Moving Stories case 1103001 : A. Tanner from Wichita

Moving Stories case 1103001

Last summer, my office sent me to train in Kansas City for a year and I had to bring my daughter in tow. Now Wichita is a long way from Kansas City and I couldn’t bear to leave my girl that far away and she felt the same. I didn’t have anyone to leave her with and we are so close I wouldn’t have left her behind if I did. So I claimed my deposit from where I was renting, packed us up in my truck and drove away. It took two days to get there and I realized I’d lost track of some household things and lost them somewhere along the way. Just small things mind you but they held sentimental value; my mom’s brush that she gave to my baby girl, my dad’s pocketwatch that kept time better than any of those digital things people carry around everywhere. Just a few small things.

We got to the big city and eventually found our way around. I got us a nice apartment in a complex a stone’s throw from the freeway that had a pool and a minigolf course. I unloaded everything to realize some fool had been stealing from the truck after every trip to and from the apartment. I lost a lamp, the TV and some shoes. I went to bed that night with my truck’s radio under my pillow.

The next morning I shopped around for a school for my girl. Luckily our new digs wasn’t too far away from the local public school and we did the interviews that day. The next day I dropped my darling off and got to the training center where folks were friendly. Some even offered to put us up but I’d only just met them. One dude in particular was pretty vocal about how I survived the trip without moving insurance. He was surprised I didn’t lose everything on the way over and I told him that made two of us.… Continue reading

Securing Furniture during a Move

Securing Furniture during a Move

Furniture is what props up various human actions like sitting, lying down, holding objects at convenient heights or simply as storage devices. They are such an integral part of life that they have been classified under ‘mundane’ things. They add comfort to our lives and make relaxation possible. They make the living room habitable. One should take special care of it if one desires to enjoy them for long. Furniture can be made from many materials like wood, metal, plastic or hybrid material. Whatever type of furniture one has, one must ensure that the right kind of care is given to it during relocation. It is from the early Mesopotamian civilization and the Egyptian civilizations where movable furniture was first made. Thus it can be seen that today’s concept of light weight movable furniture has its roots in ancient days.

When moving from one place to another one should give careful thought to the methods of packing and transportation involved. One must personally oversee the packing if hired hands do the job. If one has coffee tables or tea tables with glass tops, one must make sure that the glass is carefully removed from its framed setting. It must then be wrapped in packing paper and placed in telescoping cardboard boxes. This means that one places the glass sheet in successive cardboard boxes – in other words, like a box within a box. If one does not have these materials, curtains, blankets, quilts and other large pieces of cloth can be used to securely wrap these glass table tops. The metal frames and legs can be dismantled and wrapped in packing paper or thick newspaper and then placed inside boxes. Care must be taken to label these boxes properly with the word ‘Fragile’ neatly stenciled on it. When placing them in the van or truck, care must be taken to see that no weight is placed on top of these boxes. The best way to transport glass table tops is to stand them upright.… Continue reading

“Moving” Stories case 1103063 : Stella V. from Albuquerque

Our home was mortgaged in 2004 and again in 2008, the banks foreclosed in mid 2009 and I had to find a new home for me and my son. I found a cheaper place to maintain in the outer edge of our state but it was pretty far away and through some rough neighborhoods. I couldn’t afford an expensive moving company but somehow my name got to insurance companies and they called to offer their services for moving insurance.

My husband died in desert storm but the military’s money stopped coming in the mail when the financial crisis happened. I used to as work as an accountant and made a modest living, enough for us and the needs. I have a brother who did landscaping and he volunteered… Continue reading

Relocation Rogues

Relocation Rogues

Relocation is a hectic time and many things have to be taken care of simultaneously. Unless one is extremely cautious, it is easy for the average man to be deceived by rogues and fraudulent ‘moving companies’. The following are a few guidelines to help one do just that – avoid the rogue trap.

One’s suspicions must be raised when the mover works from a virtual environment rather than in person. To explain, when the estimate for objects is given over the phone or email, without physically taking stock of the goods, one must be alert. Usually, such companies give a very low estimate. The price quoted is so low that it sounds too good to be true, and indeed it is so. The movers hold on to the goods until an extra fee is paid. This ransom will be ‘justified’ quoting some invalid and unknown reason. In a few stray cases, the situation has indeed become so bad that the house owner ended up paying thrice the initially agreed upon amount.

Some of the warning signals that one’s antennae should pick up are as follows; he would require an upfront cash payment or a milestone payment which would be quite a large sum of money. The movers do not have proper documentation – like the rights and responsibilities of the mover and the customer. This document is to be provided by all interstate movers according to Federal Regulations, but is not provided by the rogue movers.

A great way to check them up with today’s technical advancements would be to search for them over the internet. One would find that most often than not, these movers do not have a proper website or they have one that is poorly maintained and does not provide information about their local addresses, phone numbers, contact personnel and no information about their license or insurance. These topics will not be mentioned on their official documents as such. To cover this lapse , the movers may claim that all things are taken care of through the general insurance provided by the company itself. It would be a great rip off as they are not mentioned on the website too.… Continue reading

“Moving” Stories case 1103017 : Frank B. from Wisconsin

Frank B. from Wisconsin

The company I worked for thirty years went under and I had to move out of my home. I had to sell many of my things but only kept the truly valuable relics of my former life. Among the things I still treasured was my grandfather’s piano; a beautiful black baby grand piano with ivory keys. I rarely gave up this luxury for TV or the internet, definitely not the radio. So it was a simple choice to purchase moving insurance for it before I left my home.

I insured a few other things; breakables and some furniture. I shopped for a mover I could afford and found one online who quoted much lower than the big pro movers. As my choices were limited I quickly agreed and didn’t mind reading the paperwork the mover provided. Turns out I should have.

The next day a big truck with no markings except a half torn banner still stuck on the side pulled up outside my house and three burly men came out with cardboard boxes, a roll of bubble-wrap and packing tape. One of them introduced himself as a friend of the fellow who gave me the quote. He gave me a blank sheet of paper on a clipboard and told me to list down what they were packing as they were bundling them. They stuffed my things into boxes with a practiced way and were even careful not to break anything which was a welcome sight to me. It took them a few hours but they managed to fit everything into their truck.

After they closed the ramp and locked the door the foreman, if he could be called that, took me aside and said they were not given enough instructions as to where they were supposed to deliver my things. I gave him the address and directions to get there then he said it was outside of where they could deliver and asked for some money. I asked why it was not part of the moving package to which he told me to call his friend. I went to call but he got into the cab of the truck and turned on the ignition. Fearfully I wavered to go or stay and watch the now obviously untrustworthy goons gloat how they had trapped my treasured piano.

My call was never picked up though I tried several times. I called a neighbor, a man I wasn’t close to, to help but… Continue reading