Sign up for your FREE personalized newsletter featuring insights, trends, and news for America's aging Baby Boomers

Newsletter
New

Waited 4 Months Only To Find That Moving Company Never Shipped Our Belongings

Card image cap

My wife and I moved from the US to Europe and had most of our belongings shipped in August through a US broker based in Pennsylvania. Delivery was supposed to take "approximately 6 to 16 weeks" but there was a delay early on due to a strike and the container wasn't even loaded onto the ship until early November. Last week we finally received an update that the ship had arrived in the EU and we were given a delivery date before Christmas. That would have made it more than 16 weeks, but we were just glad the wait was over.

Yesterday we received a call from the moving company on the EU side, and they told us that none of our belongings were in the container (!!!). It turns out everything is still in the warehouse at point of origin. The broker sent us an apology ("we apologize"), explaining that the "container was manifested improperly" and that they would "prioritize" our shipment for another container to be loaded in a few weeks.

Obviously I'm glad our stuff isn't just lost but I feel like they shouldn't be let off the hook that easily. I've read through all the paperwork and it seems to say everything about the obligations of the customer and almost nothing about the obligations of the broker/mover. It does say that "transit times are provided as a guideline only and are subject to change without notice" and that the company "will not be liable for any loss incurred by [us] because of delays in transit time". The insurance policy only mentions loss or damage, nothing about incompetence.

Is there anything we can do to hold the company accountable? Or should I just be grateful and hope I get everything back in one piece...

submitted by /u/Craving_Unspecified
[link] [comments]


Recent