This post is about damaged goods….my family’s damaged goods from our recent move.
As you can tell by this post’s title…this is Chapter 1 {The Bad} of Setting for Four’s story of moving titled “Our Move – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!”.
Ok, now play the song below (this is an interactive post too!):
I showed you some of {The Good} in this post here where I revealed pictures of the exterior of beautiful new home!
Today, I am sharing some of the damages we have found so far from our move from Virginia, an 870 mile (1400 km) move….read this and thank your lucky stars that this summer you a) moved but didn’t have the terrible movers and packers that we had or b) have not moved and haven’t had to pull your belongings out of a box broken or dented, scuffed or scratched!
Here is the compiled list of damages so far:
1. Broken sectional sofa: We watched as a big burly moving guy walked up to our sectional sofa, grabbed the side of one of the ends and flipped it completely in the air! The legs lifted off the ground about a foot and then made a loud thump as it fell back onto the floor…..my husband and I watched in horror and yelled ‘STOP!’ But it was too late! We asked him why he did that and his reply was “Well that’s how you release the sectional pieces, they clip together and that’s how you release the clip”….uhhh was he hoping for a summer Olympic gold medal in highest distance a sofa can be tossed? Or a gold medal in the fastest rise of a nice military family’s collective blood pressure? So the result was that indeed the sectional pieces were separated….but the latch and clip system underneath was broken, as well as the wooden brace under the sofa! Here are some pics of the damage:
Thankfully we had a nice local repairman come the other day to fix it. He reattached the wooden brace and rescrewed the meal latch and bracket back on….now my sectional actually fits together properly.
2. Antique dining hutch base dented and scratched. Thank ya very much again lousy mover guys!
3. Two Pottery Barn Hamilton Brass Table Lamps dented, scratched and one of the light switches was snapped off! I really loved those lamps! Of course they are discontinued and Pottery Barn does not make them anymore! Grrrrrrrr…..
4. Two Buffet Table Lamps dented, scratched and one is cracked almost completely in half near the base. I purchased these darlings at Homesense…Grrrrr, again.
All four of these table lamps were placed on their sides in one box with no paper wrapping and no bubble wrap, so they rolled around loose for 870 miles in a cardboard box. And guess what? When metal lamps are thrown in a box with no padding they break, become scratched and dented! Wow, really??? Yes, dear sucky packer person, REALLY!!!!!
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I will show you more of the damages we have discovered in an upcoming post, Chapter 2 {The Bad} ….stay tuned to see what other belongings have been destroyed or damaged so you can get the full story of “Our Move – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!”
So where’s Clint Eastwood when you need him? If he had taken on those packers/movers like he did the bad guys in those spaghetti westerns, I would bet “A Fist Full of Dollars’ that we wouldn’t have so much damage!!
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Heather
Heather Luckhurst is the publisher and owner of the Design and Lifestyle website 
Ack! I’m so mad for you! That’s not just the odd broken vase here and there. We had about 10 antique pieces shipped across the country from BC about 6 years years ago and they came in just fine. There was really no reason for that. I hope their insurance pays you nicely for all that!
Thanks for your uplifting comments Courtenay! You are right – there is no reason for it….we moved almost all the same stuff to VA the same distance too, with no damage at all….so it was a complete lack of caring from the packers and movers we had for this move! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will get reimbursed for the damage, but my Pottery Barn lamps aren’t even made anymore, and they need to be replaced, they are damaged so badly….so I lose on that aspect, because I can’t even go and buy the same lamps. Frustrating!
That’s horrible! I’m sorry, that’s really a stinker. Even if they reimburse you for the damages, it’s never the same. Maybe you can use a broken lamp to give the burly mover a good “knock” upside the head. I hope everything else turned out OK.
Have a great weekend. I hope you’re getting all settled into your new place – the pic you posted of the outside is beautiful!
Rhiannon
Thanks Rhiannon for your sweet comments and empathy! You are right, it is a stinker! I know from a previous move where we claimed damage it was a real fight with the insurance adjustor to get any reimbursement and they devalued everything. The adjustor kept saying all our stuff was scratched prior to the move, so the move didn’t cause the damage….of course when huge chunkes of your furniture is missing, its from the move, but they still denied fault….it totally stinks. I hope we at least have some luck with this claim to get replacement value back. Thanks for your sweet comment on our home – we do love it!
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Oh my goodness…I am so sorry for all the damage.
Thankfully, though, your new home is absolutely lovely!
mb
Thanks Mary Beth for your uplifting words! I need to hear that! I am trying very hard to focus on our lovely new home and being able to paint and decorate our new space!
Oh man, I feel your pain! We had a cross country move also a few years ago and the large armoire for our bedroom showed up with a HUGE gouge out of the top. I mean really big -not something easily covered over with stain. Of course, the moving company sent someone to fix it, using a big glob of wood putty. Now we’re back in Colorado and I’m just waiting for that glob to dry up and fall off, like a finger of a mummy! You think you’re doing good by having someone else move you but in reality they don’t care about your stuff. I hope you get compensated for the damage.
Jaye @ Just Tryin’ to Make Cents of it All
Oh my gosh Jaye, that’s terrible! And coincidentally we had a previous bad move where our stuff went into storage (don’t ever do that if you can help it!) and one of our armoires had similar damage as yours….a big chunk of molding at the top was missing and bare wood underneath! The insurance adjustor told us that it was a scratch that had happened prior to the move…after fighting with them for months they finally repaired it and under our insistence had it repaired by a professional so it turned out ok. Hope you can get your armoire fixed properly! These packers and movers really didn’t care a toot about our stuff, you are so right! Moving stinks!
Oh no. Sorry to hear so many of thing things you collected with love and care were carelessly packed and damaged. I can see why you were upset and mad. Packing companies should make sure the people they hire realize, things you are packing up have meaning to the people you are moving. I am sure you’ll put up a fight and hopefully get some compensation.
Yes, we will try and get some compensation….that will be a fight I think too…..I think the money should come straight out of the packer and moving people’s pockets, so they don’t repeat the same thing with another family!
Our worst move ever was by Covan company in VA. our stuff went into storage for 3 years then shipped to Hawaii, a total nightmare!! Lost a brand new sofa, after a guy cut his hand and bled all over it. I called quality assurance to come a document my compalints before I would let the workers leave that day. That was the worse crew ever, left a bed frame upstairs still put together, packed our breakfast dishes before I had time to wash them, even though I asked him to leave them. When we received that shipment, we had MANY items that were gone, never found again! Sorry!
That is horrible Wanda! Funny you say it was in VA too, where we moved from, they were the worst crew we have ever had….I’ve been hearing that VA has a bad reputation for movers and packers….Yes, putting your stuff in storage is the worst scenario, we did that once too, only for a few weeks, and had tons of damage. They stacked other peoples stuff on top of ours. I also have heard that some of these storage places actually rent out peoples furniture then deliver it after other people have used it…scammers. I’ll have to check to see if Covan was one of the subcontractors that Allied used….it is so frustrating and draining to go through isn’t it!
Isnt’ that the WORST?
One time the movers threw all our stuff in the truck with NO blankets or anything and broke the cradle that my dad MADE.
Ticked off to say the least!!!
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience… I hope you get reimbursed for the damage!
It is a bummer, Gwen! Sorry to hear that your cradle was broken! I mean, what kind of price can be put on something like that? It’s priceless! I hope we get reimbursed too, we will see what comes of it.
Oh NO! Heather– this is bad.. bad- {too funny about your music…lol} Great minds think alike! I am so sorry about all your stuff.. those movers totally sucked! Oh man, I am glad your couch was fixable! Yikes..what a mess, hope your getting it kind of together as best as you can over there!!