Planning to move your household
items to a different city? Here, you can
find some tips. Of late, I moved my household items from Bangalore to Kolkata
with one packers and movers called “Amanat” and I have a very bitter experience. Below are few points that you may find
useful.
1) First
of all, think twice before you move your household items. In my opinion, selling your household items
and purchase the same in the other location is a better idea. The loss that you make, commensurate with
price that you pay to packers and movers. On top of that, you will have peace
of mind and don’t have the hassle of damage. However, I understand that many times, we don’t
have any option other than moving our household items through movers and
packers.
2) In
case, you are sending it through packers and movers, you do need some planning
well in advance. Always go with some reputed packers and movers, who has good
experience in this field. It may cost you more money but it does make sense in
most of the cases. In the first place, I did mistake by choosing “Amanat”, who
doesn’t have enough credibility.
3) When
you choose the packers and movers, ensure that they have branch in your
destination city. You don’t believe their words (as I did). Check their website
and ensure that they have contact numbers for your destination city. Many small
packers and movers have mentioned in their website that they have branches in
number of cities but you don’t see any contact numbers there. Be very careful
and you may want to contact the numbers to validate.
4) Once
you select few packers and movers, call them and get their quotation. These
people will come and give the quotation. Mention the floors in both source and
destination city. Ask about the vehicle type. It is better to have closed
container. If you don’t have enough items, it may be possible that your items
with go in sharing with someone else. However you need not to know the other
party.
5) Based
on the cost of your items, you may want to insure your items. The packers and
movers themselves insure the items on behalf of you. It does cost around 3% of
the declared value. You may want to ensure selective items or the entire list
of items. I insured my items through the packers but never got the original
copy of the insurance (only got a scanned one). Also, the scanned copy was not
having any premium amount mentioned (it was only written “As Agreed”), which made
me bit suspicious. I did my insurance at the last moment as I didn’t have much
time. You better do plan this in advance. Also, you do need to understand the
coverage, which is never explained by the Packers and movers (again suspicious!).
Below are the coverages applicable
SRCC – It covers
the damage created by Strike, Riot and Civil Commotion
ITC-A- All risks
barring some exceptions
ITC-B- Fire, lightning, breakage of bridges, collision with or by the
carrying vehicle, overturning of the carrying vehicle, derailment or accidents
of like nature to the carrying railway wagon / vehicle
ITC-C- Damage by
Fire and Lightning
If your’s are very
costly items, opt for ITC-A
6) Give
one week’s notice (2 days minimum) to the packers and movers. On the day of
packing, you may not be able to have food at home. Ask in advance that how much
time the entire packing and loading operation will take and you can plan
accordingly. Keep some less costly cloths\cushions seperately. This will come
handy in packing some breakable items. Ensure that items are appropriately
packed with air plastic, waterproof packing. The glass and other breakable
items need extra care. They are generally packed along with thermocol. The
breakable items are sometime kept in wooden frames to avoid any damage.
7) After
packing, loading is equally important. Ensure that your items are loaded
properly. My packers and movers “Amanat” brought a small truck and the way they
were loading, it was very disturbing. The truck was almost overloaded and I was
cursing myself for choosing them. They explained me that the goods would be
loaded in a big closed container as the big vehicle is not allowed inside the
city in the office hours. I made a big mistake by trusting them. Later I
discovered that it was neither a big vehicle nor a closed container. To avoid
such situation for you, I advise that you force them to load the big vehicle in
front of you.
8) Once
you load your goods, get a clear indication from the packers and movers as to
how many days will it take. Generally they give you a consignment number and
list of items separately marked on the items and in your list. When you receive
the items, you can tally the number in your list and the number on the item.
Never pay the 100% amount to them. Initially I paid 50% and rest when I received my goods.
9) If
you don’t get your goods on scheduled day, enquire with the packers and movers.
For me, I received my items after long 15 days. Also I discovered that “Amanat”
is not a packers and movers. They are just packers, local to Bangalore. They
pack it and hand it over to a transport department. They don’t have any branch
office in Kolkata. The patch up someone(some other packers) in Kolkata to
unload items.
10) Once
the 7 ft wide truck reached our place, I realized my goods were loaded and
unloaded multiple times. There wss a big machine at the middle of the truck
which can not be shifted without a crane. Half of my items behind it and half
in front of it. I found that couple of my items got damaged. The other packers,
who were in charge of unloading, just washed off their hands by saying that
items might get damaged while taking out as it was very difficult to take out
the big items from the back of the huge machine. I was almost in tear seeing
the plight of my hard earned money. Thus it is very essential that you ensure
that the packers and movers have their branch in the destination city as well.
This will give a kind of accountability to them and you need not deal with
different groups.
11) Once
the items are unloaded, the same set of people is supposed to unpack them and
put it in proper places. Tally all your items with your list and while put your
comments while you sign your paper. It is also helpful if you put your comments
as review in some website e.g. Sulekha.
12) Last
but not the least, do verify each and every facts and figures claimed by the
packers and movers. In my case, I found that it was approximately 65% lie
whatever they told in the beginning.
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