Imagine that you're moving and you have this happen

Dude, where's my stuff?

They moved here three months ago, and still don't have their house goods desptie paying for the shipment in full. The company claims that since they contacted the BBB, that they can't call them again as it's "harassment". Also, since they turned to the media to get their voice heard, that the company is going to auction off all their stuff.

Anyone hear about stuff like this happening? This is the first time I've heard of it.

If there's anything that doesn't surprise me, it's bad things happening during a move.

Admittedly, sometimes the movee can cause it as much as the mover, but it's just not pleasant.

I must admit, I'm now curious to hear the company's side of the story.

What would happen if that family went and reported their belongings as stolen?

No way this is going to fly. I smell lawsuits up the ass for these people.

Unfortunately this isn't new, when my parents moved from England back to the U.S. in 1994 they also used a "less than reputable" moving service. Even paid an extra $500 for insurance on the stuff, ha ha ha.

About a third to half of that stuff was never seen again. And knowing my parents, not for lack of trying.

Actually, if I'm remembering correctly, the only reason they found as much of it as they did was because of some really persistent efforts.

edited 12th May '11 11:39:02 PM by deathjavu

If you ship something into a trailer, by definition it can not get lost.
So this can theoretically only be theft.

Moral of the story: never own more stuff than what you can transport yourself.

So you should never own a house?

It is theft, but they can stall and avoid for long enough to disappear with your stuff.

edited 13th May '11 11:09:41 AM by deathjavu

No, just make sure you have a Class A Ballooning License.

edited 13th May '11 11:14:33 AM by blueharp

Or, move it yoruself. Might not fit into a car, but it might fit into a U-haul. Overseas shipment might be harder to manage, though, as I imagine Fed-ex'ing all your stuff would be a real pain in the neck to do.

Probably the easiest way would be to rent your own shipping container, fill it, and pay for it to be hauled to the nearest port and shipped. You'd still have to rely on some contractors but you'd have a lot more control of the process.

Even better: Refurbished shipping containers turned into homes. Ship everything in one go. You can buy a 20-foot container for as low as eight grand (and that woudl give you 160 sq-foot living area roughly), although the conversion to building code costs some.

They couldn't legally auction that material. They pretty much stated it is theirs and that they are going to illegally sell it. Time to sue sounds like.