» Movers Stories

The unpaid storage fees

admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:58:24 +0000

I was hired as a storage manager for a local office of an international moving company. The last storage manager was fired and left a mess. I had to go through all the customers’ files, update all the payments and balances and physical locations of their units etc. then I started working on debt collections. One of the customers had a huge shipment stored and the monthly bill was not paid for over a year.
The dispatcher remembered the customers. He said the crew that did the pick up described their house as a castle like, one that you only see in movies. They actually moved only partially into storage, to have renovations done. The house was huge, on a large piece of land. It had a cinema room and a swimming pool in the basement. Way before the recession, this didn’t sound like non-paying customers that can’t afford the monthly bill.
I called the contact number in file and left a message. The following day a guy called back, said the husband passed away but he’ll have the wife call me. She did. She said they have an estate that was supposed to pay for the move and the storage. I told her the bill with late charges already came close to $15,000. She asked that I send an invoice and she’ll make sure it will get paid. So I did.
A few days later she calls me, tells me she received the invoice and that she has a check ready for us. A day later we received it by Fedex, full payment, almost $15,000. What a shame that I was not working on commissions at the time.
Thomas M.

The mugging

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:55:03 +0000

I am driver and foreman for a company in California that had a branch in Florida (it was closed 2-3 years ago). The guy that ran the Florida branch was the long distance dispatcher there as well. He carried a lot of cash one day as he received balances from drivers returning from long distance trips. One day he called the boss back in California and told him he got mugged and all the money was taken from him. Luckily though, he wasn’t hurt… He said he was afraid though that the “guys” will come back for him and that they might try to hit him again now that they know he carries a lot of money. The boss bought his story (he seemed to be the only one, none of us believed him), and he flew him over for a month of relaxation at the California office. Who said crime doesn’t pay? R.

Speeding ticket?

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:56:44 +0000

I had a fellow driver that came back from a trip (I wouldn’t have sent that in if we were still working together). He did New York to Washington state and back. When he came to do the final calculations with the dispatcher for his trip, he told him he had $150 fine but had no receipt or citation to show for it. He said while he was driving through North Dakota (or maybe South Dakota, not sure, I don’t really remember), a cop stopped him for speeding and told him that he needs to pay $150 cash on spot or he’ll be detained. The poor guy was so stressed that he took out the money and paid the “fine” but he never got a ticket. He was very naïve and easily scared and probably thought he was very lucky to avoid the ticket. Needless to say, the company didn’t pay him back. He might have been better off with a ticket.

The motorcycle incident

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:09:36 +0000

Hi. I have been following your website for some time now and since you have some amusing videos I thought I might be able to share a story.
I am a truck driver and used to work for a company in Virginia. I once got sent to pick up about 4000 lbs plus a motorcycle. Once the helpers finished loading the shipment, it was time to load the motorcycle. The customer turned on the engine and was driving around to show off. He had a nice, large street motorcycle. After few rounds he then approached the truck, and without waiting for instructions or approval, decided to drive it, all by himself, on the ramp, and into the trailer (like in movies…).
When he went on the ramp he suddenly lost control of his motorcycle and fell off the ramp. He was only bruised a little but the motorcycle’s side cover and fender were scratched and cracked.
A month or so later I found out that he sued the company for the damage to the motorcycle and his medical expenses.
(I don’t know how it ended though, as I moved to Florida and since then have been working for a different company).
Chuck