Damage caused by movers?

[disprincessatheart]

Has anyone here been able to get any compensation when professional movers damage your belongings? We moved last weekend, large, well known franchise moving company, and several things were damaged - in pieces damaged. We had a horrible experience even beyond that (guy who dropped our washer off the truck walked off the job, stole our phone, 6 hour move took 6 hours the first day, our stuff was stored overnight and the took another 5 hours the next day, etc) I immediately filed damage claims and after my repeated phone calls got the claims person to our house Thursday. He basically looked at everything, took notes, took more pictures (I'd sent in multiple of everything) and said I would hear what they were going to do for me no later than today. He was of course "very sorry for everything that went wrong". Today at 3:15 I called him and guess what? His boss is out of the office on a personal matter and now we will hear on Thursday. My husband is livid but I'm not sure if we need a lawyer, if we should take them to small claims court or if maybe I should just do the shame route and call the local news troubleshooter? Thoughts?

The other major damage, besides the washer that is scrap metal at this point, are 2 desks that they loaded on their ends and the ends in the air snapped off and a ton of small dents all along the front of our 8 month old ss fridge. The fridge is useable but nothing like the condition it was when they arrived at my house. The rest isn't useable and we are at day 9 without them.

 

[sunshine1178]

Has anyone here been able to get any compensation when professional movers damage your belongings? We moved last weekend, large, well known franchise moving company, and several things were damaged - in pieces damaged. We had a horrible experience even beyond that (guy who dropped our washer off the truck walked off the job, stole our phone, 6 hour move took 6 hours the first day, our stuff was stored overnight and the took another 5 hours the next day, etc) I immediately filed damage claims and after my repeated phone calls got the claims person to our house Thursday. He basically looked at everything, took notes, took more pictures (I'd sent in multiple of everything) and said I would hear what they were going to do for me no later than today. He was of course "very sorry for everything that went wrong". Today at 3:15 I called him and guess what? His boss is out of the office on a personal matter and now we will hear on Thursday. My husband is livid but I'm not sure if we need a lawyer, if we should take them to small claims court or if maybe I should just do the shame route and call the local news troubleshooter? Thoughts?

The other major damage, besides the washer that is scrap metal at this point, are 2 desks that they loaded on their ends and the ends in the air snapped off and a ton of small dents all along the front of our 8 month old ss fridge. The fridge is useable but nothing like the condition it was when they arrived at my house. The rest isn't useable and we are at day 9 without them.

I've never had professional movers, but if they are bonded and insured, call and ask for the details. That call alone should get their attention. If it doesn't, follow up with the bonding company and file a claim. Also call your insurance agent and ask about opening a claim. They might go to bat for you, to avoid paying out.

 

[sam_gordon]

Has anyone here been able to get any compensation when professional movers damage your belongings? We moved last weekend, large, well known franchise moving company, and several things were damaged - in pieces damaged. We had a horrible experience even beyond that (guy who dropped our washer off the truck walked off the job, stole our phone, 6 hour move took 6 hours the first day, our stuff was stored overnight and the took another 5 hours the next day, etc) I immediately filed damage claims and after my repeated phone calls got the claims person to our house Thursday. He basically looked at everything, took notes, took more pictures (I'd sent in multiple of everything) and said I would hear what they were going to do for me no later than today. He was of course "very sorry for everything that went wrong". Today at 3:15 I called him and guess what? His boss is out of the office on a personal matter and now we will hear on Thursday. My husband is livid but I'm not sure if we need a lawyer, if we should take them to small claims court or if maybe I should just do the shame route and call the local news troubleshooter? Thoughts?

The other major damage, besides the washer that is scrap metal at this point, are 2 desks that they loaded on their ends and the ends in the air snapped off and a ton of small dents all along the front of our 8 month old ss fridge. The fridge is useable but nothing like the condition it was when they arrived at my house. The rest isn't useable and we are at day 9 without them.

What's in the contract regarding damaged goods?

 

[North of Mouse]

We've had movers many times because of DH's company transferring him. We never had any problems. The contract spelled out the amount per $'s worth that was damaged - we checked off things as they were taken into our new residence, they checked them also, and we always received timely compensation for damaged/missing/broken items.

Good luck to you - that would be so frustrating.

 

[disprincessatheart]

The contract says compensation of $4 per lb, but I can promise you no one weighed any of the items.

 

[trip]

I was going to guess it would be priced by pound. We did many military moves. Unless you purchased extra insurance, they will pay by pound not by value of items or they will pay to have items fixed. As far as the stolen phone, was it on your inventory list? We "lost" a portable typewriter that I saw the mover take to the van but on the other end of the move we realized it wasn't on the inventory list.

 

[ksjayhawks]

We have gone through this many times. If you just moved this past weekend, this is about normal for getting claims going and settled. It takes some time so you don't need a lawyer or small claims court yet. If the person who is handling the claim is out of the office on a personal matter, what do you expect him to do? They said you will hear on Thursday, so wait and see what will happen then.

Was this a corporate move? Depends on the way I would react and handle things. I would contact them first thing Thursday morning. If you do not get a satisfactory response ask to hear by a certain time that day--I would make it no later than noon to 2 p.m..

If you do not hear and it was a corporate move, contact the relocation specialist at your or your husband's company and explain the situation to them. Many times they can get something going as the moving company won't want to lose the corporation's business.

If it is not a corporate move, call on Thursday and if you don't get an acceptable response, ask for the name and number of a district manager or the president of the company. Call them, explain what is going on, what you need done.

Most important is to remain calm and factual. Write everything down--dates, times, what happened, damaged goods and if can be repaired or will need to be replaced--and have it in front of you when you are talking to them. Keep the emotions out of it, it will go much better.

 

[Disneychix]

The washer that fell off the truck has to be fully compensated right? I mean, what did the 'leader' of the movers say when the worker walked off the job? What happened with the stolen phone? There seems to be more than 1 situation happening, one with the worker who stole and dropped the washer and the other items that got broken.

When we just moved the movers pointed out every dent/knick before they touched it.

Did anyone say anything when the items broke? Did you tell them about the dents when they were still at your house?

My best guess is if they company is trying to pursue what happened with the guy who quit and they are going after him before they settle your case.