Friday, October 15, 2010

Our stuff has arrived


It's almost like Christmas. I haven't seen my belongings in over a year. Our stuff arrived in Wellington this week and I couldn't be happier. Adrian being out of town didn't even upset me. This way I could do it at my pace, rearranging and displaying things as I like them without being rushed.
I have to say that the movers did a pretty good job. The major hiccup was the broken big screen Plasma TV. Bummer. Luckily we bought private insurance so we should be able to have it replaced. I've never had an insurance claim for a move before so we will have to see how it is handled.
NZ bio security didn't like the ornaments I brought in from our days of living in South Dakota so all of my Pheasant Feathered Christmas balls were confiscated as well as some tokens from Costa Rica that may harbor unwanted insects and an artificial tree with real bark. Unfortunately, the tree wasn't even supposed to come. I had requested the kid's growth tree (fake) and instead the shippers packed an ornamental tree. Some boxes were mislabeled so we got some stuff we didn't want out of storage like the 1000 framed photos of various races and activities that we've participated in over the years. We knew that we wouldn't be allowed to fill our walls here with holes so we wanted to leave them behind. However, the packers labeled these enormously heavy boxes as "camping equipment" which we did want. Just another example of how you really need to watch those packers! Unfortunately the thousands of dollars of beautiful fabric that I was waiting for did not come. Even though it was filled with fabric and clearly labeled as such, it was listed on our inventory sheet as "books" and was not sent. GRRRRR.
I didn't get my linens- no sheets, blankets, dish towels, pot holders, napkins, etc. I guess they were labeled as books too because I said ship everything but the books and couches. Darn it. Now I have to buy new ones and they aren't cheap or of high quality here. 
All in all, the move went smoothly. There's not much I can't live without though I am really bummed about the fabric and blankets. The folks in Haegerstown did an excellent job. They sent everything we asked for without one mistake. The mistakes were on the packers side of things when they came into the house like locusts and seemed offended whenever I asked to checks their notes to make sure I knew what was where.  So.....to all of you getting ready to pack out, organize some friends to come over and watch over every single packer and label the boxes yourself. I had one box clearly marked as kitchenware and they put it into the inventory list as "Christmas Ornaments" so I couldn't open it until the bio hazard team checked it out to make sure I didn't have any pine cones in it.

5 comments:

  1. I didn't know pheasants had balls ...
    Glad it went well, Ame. Wish I'd been there.

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  2. I am so glad that your stuff arrived.
    I am sorry about the TV. I am glad you had private insurance. I truly think it is a must. You never know. I just heard about a couple that left here to go to South Africa, their stuff was hijacked on the way to post. The only way that they would replace the stuff is if they had a "hijack" clause in their insurance. Can you believe that? ALL OF THEIR STUFF. GONE.

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  3. so glad it arrived and sorry about the frustrations. Bedding is a big thing to have to buy again. If you don't mind, could you explain a little more about how to sync up your inventory with that of the packers? Eg, if I'm watching someone pack and see what goes in the box, I then need to be sure he writes those items on the inventory? I'm a little confused.
    good luck sorting/organizing.

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  4. You just need to watch what they write on the boxes # 1 and then make sure it coincides with what they write on the inventory sheets. If I have box 123 labeled as books and box 124 labeled as fabric, make sure he doesn't write on the inventory sheet that 124 was books. They will also pack a bunch of boxes and then go ack to write on the outside of the box. By then they may forget what was in it, peek inside and write down the first thing they see which is why my giant box of photos was listed as camping gear (they used a sleeping bag for packing material on the top).

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  5. thanks, that is really helpful.
    and again, so sorry you are missing some special stuff. I'm sure that is disconcerting.

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