Complaint Review: Victory Van Corporation -

Nor do I receive anything in compensation from anyone in any capacity in any moving company or the industry.  I have moved enough times in my life to know this stuff pretty well.

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/Rights-and-Responsibilities-2013.pdf

Here is a PDF of the document your mover provided you - if you recall, this was the document you decided to read AFTER your move, instead of before.  On page 8 of this document, you will find ways in which you as the mover reduces the mover's liability in the move, which includes - of course - items packed in boxes you packed yourself.  It is important to understand that when YOU pack the boxes, instead of the mover, it is already assumed you will improperly pack the box; at least that's how the courts have interpreted this phrasing.  The court came to this conclusion for obvious reasons:

1.  You as a novice have little to no experience in properly packing the boxes compared to the professional mover

2.  You as a novice generally don't use the same or similar materials needed to properly pack the box to prevent damage, as opposed to the professional.

Many of the items in the R&R booklet are also contained in the contract you signed, which they refer to as the Bill of Lading.

There are many things regarding the moving industry most consumers fall prey to or simply don't understand.  There are websites like movingscam.com, for example, that help the average consumer prior to a move, understand what they're about to get into.  However what happened to you isn't one of them, and your possible avenues of recourse are virtually zero. 

Most consumers search for movers on the internet (bad), look for the lowest price (bad), believe all movers are legit (bad), or won't use the Yellow Pages to find a mover in your area (bad).  Many of the people that report here on this website managed to do at least one or all of the above.  You managed to pick one of the legit movers out there to do your move, and then decided to do the packing yourself, which in the long run, is going to cost you more, than if you had simply paid for the packing to be done.

Moving is not an inexpensive venture and doing things the wrong way will cost you dearly in the long run....

I wonder why.....because you know it's not clear to the average person who moves.  Furthermore, it's obvious by the amount of time you take to respond to my complaint that you have skin in the game.  Are you being compensated by someone in the industry?  Be honest.

The bottom line is the moving rep who spent plenty of time with us during the initial briefing could simply have stated the jist of what you blabber on about.  Why didn't they do that?  Because it would turn people off, just like I wish I could do to you!

Beware of any moving company!! They hold all the cards and don't really care about the customer.. Unless your company is paying for your move and they pay top dollar to have everyting covered you may as well move it yourself, as the shill (who responds to my compaints) concludes.

Stephen, you packed the boxes - so you have total and complete responsibility for what happened to the contents in them.  Here's the reality:  If you're going to assume the responsibility for packing, you may as well do the move yourself.  Why?  Because the mover's greatest liability during the move is breakage or scratches, or other related damages; there's very little risk of damage during transport because all the trucks they use to transport goods either interstate, or intrastate are all air-ride trucks - meaning the suspension in the trailer prevents severe movement in the trailer even on a bumpy road.  Boxes are the biggest area where breakage occurs.  But when you do the packing, you essentially transfer the area of the greatest liability in a move from the mover to yourself for EVERY single box you pack.  You then are transferring your possessions, for which you are assuming the liability for, to the people who are really the lowest paid and hardest working people in the moving industry.  They're not paid to look at your boxes and treat some more special than other boxes.  Their job is to move your stuff, regardless of the contents.  So marking your boxes as fragile is a useless exercise, unless you do the move yourself.

The booklet "Your Rights and Responsibilities" which is required to be distributed by your mover (a Federal requirement), since the Feds were the ones who primarily wrote it, is intended and designed to be read prior to your move.  Nobody reading your complaint should be sympathetic to your claims of not understanding the contents of the book since you admit you didn't even read the book until after your move was completed.  Before your move is not only when you have to assert your rights in the first place, but you also have the right to ask your mover questions prior to the move.  As you said, most people don't move every day, so there's no way for the average consumer to know what their rights are before, during, and after a move.  The fact you decided not to read the booklet on something you admit you have no expertise on, should only confirm to the reader your basic lack of knowledge regarding your complaint.

As far as claiming you were overcharged - someone forgot to quote you an additional amount for storage, so the mover had to drop pursuit of those charges when you refused.  I mean they tried to split the cost, but you stuck to your guns and said no.  The legit mover can only charge you for what is in your quote because the legit mover makes the quote binding on themselves and can't charge more than the quoted amount (the exception is when an additional service is required, for which you have to approve before the service is done, or they leave that part of the quote open for things like an additional shuttle if the mover isn't sure they can get the tractor-trailer close enough).  If you want to know what a not-so-legit mover does, read some of the complaints on this site.  The moving industry is filled with companies who quote you a move, load your belongings, double the quote while they have your belongings (called a hostage-load), and won't release your goods until you pay - in cash or money order.  The practice is illegal, but most people don't know that - so they pay.

No, I don't work for a moving company and I am certainly not a lawyer for one.  I just know a lot about moving.

The fact is.....the disclosure made in the brochures is not clear at all.  If it was as clear as the person is trying to make it, why doesn't he or she post the actual language?  Even if a reasonable person read that fine print before a move it would not be clear that the mover does not have liability.  I would have sucked it up if that language was clear but it was NOT.  Plus, the right thing to do is for the moving rep to tell people about that when deciding what to pack themselves.

A reasonable person would expect that boxes marked fragile would NOT be thrown about carelessly or dropped.  The moving company does not have the right to disregard handling with reasonable care.  And there is no excuse for ruining furniture while in storage.  How about defending that negligence?  The amounts they gave me to have the furiture cleaned were not sufficient.  Instead of coming up with a reasonable amount to compensate, they just shift the burden to the customer to have it cleaned and then try to recover again when the items cannot be cleaned sufficiently to remove the mothball smell and staining.

Plus, what about trying to charge more for storage than was was contracted?  Overall, Allied and Victory Van are terrible in how they run their business.  The responder to my complaint makes it seem like all moving companies do the same thing; therefore, it's acceptable.  WRONG!

You wrote: "The only way we could have recovered the cost would have been to open all the boxes we packed while the movers stood there and waited."  No.  The reality is that if you packed the items, then you would not have recovered the cost of anything in your boxes - even if the movers had waited.  If Allied actually told you they would have, then they were being VERY generous to you.  Everything you noted regarding items you pack yourself is standard throughout the moving industry - not just Allied, but with every reputable mover in the United States and Canada.  Why should any mover take any responsibility for moving boxes that they didn't pack?  The mover has no idea how poorly or how well you packed your items.  You don't have to be familiar with moving, or in the industry to know this - this is common sense.  If you think you did a good job packing your items, then you probably didn't.

The brochures the company gives you prior to the move and are required to be provided, spell out fairly clearly those responsibilities, including those you think are not clear.  There are also websites that provide the average layperson with even clearer information, often written by those who have been in the industry for years.  If you had any questions or doubts, then you could have also called someone over at Allied, who could have answered your questions prior to the move.  Instead, you decided to read all those documents AFTER your move was completed and now claim you didn't understand those documents.  The time to go over everything was not after the move, but before.

It's too bad this happened - moving is a stressful situation and breakage does happen, and if the mover is responsible for every aspect of a move, then they are usually held responsible.  But if you do the packing, then you are assuming that responsibility when something bad happens.  You let the mover out of that responsibility and as such, the liability for breakage when you pack is on you.  Best of luck to you.