Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum UPDATE: Piano Mover Damages Piano and then Blows Off Customer

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JPM,
Please, private message me with the name of the mover.

Thanks,
Peggy

Hi JPM,

YES, please continue to bump this thread, I think it's quite important.

I keep reading the posts, and think since so many members and lurkers will need to move their pianos from time to time, PianoWorld through this thread is providing a most valuable service.

BTW, could you please elaborate on your comment that "The piano was insured under its own Personal Article Floater so I am fully covered..."? Didn't understand this. Thanks. And hope things work out for you.

Pianodevo,

For certain high-value items (pianos, furs, jewelry, fine art, etc) it is necessary to buy a special policy to ensure you have sufficient coverage in case the item is stolen/damaged/destroyed. My insurance company calls this policy a Personal Article Floater. Other companies may call it something else.

Normally the insurer will want you to establish the item's value (sales receipt or recent appraisal) and provide photos to document the items condition. The insurance is not cheap, but in the case of my piano (which I knew had at least a two moves ahead of it before I retired), I felt it was worth it.

There was a thread not too long ago that discussed musical instrument insurance you might want to read. Some companies specialize in musical instrument coverage. A few piano owners identified individual insurers that provide this coverage in this thread.

I hope I've explained this adequately. I am certainly not an expert on insurance.

JP

JPM, I'd also like the name of the mover. Could you PM me?

Sorry to hear about this.

I PMed you Jon. Thanks for your comment and for asking.

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JPM,

Sounds awful! Thanks very much for sounding the alert for the rest of us. A bureaucratic nightmare in addition to everything.

I second the recommendations of JoeB and GeorgeK (this is for others out there mostly, at this point). Any homeowner should avoid at almost all costs, putting in a claim. I recommend having a high deductible too.

I'm one of the unlucky ones to learn this the hard way, having lost my coverage through a combination of several incidents in a three year period. One was (get this) only an inquiry, I didn't need to follow up on! It was still listed. And I had been covered for almost fifteen years without claims, paying for a tiny $100 deductible.

Couldn't get coverage anywhere for three years. Then when I went looking I found most companies wouldn't touch me because I hadn't had insurance in the previous year!!

Word to the wise.

Amanda

(Could you please PM me the company's name c/o WTF preferably as I don't check here much?)

Hi JPM,

My heart sank when I read your story.

I too had a piano damaged by supposed piano movers. Three skinny guys to move a 1923 Knabe nine footer...(1268lbs) oh yeah with a truck (No. 13) with a damaged (broken welds on the rails) incline board.

The long and the short of it is they dropped the piano removing it from the truck at the warehouse and broke the case in two...crated it anyway and shipped it to my rebuilder 3000 miles away without saying a word to me or the parent moving company.

I arrived at the rebuilders two weeks later to discuss the rebuild having already confirmed that the crate arrived safely and in excellent condition only to find the piano rim completely broken and seperated, music stand smashed, cabinet gashes and damage galore.

Lucky for me...I had a complete set of 'before' photos (120) that I had compiled for the rebuilder, documenting every possible angle of the piano, PRIOR to it being moved.

The rebuilder co-operated with me wonderfully (Les pianos Andre Bolduc) by taking a complete set of photos of damage after the piano arrived and was uncrated.

In between, I recorded every conversation with the Insurance Company, copied my lawyer on every communication, and after six months of hounding them weekly for responses,...they finally paid me the value of the insurance that I had taken out from them for the move. Sadly the damage exceeded the 10,000.00 insurance policy by some 3,000.00.

Nonetheless, I won what I was certainly entitled to, and didn't have to go to court....although I had to be prepared at every step of the way for that eventuality.

Confirming that your mover is bonded is an excellent idea. Wish I had done that, before going with this International Company and it's local yahoo boneheads. The old sub-contractor, sub-contractor, sub-contractor game. The International Company had to pay the piper for the local incompetents.

Keep your chin up and it will work out for the best hopefully. Good for you for letting the Forum members in on this carelessness.

Skyblanche

Ariel, thanks for the advice about putting in an insurance claim.

Skyblanche, I remembered you mentioning your piano was dropped in earlier threads, but I did not know how it happened. It's good you had pictures to document the piano's condition before it was moved. It is also good to know your persistence paid off.

If I ever have to move a piano again I will take many more pre-move photos. (I had a few recent photos but not nearly as many as you.) I will also video the move so I will have more compelling evidence to document what happened. That should leave little room for debate about who, where, and how the piano was damaged if the piano movers mishandle it. I think a piano is at greatest risk for damage when it is being moved from the old house to the truck and from the truck to the new house. Most the time the owner should be present for those events and can video it.

Of course, in doing the above, the presumption is that you are dealing with an ethical businessman that will take responsibility and do the right thing when presented the evidence. In my situation that apparently is not the case. The piano moving company owner has not even returned my phone call as he said he would, much less pay for the repair. It appears as though he is not very concerned about his company's reputation either, as I am almost certain he is aware of this thread. Given this scenario, about the best public good I can do is to let piano owners, dealers, and technicians know what happened so they can make an informed decision whether to use this company or recommend the company to others.

The other thing I would recommend is to get a piano technician to service the piano just before shipment. That way you have an independent expert that can corroborate the piano's condition before it was moved. I would also have the technician prepare the action for shipment by immobilizing the hammers & shanks, using the packing material the manufacturer uses when the piano is shipped from the factory. This is particularly important for grands since they are shipped on their sides. Preparing the action for shipment may prevent some costly repairs if the piano is dropped or otherwise mishandled.

I cannot thank Cathy Harl enough for giving me the packing material used to ship one of her Bechstein grands. I think it saved the day as far as my action was concerned.

JP

Bump.

Thanks for the bump pianodevo.

So are you still in contact with the movers now, or have they completely disappeared or refused to return your calls?

What's new in this saga?

Nina,

I have not called or emailed the company since the series of emails I posted here initially. D_____, his scheduler/receptionist, said she told the owner each time I called or emailed. I believe her. The owner has no intention of calling me back. Any further attempts to contact him would be a waste of time.

The claim adjuster that's working the claim has tried calling the owner several time. I understand he has not returned the adjuster's calls either.

That's why I think it is important for readers to know how this piano mover operates. I do not want anyone else to have to go through this kind of experience.

Thanks for asking though. If you know of anyone that is looking for a piano mover, I encourage you to refer them to this thread. Even if they are not located along the mid-Atlantic seaboard, there are some pearls to be drawn from this information.

Again, I will provide the name of the company to anyone that PMs me.

JP

sue them for all their worth

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Just a note to say that not all piano movers are boneheads. The guys who moved my Estonia 190 into the house were very careful. They obviously knew what they were doing and I would recommend them highly. Heck I even tipped them. I appreciate your pain and I would be as angry as you in your shoes.

That's another way of saying,... bump.

Thanks Steve. I agree. This is the first time I've had a problem with a piano move.

JP

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