Professional movers damaged my collection

[bstee]

We move a lot with work and I figured the day would come when this would happen, and today it did. The movers hired by my company damaged my collections and I have not been able to get myself to open the boxes and see how bad it is. I have about 350 signed editions. Almost all are signed limiteds and a couple hundred are Easton so they have the gold leaf that takes nothing to damage. I told them to either pack them very tight or ideally bubble wrap each (a pain but worth it). The mover bubble wrapped the first box and after that wrapped some material around the sides and stacked them on end then put more books on top of each. I know the insurance company and employer are going to think I am crazy calling the books damaged because of knicks in the gold leaf. Or, for example I had "The Strain" which was unprotected that he put on end and then put the huge copy of "It" half way on top of the top binding. So now the slipcase has a huge dent in it. I know they are going to think I am an obsessive compulsive fool, but erg! Not onlt that but now my wife is asking just how much these books cost....maybe that hurts worse than anything. Not sure what will happen next. Assume the insurance company will be taking the slightly damaged books and selling them and I will be getting some new books...but erg!!!! Not a happy day.

[TerryE]

AArrrrgggghhhhhh! It sucks when you have to do every little thing yourself to make sure it gets done right. Even worse is I'm sure you didn't have the time to pack these yourself, hence the need for "professionals". I feel for you, and you're not O/C to want them to remain perfect.

[Martin]

Do not worry what someone thinks. If they damaged something, especially if you provided instructions regarding how to pack them, then they owe you for the damage.

[Ben Staad]

I agree with both of the above. Professional movers were hired for a reason because supposedly they are professionals. If they didn't pack the items correctly this should be remedied by the insurance company. The pain is that I'm sure many of the books are going to be difficult to replace.

I wish you the best of luck in getting this resolved and I'm sorry about your collection. That just sucks.

[srboone]

Damn, that's too bad. Moving would be a nightmare for me. I have rolls and rolls of bubble wrap for that eventuallity because I would end up packing my collcetion myself. I hope everything works out.

[peteOcha]

I hope everything works out as well!

You said you haven't opened some of the boxes, so I hope it will not be as bad as you think and that only a few books will be damaged.

[bstee]

Talked to the insurance company - and I didn't pack myself because the items are covered in transit only if the professionals pack and move. So I had no option and this is my fifth move in ten years with only one book damaged in all those moves (I never claimed, one is the cost of doing business I figure). The company wants pictures of the unwrap process showing how they were packaged. What really gets me is I stood there and showed him what has worked before and his response was he has been moving people for 35 years - never had any problems (impossible just by chance). He did the first lot correctly while I stood there and then, frankly, got lazy. Some may be nearly impossible to replace. Even recent books like "Ready Player One" first edition signed on date of release - I have not seen another copy anywhere. The Strain - I am locked in for my numbered copies (hopefully I can replace and swap out the slipcase only and give the damaged case and new book back to the insurance company to keep the trilogy together. The insurance company seems pretty easy to work with (so far)...so maybe it won't be too bad. Finding replacements is going to be the real pain.

[Brian James Freeman]

Talked to the insurance company - and I didn't pack myself because the items are covered in transit only if the professionals pack and move. So I had no option and this is my fifth move in ten years with only one book damaged in all those moves (I never claimed, one is the cost of doing business I figure). The company wants pictures of the unwrap process showing how they were packaged. What really gets me is I stood there and showed him what has worked before and his response was he has been moving people for 35 years - never had any problems (impossible just by chance). He did the first lot correctly while I stood there and then, frankly, got lazy. Some may be nearly impossible to replace. Even recent books like "Ready Player One" first edition signed on date of release - I have not seen another copy anywhere. The Strain - I am locked in for my numbered copies (hopefully I can replace and swap out the slipcase only and give the damaged case and new book back to the insurance company to keep the trilogy together. The insurance company seems pretty easy to work with (so far)...so maybe it won't be too bad. Finding replacements is going to be the real pain.

Email Dan about your slipcase for The Strain if the book itself is okay, he can get you a replacement case!

[email protected]

Brian

[paperdragon]

This is a true horror story, sorry about what happened.

My big fears are fire and water.

[bstee]

Brain, that would be awesome! It looks like the book on that one survived so all I need is the case. I am going to go through all of them over the weekend but that is some great news. Thanks for the post. I am just trying to make sure I keep the eventual trilogy set together. It is one of the best looking books I have ever picked up from CD and hated to see it take a hit.

[frik51]

This is a true horror story

Those are exactly the same words that popped up in my mind when I read this post.
Just horrible!

I do hope things will work out for you!!

sk

[mhatchett]

Wow! Hope it all works out.
MDH

[Dave1442397]

That sucks. I've been lucky enough to be able to pack and move my books separately, even when we used moving companies.

[RJK1981]

Maybe you can get that mover fired for ignoring your instructions. For causing that much damage he sure doesn't deserve to be moving people. The way the economy and jobs are you would think they'd do their best, but I guess not (not that I'm surprised)

[bookworm 1]

Wow!!! I thought my last couple of weeks sucked.So sorry to hear about this.My dad was in the Air Force for 20 years and we moved alot.I now understand why he told me that no matter how much of a pain it is always move yourself.Hope things work out for you.