No one is perfect, but how your local movers respond to damage claims is EVERYTHING! The vast majority of moving companies in Austin are full of good, hardworking people who will do the right thing in the event that something goes wrong. Providing moving services in Austin is a tough path to choose, but we work hard all day and do our best to make sure your family's belongings make it over to your new home safely.
On occasion, there will be some damage that occurs on moves performed by any company that you hire and we want to educate you on what your rights as a customer are. We also want to educate you on what options are available to us moving companies whenever this damage does occur. Now, let’s discuss what the three options that you and your local movers will have if an item is damaged on your move.
Whoever you hire to provide your moving services in Austin, they will reserve the right to repair, replace, or take the valuation route to provide a payout for any damage that may occur to your furniture during a move. We’d like to take a quick moment to say that this doesn't happen often with Sarver Movers, however, we’d be lying if we said it never happens in this industry!
Our crew at Sarver Movers will perform a walkthrough before each move and take pictures of each instance of previous damage that we find on every single piece of furniture that you own before the job. We do this to protect ourselves against any false claims of damage that customers will sometimes attempt to make against moving companies. With these pictures, we can then compare the state of the furniture, before and after the move, to ensure we have protected all of your household goods with the proper moving pads, stretch wrap, and any other relevant protection.
So, We’ve Taken Pictures to Safeguard Ourselves, Then Damage Occurred, Now What?
Now, we will go into deeper detail on each of these three different options that are afforded to you as a moving customer. Let’s start with the most common option, repairing the damaged item. Our very first option is to send a Sarver Movers representative out to your home and try to repair the item that has been damaged.
Over the years, we have become knowledgeable at furniture touch ups and drywall repair. In some cases, such as when a large dresser has to fit through a tight hallway, the furniture will need to be brushed up against a wall to fit through that narrow space. It’s unfortunately often unavoidable. In the event that we need to send out a representative to patch up a hole in a wall, we will make sure to cover this cost free of charge to our customers.
We will come out with a drywall kit and fix any wall damage and then match the paint color at a local paint store, come back, and repaint the newly patched up area so it looks good as new.
For any dressers, night stands, bed frames, or any other furniture that has been scuffed, scraped, or nicked, we will send out a team member to touch up furniture with a furniture marker. The vast majority of furniture can be easily touched up and will look great as long as you have the right color, leaving your furniture looking good as new.
Some IKEA furniture is not built to last and it will actually say in the product manual to never move this piece of furniture after it has been put together since they know damage will likely occur. This can leave us local movers looking bad. We often move the same client every 9 to 15 months when their lease is up, forcing us to move this furniture many times.
We are often held liable for any chips and missing pieces of particle board, but fear not, we will always be able to repair these light duty pieces of furniture. We know how to create new chunks of particle board using a mixture of sawdust and wood glue that can be used to fill in the cracks and missing pieces of furniture. Once this mixture dries, we then sand it down and paint over the dresser.
We Have Sent Out a Repair Crew and You Are Still Not Happy With the Repairs. Now What?
Our second option is to replace the damaged item with a similar item. For example, if your night stand is scuffed and you don't like the repair job we performed, no worries; we'll drop off another night stand. This doesn't always mean that you will be getting a brand new night stand. If this were the requirement, most moving companies in Austin would go out of business. That is why we reserve the right to find a similar night stand to yours and drop this off to your home. When we drop off the replacement piece of furniture, we will then pick up the other piece of furniture in its place making this a true replacement.
Legally speaking, this rule was put in place to prevent customers from claiming many things were broken and having the moving company buy them all brand new items. If this were the case, all moving services in Austin would have a tough time operating their business and there might not be any movers around the next time you need help carrying your 500 pound dresser up three flights of stairs!
The last option would be for us to do a valuation payout on the item that is broken or damaged. Oftentimes, people refer to this final option as an “insurance payout”, when it is technically considered valuation. Valuation refers to coverage for items that have been lost, destroyed, or damaged during your move. We go in depth on this subject in section 2 of the “Our Process” page on our website where you can find a link to the “Moving Rights and Responsibilities” pdf document. This pdf is a great guide that can help steer you in the right direction when choosing which moving company you should hire.
Shuttle services are an extra service moving companies in Austin offer to accommodate homes that are hard to get to. This entails renting a much smaller truck to move items into that can then be driven to our much bigger truck so they can load them into that. Shuttling your items over to a bigger truck from a smaller one often adds another day to the move, which can be costly.
So What is Valuation and Moving Reimbursement for Damaged Furniture?
Valuation coverage is a required option, by federal law, that all moving companies all across America must offer to their customers. We’ve already discussed how it covers things that were lost, destroyed, or damaged, but how much will the customer receive for each item? The standard requirement is 60 cents per pound per article.
This means that if you have a 100 pound dresser that is damaged and you do not want it repaired or replaced, your movers must take the weight (100 pounds) and multiply it by 60 cents. This comes out to $60 exactly and that is your valuation payout for that one item. Not the best deal is it? That is why we often recommend an additional type of valuation like FVP or full value protection.
What is Full Value Protection Valuation in Moving?
FVP covers a damaged item up to $6 per pound per article. This means that if your 100 pound dresser is damaged, lost, or broken during your move, the moving company will be required to pay $600 for that dresser. By the way, how does one lose a 100 pound dresser? We don’t anticipate that happening here at Sarver Movers! Please note that we still reserve the right to come and collect the broken or damaged dresser any time a reimbursement is made through valuation, whether it be 60 cents per pound or full value protection.
If you have a dispute with the movers you hire, make sure to submit a written claim within 90 days of the delivery date of your move. Please make sure to add any relevant information that your movers might need in order to further investigate this claim such as pictures of the damage, any evidence that your moving company may be responsible for, receipts, product ID information, and the solution you are seeking to resolve this matter.
What Agency Oversees Moving in the State of Texas?
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles will oversee most aspects of the moving industry in the state of Texas and they are doing a great job of it, in case any of them are listening! In all seriousness, they are a fair organization and have helped guide us whenever we’ve had a question on how to better serve our customers as well as on best practices in our industry. For more information on moving related resources from the state of Texas visit the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles website.
This is a comprehensive article on the best way to handle broken, damaged, and lost items on a move. If you have any questions or need a quote for full value protection on your furniture, please reach out to a Sarver Movers team member and we will make sure that you are provided with the best moving services in Austin, guaranteed.
