Problems come in stages
A moving problem can show up before you book, while the truck is in your driveway, or once the boxes are open. Sorting a problem by the stage where you meet it can help you choose the next step and the paper you need for it.
Before booking: the advertising and the certificate
Oregon law requires a carrier that transports household goods to include its certificate number in all newsprint classified advertising, newsprint display advertising, Internet advertising and telephone directory advertising prepared by or at the direction or request of the carrier.
When you find a company through an ad or a listing, write down exactly how it appeared: the name, the phone number, the web address and a screenshot of the ad itself. Then ask the company directly: "Does this move call for an ODOT household goods certificate, and if so, what is your certificate number?" Keep the answer with the screenshot. If anything about the reply puzzles you, ask ODOT how to look the number up.
Before booking: help that packs and loads
Oregon's motor carrier law does not apply to a person who provides services related to the packing or loading of household goods if the person does not provide or operate a motor vehicle for the movement of the household goods and does not act as an agent for anyone who does; ODOT says Oregon law allows a person to offer pack and load services but doesn't allow that person to provide the vehicle used in the move.
If you are hiring a crew to pack or load while the truck comes from somewhere else, ask in writing who will supply and drive the truck. Put the certificate question to that business as well, and write down its reply. Ask the crew what it will and will not handle, and how it deals with a damaged item. Keep the answers in your file, since they can matter if a claim follows.
On the day: nobody pulls up
Phone first, and follow the call with a message that records when the crew was due and when you reached out. Ask the company to commit to a new time in that same thread. Should you have to bring in a second mover, save every receipt it creates, including a motel night, a storage unit or lost hours at work, so each cost can go into a written complaint to the company that failed to show.
On the day: a new price at the curb
If the crew or the office asks for more money than the estimate showed, stay calm and ask for the amount and the reason by text or email. Compare it with the estimate and the agreement, line by line. Ask the office to point to the line that allows each charge. Write down the time, the names of the people involved and what was said. Whatever you decide to pay, use a method that leaves a record.
After delivery: something is broken
- Note each broken or scratched piece on the crew's delivery sheet while the crew is still there.
- Take pictures before you unwrap further, then again once the item is out, with the carton beside it.
- Set the item and its wrapping aside rather than discarding them; the company may want to see both.
- Email the company to request its claim paperwork and to learn how long you have to file.
- For every item, name the remedy you are seeking and attach what supports it: a repair quote, a receipt, an order record.
Marks on the building count too. A chipped stair tread or a dented wall at either address can go into the claim as a separate entry, with photos taken that day.
After delivery: boxes are missing
Your numbered box list does its work here. Check the count against it and against any crew inventory, and record which numbers did not arrive on the delivery sheet. Then ask the company, by email, to check the truck and wherever your goods spent time in between, and to tell you what it found by a date you name. Anything still absent goes into the claim with a short description and whatever proof of it you have.
After delivery: the bill does not match
Go through the final invoice one charge at a time, holding each against the matching line of the estimate. Circle anything new or larger. Send the company the circled list and ask it to answer each item in writing, citing the part of the agreement it relies on. Any sum you still dispute can join the claim as its own entry.
Albany's place on the map
The City of Albany says Albany is the county seat of and largest city in Linn County, and the second largest city in Benton County.
When the company goes quiet
Write a closing summary of the dispute: the events, your requests, any offer received, and a reply-by date. A page or less, plainly worded, with a copy kept for yourself. If that brings no answer, ask ODOT whether it can help with a complaint about a household goods mover, and ask a consumer protection office what other options are open to you. Call your homeowners or renters insurer as well, and ask whether any part of the loss falls under your own policy.
Keep the file until it closes
Store the ad screenshot, the certificate answer, the estimate, the agreement, the inventory, the delivery paperwork, photos, letters and receipts in one folder, paper or digital. Keep it until every claim and complaint is settled.