ms-havachats WORSE MOVE EVER

Combining our 1st and 4th Adventure with our
3rd and 5th one

All moves are different.

We learn from mistakes.

We make new ones (hopefully fewer and less dramatic as time goes on) tho the more moves you make, the easier it should be. You know what you are in for, you know what to expect, you plan accordingly.

Sometimes, however, things beyond your control make the move hellish.

This has been one of those moves. Several things have gone awry, but the physical packing and shipping of our things should not have been one of them. We had 5 quotes, and decided to go with the company we were recommended to as there wasn't much difference in the prices. We felt confident with the company as their representation from the time of quote, to email follow ups, their patience with us in confirming dates etc was very good. However ................. from the moment the guys DID NOT wrap our furniture I started to get anxious.

As you know, this is our 5th international move so I can confidently say I have experience in watching packers pack our stuff. I've never seen anything like this before, nor do I want to again.

Imagine seeing your beds, lounge suites etc being propped up in a truck with just those funny fuzzy pieces of packing blanket tucked in-between then. All I could think of was bed lice YUK.

We did NOT use Sterling, despite their being one of their
boxes in the photograph. They moved us from UK to Ireland
two years ago and were great. 

As you can see from the photo, the truck was very high, and they just kept stacking our possessions higher and higher.

Our glass top outdoor table and chairs - unwrapped. Coming up from UK to Ireland, the chairs were boxed in the most creative fashion and the glass top (not legs) was wrapped with monster bubble wrap and packing blankets. Not this time!

Thank goodness our dining table and chairs was still in the packaging it left the UK in (we didn't need it as the landlords left theirs in the house for us to use).

The guys started to bring in boxes and more boxes and furniture. There seemed no logical pattern as to how the boxes were coming off the truck. Soon I was drowning in the kitchen with boxes and paper and no where to put things (such a badly designed kitchen, but we're slowly working it out)

I asked them when they were going to start unpacking only to be told nope, just delivery. WT?

I called G in Sydney, who phoned the office in Dublin .... office made a mistake, it was unpack too. PHEW. Though in hindsight, not such a great idea.

MrsD phoned to see how things were going and heard in my voice that it wasn't going great (I tried so hard to hide my frustration). Within half an hour, she was at the front door with coffee and chocolate. She stayed for a while, calmed me down and helped sort out a few more boxes. While she was doing that, I popped upstairs to see how things were going.

I should have stayed in the kitchen!

Check out the disaster I saw:

Inside 4 boxes - as opened. No wrapping.
No protection for our possessions.

I was so upset when I saw how they had packed my
beautiful silk orchard which was a gift from friends when we left Yokohama. 

I walked back into the lounge room and put my hands up like a traffic cop and said PLEASE STOP!

There was the computer printer - why wasn't it in the office?
There were our vases and some ornaments on the floor - why?
All the DVD's were scattered on the floor - why not in the drawer they came from?
Photo albums precariously stacked on top of the lounge!
A cracked mirror!
Several items were in their original boxes (you remember that chat from a while ago), and rather than simply popping them into a packing box, they TAPPED the box closed, so when you take off the tape, your remove the cardboard from the box too. WHO DOES THAT?
One of my Ikebana vases wasn't wrapped but merely perched ontop of our SHOES in a box.

Who in their right mind would think this
is an acceptable way to pack a fragile item?

No way is this our 7 years of bad luck!!!!!!!!!!

In our bedroom and MissM's bedroom, they had simply upended the boxes which had our clothes in them! There were knickers and bras, undies and sox everywhere. The clothes were in huge piles ontop of our beds (where did they think we were going to sleep?)

Top Left: Our bedroom.
Top Right: MissM's bed.
Bottom Left: The other side of MissM's room.
Bottom Right: Hangers just thrown on the floor of our bedroom. 

Every single one of G's shirts needs to be ironed! They are beyond creased.

I could go on but I won't.

We have an insurance claim in for all the breakages, and a formal complaint to the company about lack of service, the fact we paid for a full load and got a part load; the unprofessional unpacking and more.

And these guys were recommended to us!

No idea what's gone wrong or why and frankly don't care.

It's taken HOURS of extra work to be just kinda-settled (took me 3 days to find sheets for the bed).

WORSE MOVE EVER!

A friend said it could be worse - she knew of someone who lost their entire household contents off a ship! The container was one of several that slid off in a storm. (Which reminded me of my Ikebana teacher who also lost thousands of euros worth of stock in the same way)

She's right.

It could have been worse.

Do you have a Worse Move Ever story?

Do you have photos?

What suggestions do you have to avoid a repeat drama?