June 3, 2006

Come on, how hard is it really?

The first couple of encounters with the movers left a fairly good impression. I thought the guys were efficient and pretty personable to have around. Much better than some that I've dealt with in the past.

As I begin to unpack I'm thinking that trained monkeys could have done a better job.

The company that hired C is allowing us to live in their company condo for 90 days. This allows us to get all affairs in order with selling our house in Utah and have some time to look for a new place. For the most part the condo is pretty well furnished--appliances, furniture, linens, basic kitchen stuff, etc. There is some of our stuff that we wanted access to though. Our clothes, work "stuff" for both of us and random stuff from my kitchen (i.e. cookware, cookie sheets, casserole dishes).

The movers dropped our stuff off on Thursday. As they unloaded all of our belongings into a storage unit (which was our solution to one of our logistical problems) I pulled random boxes aside to bring them to the condo. Hoping that the ones I grabbed would contain the items that we needed. If they weren't, I'm toast. Ideally I had wanted the movers to pull the heavy stuff off the semi first so they would go in the back of the storage unit. Stuff we wouldn't need access too, such as our appliances, the safe, our bedroom and living room furniture. Then the boxes could be stacked in front of that stuff. Organized room by room so we could access it if necessary. But the movers balked at my suggestion. Saying it would be too hard because it wasn't loaded room by room. So I allowed them to just randomly throw stuff (and stack it) in the unit. I'm feeling today that I should have stood my ground a little firmer.

Take for instance the one box that I unpacked last night, hoping to find one of my glass casserole dishes. The contents of the box was labeled "cookware" and marked that it was packed from the "kitchen". I laughed as I unpacked the box. It contained all of the following items:
  • 2 of the stereo speakers from our living room surround sound,
  • 3 cushions from our 4 chairs in our kitchen table,
  • picture frame from our living room,
  • picture frame from my craft room,
  • candles from the bedroom,
  • a box of wine glasses that was a wedding gift from C's parents,
  • a roasting pan.
Definitely sounds like cookware from the kitchen.

One of the wardrobes (big box that has a bar across the top, allowing the clothes to stay on their hangers) that was packed from my closet contained our electric blanket, C's tripod for the camera, shoes, yarn, sewing basket, clothes from the closet and other random stuff. All labeled "2nd bedroom clothes". Gotta love it.

I've already written one e-mail to the moving company detailing my dissatisfaction. The woman we were dealing with has already been warned that I will also be calling the beginning of the week to talk about this as well. I have a feeling that C and I might be unloading everything in the storage unit and repacking it ourselves so that we can find stuff. But yet, part of me has a sinking feeling that based upon the boxes I have unpacked, organizing the boxes ourselves will put us no closer to the things we need.

6 comments:

Nicole said...

Ha! When we moved in, although the boxes were clearly labelled, everyone just threw things in random rooms. My brother and husband had to later move boxes from room to their proper room before anything could be unpacked. Ridiculous! I'd totally lay into them if I were you.

Kristen said...

That is nuts. What the heck are these people getting paid for???

Sami said...

Are you sure I didn't pack you? Seriously it sounds like my approach to packing... Good luck with the complaint department I hope that they offer to move you to your new house once you find one! for free of course.

Jessica said...

It seems as though this is the way most movers are....our weren't as bad, but they still packed things from other rooms in the same box and labeled them something completely different. You'd think they'd catch on after doing their jobs for a while, but maybe this is why they don't unpack you. Who knows. Hopefully you're able to find at least some of the stuff you need without having to unpack/repack everything. That's the last thing you need to be thinking about right now. :) I'm with sami about offering to move you to your new house for free....sounds like that's the least they could do for you after all the hassle they have created for you guys.

Marz said...

Oh no, sorry to hear that all didn't go so well. Anytime I hear of people hiring movers it just reminds me of that movie "Moving" with Richard Pryor.

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