Lost Moving Truck

[RealtorGal]

Today I met some people who just moved into the neighborhood. Unfortunately, their ENTIRE MOVING TRUCK has been lost for 3 weeks! The driver has apparently been with the moving company for years, is insured and bonded. Poor fellow must have been carjacked. Very sad--and strange--story.

 

[Aloft04]

Weird. Truly weird......where were they moving from?

One of my husband's relatives thought she had booked a really cheap flight home to Auckland (New Zealand) and ended up in Oakland, CA. Maybe the driver thought they said Santiago instead of San Diego. Hopefully there's some equally silly story involved in the delay.....

I had clients who had a similar delay when they moved here from the east coast and it turned out their belongings finally were tracked to one of the moving company's warehouses. The truck had been re-routed on several shorter junkets from the mid-west hub in the meantime. The story kept changing when they called to track the shipments, and one of them was "We don't know where the truck is..." Sounds similar. This was a (seemingly) reputable firm too!

I know that has nothing to do with a missing truck, but I do have a flowered couch for them I'd love to get out of my basement....

 

[show 42]

The worst part would be personal belongings and keep sakes. Hopefully, those were transported separately............so how does that work? When does insurance money kick in so furniture and clothing can be purchased? 42

 

[RealtorGal]

Insurance is paying them $180 per day for now, giving the police a chance to find the truck AND the driver (who is also missing). When the insurance will kick in I don't know... I think he said 2-3 more weeks. Yes, it's all the personal stuff that bothers them rather than the furniture and clothes. I wonder if this is just an isolated incident or something that occurs with any degree of frequency. I mean, a moving truck has to make stops and there he is with a truck full of merchandise that could be sold, particularly across the Mexican border.

 

[dlkksk8fan]

I've seen shows about bogus moving companies that set out looking like legitimate movers and end up stealing a persons whole house full of items. What a scam. Load it up and never be seen again.

 

[Aloft04]

RealtorGal - as I mentioned, my clients were also told the "van and driver were missing" as part of what I now consider plain old moving company stall tactics. It wasn't until I asked on their behalf to have the police report faxed to me, (and kept requesting it), that my clients' belongings were tracked to the warehouse.

If you haven't already asked for it, do. I'll hope you get similar happy ending on this. There was nothing missing at all, the equipment and driver had simply been pulled to handle several larger money/ shorter hauls. They tried to blame it on the weather and miscommunication when my clients' attorney stepped in....

I'm going to dig around my files and see if I can recall the van line (this was several years ago) and I'll PM you. That would be too coincidental if it was the same company, eh?

 

[Ravyn Rant]

An old neighbor of mine claimed that the moving truck with all of her belongings inside was stolen from a motel parking lot while she slept. I say "claimed" because she turned out to be completely untrustworthy, but we didn't know that at the time. It was a good way for her to begin taking advantage of people in a brand new town. :sheesh:
However, I work in the transportation industry, and can tell you that things like this do happen, and getting back the full value of what you've lost is well-nigh impossible even with insurance. I feel awful for those affected.
Rave

 

[Grgranny]

Most insurance companies are going to do a lot to keep paying full value. I have replacement cost but if I don't replace the items they only pay a low value. Otherwise, you don't get much for anything. I don't remember the percentages but they really lower the value of anything. If it happens that something happens to your things, it comes off your household insurance. If it's in a boat, your car or your travel trailer, etc. it is off your household insurance. I assume there is insurance you buy for moving things. I have no idea what it's like. I do know that there is generally also a deductible. I know mine is $500. That is my household insurance.

 

[RealtorGal]

Thanks, Aloft, that would be one heck of a coincidence! Actually, they're insured by the moving company AND the Navy, which one hopes has a standard contract with a reputable mover. I am going to ask them if they've seen the police report and if not to insist on seeing it. Thanks!

 

[STL_Blues_fan]

I recall seeing a special, like 20/20 or something that featured several nightmare "lost moving truck" stories. In almost each case, a reputable company had subcontracted the job to a shady one, and the shady one would demand a payment on top of the one given to the "middleman". Upon refusal of 2nd payment, the truck would disappear. I know it's a different scenario, but still.

We had a nightmare story happen to us about 6 years ago. We were moving from STL to CT, were straight out of grad school so we didn't have that much money. We found this deal where you load up the truck, and the company moves it for you, and then you unload it. It seemed like a good deal since we didn't feel like driving a moving truck for over 1000 miles, and the price was good. The deal was that you get the truck for 2 days, when you are ready you call the company up, they come in, measure the space taken up, put up the divider board, you sign some papers and off they go.

Well, we were just finished loading up a very expensive Italian bedroom set (1st day) when we decided to go out for a meal. We padlocked it and left. Now, imagine our shock when we came back and the 18-wheeler was gone from the street! When we were finally able to track down the truck (40 mikes away in the garage) - the furniture was damaged since we obviously did not secure it and some of the mirrors were broken. They supposedly mixed up our last name with somebody else, but most importantly when picking up the truck they completely disregarded the procedures - nobody bothered to measure the space taken up (and my mom was at home), they drove off w/o any signatures, and the padlock was still there!

We thought we were smart by taking out the insurance (which was highly recommended to us by them in the 1st place), but they offered us a measly $500 in compensation (the bedroom set was $8000 new). It was completely their fault but they sited some BS excuse or clause, I don't remember.

I normally don't do this, but we got a lawyer, who was an amazing guy. He hardly charged us anything, he went after them b/c of "the justice" as he put it. The contract promised one thing but the insurance page was something else. I guess “fault advertisement” in layman’s terms.

He got us a good chunk of money which paid for the move and we were able to replace the mirrors and fix the other damage. But the move was delayed b/c of them and we had the most stressful week.

BTW, the lawyer was Joe Liberman's 1st cousin!

Sorry about the long rant, but this trend really got me going. I hope the poor people get their stuff back!

Yana

 

[Ladskater]

Today I met some people who just moved into the neighborhood. Unfortunately, their ENTIRE MOVING TRUCK has been lost for 3 weeks! The driver has apparently been with the moving company for years, is insured and bonded. Poor fellow must have been carjacked. Very sad--and strange--story.

Yikes! That's not something I want to hear. I am moving on Saturday come rain, snow or blizzard.