Rotten moving day

[sangtarah]

We had a pretty rotten moving day today. Anyone have a story about The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Share with me!

[Catwoman]

I don't have any stories for you, but I'm so sorry to hear you had such a terrible day! :(

[Arctic Bunny]

Oh no!!! Those are the worst!!

 

I still haven't looked in my box of china. You know, the extras I put in the box with a huge label that said "Do not move without repacking". That one. But, yeah, make sure my hair elastics are well wrapped in paper....

[Guest]

Ugh, I'm sorry! I'm dreading something similar and the last time we moved was like that.

[Liz CA]

Well...nothing specific like Royal Doulton China broken or something like it but the last two times we moved we did so in pouring rain. Fun times. ;)

It can only get better now, right?

[Melissa in Australia]

Hugs

[Selkie]

Aww, I hope today is a better one!

[linders]

Our moving day adventures are too long to recount. The nightmare part ended when the movers DROPPED MY PIANO because they didn't want to get out the piano dolly. As I cried, DH threw that crew out of the house and said we would wait - forever, if need be - for the regional supervisor to appear with his very best crew.

[Melissa B]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, on our move a few years ago we had a U-Haul and our truck pulling a borrowed trailer. The trailer lost a wheel. We had to drive about 20 miles out of our way to buy a new wheel for a trailer we didn't own. Then we arrived at our new house after dark. The U-Haul got stuck in sand halfway up the quarter-mile driveway. Due to its weight, we had to call the special heavy duty tow truck to pull out the U-Haul. +$300. Then we had to pay for an extra day on the U-Haul as it still needed to be unloaded. Worst - when we finally got into the house it was crawling with german cockroaches - hundreds and hundreds of them! :)

[Garga]

Nm

Edited June 29, 2017 by Garga

[Garga]

Our moving day adventures are too long to recount. The nightmare part ended when the movers DROPPED MY PIANO because they didn't want to get out the piano dolly. As I cried, DH threw that crew out of the house and said we would wait - forever, if need be - for the regional supervisor to appear with his very best crew.

  

Well, if it makes you feel any better, on our move a few years ago we had a U-Haul and our truck pulling a borrowed trailer. The trailer lost a wheel. We had to drive about 20 miles out of our way to buy a new wheel for a trailer we didn't own. Then we arrived at our new house after dark. The U-Haul got stuck in sand halfway up the quarter-mile driveway. Due to its weight, we had to call the special heavy duty tow truck to pull out the U-Haul. +$300. Then we had to pay for an extra day on the U-Haul as it still needed to be unloaded. Worst - when we finally got into the house it was crawling with german cockroaches - hundreds and hundreds of them! :)

 

 

 

Those are both terrible! The roaches! Ahhh!

[HomeAgain]

We moved once.  Opened up the crates and found everything soaking wet, covered with mold and/or broken to bits.  I was dealing with a colicky newborn and an overwhelmed, sick child and I just sat down and cried.  Everything gone, just about.  We salvaged about a box worth of items that were stainless steel or had been packed in giant ziplocs.  It took nearly 3 months to get the moving company to settle up and pay for everything destroyed.  In the meantime I put the child in school, and since I had family moving to the same place, they offered to shop for us and have items come in their shipment - including an entire nursery they were handing down to us.  Between them and Ikea we settled in tentatively.

 

It worked out, but it still makes me want to cry.  My oldest went to high school and had to do a project for his Spanish class using pictures of himself growing up.  Since the photo albums of his childhood were gone, he printed out pictures of the move I had taken for insurance purposes showing the class why he didn't have photos. (He still got an A, whew!)  Our last move I made the workers nervous by telling them I was videoing everything boxed and my husband would be filming as it came off the truck.  Anything special was packed in the car.  They did a marvelous job. :)

[almondbutterandjelly]

Here's a doozie.  My brother and his wife were going to be moving, so she very carefully went through everything they owned, culling through and deciding what needed to go and what could be thrown out or donated.  So only essentials and stuff they really cared about.  On about the second day of the trip across the country, the moving truck caught fire and everything burned.  Everything.

[sangtarah]

Aw, our day wasn't as bad as some of your stories. I'm so sorry.

 

Our move isn't over; we are only at the beginning. We will see what kind of shape our goods are in after our drive across country. I'm apprehensive, to say the least.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Moving is hard.  REALLY HARD

 

I don't have any extra special moving stories, but yeah there is nothing good about moving day.  :laugh:

[Hilltopmom]

Here's a doozie. My brother and his wife were going to be moving, so she very carefully went through everything they owned, culling through and deciding what needed to go and what could be thrown out or donated. So only essentials and stuff they really cared about. On about the second day of the trip across the country, the moving truck caught fire and everything burned. Everything.

This happened to my parents too.

[Spryte]

When my SIL and BIL were moving, they parked the U-Haul at a hotel for the night.  Got up in the morning, and it was gone.  Stolen.  :(

 

I've moved almost 40 times.  I have some crazy stories.  Our last move, I got up in the night a few days before the movers came.  We had been renovating and packing at the same time, and the big metal bed was pulled out from the wall.  It was pitch dark, but I had my phone.   Until I dropped it.  I bent down to pick it up and *slammed* the side of my nose into the corner of the bed.  I saw stars.  No kidding.  It was broken, and required a bit of manipulation from the ENT not to be crooked.  That had to wait a few days for swelling to go down.  So.... on moving day, the movers started loading the truck, and I promptly left to go have my nose re-set!  Ouch!

[Sarah CB]

On the day we started unpacking I was tired and cranky and then I found a box marked, "Coffee Maker" and I was so happy. Only to unpack the entire box and find there was NO coffee maker in it at all. We had the movers pack us, so I don't know if that was their idea of a practical joke or what. I wasn't laughing.

[mom@shiloh]

We had a u-pack trailer parked in our yard to load, but we had so much rain, that when we woke up the next morning, one corner of it had sunk into the ground.  Fortunately, we had farmer neighbors with big equipment who were willing to lift it up until we could get reinforcements under it.  

 

Another time my dh moved a few weeks before the rest of us could, so I stayed behind with five kids and oversaw the packing and loading.  After the truck was loaded, we slept on the floor so that we could leave early the next morning.  My car broke down three times in the 300 mile trip to our new location.  This was before cell phones, so we spent most of the day stuck.  

[sangtarah]

What an awful joke!

 

We've moved 7 or 8 times. Things happen, but this was supposed to be a "good" company.

Well, dh just told me that on the walk-through he found all our silverware in the drawer. Ack. They put it in the parts box. They didn't pack any of our furniture with blankets, either - all "paper padding", which is one tiny thin piece of foam with brown paper on either side. Ugh.

We even found a blanket and told them to use it for the piano. When I called dh see if they used it, they hadn't, so he had to go in the truck and insist!

[Arctic Bunny]

On the day we started unpacking I was tired and cranky and then I found a box marked, "Coffee Maker" and I was so happy. Only to unpack the entire box and find there was NO coffee maker in it at all. We had the movers pack us, so I don't know if that was their idea of a practical joke or what. I wasn't laughing.

Pretty sure they think that stuff is hilarious. We still haven't found the legs for the loveseat, the tablecloth and padding that was on the table when they moved it, or the dog's mat for his bowls. I finally found the cord for the printer. In a box in a different room, different floor.

[73349]

Instead of switching the electricity account from the previous owners to us on the day we were moving in, the company turned the power OFF.

 

We did not get to have the carpets cleaned before moving stuff in, because the carpet cleaners needed electricity. DH was on the phone having to argue with the people whether there was electricity to the house or not about three times, continuing well past dark! They were like,"Well, it's Saturday..." Um, no, you weren't supposed to turn it off in the first place.

 

#*(^&@! monopoly.

[Arctic Bunny]

What an awful joke!

 

We've moved 7 or 8 times. Things happen, but this was supposed to be a "good" company.

Well, dh just told me that on the walk-through he found all our silverware in the drawer. Ack. They put it in the parts box. They didn't pack any of our furniture with blankets, either - all "paper padding", which is one tiny thin piece of foam with brown paper on either side. Ugh.

We even found a blanket and told them to use it for the piano. When I called dh see if they used it, they hadn't, so he had to go in the truck and insist!

Best tip I got from the last packers - first ones I've seen do this - he put tape on the kitchen cupboard handle when that cupboard was empty! I still did my usual check while wiping out cupboards. But still, I'm keeping that one for next time! That was the only positive I have about that guy....

[Laura Corin]

We were due to leave China.  We had two establishments, as the family had been living in a flat in China and Husband had been commuting to a flat in Hong Kong.  We were all set to go, using locally-sanctioned procedures to clear customs.  Then the central government decided, because it was Olympics year, that all the local procedures were not shiny enough, and the national rules (not normally implemented) had to be followed.  Which meant we couldn't get our stuff out.  So we had our plane tickets, a new job in Scotland, accommodation booked in Scotland...... and we couldn't get our stuff out.

 

At the very last minute a new local procedure was discovered by our moving company, and the move took place.  But until I heard that the half-filled container had reached Hong Kong, I was convinced that almost everything we owned would be embargoed for years in China, and we would arrive with just a few suitcases.

 

 

[ikslo]

Our move before last, DH was out somewhere (I don't remember where), so I was finishing packing and waiting for my coworker who was coming over with the company's box truck to help us move.  I decided to load my car with a few items that I didn't want going in the truck.  I fell down on the front steps on the very first trip and sprained my ankle.  Something snapped, but it wasn't broken.  However, my fall was loud enough that the next door neighbor came out to me splayed on the sidewalk.  Luckily another neighbor had a compression brace she was willing to part with so I could function that day.  I still helped move and still had my kitchen items unpacked in my new home at the end of the day, but it sucked.

[UncleEJ]

When we moved from Alaska to Texas, we packed and moved our stuff ourselves. I had the brilliant idea to number each box and then list the contents of each box in a notebook. Which would have worked beautifully had I actually brought said notebook with us. 😤 Luckily, my brother-in-law was moving into our house and he sent the notebook to us.

 

On that same move, about 2/3 of the way to our destination, we blew a tire on the enclosed trailer we were pulling with our belongings. We pulled over, changed the tire, and were about to get back on the road when a fire truck pulled up. Some one had seen us and reported smoke coming from our trailer. We hadn't really noticed, just thought it was from the tire. Well, the fire dept insisted on checking the trailer and sure enough the mattress we had on the wheel well was smoldering. The wall of the trailer was scorched. Had we started driving, we would have likely lost everything. We owe a great deal to some random person in Nebraska â¤ï¸

[ondreeuh]

Oh man, you guys are scaring me. We have our household goods being shipped from Alaska to Europe, and I am pretty comfortable with it because the guys really seemed to do a good, careful job. But the stuff we are having stored ... I am not at all confident that it will be in good shape when we get it back in several years. I wasn't able to supervise how they handled delicate things, and after they left I discovered a piece broken off a bookshelf that they had left on the floor. Of course they reported no damage. They also broke a bookshelf while moving it and convinced me that it should just be taken off the list. I was exhausted and they were way behind schedule, so I didn't argue (it wasn't a valuable bookshelf anyway) but I really question their integrity. I just hope our stuff is safe.

[MercyA]

This pales in comparison with everyone's else's horror stories, but we had our car moved cross-country with our stuff. The movers apparently put someone else's *lawnmower* inside our trunk. When we opened it, it was full of grass. They also piled stuff on top of our car, leaving scratches all over it. Not a smart move.

 

OP, so sorry you are having a rough time. Moving is so stressful. This too shall pass.  :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[Shelly in IL]

Friends of ours in the military were moving stateside after a tour in Germany. All their worldly goods (cars included) sunk with the cargo ship that it was packed on.

[Lanny]

In February 1995, I lived in an upstairs duplex in North Central Texas and there was ice on the stairs in the morning, when they were scheduled to come. I called and they delayed until later in the day.  The moving company here in Colombia (excellent) suggested Graebel Van Lines because they normally worked with Graebel for moves to/from the USA. I went with Graebel Van Lines in Dallas which turned out to be a horrible mistake.  I do not know if the men who were on the truck that came to my house to pick up my things for shipment to Colombia were  drunk or on drugs.  I will not go into all of the details. I hate Graebel Van Lines, based on that one, horrible, experience...

[Shelly in IL]

Oh the flip side - our friends got quite a settlement and got pretty great stuff and cars out of the deal. But pics and heirlooms lost.

[Ethel Mertz]

I left grad school with a U-Haul Truck full. A friend drove it for me. Upon arrival, said friend went home and I went to take the truck back. I missed the turn, went to turn around at a closed gas station, and nearly took out a gas pump. Near miss, though I did demolish one of those huge barrel planters. (I left a note for the owner and settled for $100. He was relieved that I hadn't hit a gas pump.) 

[Ravin]

DH swears up and down that when he and his first wife moved from FL back to AZ with the Navy-contracted movers when he was discharged, the movers tried to pack the baby bassinet with the baby in it.

 

I managed to avoid involvement in several moves. Our last one, we still haven't fully unpacked and we moved a year and a half ago!

[sangtarah]

Just gets worse and worse.

 

We rented a home via FaceTime. Realtor assured us it wasn't smelly. We get here to take possession, and there is visible mold on walls and vents. No way can we live in that.

 

So, back to searching. Who knows how long that will takes Our household will go in storage. Who knows what it will look like when we get it.

 

If you pray, please pray for us.

[PinkTulip]

I'm so sorry you are going through all this stress. I hope you can find a suitable place quickly!

[Heatherwith4]

Ugh! I'm so sorry. I will pray for you. :grouphug: