So, there has actually been a couple of weeks since I actually created a post. My first several posts are all dated within a day of one another, because that's when I published them. They were actually written over a 8-10 week span.
Now that I'm caught up, I should keep you all abreast of the debacle with the moving company here in Nairobi.
In case I didn't mention, we started with a moving company that is well known and respected in the US, DC area. Our stateside move was not without issue, but service was more than adequate and we were happy to have gone with a moving company which saved us the headache of packing and loading a 40 foot container.
Now that I'm caught up, I should keep you all abreast of the debacle with the moving company here in Nairobi.
In case I didn't mention, we started with a moving company that is well known and respected in the US, DC area. Our stateside move was not without issue, but service was more than adequate and we were happy to have gone with a moving company which saved us the headache of packing and loading a 40 foot container.
Packing a container is actually like playing a giant game of Tetris. One must try to pack in as much cargo as possible while trying to arrange items in such a way so as to keep them from moving around during shipping. Imagine having that job....
Well, the DC based moving company promised door to door service. They would come in, pack our his things, ship our things to Kenya, take care of clearing our things at customs in Mombasa, transport from Mombasa to Nairobi, then unpack our things in our new home. As mentioned, the moving company is based in DC and it has no presence in Kenya, they had to partner with a moving company here in Nairobi. They chose a company they felt were professional and who'd handled international moves.
Well, professional they were not. The container arrived and cleared customs without major issues. Once the items arrived in Nairobi, we had two days to unpack. The team lead on Day 1 reeked of alcohol ( we reported this to the contact person we'd been working with). Then of course as mentioned, on day two of move in, items disappeared with the movers. We notified the company immediately of two items that my husband had seen at the home, but had disappeared. Later we noticed other items that were not accounted for.
We were told to submit detail of the missing items so that this list could be submitted to the company's insurance by a particular deadline. We complied, submitting a list of the items we'd seen and that had disappeared as well as items unaccounted for. My thought was that if the movers could steal one or two items, then they most likely stole more. All the missing items were new unused items.
A week after submitting this list, we received an email, not a call, from the moving company's owner, stating they'd interviewed all the employees on site and no one remembers seeing the items listed and certainly no one had taken anything. He went on to add that of the thousands of moves the company has handled, nothing like this has ever occurred.
Not to feed into stereotypes, but I'm a Jersey Girl, and can be quite, let me say, spirited at times. I had to call this owner and remind him that we'd seen two of the items prior to the movers leaving, as well as to request a resolution that day as we'd been patient enough and hadn't gotten any resolution. Upon calling, I was transferred to the manager. I expressed my concerns with the email we'd received and ask for a resolution. The owner stated there would be no resolution, repeating what he'd written in the email. This is when Jersey Girl appeared. Of course I expressed my displeasure and again requested a resolution. I was then hung up on by said manager of the moving company. I was besides myself with disbelief! Which manager of a company hangs up on a customer? Which manager allows their employees to blatantly steal and offer no compensation to those they are servicing?
I promptly sent an email to the US company copying this Kenyan company in the email. I expressed my displeasure and disappointment in the experience with this partner moving company. I threatened contacting the Better Business Bureau. After about an hour, my husband received a call from the manager of the Kenyan company apologizing for his behavior. To make a long story short, he agreed to only pay for the two items we'd originally noticed present in the house in Nairobi, then found that they were later missing. We received compensation via check a couple of days later. Of course I'm not fully satisfied as there are still items remaining that were new and are missing. I will resign to say that if there is another move, either someone will be assigned to the front door to keep watch, or no small boxes will be opened by the movers. This was a very unpleasant experience, but a valuable lesson was learned.
Well, the DC based moving company promised door to door service. They would come in, pack our his things, ship our things to Kenya, take care of clearing our things at customs in Mombasa, transport from Mombasa to Nairobi, then unpack our things in our new home. As mentioned, the moving company is based in DC and it has no presence in Kenya, they had to partner with a moving company here in Nairobi. They chose a company they felt were professional and who'd handled international moves.
Well, professional they were not. The container arrived and cleared customs without major issues. Once the items arrived in Nairobi, we had two days to unpack. The team lead on Day 1 reeked of alcohol ( we reported this to the contact person we'd been working with). Then of course as mentioned, on day two of move in, items disappeared with the movers. We notified the company immediately of two items that my husband had seen at the home, but had disappeared. Later we noticed other items that were not accounted for.
We were told to submit detail of the missing items so that this list could be submitted to the company's insurance by a particular deadline. We complied, submitting a list of the items we'd seen and that had disappeared as well as items unaccounted for. My thought was that if the movers could steal one or two items, then they most likely stole more. All the missing items were new unused items.
A week after submitting this list, we received an email, not a call, from the moving company's owner, stating they'd interviewed all the employees on site and no one remembers seeing the items listed and certainly no one had taken anything. He went on to add that of the thousands of moves the company has handled, nothing like this has ever occurred.
Not to feed into stereotypes, but I'm a Jersey Girl, and can be quite, let me say, spirited at times. I had to call this owner and remind him that we'd seen two of the items prior to the movers leaving, as well as to request a resolution that day as we'd been patient enough and hadn't gotten any resolution. Upon calling, I was transferred to the manager. I expressed my concerns with the email we'd received and ask for a resolution. The owner stated there would be no resolution, repeating what he'd written in the email. This is when Jersey Girl appeared. Of course I expressed my displeasure and again requested a resolution. I was then hung up on by said manager of the moving company. I was besides myself with disbelief! Which manager of a company hangs up on a customer? Which manager allows their employees to blatantly steal and offer no compensation to those they are servicing?
I promptly sent an email to the US company copying this Kenyan company in the email. I expressed my displeasure and disappointment in the experience with this partner moving company. I threatened contacting the Better Business Bureau. After about an hour, my husband received a call from the manager of the Kenyan company apologizing for his behavior. To make a long story short, he agreed to only pay for the two items we'd originally noticed present in the house in Nairobi, then found that they were later missing. We received compensation via check a couple of days later. Of course I'm not fully satisfied as there are still items remaining that were new and are missing. I will resign to say that if there is another move, either someone will be assigned to the front door to keep watch, or no small boxes will be opened by the movers. This was a very unpleasant experience, but a valuable lesson was learned.
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