I paid $300 to have a gunsafe moved from my garage to my office upstairs. The safe was new still in the box. My walls and floors were new...












Supposedly they are sending someone out to fix it but still

Holy crap. That looks like amateur hour. Hope they fix it right.

Amateur hour is right. Is there anything they DIDNT hit going up the stairs?

I'm not sure how they intend to fix the wood, that looks like some serious repairs. The dry wall isn't a huge deal, but the wood is concerning.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
but the wood is concerning.

Just like fixing a rifle stock. Lots of steam and it comes right out.

Accidents happen. If the damage was just in one spot I would chalk it up to that, but what you're showing in pure incompetence.

We would get $375 for a safe under 1,000 pounds traveling a straight flight of stairs. BUT, we ask a ton of questions prior to coming out. The machine we use makes contact with the edge of each step. Aluminum being stronger than wood, it will do exactly what is seen on some of your photos.

So for $100 more we will run a bunch of duct tape along with some cardboard and corner protectors on the edge of each step. We still won't guarantee zero damage, but we're pretty good at doing it with zero damage. No way I would have run a safe up or down finished wood stairs without a signed liability waiver.

Bouncing it off the walls, railings, door frames, and everything else just doesn't make any sense. At least not the way we move them.

We would have also had a moving blanked underneath the safe and/or our machine anytime anything other than the wheels would need to make contact with the floor. I do this enough to know when damage will be likely and will point it out in advance giving the customer the opportunity to decide whether or not they wish to risk it.

Do those stairs run straight up, or do they angle /turn?

My first thought was accidents happen and we all need a little slack sometime and I am an asshole.

Then I saw your pictures......Jesus it looks like it was thrown down a set of stairs. Were they blind and weak. I would be pissed.

Okay, somebody's got to say it:

"Top. Men."

If moving a safe is what they do for a living/job, I would be wondering how good a "fix" they could do as this is not their job.
Rod

Bonded? INSURED???

Damaging a man's house like that should be crime.

My hats off to you for being relatively calm about it.

What you have is amateurs with a Harbor Freight two wheeler.

After our home was rebuilt, we had multiple safes of different sizes installed. First floor and basement.

Not a mark, not a dent, not a scratch.

They cleaned up; Sweeping the hardwood and carpet. Then the boss went back thru looking for damage.

quote:

Bonded? INSURED???

Good time to point this out as most people have no idea what those words mean in relation to what we do.

Bonding means just about nothing. We no longer even carry a bond as we carry insurance that covers much more than the bond did. Most bonds for our industry are so specific, and so limited, that they have never paid a claim. They are usually limited to dishonest acts.

Bonds are inexpensive due to their lack of claims, so many people in my industry will buy one solely for advertising purposes. We're Bonded! Sounds impressive, means nothing.

Insurance is another falsehood. We're insured! For what exactly?

General liability policies are inexpensive and cover a myriad of miscellaneous things. They are mostly designed for store front owners and cover things like signage, slips and falls, limited burglary losses, and similar.

If I have insurance on my truck, health insurance, or even a general liability policy I can advertise that I'm insured. Doesn't mean that I actually have a policy that will pay you for any damage I have done.

They do have separate policies and add ons that do. Things like inland marine policies. Ever heard of one of those? That's what covers your safe when it's on my truck prior to delivery. Then there is the property of others policies. This covers losses that I cause to property I do not own. Take your safe for example. Did they have a policy that covers structural collapse? That may be important when they run a safe up a flight of stairs that gives way beneath them.

Then you have work comp and similar. Do they have it? If they don't, do you know who's held liable if one of them is injured during work for you on your property?

I can count on one hand the number of times I am asked to prove I'm insured in a typical year. Nobody asks. Nobody cares unless something goes wrong, and then it's too late.

There are an awful lot of people out there doing this work that are not properly insured, may not even be a legitimate business, and if you knew more about them and their help, likely wouldn't want them to know that you have a safe in your house.

Thanks for the information. I never fully understood what bonded and insured meant.

Have you paid them yet? Do you have before photos?

You have several hundred dollars worth of damage.

I paid $275 (from the company I bought the safe from) to have my fairly large safe put down a very tight hallway with a couple turns I can’t believe they were able to make. They threw down these slide things over my carpet and I swear the people were magicians because there’s no way I would have made it happen without taking out half of my walls to make it to the spot they put it in...

That sucks it looks like these people were complete morons... hopefully not a craigslist safe mover and they actually have insurance

I wont recommend this to my invisible SF friends, but it worked great for me:
When I moved to the Yoop, I had a medium sized safe I need to have moved from the sidewalk of my townhouse to an upstairs bedroom. Local movers wanted 350 bucks for the job. Pass. I then drove to the NMU campus and found the football team at practice. I offered to pay 4 kids 50 bucks each to move the safe. I told them any damage, no 50 bucks. The 4 dudes showed up an hour later, shot the safe up the stairs without fuss or damage. Money well spent!

I had to a 36" safe lag bolted the floor of a Rec Room closet. Wife divorced me so I had to move. Forgot to remove one of the lag bolts & the mover braced himself against the wallboard. A stud centered on his Ass-crack. Two butt cheek holes in the wallboard! Wish I had a photo.

I thought not so bad when I saw your pic.
Then realized there were MANY!

Sorry that happened to your nice new house. Are they going to make it right?

When we bought the house we're living in, there were some issues with a few banisters and railings. We had the good fortune of hiring a master carpenter to fix it. He wasn't cheap, but he knew what he was doing.

I found him by going to a millwork supply house that specializes in custom railings, stairs, and doors. I asked for a recommendation on a master carpenter who did good work. He custom matched the stain so when he left, no one could see what he had done.

They even left a shadow of a huge head and ears on the wall! Don't always get that with a safe-move... Parabellum, meet Paranormal!

Seriously, though, that stinks.

... around here there is ONE guy in town that people call. Been doing it for years, and he's on EVERY move.

BTW.. love the baseboard miters! Boom! Only way to trim stair stringers.