Mover May Not Make All the Right Moves

Given a choice of two moving companies in Lynchburg, Va., John and Anne Killinger looked into both--a familiar exercise, since the Harvard and Princeton-educated theologian had moved often in his career. Both companies were agents of nationwide van lines and presented similar estimates for a move to Los Angeles, but they chose the Bekins agent.

“The company had a good reputation for its packing,” says Killinger, now senior minister at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, “and the salesman made all sorts of promises.” Unfortunately, he adds, “the whole thing was quite different from the move we’d been sold.”

It’s a common plaint--focused less on the cost of interstate moving (which can be stunning) or the damage (which seems inescapable), but on the impossibility of making arrangements at one end that will guarantee the outcome at the other. The most careful choice only sets in motion a chain of unpredictable events, as the goods move through a network of unknown fellow agents countrywide.

The Killingers expected a crew of well-recommended local packers and were sent two strangers. They were promised, says Killinger, “a local driver and assistant who’d stay with the truck all the way,” and got one crew from Baltimore who seemed “rude and resentful” about picking up the load, and other crews to take it to San Francisco and then Los Angeles. Their local agent explained, says Killinger, “that he had no control over the move.”

Balked at Honoring Claim

Indeed, when it was unloaded, the Killingers “were horrified by the condition of the stuff”--scratches, scars and stains on furniture, the curved backs of three of their 10 dining room chairs flattened, 30 cartons of theological books water-damaged after being packed in a sub-floor compartment of the truck. And having bought “replacement value” insurance from the company, they expected Bekins to honor their claim, which was almost $20,000.

Bekins admits it was “not a good move: We never refuted the damage,” says Michael Brown, Bekins Van Lines claims director in Hillside, Ill. But Bekins wanted “substantiation” of bookstore prices for books long out-of-print, and “proof of ownership,” offered money for four new, necessarily different, dining room chairs but not a whole matching set, and wanted to repair rather than replace as much as possible, including an Oriental ceramic elephant the Killingers describe as “completely smashed.”

And in the intervening two years, the company has offered--piecemeal--a total of $8,700 to cover what wasn’t repairable.

Small wonder interstate moves can go sour. Behind the initial sale is a three-tier system of ownership and responsibility--the nationwide van line, the local moving companies that own the vans and contract to be agents for the line, and the drivers who own the tractors that haul vans under contract to moving companies.

‘No Trucks or Equipment’

The van line is generally “an organization with no trucks or equipment,” says George Bennett, spokesman for the American Movers Conference, the Alexandria, Va., trade association. Rarely involved in local or intrastate moves, a line controls interstate moves through its network of agents. It provides “the management of the entire move, the schedule, dispatching and selection of the driver, and the processing of the claim, if there is one,” says Thomas Epley, chairman of Bekins Co., headquartered in Glendale.

With interstate moves, the local companies may only do the selling and the packing, giving the customer all his information about cost, arrangements, choice of insurance coverage. Bennett advises consumers to go beyond the sales man, to “go see the office and the warehouse, if they’re kept clean, run professionally. Moving takes a lot of involvement; many people who have problems tend to be passive.”

The Killingers did that. But who can “go see” the personnel or equipment beyond the local company. The actual assignment of van and drivers comes later, “based on what driver is where and how much room he has in the truck,” says Jim Wileman, spokesman for Allied Van Lines in Broadview, Ill.

In the frenzy of loading, the customer is supposed to check the driver’s listing of all goods, making sure the condition of each is accurately noted. Similarly, he’s supposed to check off everything and note its condition in the even worse frenzy of unloading. Most companies will accept damages discovered later, but if a missing item isn’t noted at time of delivery, the carrier may not cover it.

Not Professional Insurers

Whatever insurance was bought--and many people spring for “full replacement-value” coverage, figuring there’s always some damage--making a claim puts the customer in a new business entirely. But these are movers, not professional insurers, and as the industry constantly explains, it’s not “insurance,” but “protection” or liability “coverage.” Thus, the rates and benefits aren’t regulated by any government agency, and except for very high claims (van lines may be insured for losses over $100,000), the payouts must come out of the van line’s pocket.

Indeed, the handling of claims may be amateurish. What Brown of Bekins calls a “disinterested third-party inspection” is often done by a combination repairman/appraiser who will “estimate repairs or settlement cost.” Alternatively, he may just “answer the question, ‘can it be repaired?’ ” says Art Kelly, assistant vice president of adjusting for Mayflower Transit in Carmel, Ind.; if not, the customer must provide a professional appraisal of value. If this inspector recommends repairs, of course, the job is his.

Arbitration Assistance

So what happens in an impasse like the Killingers’? Well, the Interstate Commerce Commission does have authority over interstate trucking and might query a carrier about a consumer complaint. There are also state utility commissions, which may just license moving companies, or may, like California’s, establish minimum (yes, minimum) rates and require that carriers have procedures for handling complaints and hiring competent personnel.

Such matters could also be resolved in lawsuits, or better, formal arbitration procedures available through the American Movers Conference--one of the pieces of information available from the original salesman. Certainly the claims people should suggest it, says Mayflower’s Kelly, “when both parties will not move any further.”