Sigh – don’t you just hate to learn lessons the hard way? I do!! I think that’s one of the reasons that I’m so comfortable following rules. I assume that they are in place because someone learned a lesson, and wants to impart their experiences on the rest of us. I assume that the rules are for my safety and overall well being. Sure, I want to have a right to make my own decisions, but how dumb would I have to be to put myself in a position to re-learn every lesson known to man? I suppose that this would make me a cult leader or junta’s favorite child…..there’s a balance in there somewhere…
Anyways, I learned a hard way lesson today pertaining to the damage to our stuff during our overseas move. As you may recall, our things arrived pretty beat up. We lost a whole dresser and bookcase (the bookcase that should have been disassembled before shipping, arrived that way anyways…and not in a manner that allowed re-assembly!). We didn’t fret too much about it though, for a few reasons. 1) the Navy insures you for full replacement value – meaning that if it can’t be fixed, they owe you the cash to replace it and 2) I am a fairly organized individual who documented EVERYTHING. Every piece of furniture in the house in VA was video taped (including serial numbers on electronics) and every scratch and ding was photographed on arrival and 3) our stuff isn’t that nice!
Once you get all of your boxes opened and inventoried, you have something like 90 days to report damages to the military. Then you have 9 months, to file the claim with the movers themselves. (I think the military filing is just a backup move, so they can protect you if the moving company ignores you). We spent the first month getting settled and figuring out what pieces would work in which spots. We bought and built closets, hung pictures and hung curtains. Along the way, we’d come across broken items (like the pulverized wine glasses that had been packed at the BOTTOM of our box of pots and pans….seriously). I’d snap pictures and we’d toss the rubble. As the 90 days approached, I made my way to the legal office with my catalog of items that hadn’t arrived intact.
Then, in my gilded cage induced laziness set in and I……well, I moved the move claim paperwork around my dresser for a few months. Finally, in a fit of inspiration, I got around to filing the claim for the damaged items with the movers. I sent them links to the items I could still find online as proof of their value at time of purchase, and explained that I had pictures of the damage I’d be happy to forward them. They responded very politely that they would be sending an inspector to assess the damage.
Inspektor Thomas just left our apartment – and the outcome wasn’t so good. Anything we had tossed was lined out of the claim. No interest in the photographic evidence, they just didn’t exist anymore. He eyeballed the marble chess piece that Hubz had carried back from the Middle East, and noted the obvious jagged line where I had super glued the chipped marble. “Oh good, it’s fixed” he said. Clearly he didn’t realize that Hubz had searched for 5 years to find those pieces and carefully packed them amongst socks and towels to get them home from deployment intact….the movers, left them naked in a little box and wrapped the box in paper (!??!?) – resulting in chips and a broken pawn that made Hubz moan on discovery.
The moving company insurance adjusters will send me an email based on Ispektor Thomas' report in the next two weeks. My prediction is that we'll get some of the problems repaired (like the scratches to our furniture) and small items replaced (like the cake pedestal I happened to keep). But the big ticket items that we tossed are gone into the ether. Which is unfortunate, since those were the costliest damages (we actually bought another dresser, etc).
So – lessons learned for our next PCS. Keep the broken items – no matter how paltry. Make the claim immediately (if nothing else so you can toss the garbage you’re holding onto for proof). Don’t fix anything! They’ll sort out what’s reparable. The good news is that I hear that the packers that the German moving companies employ are truly fantastic!
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