theft by removal men

moneyistooshorttomention

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I would just assume I had lost the item or it had got left behind, I would not assume, without any proof, that a professional removal man would steal it.

I think that could be why they feel able to take things in the first place, because many people will assume exactly that.

In my case, I had been through my house with a fine toothcomb decluttering prior to the move and know exactly what possessions I own.

Also, I went round the house thoroughly, several times before locking the door for the final time and leaving in order to check nothing had been left behind. A few small items had indeed been left, but I picked them up and gave them to the removers or brought them with me. I knew exactly where those particular items were in my house to the inch and had thoroughly checked that area many times and everything else in the same place came through okay.

I was 101% certain I still owned those possessions and they hadn't been left in the place.

Oli.s

Can you tell us what it was now then?

moneyistooshorttomention

It's not in the bag until its in the bag iyswim and the cheque is in the bank

I'd rather not specify on a public forum in case the firm concerned reads it.

I'm a good bit more self-protective than some workmen I can think of;). I wouldn't have been so daft as to steal from a customer...even though I've never been paid that much more than "peanuts".

Shelldean

I can I be cheeky and ask for a pm as to what the item was please?

t0rt0ise

A big bag of my children's toys went missing during one of our moves. I assumed it had been left on the van and didn't consider theft, but I suppose it could have been. Nice toys they were!

tigsly

so.. what was it.. ithought there might be a 'reveal' at the end of the thread!

pretty please could i have a PM...TIA x

moneyistooshorttomention

t0rt0ise wrote: »

A big bag of my children's toys went missing during one of our moves. I assumed it had been left on the van and didn't consider theft, but I suppose it could have been. Nice toys they were!

At an educated guess, I'd say the chances are that one or two removal men went back to their family and told their children "Look what Daddy got for you (from a carboot sale/passed on from a friends children/etc)" or some similar scenario. If the toys were new-looking and Christmas was coming up then the "falling off a back of a van" scenario in a pub is another possibility...

I would very much doubt removers ever leaving anything on a van. Odd bits left in a house maybe (hence the necessity for the owner to do as I did and check round after them)....but in a van....:cool:

I'd be willing to bet you've fallen victim to a thief too:(

I think this is the thing though, ie that most of us wouldn't be so daft as to steal things like that. On the other hand...some people are self-destructive and I guess stealing something (when it would be obvious that you were the thief) is another form of self-destructiveness (along with drinking too much/eating unhealthily/etc/etc).

moneyistooshorttomention

I've found links since from other people experiencing this problem. They aren't British websites, but still useful to read:

www.wikihow.com/Prevent-the-Theft-of-Valuable-Items-During-a-Move

www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/228844.page

Worth a read. Some suggestions/hints as to what possessions are at greatest risk of being stolen. Some aren't that realistic, for instance its simply not possible to do an inventory of literally every single item you possess (imagine having to go through literally thousands of possessions and list every single one:eek:).

My own hint would be to go through every single thing you have and declutter before moving and then you know in your own mind exactly what possessions you own and can spot if any are missing when they arrive at the other end.

I wouldn't pay removers to do my packing for me again, in order to minimise the risk and I'd stop and think a bit more carefully about which items are likely to appeal to them most. Even some low value items are likely to be "appealing".

I think I've broken some sort of taboo mentioning the subject on a British website...as I guess many of us think the same as I did, ie "They wouldn't be so stupid would they?".

stevi63

We have just moved house and when we finally received our goods, well some of them. Loads were missing including all new tools, TV's, furniture, etc.etc. The police say they can't do anything. We can't afford a solicitor, so it seems crime does pay, very well. That's our livelihood screwed.

Sapphire

Same company and I'll never use them again. I didn't realised that two things were missing, or that they had broken two pieces of furniture (one antique), until some time after the job was done, so I couldn't really complain. I had such a lot of things that I couldn't check everything properly quickly enough. I'll never use them again, though. The older man in charge also had little control over the younger ones – the two youngest removal boys were just rude, even though I was nice to them despite the huge stress of the move.

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Glad to see you're settling in to your new home money, but sorry to hear you've had something go AWOL during the move


When we did our first long-distance move of 150 miles (from Hampshire to Essex) we used Bishop's Move and something did go missing then, but as it was only a sewing machine foot, and as the move was spread over five days and three huge lorries, we just assumed it had somehow fallen out of one of our well-sealed boxes. We didn't bother to report it as even though we'd taken their expensive insurance we didn't spot that it was missing till a couple of months later as we were doing a full-on renovation project.