I can't make peace with movers having stolen things from my home

[Anonymous]

We had a house fire when I was a kid, and the people who boxed up our stuff for storage while they were dealing with the smoke stole from us including stuff from my room.

I get it. It feels like a huge violation to have your personal things stolen by people you've trusted to be in your home. It's not common because it's a business liability, but it happens.

If it's really eating at you, I would really lean into those feelings to understand their full extent. Is it just the loss? Maybe a feeling of betrayal? Maybe there's some other emotion related to the move this is bringing up? A couple of therapy sessions could help as well.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I'm sorry.

FWIW, I have twice thought movers stole something (well, I thought it once and a roommate thought it once) and both times we eventually found the items. They hadn't been stolen. Sounds like you truly are missing these things, though.

It's painful; I did have a pest control person steal jewelry from me, including a beautiful Edwardian diamond ring from my grandmother and a custom ring Dominion Jewelers made for me from the diamond from one grandmother's wedding ring and rubies from my other grandmother's ring. A vintage diamond ring a former boyfriend gave me disappeared at the same time. There were two men, we went through the house together, then at the end one was discussing the recommendation with me and having me sign some paperwork and the other said he left his flashlight upstairs and ran up to get it. That night I noticed the missing jewelry. When I called the company they couldn't have cared less.

[Anonymous]

OP, I get it. On our first cross country move we were very careful and had a few small boxes and duffel bags staged in an area to be hand moved. The driver and crew chief were aware and let the crew know not to load those items. Lo and behold they took some of my DH's collectible knives that were in a duffel bag. What bothered us the most was they took the knife gifted to him by his friend who carried it in Vietnam. Its's irreplicable. We've moved a couple of times since and now we watch the crew carefully and anything that is a hand move is moved or packed and locked in a car before the driver and crew arrive.

[Anonymous]

File a police report. Send to the moving firm owner or manager. Then let them know you are going to write reviews online regarding your experience.

[Anonymous]

I agree they weren’t stolen. They were misplaced or broken. No movers want ten porcelain plates.

I am sorry they were lost. Don’t the movers have insurance as well for lost items? Did they do an inventory?

[Anonymous]

If you can afford it, buy yourself replacement items.

[Anonymous]

I’m really sorry, OP. That’s always something I worry about during moves. Hopefully they are in one last box that is hidden somewhere? Know that even if you’d never moved, things could have broken or gone missing. We’ve lost beloved things due to my DH’s clumsiness, construction mishaps, and once, a squirrel that rampaged through the house.

Here’s a tiny positive move story: years ago we were doing a cross-country move and had very limited car space because we had to drive with a large dog and make a lot of stops. I had a beloved houseplant (succulent and quite hardy) that ended up not fitting in the car.

The movers overheard me talking about it with my DH and they volunteered to put it in their cab. They drove for 3 days and had to store our stuff for a month, but when they pulled up to our new house on the other side of the country, the first thing the driver did was take the plant out of his cab and give it to my DH. I don’t even remember if it was the same driver or if it was passed to a different team, but I always think of them when I look at my now-25 year old houseplant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am really sorry OP. No real advice, I just sympathize with you.

I am fairly certain a housekeeper stole my bracelet on a recent trip. It wasn't a super high $$ item, but it was the first piece of 'nice' jewelry I'd saved up and bought as a young recent college graduate. It was a bummer.

My personal rule is that I don't wear or bring any jewelry when I travel. And if for some reason I did, I would never, ever take it off.

[Anonymous]

My house was burgled more than ten years ago. They took all of my sentimental, not-especially pricey jewelry, and my wedding and engagement rings as well. I have never gotten over it and am kind of crazy about letting workers of any sort into my house now.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't help you now, but when moving you should always pay for REPLACEMENT value insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My house was burgled more than ten years ago. They took all of my sentimental, not-especially pricey jewelry, and my wedding and engagement rings as well. I have never gotten over it and am kind of crazy about letting workers of any sort into my house now.

OP here. I'm sorry that you went through this trauma...

To all other PPs, thank you for your stories.

We live in Los Angeles, and actually evacuated our house because of the Palisades fire. So it was an emergency move, and, contrary to my habit, I did not have the time to pack everything myself. The movers put our household goods in their storage.
Our house survived, thankfully. The movers brought back our things 10 days later. I put everything back to where it had been, and this is how I noticed the missing items.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:During our most recent move I had movers pack up my things for the first time in my life (I always packed myself, so they transported taped-up boxes). Lo and behold, upon unpacking it turns out that several things were missing: a small oil painting (part of a set, bought in Europe, basically impossible to replace), my only four brand name handbags, and a stack of gilded, reticulated, hand-painted heirloom porcelain plates.

Even though the magnitude of this loss is objectively minor compared to people who lose everything in a fire, tornado, etc., I can't seem to get over it. I really miss these items, and I am furious that these people broke my trust. I called the moving company and even talked to the guy who packed up my closet. Of course he denied it, in a lame tone.

The moving company has offered to reimburse 60cents per pound. An insulting joke.

Moving companies are known to steal from customers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one wants hand painted porcelain plates or one oil painting. It’s more likely they were damaged when moving so the movers got rid of them.

I also feel it's likely they broke the plates at some point.

I once did a local move with low cost stuff but a name brand national mover.

Two pieces of furniture were damaged. The movers blamed me and said they must have been that way. I drove back to the old house and found the missing chunk of my desk in the parking lot where they loaded it onto the van. The other problem was a massive deep scratch on a mahogany dining table top. My grandpa refinished it when he gave it to me. And it was perfect before the movers. I decided to forget about that because nobody ever views the table top.

File a police report in case.

You might be able to get close to the plates on Ebay if you can bear to look.

I agree the stuff wasn't very saleable and I doubt they stole it. Anything traditional or antique bric a brac can be found in volume for cheap at thrift stores. Until you get into luxury brand stuff.

[Anonymous]

Our movers said they “accidentally scratched” both of our gun safes during our move.

“Accidentally scratched” apparently means “attempted to use a wrecking bar to pry the doors open” in the moving industry-terminology.

[Anonymous]

This happened to us 4 years ago. We filed a police report when one of the movers cashed a blank check he wrote to himself. Included all the other items. We went to court. He was supposed to reimburse us. Was supposed to write an apology to avoid jail time. He lied and said he mailed it. Never received.