Diane Schroeder thought moving from her one-bedroom condo in Northbrook to a new one in Deerfield would be a breeze. After all, the units were only two miles apart, she was using a company recommended by someone at work, and she had packed all her breakables herself.
But the movers, who had given her a four-hour time estimate, arrived at noon instead of 9 a.m. and didn’t finish until 3 a.m. Schroeder had wanted to move during the day because the outside lights weren’t hooked up yet at her new building. “Only the sprinklers were working,” Schroeder says. “When they suddenly came on in the dark, the movers got mud all over my white furniture.”
When she asked the moving company to pay for the damage, the company told her they had no liability, because the cost of cleaning her furniture was less than her coverage’s deductible. “The move cost me hundreds of dollars more than it should have,” she says.
Each year, moving companies help over 250,000 households move from one location to another within Illinois, and most of these moves are completed without incident, says Shelly Schafer, administrative assistant in the Tariff and Audits section of the Illinois Commerce Commission, the agency that licenses moving companies within the state. “But we do hear about movers who have delivered tables with three legs, who showed up with only half a household’s belongings, or who never showed up at all.”
Fortunately, you can avoid becoming one of her moving-day horror stories by checking out the moving company first and by carefully selecting damage coverage for the day of your move.
Under Illinois law, anyone offering to perform moving and storage service for hire within the state must be licensed by the Illinois Commerce Commission. (Since Congress abolished the Interstate Commerce Commission, there is no body regulating moves from Illinois to other states.)
Before hiring a mover, call the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) at 217-782-6448 to see if the company you are considering is among the 700 companies licensed by the state.
Most moving-day horrors are caused by “bandit” movers, unlicensed outfits that advertise themselves through flyers or notices on apartment house bulletin boards, and can’t be reached again when something goes wrong, Schafer says.
A license, however, is not absolute proof of competency. You should also ask the ICC how many complaints have been filed by other consumers against that moving company. It’s not unusual for a company to have one or two customer complaints, Schafer says, “But we have some companies with 30 or even 50 complaints.”
A second place to check out a moving company is the Illinois Movers’ and Warehousemen’s Association (IMAWA) in Springfield, a trade group with 290 members. “There is no policing action for our industry,” says IMAWA director Patricia Smith, “so all we can do is try to prevent bad moving-day experiences.” You can call the IMAWA at 217-585-2470 or check out their Web site at www.imawa.com for the names and phone numbers of movers in your area who are members and for lists of moving tips.
Calls to the ICC and to the trade association might have warned Schroeder about her moving company, but they would not have prevented her second problem–not having enough insurance to pay for cleaning her muddy furniture.
“When they arrange for a move, most customers assume that their homeowners’ policies or the minimum coverage offered by the movers will take care of any damaged or lost items,” says Patrick Bonnema, sales executive with Anderson Brothers Moving & Storage Co. in Chicago. “They learn the truth only when something goes wrong.”
No renters’ policies and only about 30 percent of all homeowners’ policies provide protection when your belongings are in transit. Even then, says Scot McConachie, president of McConachie Insurance Co. in Park Ridge, your protection could be just for the risks your policy normally covers, fire and theft, not breakage and mud damage.
Some homeowners’ insurance companies will write a rider policy to protect your possessions during a move but most, like McConachie, recommend that you buy coverage through your moving company.
Under Illinois law, moving companies must allow their customers to choose from one of three coverage options.
Option 1, the minimal coverage, limits the mover’s liability to 30 cents per pound per article. “That means if we drop and break a 50-pound table, our maximum liability is $15,” says Julie Gold, of the customer relations claims department at Golan’s Moving & Storage Inc. in Skokie. There is no extra charge for this coverage.
Under Option 2, you set a maximum value for your entire shipment and pay the moving company a tariff of 50 cents to $1 for each $100 of declared value. If you declare a value of $20,000 and the entire truck disappears, the most the moving company owes you is $20,000. Figuring damage under this option is trickier, because the moving company is only responsible for paying you the depreciated value of the item.
“If they drop your 7-year-old TV set, you won’t automatically get a new one,” IMAWA’s director Smith says.
Options 1 and 2 are not really insurance, Smith says, because the moving company pays for damages out of its own pocket. Under Illinois law, the moving company’s first obligation is to make repairs to the damaged item. Many companies, including Golan, have set up their own workshops to repair furniture scratched or chipped in transit.
“If we can’t fix or replace something in house, we will attempt to do the legwork and find someone to repair it,” says Gold of Golan.
When the Cabral family moved from Wheeling to Arlington Heights in November, movers from Golan broke the glass doors to their entertainment center. “The moving company sent someone right out with new doors. They fit perfectly,” says Liliana Cabral.
Option 3 is insurance, written as a rider to the moving company’s policy, and it is expensive. At Golan, full replacement coverage would cost $850 for household goods valued at $100,000. The price decreases as your deductible increases but a high deductible, as Shroeder discovered, can cause problems later.
If you don’t select any coverage, the moving company’s maximum liability is $2 times the weight of the entire shipment, and you will be charged for that coverage. As in Option 2, damage is figured at depreciated value. No matter which coverage you choose, don’t rely on it to protect your most valuable possessions, the IMAWA advises.
Carry your money, jewelry, furs, medicines and small valuables with you. “We had a complaint from one elderly lady,” says the ICC’s Schafer, “who said that her movers were holding her medicines hostage because she wouldn’t pay an outrageous bill.”
What if the movers don’t scratch your table, but do gouge the wall while carrying it into your dining room? “If we can’t fix something ourselves, we’ll hire a contractor to do it,” says Gold, “although we sometimes ask for waivers if it’s obvious a big piece of furniture won’t fit through a doorway, or down a hall, for example.”
All claims for damages to (or loss of) household goods or property must be filed in writing with the moving company within nine months of the move, although they should be filed as soon after the move as possible. “If you wait six months to tell us your carpet’s soiled, you’ll have a lot of trouble proving it was the movers who made the spots,” Gold says.
If the moving company fails to respond or makes a poor attempt at restitution, you, too, should file a complaint with the Illinois Commerce Commission. Schroeder says she never had a chance to complain. “My moving company went out of business first,” she says.
AVOIDING COSTLY MOVING-DAY SURPRISES
Long-distance moving companies charge according to the weight of each shipment, but local movers charge by the hour.
According to Patricia Smith, executive director of the Illinois Movers’ and Warehousemen’s Association, a Springfield trade group, movers can charge you an hourly rate if your move is entirely within Cook County, or if your new home is within 35 miles of your old one.
As Diane Schroeder discovered, there can be a huge discrepancy between a moving company’s time estimate, in her case, four hours, and the actual number of hours it takes to complete a move.
Sometimes the difference is the fault of inexperience, or of workers who want to increase their own hourly wages. Schroeder, whose move went on for 15 hours, says that she saw one of her movers walking down two flights of stairs carrying only a teapot.
But more often, the fault lies with customers who underestimate what has to be moved. To avoid expensive moving-day surprises, the IMAWA and representatives from several moving companies advise:
– Always get an in-person estimate, which movers call a guess-timate. Be sure to show the estimator everything, including the contents of your attic, basement, garage and all your closets. In Illinois, guess-timates are not binding.
– If you do your own packing, pack heavy items, such as books, in small boxes and lighter items, like linens, in larger cartons. Be sure to fill empty spaces with crumpled paper. If a mover suspects items aren’t packed properly, he has the right to repack each box and lengthen the time of your move.
– Disconnect, or hire someone to disconnect, the water lines leading to your washing machine and your refrigerator’s icemaker, and unplug your computer, televisions and all appliances.
– Stay around during the move, to be sure the movers are working continuously and handling your belongings carefully. If you have concerns, contact the moving company’s offices immediately.
Movers usually expect to be paid with cash or a cashier’s check at the end of the job, which means you can’t count on writing a personal check and stopping payment later.
