Please share moving nightmares

[Alicia64]

DH took a job and I wanted to join him in Jan. after I had time to properly pack, clean etc. He wanted us w/ him NOW. So in a two week period, we packed and packed. I hired a cleaner, a painter, a yard guy etc.

 

I left DH w/ the movers -- who did a pretty poor job. DH said that if he didn't put a box or bike or whatever right in front of them, they didn't put it in the truck. This was a moving line. We did a TON of packing and thought they'd finish the last of the wrapping and packing.

 

DH was there w/ them for eight hrs. The lady who did the estimate for the house clearly didn't estimate properly so the movers didn't seem prepared. I'm guessing. I'd taken the kids and animals and headed for our new home in the a.m..

 

Just got an email from the house cleaner that the house was cluttered and she cleaned around the clutter as best as she could and did an extra two hours. Of course I will pay her extra.

 

The new owner forgot to turn on the heat, so we're sitting in a small hotel room. DH is at his new job. I'm w/ kids, dog, cat and trying not to cry when I read the cleaner's email. (Kids don't need to see me crying.) The cleaner was recommend by my neighbor and I'm just praying she doesn't share the state of our house w/ the neighbor.

 

Could you please send your move stories? I'm sitting here feeling sorry for myself -- like I'm the only one this sort of thing happens to. It isn't, right? :crying:

 

Alley

[elegantlion]

I might delete this, please don't quote. 

 

How about taking a planned 30 days to finish packing and moving, then having to do it all in five. I knew we were moving so had started packing with the idea everything would go with us. When we had only 5 days (don't ask why, long story that requires wine and therapy to recount), we couldn't afford the truck to move everything. Ended up cramming half of the belongings into a storage unit, tossing more things than I had planned, and the plan was to come back and get it in a few months. Did I mention we moved 800 miles away. I had no time to repack and take only the truly important things. 

 

Do you have your drinking glasses handy? After 3 years, yes folks you read that right, 3 years we were finally able to get back to the storage unit and get, get this, one van full. It was all we could afford and that I felt I could safely drive with. Then we let it all go to auction, it was too expensive to keep paying on. I had to leave behind furniture I adored, bookcases, part of a family heirloom wardrobe that takes 3-4 adults to carry (I stripped the doors off of it), a lot of books, bikes, and the dining table we used as a school desk for a long time. We crammed the Uhaul van full and drove home in the rain, barely missing an ice storm. 

 

To top it off it rained the entire time we were trying to sort through stuff. It was worth it because ds had things like Thomas trains, Hotwheels, many of my school books I'd hoped to have used in that time period, all of my decorating stuff I spent years collecting. I cried through a lot of it. Ds was a saint. Ex was already on his way to being ex by then and there is no way we could have taken the trip together. 

 

Yes, it's all just stuff, but some of it was things I had hoped to keep forever. For the most part, we got those. I'm digging out the Thomas trains this week to set up for Christmas. I will never move again like that. I will never put stuff in storage for a long-distance move. 

 

[Alicia64]

ElegantLion: I wouldn't wish that on anybody, but thank you so much for sharing. I almost started crying reading your story, but you made me feel so much better.

 

I have a strong tendency to feel like really awful things only happen to me. Not because I'm narcissistic so much as my parents often made me feel stupid or out-of-it in some way if things did go wrong. So now any time things go wrong, I still feel like I'm just an unprepared goofball.

 

Thank you so much,

 

Alley

[73349]

My mom moved and only was able to get back to the old house sporadically on weekends to sort through the rest of the stuff.

 

A pipe in the attic burst and flooded the house. I think it was days before anyone noticed.

 

Stuff she had wanted to keep was ruined and just had to be trashed. :(

 

 

Your movers sound awful. I've only hired pros twice(?) but they worked like lightning, getting everything out of a full apartment in under two hours. Review them publicly and/or call the BBB so others are warned.

 

 

Oh! Another one. DH had called the electric company to get the bill switched over into our name the day we moved into this house. The dumb****s shut the power off instead. The old owners had paid a carpet cleaner to come, but they needed the electricity and left without doing anything. It was like 9PM and pitch dark before we finally got them to come out and switch the lights on.

[Alicia64]

My mom moved and only was able to get back to the old house sporadically on weekends to sort through the rest of the stuff.

 

A pipe in the attic burst and flooded the house. I think it was days before anyone noticed.

 

Stuff she had wanted to keep was ruined and just had to be trashed. :(

 

 

Your movers sound awful. I've only hired pros twice(?) but they worked like lightning, getting everything out of a full apartment in under two hours. Review them publicly and/or call the BBB so others are warned.

 

 

Oh! Another one. DH had called the electric company to get the bill switched over into our name the day we moved into this house. The dumb****s shut the power off instead. The old owners had paid a carpet cleaner to come, but they needed the electricity and left without doing anything. It was like 9PM and pitch dark before we finally got them to come out and switch the lights on.

 

I agree that the movers should be reported. And I can tell that easy going DH is preparing to do nothing. I'm going to talk to him about asking the company to return and get the rest of the stuff. It's just ridiculous. It's not like we hired some guys with a truck. This was a moving line.

 

Your poor mom.

 

Alley

[Just Kate]

Here's my moving story...

 

DH had been out of work for 10 months. I worked at my current part-time job (decent pay, but no where near enough to support our family). Life was stressful. DH was offered a job in my hometown, three hours away. We packed out stuff up, rented out our house, and moved in with my parents while we made sure things were going to work. Almost all of our belongings went into a storage unit. Finally, after 18 months of living with my parents (yes, 18 months!), we decided to move into a rental home. A crappy rental home, but our own home. I was so excited to get all of our belongings out of storage, so imagine my surprise when we realized that everything was covered in mold. That's right folks, we left all of our furniture, kitchen items, books, etc. in a storage unit that was NOT climate controlled!!! 

 

So we spent the next few months attempting to clean the few items that were salvageable (like ds's furniture) and we tossed the rest. I cried and cried. Of course, this was coming after having a ton of financial problems (and a few marital problems as well). It was horribly depressing.

 

It has been almost four years since that happened and dh has a good job now, but I still haven't gotten over it! 

[Alicia64]

((((((((((Just Kate))))))))))

 

I'm so sorry. In '92 there was a terrible, terrible fire in No. California. My mom's best friend's house was in the fire -- a very upscale community. They grabbed their dogs and a few art pieces and fled.

 

And they were lucky. Far more people died. It was incredibly sad.

 

In a way, that's what happened to you: your stuff was like it was in a terrible fire and you lost everything. I'm so sorry.

 

Does it make me a terrible person that this thread is helping me to feel better?

 

My parents really did a number on me. They acted like if you have a problem, it's your fault. You did something wrong, you're an idiot etc. I still slip right back into that negative thinking when "bad" things happen.

 

Thank you so much for sharing,

 

Alley

[Ethel Mertz]

Alley - when I moved out of my grad school apartment in NYC, I arranged for a friend to drive the UHaul to my new apartment in another state. She flew back after driving the truck. In the meantime, after the truck was unloaded, I went to take it back to the local UHaul.  I got lost and went to turn around at a closed gas station. I wasn't used to driving a truck and didn't do the turn right. I took out a big wooden planter with the truck and narrowly missed taking out a gas pump. (Yes, I left a note for the gas station owner and paid for the planter.)

 

There have been other moves with chaotic stories. We are now desperately trying to downsize our belongings as we are house hunting. We will be moving from a 3,000 square foot house and will probably be in a much smaller house (around 1600 square feet if we are lucky). I hate moving.

[Alicia64]

((((Oh, Ethel)))) I'm beginning to think downsizing is a great idea. We're moving into 3,000 sf and I'm determined to keep it sparse.

 

Does everyone agree that I should contact the moving company for some kind of help/fix? DH was planning to drive back to our original state (9 hours) and load up on items like the printer, the bread machine, just a bunch of stuff they didn't take. ???

 

Again, this was a moving line. Not a bunch of college guys. There were three movers and DH working for 8 hours and, please believe, we don't have a lot of stuff. One L-shaped couch, a bunkbed, two queens, one king. An easy to move dining room table w/ four chairs. Three small desks, three upright dressers. Yes, a ton of boxes. But they were small, easy to move, and sealed. No TV -- we watch on computers. No stereo equip. -- we listen on ipod.

 

Plus an estimator-lady came ahead of time with her computer to estimate how much/how long the job would take.

 

I'm not sure what to do at this point w/ this company. I hate that DH has to drive back to pick up stuff like printers and bread machines.

 

What would you do?

 

Alley

[Erica in OR]

We decided to use a mover used by many families in my DH's line of work. Mistake. Whatever this guy would say turned out to be not exactly true. It would be him driving. It wasn't. As soon as we packed, he had to drive a couple states over to his home base and swap the truck and have his brother-in-law drive. Then he would fill the rest of the space in the van with another client's stuff. He said he could easily take our cat in the cab so we didn't have to drive cross-country with him in the minivan. He could go in the crate with the tranquilizers I'd provide. I actually believed it! We drove with three kids five and younger. One got a raging fever, so we had to track down an urgent care at lunchtime in Montana. We safely made it to our destination, but the moving truck ended up breaking down halfway across the country. Cat ran out of tranquilizers. We had no dress clothes for his special installation service since we thought the truck wouldn't take a week and a half to get there, so my husband had to purchase some from JCPenney. The whole circus finally arrived in the rain on the day of the special service. Brother-in-law driver was having a spat with the owner over him getting paid for the job or something or other, so was arguing with our group.

 

But we all made it, and we got our stuff! And I will never use that mover again.

 

Erica

[Jean in Newcastle]

This is both an IL story and a moving story.  A couple of moves ago (we've moved them five times in the last couple of years) we were moving them from a 3 story house to a small one story rambler.  FIL had told the extended family he needed help on the weekend for moving but was impulsive (probably part of his Alzheimers) and decided to hire movers to come take furniture a whole week early.  I got the call and drove over there with the kids.  Nothing had been decluttered - from a 3 story house!  Nothing had been sorted or packed.  MIL (with dementia) was confused and didn't know what was happening.  The kids and I were tossing things in boxes.  I had two refrigerators of mostly rotten food to go through.  I went ballistic when I found out that FIL was planning on having MIL who is not in good health at 87, sleep on the carpet with just a blanket and a pillow.  I kidnapped her by getting the kids to persuade her to get in my car and brought her home where we could take care of her.  We took turns staying with her and taking load after load of junk to their new home.  The house was so full the rooms were stacked high with boxes.  Only then did we have time to start culling through things.  We're going through more of their stuff this weekend now that we've moved them into a retirement home and a lot of it is the same crap still in the boxes where I tossed them.  MIL is insistent that nothing be given to Goodwill but only to family but what she doesn't know won't hurt her because none of us want half of it.  

[Kfamily]

Alicia64 and Elegantlion: lots of :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

 

I moved over a dozen times as a child only to be on my 9th move with my children and husband and preparing for our 10th move in a couple of months...and I intend to make this one last for a long time. LOL!

 

Our worst move was overseas to Okinawa... and back....I'll spare you all the horrors... :)

[La Condessa]

I was 6 months pregnant when our landlord told us they were selling the house in 2 1/2 months. We started searching for a new rental, but there was almost nothing in our tiny retirement town that would allow four kids. So we started looking in the next closest town, 40 min away, but housing was more expensive there in addition to the commute. I was having pregnancy complications and dh was working very long hours on some major trials as his office was understaffed. At 7 1/2 months we had finally found a little place we could afford in the other town when another option turned up that was just what we wanted without the commute, but not available for another month, exactly when we had to be out. Dh was working many days early and late and weekends, and I was supposed to lay down as much as possible, but we were trying to pack in between.

 

Midwives were worried and sent me to an OBGYN two hours away, and we wound up having to induce as soon as I hit 37 weeks-the week before to move. The birth went great but then baby was having problems at first with regulating his temp, with breathing, with eating and weight loss. But after a few days his breathing improved, he started to eat a little, and they sent us home on Friday, with the move on Monday.

 

The baby's temperature would still drop precipitously at times, and I was attempting to wake him to eat every two hours, but he had little interest. Our friends from church turned out and helped us move. I was so grateful, it was wonderful. But I do remember, after they were gone late that afternoon, looking around at the stacks and stacks of boxes waiting to still be unpacked and nearly crying. Then, unexpectedly, the three teenagers of another church friend pulled up and announced they were there to unpack! They were amazing.

 

Then I came down with a horrible uterine infection that was close to as bad as labor and knocked my milk supply completely out, and the baby's weight dropped off.

[skimomma]

Our last move was a local move so instead of hiring a moving company, we decided to rent a U-haul.  It was all going to be seamless.  We would get the truck the day before the closing on our old house and with the help of a few friends move it to the new house.  We had to be out of our old house the next morning at the 10am closing.  The houses are about 40 minutes apart from each other.

 

So, we go to get the U-haul truck.  We had reserved the biggest one they had in order to just make one big trip (so our helpers would not have to drive the 40 minutes more than once).  But when we got there to get the truck, they did not have it.  They did not have ANY trucks.  This is when they explained that when you reserve a U-haul, you are simply promising to pay for one (even if you never come get it) but that in no way does it guarantee they will have the truck you reserved.  What?!?!?  They offered us a trailer and we figured at this point, we would take what we could get.  We were all set with the paperwork when they said we were declined because our tow vehicle was a Ford Explorer.  This was during the Firestone tire thing (never mind that we did not then or ever have the tires in question) and they had a policy at the time to NOT rent trailers to anyone intending to tow it with an Explorer.  

 

Ugh.

 

We made a million phone calls and everyone we knew showed up at our place with anything they had access to that could haul stuff.  Lots of pick-up trucks, minivans, open trailers, even a couple of snowmobile trailers.  I ran out and picked up a barrel of beer and lots of pizza.  It ended up being a great party and we got it all moved in one mass trip.  Unfortunately it was raining so anything in open trailers and pick-ups got wet but nothing was damaged beyond repair.  

 

Our realtor was so amazed that we pulled the together so quickly that she came out and took photos.

 

Thanks goodness for lots of good friends!

[CinV]

((((Oh, Ethel)))) I'm beginning to think downsizing is a great idea. We're moving into 3,000 sf and I'm determined to keep it sparse.

 

Does everyone agree that I should contact the moving company for some kind of help/fix? DH was planning to drive back to our original state (9 hours) and load up on items like the printer, the bread machine, just a bunch of stuff they didn't take. ???

 

Again, this was a moving line. Not a bunch of college guys. There were three movers and DH working for 8 hours and, please believe, we don't have a lot of stuff. One L-shaped couch, a bunkbed, two queens, one king. An easy to move dining room table w/ four chairs. Three small desks, three upright dressers. Yes, a ton of boxes. But they were small, easy to move, and sealed. No TV -- we watch on computers. No stereo equip. -- we listen on ipod.

 

Plus an estimator-lady came ahead of time with her computer to estimate how much/how long the job would take.

 

I'm not sure what to do at this point w/ this company. I hate that DH has to drive back to pick up stuff like printers and bread machines.

 

What would you do?

 

Alley

 

In regards to the bolded, did you pay for packing and moving?  Moving companies regard these separately.  If you did, they should have come out to pack you up in the days before the move.  They don't pack and load on the same day - usually it's totally different crews handling each piece.  If you did pay for pack & load, I would definitely call the company.

[Laura Corin]

When we decided to move from Asia to Scotland, we had a family flat in China and a bachelor pad in Hong Kong (where Husband had been living Monday to Friday).  We arranged with our moving company to part fill a container in China, then complete the filling in Hong Kong before shipping the container to  storage in Scotland until we found a place to live.  So far, so complicated.

 

But it was the year of the Olympics.  No problem, you might think - we would be leaving as others arrived.  However, China has an unusual approach to laws: there are many rules that are on the books but are only enforced when there is a campaign against a particular relevant target.  For the Olympics, they decided to enforce all the immigration laws, including that one could not export household goods if one did not possess a residence visa.  Our residence visas had expired - we had re-entered the country on tourist visas to sort last minute things out.  We were stuck.  For weeks, we prepared to leave, with very little hope that we would be able to take our things out.... ever.  Or at least until the campaign ended.  Husband had a new job to start in Scotland - we (or at least he) had to move.

 

It was at this point that I lost five passports (three British, two American) by leaving them in the back of the taxi in China.  Luckily, the regional British consul was a personal friend and, after days spent in Chinese police stations to get the relevant paperwork, and after we took the third set of photos - finally suitable - we were able to get British passports.  The American ones had to wait.

 

About two weeks before we were due to fly out, our moving company said that they had cracked the problem.  Honestly, I didn't ask too many details, but I think that the goods left the country under someone else's name.

 

So we were finally on the road with passports and worldly goods.  From then on, things went fairly smoothly.  We managed to get to Scotland, find a temporary place to stay, and then finally a house to buy.  The only other hitch was delivery day, when it turned out that the turn into the drive, between old stone walls, was too tight for the lorry.  So every stick had to be carried by hand around thirty yards to the front door.

 

I hope things go better for you.

 

L

[Kim in Appalachia]

We moved to our current home 12 years ago.

 

My dh's job paid for the packing and moving.  The moving company packed the stuff, but for some reason, on loading day, they were unable to fit everything into the truck.  They said we owned more then "normal people" (which is such a huge laugh, but I was not laughing).  They just left the rest of our stuff in the house. Fortunately, we had the house for another month and my dh was able to make several trips with his pick up and get the rest (it was only a 3.5 hr drive).

 

Then when the moving place got to our new house they said that they were unable to get the truck up our street and would not deliver it unless we paid them $800 more, on the spot.  My dh's company did come up with the money for us. (They went and got a smaller truck and moved stuff up that way).  

 

Even better, when we got here, the previous owners were still moving stuff out.  They thought we were rude, wanting to take possession of the house just a week after we signed all of the paperwork. It was our house.  They were mad at us for moving into it.  We had not agreed to them staying past the signing day.  I think we finally got rid of some of their stuff that was under the house, this past summer.  

 

The entire thing took over 24hrs.  I was awake and dealing with 4 kids, including a 2 month old, for 24 hrs.  I remember when they finally put our old futon in house, I laid on it with the baby in my arms, and fell asleep.

 

I hope everything gets settled for you soon.  :grouphug:

 

 

[Kerileanne99]

I am sorry you have had such a horrible experience! There is a reason that moving house is rated as one of the most stressful times in life, for anyone. When particularly harrowing, aggravating, and financially/physically/emotionally things make that worse it really can be dreadful. I hope things get straightened out a bit and you can settle soon.

 

Here is one of my horrible moving stories:

When I was 20 and home from the Army on medical leave after my first hip surgery I was in a wheelchair (for what was temporary at the time.) I could not walk and was extremely uncomfortable. Due to crazy family circumstances I had to drive a Ford Explorer (all by my lonesome) pulling a U-haul trailer full of everything I owned in the world from Idaho to Virginia...in the winter time. It was terrifying and miserable. I had very little money and slept in the vehicle when I had to sleep, usually in Truck stops. (Genius, I know, please make sure your children NEVER attempt such a thing-there were a couple of scary moments!)

 

I somehow managed to get caught in a huge blizzard in the mountains with very little gas, pulling this trailer. I am convinced that at times it was the only thing that kept me on the road. There was no place to pull over as I was going over the pass, so I stayed right behind a semi literally creeping over the mountain. He had chains, which I did not, and I could at least see his taillights when I couldn't see the road! I was in utter hysterics by that point.

 

Eventually I came to a tiny town with a fleabag hotel I was never so thrilled to see! I was able to get a room with the pretty much last of my money, but did not have enough for another night. And the snow kept falling and trapped the vehicle in!

 

Wheelchairs, especially collapsible ones designed to be temporary do NOT do well in almost 2 feet of snow. I had NO idea what to do and no one to call, but I remembered what my grandfather had told me a few years before: if you ever get into trouble in a small town, head to the local diner or coffee shop where the old locals hang out. As luck would have it (ha!) right across the old highway was just such a place. Of course, I had to get there in all that snow (not even the snowplows had made it through yet) in the chair with no coat or gloves, just a hoodie. I swear it took a lifetime...

 

But eventually I made it and say at a table with a cup of coffee for an hour before I picked out a couple of good 'ol buddy old-timers to ask for help. They were so kind!

Eventually one of them heard that the snowplows were coming through, but that another storm was expected that evening. Those 60+ year old men helped me back across the road, got me loaded up..and even used his CB to ask the snowplow guy to clear me a path out of the parking lot! I followed right behind the snowplow down the mountain until the road cleared!

Never, ever again!

[Jean in Newcastle]

I thought of a funny moving story.  When dh and I first moved after we got married, he drove the U-Haul and I drove our car.  Our cat was in the car in a cardboard carrying case that the vet gave me.  That cat chewed through that box!  She was so upset that she came and sat on my head and was yowling up a storm.  This was in the days before we had cell phones and I had no way to signal dh who was driving in front of me.  I was so glad when he stopped at a rest area.  I had been so afraid that something would scare that cat and that I would have a bloody head and probably a car accident as well.  

[ThisIsTheDay]

Alley, I'm so sorry. :(  You want to hear bad moving stories to help you feel better.

 

We moved 1500 miles away. The title company who cleared the sale of our home transferred the money incorrectly, and it ended up in a bank in another state, so we had to wait an extra day to close. We were stuck in a disgusting, trashy hotel room with two kids, two cats, and a dog.

 

On moving day, the contract Mayflower truck driver realized he couldn't get his 80' moving truck down our road.  Mayflower completely dropped the ball and left him stranded, along with us.  They told him to call a local truck rental to rent a shuttle truck.  The poor driver was using OUR cell phone, because had no service.  We finally got a U-Haul number, got the truck rented, AND drove the driver to town so he could pick up the truck.  (Because how else was he supposed to do that?)

 

He and his overweight, diabetic, sickly brother in law spent the entire afternoon making shuttle runs, unloading the big truck into the smaller U-Haul rental, driving it down the road to our house, and then unloading it.  And Mayflower? They promised to have help unloading on this end, but the ONE person they arranged for never showed up.  My husband and I ended up moving almost the entire house in from the smaller truck. 

 

They were supposed to be done by lunchtime.  They hadn't even begun (again, not their fault). I drove into town and brought them back lunch. We literally had nothing in the fridge, since we'd closed a day late.  They ended at 11 p.m.  I felt especially bad because I knew he had another load on his truck, and he was put 12 hours behind on that. 

 

And it was my birthday.

 

The only redeeming part of the day is that my two children sat, so incredibly patiently, one in each corner of the room and played on their respective Gameboys for what seemed like all day. They didn't complain, not one bit.

 

We later received a bill from the moving company for an additional $800 for the shuttle runs.  We fought it and they eventually removed that charge.

 

Not heartwrenchingly awful like some of the experiences here.  Moving is stressful enough, even under the best of conditions.