Moving Woes

I haven't posted in forever because I have been busy working at my new job and trying to track down my things.

Question of the day: What do you do when your moving company steals everything you own?

This is what has happened to me because of American Van Lines.  
http://www.americanvanlinesrelo.com/

My stuff got picked up in Houston on August 25. They guaranteed it would be in Charleston by September 7. We had some contact with them, but they said it wouldn't make it by September 7 because of the hurricane. We couldn't do much about that excuse.

They called us back and said it will be there September 12. My parents drove 17 hours to Charleston to help with the move. They never showed up. We haven't really heard from them since then. It is September 17 and we have no idea where my stuff is. American Van Lines will not answer the phone nor will they return our calls.

We now have an attorney, a move rescue company working with us, a state representative calling people for us, and several other officials. Police were supposed to get called today. I haven't followed up with the attorney yet to see what the status is.

I have been living out of a suitcase for a month now, sleeping on an air mattress, eating out every night, etc. I am sure my work is tired of seeing me in the same clothes every week. I am tired of doing laundry every other day. I am tired of sleeping on the floor for about 4 hours a night.

How do you replace EVERY single thing you own unless you are a millionaire?? I will never ever be able to list all the things that are missing...clothes...kitchen stuff....furniture....towels...bathroom stuff... The list could go on. I had 80 boxes packed and an apartment full of new furniture.

I talked to someone today that used American Van Lines and he FINALLY got his stuff back but it was all damaged- the furniture was ruined, the TV was ruined, the boxes were smashed or empty.

I don't even know what to do at this point. I can only wait for the authorities to do something because it is out of my hands. I am giving it to them and to God. Please pray that this gets worked out and the authorities can get my stuff back to me. At this point, even if I do get my stuff back, it will probably be ruined.

American Van Lines was not even authorized to move anything out of Houston. They outsourced some guy off the street basically. The guy is the one that moved my stuff and who knows where he has it.

If you ever need to move, ask me for advice. I can give you a list of things to find out before you hire a mover. Lesson learned big time.