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So I recently relocated to Melbourne and had some removalists move my stuff (including storage of the stuff for a month).

This weekend I took delivery of my stuff and found out that about 50% of my boxes had been opened (and retaped) with a number of semi expensive items removed (including some DVDs and my 300gb external hard drive containing a fair whack of unbacked up photography files).

A few things were damaged too and a few things havent shown up yet (lost/stolen) including my stereo, dvd player and scuba diving gear (wet suits, fins masks, etc).

Im feeling fairly gutted right now over the loss as I have no power of these assholes. I want them to pay. Im wondering if I should report this to the police (can they do anything)?

Anyone had a similar experiecne? What did you do?

Report it to the police. You have been robbed!

where you insured? removalists should have insurance? friend of mine had a similar experience moving across sydney and had to claim against their insurance

Absolutely, take this to the authorities.

I feel for ya mate. I've been through many removals and not all of them have been disaster-free.

Go get' em....

Go to the Police and report it ASAP.

Also contact the manager/Owner of said removalist company as he will probably be shocked to hear of the issues.

I have done a few jobs (Surveillance) where we have caught out the workers from certain companies removing products and even sharing it between themselves.

Most of the time it will be the bottom end workers (labourers) that do the crime, and management know nothing about it.

Bottom line: They are insured for this type of thing. Property missing whilst in their control etc.
They also have a liability to the clients goods whilst in their storage/care.

Today tonight (Adelaide) ran a story a while ago about a certain removalist and the workers where caught in the act multiple times during removals set up in the sting.
Very very messy if it goes to the media you can remind them.

Keep the retaped boxes as well, its amazing how many crims dont know that fingerprints actually stick on tape really really well. (If you get my drift, the Police can take it from there)..... PM me if you dont get the hint

Good luck.

Willy,

I'm with Team Piggy. Report the incident to police and also advise the removalist of the incident as well. There are no doubt reporting procedures that they will have in place for such instances.

A few removalist companies try and get out of these types of matters by saying that if you don't get them to pack/unpack your property, then the insurance is null and void, but don't believe it.

I'm also a fingerprint technician and can vouch for the reliability of tape and cardboard boxes for fingerprint evidence, especially the tape.

Cheers

Simon

I'm sorry to hear that - moving is traumatic enough without having your gear pilfered. Definitely report it like alreday said - take photos and keep the evidence. It's theft pure and simple

That sux... and for sure I would be reporting it so fast their head would spin... people like this rely on others not reporting the thefts - and a lot don't because as you said they didn't take any very big expensive items - if you don't report it..apart from the fact you wont be recompensated also the management of the company won't be aware that he/she has hired a pack of thieving gits...

the worst bit would be losing your pics

Big Red wrote:the worst bit would be losing your pics

Yeah.... how exactly do you put a price value on memories...

By having the law work them over then your lawyer test just how good their insurance is when you hit them with a payout claim.

Any developments WW?

Well WW, I am sure that the rest of your stay in Melbourne will be an improvement.

Welcome to our fair city...

hope you get your photos back.

Steve - This really sucks and I hope you get your stuff back, especially your photos, but if not I certainly hope you can get some money to cover the stolen items.

Very Ordinary all right. Make sure its reported ..

Goodluck

MATT

Hi all

Thanks for your messages of support. I dont have regular on line access at my new place right now so it has been difficult to check this site. But im here now.

An update for you all.

So after reviewing the contract that formed part of the quote, we determined that the maximum liability accepted in the case of negligence was $100 per item up to a total of $1000 (whichever was the lesser). The insurance cover supplied by the company didnt cover the things packed in boxes as we packed these ourselves.

The company has addmited some negligence here, and has made us an offer for compensation. We are negotiating with them. Unfortunately the offer is not going to cover the replacement cost of the things that were taken (as they were mostly worth more than $100). We have been considering taking them to the small claims tribunal but at this stage I just dont have the energy to pursue this through the courts, and I think that the contract we agreed to probably will limit our ability to get any decent compensation payout. Im not a lawyer though. In addition, every time I talk about this I find myself getting wound up and a bit stressed out. Im still quite angry (on the inside) about the missing hard drive.

I guess the major thing that I have learnt here is dont trust the moving compnay to store your things over a long period of time (organise your own storage) and make sure you get decent insurance that covers everthing. Also - trusting people to do a good job is a bad idea.

I will be reporting this to the police in due course (just so it goes on the record), but I want to get the money out of these dodgy guys first.

Cheers all

I believe (I'm not sure) that there may be other remedies of the contract is able to be determined to be unfair.

So someone opening your boxes and removing items while in their care is only termed 'negligence'? hrmmmm

My, how the English Language changes over time!

Personally I am surprised you "havent" reported this to the Police as of yet.

You are offering them the upper hand I feel by not doing this and supplying evidence (as suggested before) to the Police to follow up on.

Once the Police walk thru their door it becomes a whole different ball game, contracts aside its a criminal investigation. Not just some Schmo (no offence meant) that says some of his stuff is missing.

They appear to be playing the old, "your under contract mate.. too bad" scenario. Negligence is totally different to theft...


I can only say : Go to the police and report this !!

Willy wombat wrote:
I will be reporting this to the police in due course (just so it goes on the record), but I want to get the money out of these dodgy guys first.

Cheers all

With all due respect, Willy, I think this is the wrong order. Most insurance companies require that a police report be furnished before they will even consider a claim.

And this transport company deserves to have the wallopers walk through their door in any case.

As others have pointed out, this is not items having been damaged in transit. Someone has systematically gone through your belongings and taken whatever they wanted.

If you don't have the police investigate this, other folk will have the same problem in the future.

You'll feel a lot better if you discuss the matter with the police.

I'm not familiar with your/the companies insurance situation, but most insurance companies require that police reports and insurance claims are filed promptly - something like 24hrs or next business day after finding out.

Also, while it's not ideal, the police are probably your best chance to recover some of your items. I suspect the police might investigate a crime involving a storage/moving business a bit better than your regular break & enter. The storage company will definitely have to explain the situation.

If you have model/serial numbers for some of items the police have systematic ways of noticing stolen goods if they turn up somewhere. I know this because the police found my camera gear after it was stolen - the system can work.

I would highly recommend reporting the theft to the police asap.

A police report should have been the 1st thing once you realised the box's had been tampered with.

Willy,

As mentioned by myself and some of the other police who frequent this site, REPORT THE MATTER TO POLICE ASAP!

You are only harming yourself by not doing so and also impeding any chance of a successful result that the police may be able to acheive.

I strongly suggest that if you have STILL not reported the matter to do so today/tonight.

Explain what you were thinking to the police as your reasons for not reporting the matter sooner. They'll be understanding, if you put it properly (new town, new procedures, never happened before etc.), but NOTHING can be done until the matter is reported.

You never know, there maybe an ongoing investigation into the company in question and your complaint may be enough for them to react immediately.

I hope you get some satisfaction from this issue, but you need to involve police in the matter. All the best.

Cheers

Simon