Hunt em down and hang em...
Some movers were decent, and we took care of them (cash tips, pizza, beer after wards).
One company left some of our baggage on the tarmac during a 3 day deluge. Almost everything was ruined, including our feather-bed comforters from Germany, our photographs, and our other items.
Many movers scratch the crap out of your furniture. All you can do is file a claim when you get your stuff, but the moving companies label EVERYTHING you own as soiled, stained, and scratched as a hedge against any claim you file.
We placed some items in storage before one of our overseas moves. When we finally claimed it upon our return to the states, we discovered the company had looted our belongings. Old computers (I had a 1st generation MAC), china, family heirlooms - all gone.
I even knew one family who lost every single thing they owned. The trucks "disappeared." All they had to their names were what they had in their suitcases.
The military is the largest single customer of domestic moving companies. It sounds like this company was just one of the lousy ones.
Oh I helped my daughter with a military move last year. It was a nightmare from beginning to end and it wasn’t this company. So many issues I don’t know where to start but they had a lot of things damaged and it took forever for them to get their stuff.
IDK what the deal is, but it was a really bad situation and it took forever for them to collect on damages. One piece of furniture that got damaged was a family heirloom and my daughter did not want it paid for she wanted to get it repaired. She did, but not sure she got reimbursed for that.
I don’t know why military moves are so bad but it is not fair to the families, they don’t get to pick movers so someone needs to be held accountable.
Looked to see if it was minority owned - No.
But it does have a female CEO, and that might have been enough to bring in those government contracts although it also says not women owned.
I moved eight times in a 21 year military career, with 4 of those moves being to and from Germany twice. I hardly had any damage at all. I was very pleased with my movers every time. YMMV.
I think Suddath Relocation Systems now owns Mayflower and United Van Lines.
Most of my moves were great but there was one that was not good.
I am a woodworker and my Dad gave me a bunch of very old hand tools that were quite valuable. They were packed in one box and that box disappeared, as well as all of our TVs. My expensive stereo made it.
The bad thing was it had to be the team on the truck as that move was door-to-door with no storage. Also, I was reimbursed pennies on the dollar so we basically had to purchase new TVs. The tools were irreplaceable and even though I had each one listed the military told me the valuations I paid for before the move were too high so I was reimbursed for 15% of their true value.
A year after that move the Air Force notified me that we were over the allotted weight for that same move and would have to pay over $1000 back. I had to go into my paperwork and show them the certified scale weights and that we were under the limit. It seems that truck added someones stuff and made a drop off along the way and tried to bill our move. I still think they tried to move a relative or friend on the DoD, and my, dime.
The Air Force actually started taking money out of my paycheck until they finally agreed we were right and then we had to wait another two months to get our money back.
Remember WJC/HRC and Billy Dale and the White House Travel Agency.
One of HRCs first moves was to kick Dale out of the travel office (he had a little feifdom there after 30 some years) and she/they were exercising their ‘rights’
BUT
The replacement company was some two bit Little Rock travel agency and one can imagine Cs would have gotten a kickback.(They ‘stole’ everything else not nailed down)
We had a ‘saying’ while I was in
If Unka Sugah wanted you to have a wife and family, they would have been in your initial seabag.
Ping.
With twenty years of military service, I can tell you this is not something new. Broken furniture, missing and destroyed items, washers that get rented out while you are deployed (evidenced by leaking water when they deliver them). Cars get shipped and when you pick them up parts are missing. Fact of life.
Good golly. THis has been going on forever.
BREAKING: The Truck Carrying Your Household Goods Just Drove Off A Cliff
we lived in 17 different homes when My Marine was active duty and only 1 move was tough. I’m sorry for these folks though.
“Suddath Relocation Systems”
Sounds Muslim to me! Just who are these people?
So those parasites politicians Nelson & Rubio is gonna get involved in this? WHY? Can & will they force a full reimbursement for everyone pain, suffering & losses or they are doing it just to get some media free coverage in an election year?
Then my wife and I moved a lot with the Air Force when we were career military. We experienced the same delays on some moves and lived on our camping gear for weeks. Things were broken and on one move, many small items missing.
I think it's the nature of the beast. Moving contractors feeding off the transfers of military families. What could go wrong?
Except now they're sucking off the government teat and liking it. Quality control is not a concern. Shit happens.
After I got out of the military and my wife was still on active duty, I worked a few months at a moving and storage place. If your shipment goes into storage without going directly to the destination, they are going to steal things from your load when they unpack the truck and repack it into the storage container. Things go missing. These guys looked at it like a perk of the job.
After decades of moving as kids and then as adults, my wife and I learned the steps to the most successful moves. Pack everything yourself. Watch them load it and sign your inventory sheet. Then follow them on the trip to your destination. Watch them unload the truck directly into the house or a storage unit that you rent and control.
We never had any broken or missing items when we followed this process. Moving delays were non-existent.
But crappy military family moving contractors has been a problem for decades.
NO excuse ...I hope the families sue ...treated worse than illegals
Low bidder and/or minority owned company = stranded families.
Maybe time the military stops moving people around as much. There are plenty of enlisted, just do a bit of job reassignment.