Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

Our shipment finally arrived after leaving us in London on the 9th September.

Pretty horrified regarding the state our items arrive in.

This is solely down to the packaging and not any movement in the shipping.

Two items are particularly upsetting

A very rare dark orange 60's ball chair. This chair last time I saw it was in perfect condition when I unwrapped it, it was clear the damage had been done before packing and covered over without informing us. It had obviously been dropped and scrapped along one way. The paint / surface is chipped off in several place there is paint from our old living room where it has been dropped against the wall then on the floor. Then there is black marks all over it from I don't know where.

I know accidents happen but this was covered up by the packer which makes me feel pretty sick at the dishonesty. If I had now about this I would have left the chair as all this damage has now lost most of its value.

The next main item was damaged was my large glass mobile, This was made over months by myself and was attached to the ceiling with a large metal grid. My exact words were 'please will you take extra care with the stained glass it took me months to make'.

Could not believe my eyes when it was open he had put all the glass discs together on top of the metal with no packing between the pieces at all my glass discs were cracked and it was very upsetting.

Nothing can replace that or the chair.

Other items had minor damage.

How could anyone who was in a job where it was their profession to pack things do something so stupid.

If we want to claim on the insurance we brought we have to pay $500 excess which seems pretty unfair as the stuff was damaged before it was packed.

Totally gutted :(

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

Can you claim against Robinsons as they appear to be the ones who caused the damage?

I'm just wondering what state my things will be in. They were packed Aug 4th and have only just arrived in port and are now being inspected by customs.

I'm sure you must be able to hold Robinsons accountable for the damage - it's not like it happened enroute.

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

I will keep everything crossed your things get here the way they left in the UK.

Other things were not ideal like packing a toilet trust in with clothes not wrapping it in anything, dumping whole drawers full on belongings into a box with out checking or packing anything and a leather chair has been ruined by not putting any cardboard around it and wrapping it to tightly with tape.

I went with them because he said how well they packaged everything even though they were not the cheapest

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

I have emailed them not had a response yet!

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

Time to act like an American on this... and not a Brit! You might want to actually write a letter addressed to the head honcho! Make it clear that you expect compensation... but, if none arrives, that you'll be repeating this incident to whoever asks about it, that you'll inform both the local and international media, and that doing so may affect their bottom line or harm the business.

Ian

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

Thanks for that I will see if I hear on Monday if not I am so upset I will act like a true American :D

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

Take photos of all of the damage and make sure the date is set right on your camera when you do it. If there's anything that was packed incorrectly but isn't fully unpacked yet, take pics of it in situ. If you have any photos of how stuff looked before you moved, dig those out too. See if you can find evidence of the pre-damage value of your ball chair too.

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

On the packing forms they noted the one thing in our house that was damaged on the form this was just a scratch on one item (I always take very good care of things) so they know there was no damage to it. I have taken pictures of the damage when it was received and this was confirmed by the delivery guys.

I am very concerned also that they turned up saying we owed them $215 for customs Xray but have not produced a receipt seems a bit fishy as they changed the price from one day to the next.

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

I did something similar a few years ago. Two leather sofas a few days out of the warranty period started to get light patches on the leather. Store refused to do anything...even refused to give me the manufacturers details. So I told everyone who would listen to me how crap their furniture and service was. They went out of business within the year.

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

My understanding was that your items are not released from Customs until you have paid the customs fees, but maybe that's only how my shipping company worked and not the norm. Definitely don't pay that customs fee until you see an invoice from Customs, not just from your company.

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

I had to pay it cash when they arrived :(

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

Still no response from Robinsons at the end of their working day on how this is going to get sorted out.

Does anyone know how I check the shipment really did have an xray by US customs?

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

I don't blame you for being gutted. I had some personal stuff damaged on a cross country move and there was no way it could be repaired or replaced. But I don't understand your insurance point. From your description, the items were damaged by the packers, even if it was before they were physically packed. So that would come under the remit of the insurance you have, and presumably you were aware of the size of the deductible.

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

Robinsons employee covered up damaging our belongings morally they have a responsibility as they have in fact misinformed us regarding the careful packing service they provide

Re: Robinsons International Movers Terrible & Very Upsetting Service
 

I'm pretty sure that every container arriving in the US now gets an x-ray. The requirement was made quite some time ago but took time to be implemented.