The Moving Van Arrives
Remember way back in July when I told you all how I impulsively
decided to move out to Los Angeles, found an apartment, packed up
all my things, and shipped them out via Moving Van? Well, the Van
has finally arrived. But all my stuff did not.
It only takes about a month to move your worldly belongings cross
country in a moving van. It is an expensive, time-consuming, and exhausting
endeavor, but a necessary evil if you want to relocate. Little did
I know how evil it would turn out to be...
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| "Broken items" |
Actually, there is another way. My friends Erin and Peter (whom
I told you about in an earlier column) actually rented a small truck,
loaded it up, and drove it themselves cross country, stopping along
the way to see family and pick up more things. But I had a time constraint
-- Bethany's wedding -- and could not take the extra 1-2 weeks to
get from the east coast to the west. Hence the necessity of the moving
company.
Now of course there are many, many moving companies. And I thought
I was going about it intelligently in researching the company's policies
and especially comparing their prices. In fact, I called no fewer
than 10 different moving companies to get estimates on what my move
was going to cost me, how long it would take, etc. And I came up with
a winner.
All American Moving Systems, Inc.
The South Kearny New Jersey based company gave me the absolute best
estimate from among the ten companies I interviewed. They told me
they could pick up my things on July 7th, the date I had requested,
and promised them to me in LA within three weeks. Perfect, I thought.
Besides, I liked the sound of Lana's voice on the phone -- she was
the woman who prepared my estimate -- and she assured me that everything
would be fine.
My inventory on which I got my estimate included my grandmother's
piano (a rather large, heavy console piano of inestimable value to
me since my grandmother passed away several years ago), my mother's
dining room set which she had generously offered to donate to my new
household, about one hundred medium-sized boxes full of clothes, books,
and many, many CDs, and a few miscellaneous items. All in all quite
a large load for a small girl, but after all -- these were ALL my
worldy belongings!
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| "Broken boxes" |
To move the above inventory to LA, All American Moving Systems
quoted me $1175, which I thought was a very good price. So I signed
a contract with them and spent two weeks carefully packing up everything
in boxes, making lists of items, and getting ready for them to pick
everything up on July 7th.
The fateful day came. Four Russian men spent three hours loading up
the large moving van with all my boxes. Some of the things I couldn't
pack myself like the TV, stereo, and other items, the foreman Sergey
packed for me, as is part of their service. I should have realized
that something wasn't right when I noticed the men tossing around
my "fragile" boxes of Japanese dolls and ceramics like they were footballs.
Every box that contained a fragile piece was especially carefully
packed with bubble wrap and clearly marked "FRAGILE" with red stickers
on the outside of the box. These boxes became big, square, fragile
footballs.
So when Sergey offered me insurance as we were signing the final contract
after the van was loaded, I took the maximum amount. I had also previously
insured all of my musical equipment, papers, and tapes through a special
musician's insurance service, just to be safe. Turns out I would need
it all.
The other thing that was a little fishy (but turned out to be very
lucky for me) was that Sergey told me my piano was too heavy and I
would have to pay a large extra fee, and the same for my dining room
set. So I ended up leaving both in Philadelphia.
The van ended up arriving late in Los Angeles, and by the time they
called me to arrange delivery of my things, I had already decided
to move to my new house. So I had the moving company hold my stuff
in storage for another month.
On Friday, October the 13th (yes, Friday the 13th!) I had my boxes
delivered. Out of 187 items (boxes plus furniture), only 178 actually
arrived at my new house.
Not only that, but in the weeks that followed as I slowly opened all
of my boxes, I found many, many broken, smashed, cracked and ruined
things.
So all in all, 9 boxes were missing (including my filing cabinet,
dressor, and most importantly ALL of my fancy dresses and stage clothes
for concerts) and countless items were broken (including my fax machine,
framed pieces of artwork, and ceramics).
It will take many months, I am sure, to assess all the damage and
to make my claims to the moving company. I will certainly update you
all when I have good news! But in the meantime if you are moving,
try to take your things yourself. If you can't, make sure to get insurance!
Word from the wise on the other coast,
Cara Jones
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