not move your couch three times if you keep changing your mind. They might move it once or if a piece of furniture doesn’t fit the wall you intended it for. One of my better moves, I had all the furniture placed where I wanted it and all of the boxes taken up to the spare bedroom to be unpacked--this way I didn’t have items all over the house in a disorganized manner. This may not be practical for you, so have the movers put boxes marked “master bedroom” (or whatever room they were packed in) sent to the corresponding room of your new house.
Unpacking: The movers who unload your furniture and boxes are contractually obligated to unpack them for you, and put them away, unless you waive this service. I don’t waive this service, I expect my things to be unpacked by the movers. I have a certain way to arrange my cabinets and books so I prefer to put things away myself. Most people waive the unpacking service, so the movers kind of expect it from everyone and can be rather disgruntled about unpacking. My last move, the movers refused to unpack my things, to assemble my bedroom furniture, and to pry open the crates for my antiques (as if I keep a crowbar handy). I called the government transportation office no less than five times and the moving company ended up sending special “unpackers” to unpack my things as well as a customer service representative (and I trashed them in an epinion for their lousy service).
One moving team that unpacked my things, left my books in a huge pile, rather than stacking the books on top of each other. I went to the head of the moving team, showed him the pile, and told him in a calm tone, “These are my things and you all are not treating them with respect. Please fix this.” He straightened the books into neat stacks himself.
Reassembling: If the movers on one end disassembled a piece of your property, they are obligated to reassemble the same piece of property on the other end. What I have run into, every time, are movers not properly equipped with the tools to reassemble my things. When I had my own tools available, I lent them to the movers and they reassembled my bed and bike. Otherwise, I borrowed from neighbors or just waited until my tools arrived in another shipment and did it myself. I also ensure that the movers return to me any borrowed tools they use.
Packing Materials: I’ve lost small items because the movers did not completely smooth out every piece of packing paper, so this is a point in favor of unpacking things yourself. I sometimes unpack certain boxes that I know contain small knick knacks. The movers must take all the unpacked boxes and discarded packing materials with them when they leave. Any unpacked boxes, you must deal with disposing of the packing materials yourself. I take mine to the recycling center on post, sometimes keeping an extra box or two and some wrapping papers for sending packages later on.
Though this has not happened to me personally, I’ve heard of movers unpacking a box, the owner seeing the unpacked items lying out, and certain high-dollar items disappearing along with the packing materials. I expect all boxes taken out of my house to be broken down and flattened before they are removed, and I make this clear to the movers up front. The one exception was a box that I personally watched the movers fill with discarded packing materials.
Filing a Claim: This section applies to government moves since I am largely unfamiliar with filing a civilian claim. Hopefully, you and the mover will note as much damage on the front of the claim form before you sign it and release the movers. You can claim damages discovered later on the back of the form (missing items, broken items not unpacked by the movers, etc.). You have 70 days to turn in your claim forms and accompanying paperwork (reassignment orders, bill of lading, inventory) to the claims office. Once you initiate a claim, the moving company has 90 days to rebut the claim. In my experience, only one company I filed a claim against actually rebutted my claim and came to my house to “inspect” the damage to my furniture. I, stupidly, hadn’t known this and went ahead with repairs before the moving company’s 90 days expired and ended up not being reimbursed.
After initiating the claim, you have two years to get estimates for repair of damages or replacements for missing items, turn in all the receipts and paperwork. I advise doing this as soon after the 90 days allowed for the company’s rebuttal as possible. Given that I move on the average once every 12 months, I don’t have two years to complete a claim. I would also rather get my money, do the repairs and move on.
Conclusion
Moving is stressful, but I hope that my mistakes and experiences will save you some stress in the future. I learn something new with every move, but I’d rather have known these things before ever moving at all. Be assertive, be organized, know what to expect and your move will go much more smoothly. Good luck!
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