Moving Onwards and Upwards (North)

Time for another update!  It seems like my posts are getting fewer & farther between, but I think I have a solution to that problem.  It must be time to move!

Our church has been going through some restructuring over the past year, & as part of that process, decided to reduce to one full-time pastor.  So, Chad has received a job offer at a church in Lacombe, Alberta, & we decided it sounded like a pretty good move for our family.  We are ready to give up the city life & try our hand at country living for awhile!

The kids are really excited to have more room to explore, & trees to climb. They are already trying to talk us into buying ATVs for them. We're moving farther away from my parents again, but they had 4 years, & they like to travel, so we're just giving them the opportunity to explore a new area!  We'll be about 4 hours from Chad's family, so it'll be nice for the kids to be closer to their cousins too.

Now comes the stressful part.  Getting the house ready to sell, going to look for a new house, getting the kids registered at the new school, getting moving quotes (I'll tell you what company we're NOT using!), & figuring out all the logistics!  Our goal is to be there by Christmas, but how we'll manage that is yet to be seen.  I foresee a busy few months ahead, but it will be worth it!  I really enjoy setting up our home when we move, it's just getting to that point that isn't always fun.  Especially once the house is for sale & you have to keep cleaning all the things!

Don't Move With Canadian Moving Systems!

Buckle in, it's going to be a long & bumpy ride, but if you are planning on moving anytime in the future, this is important (& it will explain why I might need to be checked into the loony bin).

*Disclaimer:  Normally I would not call a company out like this, but Canadian Moving Systems have claimed that this is the best their company could have done.  All of the information below has been reported to the company previously, & yet they stand behind it proudly.

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About a year ago, when we made the decision to move from Prince Edward Island on the East coast of Canada, to British Columbia on the West coast of Canada, we decided that since we were doing such a major move that would involve putting our worldly possessions in storage for a few months, we'd use a moving company.  We have moved 12 times in our 16 years of marriage, 4 of those being major cross-country moves, & we have always packed & moved all of our stuff ourselves.  This time we decided to treat ourselves by having a company do it for us.  I contacted 10 different companies asking them to quote me a price which would include shipping my car & 2 motorcycles, packing our 6 bedroom house (including disassembling & reassembling furniture), moving from PEI to BC, & the price of storage for the first month, with additional storage rates (since we had not bought a house in BC, we knew we'd need to store our stuff for 1-6 month).  After I received all the quotes, I started with the cheapest company, read reviews, & picked the best deal according to reviews & prices.  We ended up choosing Canadian Moving Systems because their prices were reasonable, & the reviews were quite good.  If only I had known then what I know now...

All of my interactions with the customer service representative were great.  I would be a reference for her if she wants to go to a different company.  The problem is that when you have terrible service, having a good customer service rep doesn't always fix things.

The packing crew arrived 5 strong on a mild day in August.  They surveyed the scene & set to work.  One man spent the whole day just packing the kitchen.  He did an awesome job.  He should get a raise.  The only item broken from the kitchen was my crock-pot.  That seemed like a reasonable amount of damage.  If only the rest of the house had been packed by the same man...

At the end of the day, it appeared they were preparing to leave.  I asked what time they would be returning the next day, & the man in charge informed me they were finished.  I had noticed the laundry room closet still had not been packed, so I asked them about that.  "Oh, we must have forgotten," he said.  While they were quickly packing that I checked & they had also forgotten the cupboard over my desk, the cupboard above the fridge, the rug by the back door, & the drawers with the kitchen linens (which were near the living room).  They then asked me to check around the house if there was anything else they had missed.  The next day I discovered they had left a guitar, the leaf for our dining table, & six folding chairs which had all been behind doors.  Those items then had to be packed in our van across the country.  Customer service apologized for the missed items & credited us $157 for our troubles.

Other than the missed items, the day went well as far as I could tell.  I felt that customer service did a good job of handling the situation, & she was always very kind & helpful whenever I had to contact her.

When we received our household goods from the company, then the trouble started.  We discovered box after box of poorly packed items resulting in breakage which easily could have been prevented.

For any item damaged, since we did not take out additional coverage, they reimbursed us at $0.60 per pound, minus a $450 deductible.  It did not matter to them that much of the damage would have been avoided had things been packed properly, or that at $0.60/lb, I couldn't replace many of the items that were broken by their poor packing job.

Part of our contract with the company included furniture reassembly.  When our goods came, the moving men told me they were not the people who assemble things, & I'd have to contact head office to have an assembly crew come out, so I did.  I was told they would do their best to try to get a crew out, but I should have called them to alert them I'd need furniture assembled (even though it was part of the contract).  I was finally told I'd have to wait 4 days before they could send a crew.  We eagerly awaited the assembly of our beds, the dining room table, my jewellery cabinet, 8 shelving units, the couch legs, & the desk.  They were scheduled to come between 4-6pm.  By 5:50pm I started to worry & called the local office, but it was closed for the day, so I contacted head office again.  Canadian Moving Systems apparently couldn't get their crew to come back, so they had to hire a local handy-man company instead.  After 7 days of waiting, we finally had beds to sleep in, & a table to eat our meals at!

However, the handy-men had some problems assembling a few items.  Apparently instead of unscrewing the legs from my jewellery cabinet, the movers had ripped the skirting off, so it could not be fixed without a strong dose of wood glue.  The men tried, & tried to put the desk together. Then they tried to put half the desk together, then they said, "the desk wasn't taken apart.  They ripped it apart. You can see where they just broke it rather than taking it apart correctly."

I told the customer service representative that we were finding a lot of broken items, her response was, "I am sure we will get this all resolved and make this a positive ending for you and your family."  If only that were true! 


Scroll to after the photos to find out how their claims department works!

Here is my list of grievances:

1. They used as many wardrobe boxes as possible, but they did not use them properly.  They just packed as much into them as they could.  These are the contents of my closet packed in a wardrobe box.

Another example is this box we found that didn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to it.  We took pictures progressively as we got further into it.  Nothing was wrapped.

At the top you can see the bag of golf clubs, & some hubcaps. 

Under the hubcaps we reveal a computer keyboard that was missing a key,

and the vintage Fisher Price airport 

Though difficult to see, a bookend nestled against a hatbox full of Beanie Babies 

A little further down are my garden decorations, a painting tray, & a Ducati motorcycle part which is now scratched.

Under the motorcycle part is a halogen light which was broken.

2. Most things were not wrapped, & many items were shoved into boxes.

Trying to straighten out that rug was quite difficult. 

Our desk files...

Wall clings that may never cling to Chancery's wall since they are so bent.

Proper packing would have prevented this.

I was told that complaining about a bent fly swatter was "exaggerating" the damage, but it was indicative of how items were packed.  If they didn't fit, they were shoved in.

 Apparently complaining about bent books is also exaggerating according to the claims department.

That is a hardback book. 

Auto Decals that were thrown in a box.

These were also put into a box with other items.  It makes me wonder why they bothered to pack them at all. 

Chad drew this.  We got less than $0.60 for it.

Here's the one that irks me the most...

Chad & I bought this mask when we were backpacking through Europe 13 years ago.  We bought it in Venice as a souvenir, & packed it well enough in our backpack that it did not get damaged.  Upon returning to our home in England, we then packed it well enough to ship it to Alberta, Canada without damaging it.  Since that time it has moved to Michigan, Ontario, & PEI, all without damage. When we hire a professional moving company to move it.  They don't wrap it at all, but instead put it in the top of a box, then fold the flaps down on it & damage it beyond repair!

3. The Lego was not put into boxes at all, & the movers repeatedly turned the drawer units upside down when I was nearby.  When I asked them to be careful with them, the men were indifferent.  Many pieces fell out & I retrieved all I could from inside the moving truck, but we still lost a lot of pieces.

We have 5 of these drawer sets full of Lego.

 These are all pieces I retrieved from the truck upon delivery.

Some of the pieces were broken due to the men walking on them.

4. I had set all of out artwork in one room so that it could all be packed together.  It was all packed together without proper padding.  I guess I should have specified that they should be individually wrapped, but should the customer have to instruct a professional moving company?

They consistently put 3 paintings together, then wrapped them in bubble wrap as a set, so that those 3 pieces rubbed against each other without any protection.  Many of our paintings were painted by Chad's grandmother, or art that we had picked up on trips we had gone on.  Again, like the mask, we had moved these many times ourselves without damage.  If you come to our house, & our walls look bare, this is why.  22 of our paintings & photo frames were damaged.

This canvas had a smaller photo frame shoved in behind it, so the canvas is now stretched. 

This is a small portion of the frames that were damaged from rubbing against one another...

5. They were not careful with the items they had to disassemble, & half of the desk was not salvageable.

They left this part of the desk together & packed it in a wardrobe box with other things inside.

The side piece ripped away from the fasteners damaging the wood. 

 Many fasteners were left in place & bent during shipping.

 Looks like they ripped it apart...

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So, with all that damage, the next piece of business was the claim form:

Notice the last 4 columns.

Purchase Date: They want to know how old your item is.  That's fair.

Purchase Price: How much did you pay for it when you bought it?  I have no problem with that either.

Weight in pounds: This is the only part they pay any attention to.  No matter what the item is, they take the weight of it & multiply it by 60 cents.  Those lampshades might as well have been thrown out the window of the truck.

Amount Claimed: They don't care what you put in this column.  I even asked why it was on the sheet if they had no intention of paying it.  I did not get a response.

I filled out this form in  full detail as requested.  I dutifully checked how much it would cost to replace my Lampshades ($20 each), Crock-pot ($23), Computer Keyboard ($17), all 82 of my damaged items, but the only column they care about is weight.

The total amount that I claimed was $4879.

I received their email with an offer of "974 lbs @ 60 cents/pound = $584.40"

But WAIT, there's a deductible for $425, so the total amount I would get is $159.40.

Remember, we were reimbursed $157 for the items they forgot to take in the truck.  This hardly seemed like fair compensation for all the damage, so I politely pleaded my case, that things were not packed well & they should take more responsibility.  Here is the response:

"Unfortunately I don’t agree with you that there was any negligence on the part of the crew in relation to packing.  A lot of the damages that you submitted were exaggerated and I went through the pictures myself.  Please keep in mind that the goods were in storage for over 5 months and this can happen during transportation and long term storage.  However, based on the photographic evidence submitted I don’t see that there was any negligence on the part of the crew in packing."

I decided to ask about how the paintings had been packed:

The issue with the paintings was instead of wrapping them in bubble wrap individually, they piled 4 paintings together, then wrapped that as one set.  Then those paintings would rub up against each other every time they move.  I don't believe that wrapping paintings in this way is the proper protocol.  If it is, then something definitely needs to change in the company's protocol!

She said:

Normally we do wrap painting together to ensure that they are a larger bundle and don’t get lost during transportation.  Again normally this does not case any issues or damages.

I then contacted 3 other moving companies to ask how they would pack paintings & received replies from 2 of them, both verifying that paintings should be individually wrapped to prevent contact damage.  I informed her that Canadian Moving Systems standards were not up to par.  In another email she did admit:

 I am not saying that what happened is right and that this is acceptable, however, without proper coverage there is only so much that we can do.

I had to point out once again that my stuff was broken because they did their job poorly:

Company negligence caused an extreme amount of damage.  What I keep getting from you & Canadian Moving Systems is that nothing was done wrong, & this is all normal.  No apologies, no acceptance of blame.  It seems that for your company, this kind of damage in a move is normal.  My point of view is that this damage could have been avoided if things were packed properly (which I know, because I have personally packed our items properly in our previous moves)  When it's company negligence that causes the damage, shouldn't the company be responsible for it?  I think it should be.

Then 3 weeks passed with no reply, so I sent another email stating that I had not heard from her in awhile.  She responded:

I didn’t receive any emails from you until today.  Perhaps it went into junk.  I would like to offer a fair resolution but please understand that I am not able to offer you replacement value or the amount that you are requesting.  What are you looking for as a resolution? 

Nice to know where my emails are going, isn't it?  In my final email to the company I laid it out.

I would like your company to take responsibility for the damage that they caused to my possessions.  I trusted Canadian Moving Systems to pack my items well, knowing they would be shipped across the country & stored for several months.  As I have said before, the kitchen boxes were packed extremely well, if the whole house had been packed in such a way I would be very pleased with the job your company did.  So far, all I have heard from your end is that my move was a standard move.  If that is so, there is a huge discrepancy in how different rooms were packed, & I wonder how many more items would have been broken if the kitchen had been packed to the same standards as the rest of the house.  If you look at the photos listed as "Garage Box", that's all one box, & things were all thrown in randomly with nothing wrapped.  Why is there even a column on the claim form for "Amount Claimed" if you have no intention of paying any amount other than 'standard liability'?  Standard liability is for covering damage that can't be helped.  Packing things improperly can be helped, & items would not be damaged.  What I'm looking for is an acknowledgement from you that my move was done to the best of your companies ability, & if you stand behind it.  If so, I will accept your settlement, but I also feel that I need to let others know that those are your company's standards. 

She responded a few days later with:

Hope that you had a good weekend.  Canadian Moving Systems stands by our work and I am happy to re-send the settlement form for you to sign.   Once we receive it signed I am happy to arrange payment right away.

 So there you have it.  Canadian Moving Systems is proud of a job well done.  However, I would have been better off having a garage sale in PEI.  We have definitely learned our lesson.  Next time we'll be packing & moving ourselves!

It's Been Quiet Around Here!

...because my life has become chaotic!  Our moving truck finally arrived 5 days after we had first expected it,

but apparently something had gotten missed from head office to the moving men, because they didn't know they were supposed to assemble any furniture as had been promised in our contract.  We have been talking to head office for several days, & they have been doing their best to work with the crew here to get things done, but alas, it was not meant to be.  Now, after sleeping on mattresses on the floor for nearly a week, we have been told a NEW crew was hired & will come tomorrow to assemble the beds, couches, desk, shelving units, & jewelry cabinet.  We were starting to take bets on what would come first, our internet provider, or the furniture assembly crew.  Well, they are both coming tomorrow!

In the meantime my parents have come back up & been helping me go through each & every box to check the contents for damage.  I have to commend the kitchen guy who packed all of our things in PEI.  He did a great job, & there were only 2 broken kitchen items.  If only the rest of his crew had taken lessons from him!  I think a pack of monkeys might have done about as good a job packing some of these boxes!

Once we have all the furniture put together I can get started on putting everything where it is supposed to go, though we have discovered that our house has no coat closets!  None by the front door, none by the garage, not even a linen closet!  I know what I'm going to look for in our next house!  Then, once I have furniture, & stuff where it goes, I will be able to go buy groceries! and various things from Costco & Walmart to help us organize our closetless house!  And I will have internet, & I can put my computer together on a desk!  And then I will join the real world once again.  Until then you can find me carrying various items through my house with a crazed look on my face muttering, "Now where should this go?"  Visitors are welcome, especially if you come bearing Starbucks!

Bye-Bye, PEI!

Friday we set out in the afternoon aimed for Moncton.  We stopped near the bridge for coffee, because tradition demands it, & also stopped at the visitor area.  It was my first time stopping there, but better late than never, eh?

 PChad & I had spent the day packing the van & trailer, & doing some last minute things like getting the phone & internet disconnected, bringing my car to be shipped, & going shopping while some people came to look at our house (I got a new skirt!). 

By 1pm we had an offer on the house, which we accepted, & by 3pm, we were gone!  We prayed (& many others did too) that our house would sell for a good price before we moved, & it was pretty close, but God made it happen!  We will miss our island friends, the only home our kids have known, & the beautiful summers, but I will glad to avoid the winters!

They Came, They Packed..... They Forgot Some Stuff

Tuesday the movers came to pack our stuff.  We kept some of our stuff separated for our trip since the movers are putting our things in storage for a few months until we find a place of our own.  We'll be house-sitting for the first few months to give us some time to sell our PEI house, & to find a suitable house in BC. 

These are the piles of things we are taking in our vehicle for the first few months.  It's a good thing we have a big van to put it all in!

The garage was in the process of being packed, with half the items being taken by the movers, & the other half being taken by us.

Surprisingly, the truck was only filled about 1/3 by our things, but that's mostly because most of our weight is books, which don't take up a whole lot of space.

This is how we'll be traveling through the States for the next 3 weeks.  PChad traded one of his motorcycles for it!  Not only do we have all the things we'll need for the next 3 months while our other furnishings are in storage, we have a car & 2 motorcycles!  It's a 15 passenger van, with only 1 row of seats, so it has lots of room for all the boxes, & even for the middle of our dining table, 6 folding chairs & the guitar that the movers forgot!

It's not too difficult to find our rig in the parking lot.  It's parked waaaay out back taking up about 6 parking spots!

Bags of Loot

A few months ago there was a major “kid stuff sale” in town.  It was one of those sales that if you want to sell stuff, you buy a table or two for all your stuff.  There were not near enough tables for the number of people who wanted to sell stuff, so it ended up that there were a lot of people who just listed things they wanted to sell, on the Facebook page.  On woman had 2 bags of girl’s clothes for sale at $30 a bag, sizes 2-7.  I asked if she’d knock the price down for both bags & she agreed to sell them for $45.

Once I got everything washed & sorted, I was astounded at just how much clothing was there.  Each stack is a different size starting with size 2 on the left, up to size 7 on the far right.  Up until that point, Chancery had been wearing mostly cast-offs from Asher, & I cannot tell you how many times she was mistaken for a boy.  It was an honest mistake, when she’s wearing boy’s jeans, a blue t-shirt & a hunter green winter coat, having a headband in her hair just doesn’t seem like enough to offset all the boy coloured clothes.

 

 

 

I’ve got all the clothes organized & put in bins, & I think she’s pretty set for the next few years.  Sure, she’ll still end up with a few of Asher’s hand-me-downs, like coats & sweaters, but with all the pink & purple she’ll be wearing underneath, hopefully being mistaken for a boy will be a thing of the past.

Alternate Payment

When we lived in Alberta, I worked at a Western Shop.  We sold everything from saddles & tack, to clothing & furniture.  A huge part of the business was conducted through mail-order, & I worked in that department.  My job involved taking orders over the phone, going through the store & collecting the various items, packing the orders & shipping them out.  I got really good at knowing what would fit in each box, & approximately how much each package would cost to ship with each various company.

 

We had 3 methods of delivery, Canada Post (which was generally slower & a bit pricey), Courier (super fast, but also pricey), or Greyhound (pretty cheap, depending where you lived, it could take as little as 1-2 days).  Most people who ordered chose to have their items shipped with Greyhound, which was fine with us.  They had a flat rate for small items, so it was easy to know what to charge the customer, & the people were really nice who ran the local depot.

 

After working at the store for a few months, my supervisor realized that in our contract with Greyhound, the local depot was supposed to come & pick up our parcels daily.  When we talked to the people there, they said that they didn’t actually have the people available to do that.  There was generally only one person in the depot at a time. 

 

After a lot of negotiation, it was decided that they could pick up our parcels at 1:00pm everyday, they’d just have to have an employee come over just at the shift change.  It was a nice change to not have to stop what we were doing twice a day to deliver our parcels to the depot, but there was a 10am bus that we were missing every morning due to their pick-up availability.  So, I kept bringing the parcels for the morning bus, & sometimes I’d bring another load for the 3:30pm bus.  Quite often we’d end up calling the depot to tell them we didn’t have anything to pick up at 1:00, since I had already brought everything for the morning bus.  But by 3:30 we’d have another load, so off I’d go.

 

As the summer wore on, the lure of the drinks cooler at the depot got more & more tempting.  I never carried cash at that time, since debit cards were accepted everywhere, it was never really a problem, but there was a sign on the register which read, “No credit/debit for transactions under $10.”  So, I resisted for awhile, but one hot day, I HAD to have a lemonade, so I took one out of the cooler, walked over to the register & asked, “I know the sign says it’s not allowed, but could you make an exception, just this once?”

 

The cashier (who also owned the depot) replied, “Well, it would actually cost me less to GIVE you the lemonade than it would to ring it through, so you can have it.”

 

A few days later, I remembered to bring cash, & after unloading my truck I grabbed a lemonade & went to the register.  The cashier told me, “Just take it, in fact you might as well just take one everyday since you’re making it easier on us by bringing everything here.”

 

And that is how I got paid in lemonade, for delivering western tack to the bus depot.