Do not use Dunmar Moving
Stay away from Dunmar Moving
I strongly recommend that anyone exclude Dunmar Moving Systems of Richmond, Virginia when looking for a mover.
I contacted Allied Moving to store and then move my household goods from Virginia to France. They put me in contact with Dunmar Moving Solutions in Richmond, Virginia. I found later that Allied is part of a larger group called SIRVA.
My goods were packed and shipped directly to Dunmar’s facility. Four months later I asked them to be shipped and they were packed into a container and shipped to France. The Allied/SIRVA contact in France said no French authorities nor any of the French movers opened the container until it arrived at my home. The wooden bulkhead Dunmar built in the container to secure the goods was in place.
I am missing at least 10 of my boxes of goods, including two large dish packs that would have had my name written on them like all the others. This was along with the damaged furniture. I had self-packed a number of plastic and soft containers. Sixteen boxes had no tags on and so I could not check them off the inventory sheets. I was able to reduce that to 10 by counting everything and the contents. Some had tags but had been wrapped with paper with the tags covered. I received two of my self-packed containers that did not have a tag and were not on the inventory. I also received part of someone else’s sofa. I contacted Dunmar about the problem and they told me I had 5 days to report on the missing boxes. I emptied and kept every box so I could check all the numbers, which I did 3 times. I also counted every item I received and matched that against the inventory list and reported back to them on the 3rd day. I made sure I kept in contact with Dunmar and the local SIRVA agent on what was going on. The local movers spoke very little English so they were of little help, although they knew I was missing boxes. We communicated that much.
I filed my claim with SIRVA within the 30-day window. I certainly did not list everything as it was just too much to remember. However, it is hard to forget part of a Waterford Chrystal set and a large portion of my wife’s clothing. There were also things we had collected over 40 years from numerous countries that we now realize are missing.
SIRVA offered payment for the damaged furniture repairs. When it came to the missing boxes, they said that Dunmar had investigated and said they lost nothing. They said I could not prove they were missing so they would do nothing. I told them that I was not interested in their money, but that I wanted my goods. I first offered a $500, no questions asked, reward for my goods, and upped that to $1000. I told them that I would not ask they be sent to me but kept in the US. I asked them to contact everyone Dunmar had shipped to from the time my goods arrived until they sent them to me. I do not know if they did so. I told them that the local movers knew about the missing boxes as well but that did me no good either.
insurance which said I did not need an exact inventory of everything in my shipment to make a claim. Allied disregarded that as well. Their final statement was that Dunmar made a search, said they lost nothing, and I could not prove they did. My insurance, which cost a lot and said I did not have to produce a complete inventory, and following their direction meant nothing. Of course, my insurance cost more than the money for the damaged furniture so they made a profit there as well.
Dunmar said they looked for my goods, but only in the containers in which they had been stored. I believe that Dunmar either lost my goods in their facility, sent them to someone else, or they were stolen from their facility. The individual they sent to oversee my move could not keep up. He spent most of his time filling in the section of the forms that described my furniture. There was a lot of chaos in their work. Both Dunmar and Allied are desperate not to admit their fault as they are probably afraid of the bad publicity. I did offer to sign a document saying I would not sue if they found my goods.
I have moved 26 times, including in the Middle East and Africa. I never lost a box. I had not used Allied before and will not again. There are quite a few moving companies. Do careful research, inventory as much as possible, and take photos of everything. Then, stay away from Allied, and if in Virginia, Dunmar.