December 2, 2013. After months of decisions, dreaming, budget busting, and anticipation the day finally arrived for us to move into our beautiful home! We were so excited the night before we could hardly sleep!
I had every intention of snapping several photos on this monumental day, but never had the opportunity to do so. For the first time E.V.E.R. TravelinBRITS was left in charge of the movers while I had to travel to the airport 2 hours away to collect our son who had been away at basic training in San Antonio, TX, with the SC Air National Guard. I had every confidence that my husband could handle the task at hand.... and he did!
When our son and I returned, things seemed under control. Six moving crates had been unloaded, and the five remaining were almost done. Almost immediately I noticed the anxious look on my husband's face...... several furniture items had not been off loaded, but we held out hope that they were in the final crate yet to be opened. Alas, they were not, commencing phone calls to the dispatch office, notifying the office manager we were missing a crate.
Search for the missing crate began immediately, while we began the task of unpacking over 400 boxes! Our task became rather tedious as certain boxes could not be unpacked due to not having the furniture that would hold the items (mainly our Louis XIV china cabinet and dessert buffet, bookcase, master bedroom dresser and chest of drawers). Needless to say, anxiety set in like the persistent buzz of a mosquito, annoying and troubling!
Two days after delivery we received a call from the moving and storage company regional manager with good news and bad news. Good news: crate was found. Bad news: contents of the crate had suffered severe water damage due to the items sitting on a leaky truck during the continuous summer storms we endured last July. Uggghhh! I had answered the call, but had to hand the phone off to my husband before I went completely ballistic on the guy!
Water damage, severe mold, and possibly total loss on some of our most high dollar items! Why is it that the high dollar/irreplaceable items are the things to suffer the most damage whenever we move. The stuff made of particle board or items we'd just as soon send to the curb are NEVER damaged! Riddle me that, Batman!
The manager's next question was, "Would you like us to deliver these items and you set up the appraisals and repair contacts?". Are you nuts??? NOOOO!!! You did this so you are responsible. You get the appraisals and assessments on the items and go from there, especially since you're in a metro region where the resources are available! We don't want these items delivered until all damage has been repaired or replaced.
Along with the furniture items mentioned above, ALL my beautiful Moroccan pillows, poufs, and cushions were covered in mold, ALL our Civil War prints (Mort Kunstler, Don Stivers, etc), a Civil War sabre replica, my husband's military dress sabre, and one very special award presented to my husband by His Royal Highness, Mohammed VI, Kingdom of Morocco, suffered water and mold damage. To date, all repairs and/or restoration is in progress with one item being declared a total loss, but we've not had any visual on the items so not sure if we will be 100% satisfied. We won't take delivery until all has been completed.
The hardest thing about the whole ordeal is the fact that we have moved 16 times across continents and oceans, and have never experienced damage like this. These items were in storage for less than 6 months and traveled less than 100 miles from the warehouse to their destination.... and for the FINAL TIME! Our last move and we suffer losses like never before!!!
I don't have a moral to this story. All of this could have been avoided if the moving company put a little more effort into caring for our stuff. Yeah, it's just stuff, but it's a military career's worth of collecting special things from around the world. Things that can't be replaced. Things that have extraordinary sentimental value. Things that were heavily considered when planning and building our new home.
Coastal Moving and Storage Their motto: Moving You Like Family. What a joke!!!!!!! They are no family of mine!
Once these items have been delivered and things have been put away, I look forward to sharing photos of our home. We are extremely happy with all the special features and love being there, calling it HOME!
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