theft by removal men

moneyistooshorttomention

Has anyone else had their packing done for them by their removal firm and found that they were "missing" any possessions when they came to unpack at the other end?

If so...what happened in your case? What was stolen and did you get reimbursed for it?

I suspect these men thought they could get away with this because many people probably don't finish their unpacking for months (if ever) after a move and by that time aren't too sure just what they should and shouldn't have anyway.

retepetsir

What do you think you're missing?

fionajbanana

A family member moved once and they used the packing service from the removal company.

There were 3 rooms of stuff in each box. Because of that, it took them 3x longer to unpack. Plus they had to buy new remotes for Sky and tv as they could not find them. They were found in a box of books.

My parents have always down their own packing - starting with the non-essential stuff like ornaments and 90% of the books months in advance.

Buzby

If there was any stealing going on, I would have expected something better than a Remote valued at £5 or less. Wouldn't you?

aliasojo

This happened to my Mum years ago. A framed print of an old Edinburgh tram scene went walkabout. It depicted Edinburgh in the old days.

She had a hard time with the removal company who insisted they never had it. To cut a long story short, they did. She got it back weeks later. The official line was that it had got caught in packaging cardboard that was left in the lorry and sat there unseen for ages but she heard through the grapevine that one of the lads had taken a fancy to it.

Who knows what the real situation was but she did get it back so that was all that mattered.

chuckley

this is why i make sure i pack and travel with them.

i got stung years ago, thinking they knicked stuff but turns out it was a 'mate' who was holding my stuff till i could move it. her excuse 'oh i forgot'.

harrys_dad

If you have evidence call the police. If you don't you can try it on with the removal firm but will likely get nowhere. I would be 100% sure of your facts first though. We had packers and they were fantastic.

moneyistooshorttomention

retepetsir wrote: »

What do you think you're missing?

I'd rather not say, as I have specified to the removal firm concerned exactly which of my possessions are no longer with me and it might be a bit of an identifier (another reason why I suspect these men thought they would get away with it - ie because of customers fearing their boss might try and "turn on" the customer, rather than the miscreants themselves).

I've sent you a PM saying what the items concerned are and you will understand why they might like them from that.

Gra76

We've just finished unpacking all the boxes from our move. I'm was missing quite a few things.

We used the full-pack service from our removal company. They did a great job on the 2 days we had them in our lives.

At first I suspected they might have taken a few things (mostly electronic 'gadgets') but upon questioning my other half, found out that she'd taken the liberty of 'decluttering' some of my things the day before the removal men came, and that the things I was looking for had actually ended up at the tip without her bothering to ask or tell me!

moneyistooshorttomention

aliasojo wrote: »

This happened to my Mum years ago. A framed print of an old Edinburgh tram scene went walkabout. It depicted Edinburgh in the old days.

She had a hard time with the removal company who insisted they never had it. To cut a long story short, they did. She got it back weeks later.

Who knows what the real situation was but she did get it back so that was all that mattered.

Personally, I'm taking the view that customers should report these things not just in order to get their possessions back (or money to pay for them) but because it's wrong for people like this to keep their jobs, when I'm sure there are plenty of honest people on the dole queue that would like to take their place. If enough customers complain about any thefts, then eventually the penny will drop with their employer that us customers are hiring them on a "trust" basis and they need to sack the workers concerned.

moneyistooshorttomention

harrys_dad wrote: »

If you have evidence call the police. If you don't you can try it on with the removal firm but will likely get nowhere. I would be 100% sure of your facts first though. We had packers and they were fantastic.

The trouble is that what evidence are customers likely to have that some of their possessions have been stolen? We are hardly likely to photograph every single thing going into its boxes and we cant be everywhere at once watching them whilst they pack.

In the event, I wondered why one of them started engaging me in conversation (rather than just getting on with the job of packing steadily) and I realised that that may very well have been a deliberate ploy to stop me walking in on his mate as he stole the possessions concerned.

I think this is what they rely on to help them get away with this.

There was no-one else involved in my move that might conceivably have taken any of my possessions for any reason (eg a bit of surreptitious decluttering).