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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's more likely that a box got misplaced, than that the movers stole porcelain plates and an oil painting.
The handbags, maybe. But there's not much resale market for porcelain plates.

+1

I have some very pricey antiques that I cannot sell on the open market to save my life. I had to go through Sotheby's and they take a huge chunk of commission.

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry this happened to you OP. 🙁
Being violated like this is so unfair.

If I were the company I would have went above and beyond to locate your missing items.
Did the company volunteer to do this for you??

Because most companies value their reputation.

I hope you also leave a bad online review so that people can be warned ahead of time not to do business w/these thieves.

[Anonymous]

Happened to me with cleaners. A company where you would get different cleaners each time. I called and told them that I have a recording of the theft that I will report to police if the item was not returned. I didn’t care how they got it back to me but if I didn’t, I would press charges. Item returned the next day in my mailbox. I lied about the camera.

[Anonymous]

Don’t listen to the gaslighters OP. Sometimes things do get stolen by movers. Many companies hire temporary laborers and don’t vet every single person. They often work with affluent people while they don’t have much themselves. I’m not sure why this seems such a hard concept for some to grasp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t listen to the gaslighters OP. Sometimes things do get stolen by movers. Many companies hire temporary laborers and don’t vet every single person. They often work with affluent people while they don’t have much themselves. I’m not sure why this seems such a hard concept for some to grasp.

It's not that theft is unbelievable, it's the nature of the missing items.

Who wants only 1 of 4 oil paintings...why was the 1 so much better? That's curious.

Also, I come from an old family where everyone's "valuable" china odds and ends wash up. It takes a lot of knowledge to know what is real and what is repro. And what brands are quality. And ornate old china is not in style. Very hard to sell.

It seems kind of improbable that a thief would recognize the plates as valuable or have an aesthetic reaction to these items.

As a middle schooler, while unpacking from a professional move, I accidentally threw out a 3" tall folk doll that I loved because it was folded up in the wrapping paper. I found its hat later so it had to have been in the box. I also broke one of my mom's crystal wedding goblets by accident. Two were wrapped together and one slipped out when I unwound the paper. That's why I think breakage and puncture of the painting is more likely.

[Anonymous]

Someone ordered a credit card in my husband's name, had it delivered to our house, picked it up inside my front door and proceeded to charge away. I caught it days later but the damage had already been done. Of course we didn't have to pay for anything but the feeling of being violated is super uncomfortable.
This was after a contractor we hired took off with 5k of our money to build a deck.


How do ppl live with themselves?

[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.

Inc they did not steal your stuff that crap can not be hocked for any significant monetary value. why would they?

They might have lost a box or two. File a claim and move on.

Yiu are insane and need a reality check.

[Anonymous]

OP, since you said that it was during the Palisades stuff and things were stored, my guess is that you had a partial truck and your things were mixed with those belonging to other houses. It’s possible the stuff will turn up when someone gets their delivery from storage many months from now and realizes it’s not theirs. But it would be surprising if they managed to get it back to you.

I’ve gone through a lot of moves and my rule is that I always pack and unpack my own stuff and movers only move boxes. I hand-move important stuff (as PP mentioned, a locked car and locked location at your destination are important) and have a friend or babysitter come so one of us can monitor inside and one of us can watch the truck. Finally, if the estimate suggests that it will be a partial truck and it isn’t a one-day point-to-point move, I do a container instead. Partial trucks and storage are how most stuff goes missing. It’s hard to keep stuff together in that scenario.

You were in an emergency so don’t beat yourself up. This is probably a form of mourning for everything that happened in the last month- your emotions have to go somewhere and this is where they’re focused.

[Anonymous]

My mom’s health aide stole her diamond necklace. Yes, we should have taken that stuff out but it was an emergency situation when she was released from the hospital with an aide. Mom is dead now but it still hurts that people can be so awful.

[Anonymous]

We had cross country movers steal a bunch of stuff from us. Large ticket items like a wine fridge, etc. and they arrived days after their stated date because their truck “broke down in Texas.” I was working through the AG’s office in the state we left when lo and behold their entire warehouse, where our stuff had been stored for three months, went up in flames. I withdrew my complaint, knowing other families had it so much worse. We were grateful we got 95% of our stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t listen to the gaslighters OP. Sometimes things do get stolen by movers. Many companies hire temporary laborers and don’t vet every single person. They often work with affluent people while they don’t have much themselves. I’m not sure why this seems such a hard concept for some to grasp.

It's hard to convert paintings and china into cash. No one wants to steal a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. No, I think the guys wanted the porcelain plates and the oil painting for themselves/their wives.

All these items were in different rooms. It is not like they were packed in the same box. Moreover, the other small oil paintings in the set were packed in the same box, with room to spare. It would have been logical to put the last oil painting there.

I think you are dramatically overestimating the appeal of porcelain plates (!!) and your oil painting.

This. OP this isn't 1983. No one cares about an oil painting and some plates. They got misplaced, not stolen.

[Anonymous]

OP, don’t sweat the haters here. It’s a huge violation given how much access movers have to your home and the often trivial economic value but substantial sentimental value of the things that can be taken. Our movers robbed us when I was little, and as a result we have basically no pictures left of my early years. Obviously they were not targeting that, it was merely collateral damage, but that kind of makes it worse. Movers who steal are perfectly happy to inflict significant emotional harm in the service of pursing minimal economic gains. That’s pretty bad, IMO. Yes, hindsight being 20/20 you have to handle yourself anything you’d be devastated to lose, but come on, who the hell steals baby pictures? It’s not intuitive until the sadder-but-wiser you better understands the world. Thieves suck.

[Anonymous]

Can you file a claim on the movers insurance? Assuming you paid for a mover who carries insurance

[Anonymous]

Hire a lawyer, put a value on your items and sue them.