I was left these comments on on of my later posts and thought they were
very informative so I thought to make a whole post for them. I hope you find them very useful...
I work at a Transportation Office for the US Army and I would like to comment on a few things that you stated in your blog about your moving experience. The most important thing would be what you said about the movers reimbursing you. First, if you have a claim to file, you must do so through the same system you booked it with...the Defense Personal Property System. The carrier that moved your shipment (TSP) is the one who will pay the damages. These people may not have even touched your property at all. The packers are not the carriers. They are agents of the carrier and as such, they will be the ones who will actually compensate the TSP if there is any damage to your property. But the carrier will handle that, not you. You only deal with the carrier, not the packers (or movers who were your packers in your case). Your government shipment is insured up to $50,000 at full replacement value. This is major improvement over depreciated value up to $40,000 from years past. You don't go through the government unless you have to. You are correct in stating that the movers reimburse you, but it has to be done through the system which then is tracked by the SDDC (the "Government"). If the TSP (transportation service provider aka the carrier) doesn't honor his agreement with the government to provide the claims coverage, which may be a straight offer of less than $500 at residence for minimum damage, a repair to restore the damaged item to it's previous or better condition, a negotiated settlement or outright payment for the item, then you could turn the claim over to the military claims office (JAG). The government will pay out your claim at depreciated value as they have in the past, but they will go after the carrier, for lack of better language, and recoup the balance of full replacement and when they do, you will get the balance of your claim. This doesn't mean you get $50,000. It means that you will be compensated at full replacement value for your property if it cannot be repaired or replaced up to that amount. Usually, the carrier will pay out you rather than go through the repair or replacement phase. You are also on a time line when you file your claim. You must file the loss/damage report within 75 days of delivery to your residence, but you actually have a total of 9 months to file the claim. Almost all claims are settled before going into a full blown claims status...about 30 days after the loss/damage report filing. The TSP knows that you can select him again if you are pleased with the way he handled your move or you can choose him as the "non-preferred" TSP. And, more importantly, you have a mouth. You can use it to either talk good about the carrier...or not...to your other military friends. May bad mouths will drop the carrier off the government's list. You almost always have a choice of carrier when the government moves your shipment as long as that carrier is in the quad that serves your area on the particular day you choose to move and you have given enough lead time notice to pick up your shipment (shipments scheduled less than 6-7 days from the day you give Transportation your paperwork is called a short-fuse shipment and it is laid out there for any carrier to pick). If for some reason you cannot go through the DPS system to file your claim initially, you must fax, email, mail or somehow get the Loss/Damage Report to the carrier within your 75 day window. As long as they receive it before the deadline, you are good to go back onto DPS when you can to file. Document who you sent it to and any type of delivery receipts.
Next section...
Some transportation offices, like mine, will even fax it for you, give you numbers to call and help you anyway we can. Some other offices just won't even if they could and many are really too big for micro-personalized assistance. Go up the chain of command at that post if you must. Don't be afraid to do it, just follow the chain and document, document.
If you notice issues with your packers or your delivery people on the day they are doing their stuff, you need to call your Transportation Office to send someone out to check it out. We have 2 Quality Assurance Inspectors at our office and we are a much smaller post than most of the army posts in the country. Many posts don't have any, but they do have supervisors and a Transportation Officer. If you are not happy with the way the Transportation is handling your move, go to the Transportation Officer...not the supervisor who runs the office, the head guy...the government guy who runs Transportation/Logistics.
Not sure where your property came from, but when your property is put into storage for delivery instructions, they are not put into crates. They are set on pallets in the storage warehouse awaiting delivery in the same boxes they were packed in. The only time something may go into a crate would be an OCONUS move for HHG or Non-Temp Storage which is longer than 6 months in most cases. Crating for CONUS moves have to be pre-approved by the TO and if not, then it is it at your cost.
Hope you took pictures of your "fixed" lamp because that's still a damaged lamp. Seems that someone tried to pull one over on you. Make sure you file if you haven't already.
I always advise my clients to take pictures of everything they own before they get packed up so they have some documentation of what things looked like before someone became Handyman or Conan the Destroyer. Take photos of your TV on and off. Take a video of your microwave working, etc. And always have at least one other person with you when it's moving day. The more people you have for eyeballs, the less hectic for you and the less chance of something going missing because you weren't there to see it put into the box.
The packers are not supposed to label what's in the boxes on the boxes. That's what your inventory is for.
When you are delivered out, it is your ENTITLEMENT to be fully unpacked and placed once by whoever is delivering your property UNLESS YOU REFUSE THE UNPACKING. Furniture must be reassembled if it is disassembled at origin by the packers. You can choose to be partially unpacked or not unpacked. But your entitlement is to be fully unpacked and placed once (dishes in blue cabinet. Later, during the unpacking you want them in the red cabinet...tough beans, they were already placed once. Hubby must move to red cabinet.) Some unscrupulous folks are hoping you don't know your entitlements. Please make sure that you do. That's your responsibility (and your husband's).
It is also your responsibility to speak up while the packers/delivery people are there so that the Transportation Office can do something about it right then and there. Even though some of us have and can perform miracles with pickups, we don't have ESP. If it is after hours, then you call them first thing the next morning. Like I said, if the supervisor cannot or will not help you, go to the TO. If he's a problem, go to JAG or the Inspector General on post. You never ever have to take any crap from a packer or someone who just will not do their job. Ever. On the reverse side, if you are rude and unreasonable with the packers/movers...you will get it back tenfold even though they should know better. If you are going to file a complaint, go through the channels and keep going until you are satisfied.
As far as being late...you or your releasing (or receiving agent at destination) are required to be at your residence each packing day and the pickup day between 8 am and 5 pm. They can come any time in that time frame. They are not required to set an appointment time. They may accommodate a morning or afternoon request depending on the rest of the day's schedule, but they are not required by their contract with the government to be there at any specific time except between 8 am and 5 pm. Look at it like you would the cable guy or the phone guy and you are not the only one that they are servicing that day.
If this doesn't work for you, there's alway a DITY move...now called a PPM...and you will know your things are packed properly, nothing gets stolen, nothing gets lost unless you lose it yourself. You have access to your property immediately. You are still authorized 90 days of temporary storage at destination if you are lacking a residence. You will be reimbursed for the storage once your property is out of storage. Ask at Transportation.
Nice tip about the packaging. I will remember to counsel my soldiers on that.
Wish I could help on the housing situation. Killeen, Lawton and surrounding big towns around military bases have and will survive without Ft. Hood or Ft. Sill. It's the smaller ones like Daleville, AL that would croak. You are absolutely right about getting screwed on housing. The "economy" landlords know about your BAH and they are going to suck every penny out of you that they can. You are almost better off giving all your BAH to on-post housing if the housing is fairly decent. At least you'd be on-post near your commissary and PX and other things, your grass will be cut, you have free water and power to a reasonable level. But if you really think you are getting screwed by the off-post landlords, again, the Inspector General's Office is a good place to start. Do not let these kinds of things fester. Do something about it. If the ones at the top don't know about it because the ones on the bottom or in-between don't say anything, then nothing gets done and people get away with it.
Good luck on future PCS moves. Contact me through here if you need information.
