Jay & Nicole's Moving Problems - Fall 2007

(click any picture for enlargement)

This " report" begins in July 2007, when we began to prepare for our move from Caracas, Venezuela to Tel Aviv, Israel.  We were hoping to use the lessons we learned from previous moves to make this move go smoothly ... and to minimize any damage to our precious belongings.

As you will see, some things happened which caused a large loss, but they were out of our control.
We ordered boxes and packing material a few weeks before the scheduled move.

It turns out that the quality of the material was very poor.  Luckily though, a co-worker had recently moved and we grabbed her empty boxes; thanks Maryann!

We self-wrapped our most valuable belongings, ensuring there were many layers of padding & protection.  Nothing could be sealed though, as the movers had that responsibility. 

We utilized many plastic crates, wrapping inside items in tissue or clothing.  The crates were bubble-wrapped & then placed in boxes for even more protection.

When the movers arrived, Nicole discussed the 'packing plan' with the Lead Guy ... in detail!

We closely monitored the packing & labeling of the boxes.  There were only a few workers, so we didn't have too much trouble during the three days of packing.

We also re-verified that the container had a reservation to leave the port next week... 
 ... so far, so good! 
After everything was packed, we waited until confirmation of when the empty container would arrive.

All the boxes were then staged to the lobby area.  We closely monitored the process and requested the building's security guard help ensure that no theft occurred.  The date was July 27.
Upon arrival of the container, we performed an inspection and gave the 'OK' for loading.
The 'Lead Guy' loaded everything; he ensured the more sturdy items were placed on the bottom and any fragile items were placed on top.  We monitored the process and were quite impressed!
The container was closed and the seal was applied.  I took a picture of the locking device so we could compare it in Tel Aviv.

At this point the 'Lead Guy' mentioned that taking a picture was a waste of time, as the seal would be broken at the port during inspection ....  what ??? 

 We were concerned that the container might be opened & vandalized at the port... but Nicole got assurance from her Ambassador that, via the Geneva convention, no diplomatic goods would ever be searched.

Up to this point we were happy with 'the move' & expected the container to leave by Aug. 3rd. 

Note: As you can probably forecast at this point, our losses were due to the "inspection process".  Since the Venezuelan government performed the inspection, and since past informants have been supposedly been harassed, any faces in my pics above have been blocked out for their protection.

We had a 'home trip' to Switzerland during August.  By the end of the month we had not received any status about the container, but we fully expected the ship to be nearing Europe by this time.  
We were dismayed to receive the following note on August 26th:

"Hi Nicole: Yesterday, after 4 weeks sitting at the port, the anti-drug inspection was finally carried out on your container.  We had to take out 200 of the 300 boxes and open them up for inspection.  Once they finished, we had to close everything in a big rush and place it in the container again.  The anti-drug guards told us to hurry up because they had to go away and maybe some rain could come. It was very hot and stressful; I lost about 1 kilogram. 

Unfortunately you will find that the nice container we loaded at your place is now not as well packed as you saw.  Many boxes are not as nice and arranged as you saw them.  I can only give thanks that I was there, as the anti-drug guards also inspected the containers of other moving companies who did not have any representatives present. They took out all of the contents and quickly open them.  Much of the packing was destroyed and it was sent on just like that. When the moving companies around the world unpack the containers, they will think bad packing is being done here in the country, but it is due to the problems at the port. This is the new Venezuela."

We were definitely concerned about the aftermath of the inspection, but we were even more concerned by the amount of time the container had been baking in the strong Venezuelan 'equatorial' sunshine.  We could do nothing, though, but hope everything would turn out OK.

 
It turns out that the container did not leave Venezuela until sometime in September.  It ended up being in the port area for almost seven weeks due to the totally illegal drug/customs inspection process!  

The container arrived in Israel, was off-loaded from the ship and then went through customs.
The moving company called to say they would bring the container to us on October 16th.

 
We live in an multi-story apartment building, so Nicole ordered a 'lift' to aid in the unloading of the container; the contents can simply be elevated to our terrace.

Nicole was present when the movers broke the seal; she noted that it was different from the one that we saw installed in Caracas.

As the doors were opened, the contents began to tumble and had to be restrained. Our hearts sunk, as we were sure that many things must have been damaged.  

We took a deep breathe and postured ourselves to monitor the unloading process and to document any problems. We also asked the movers to alert us if anything was out of the ordinary.

Right away the movers identified problems as they took boxes out of the container ... can you believe that a box marked 'fragile' would end up looking like this?

Also note that this box had been opened and not taped closed.  We monitored the movers in Israel, so the opening of the boxes must have taken place in Venezuela ... but it is strange they weren't taped back up. 

 
Almost every load that came up on the lift had a few boxes which were damaged or open.

We were very surprised to see that many of the damaged boxes had footprints on them.  

It is unreal to think that the inspectors actually walked on top of our boxes... probably to pick and choose which ones they wanted to look at.


 

The pictures below show more footprints and damaged boxes.

<=== The box to the left was a re-enforced box, but it was still damaged quite badly ... and was left open after the inspection.

======>
The box to the right was not numbered, which confused me.
I then notice the contents was pills, creams, etc. We can only think that, after inspection, the items were placed into a spare box instead of re-packing them.  



The damaged boxes and the 'extra' box raised some red flags in our minds.  We moved any boxes that had been damaged or tampered with to the side for us to open carefully once things settled down.
 
As the last of the boxes came up from below, the movers took them to the rooms we specified.  

The movers began the task of unwrapping and assembling the bigger items.  They reported that the furniture made the trip without substantial damage. 

 
On the patio we opened the heaviest of the boxes, which contained bricks and pots.

A few bricks that we used for wine storage had been broken.  This material is very tough and was originally packed very well.

We had taken a lot of time to ensure the clay pots were packed well ... 
... but obviously something went wrong, as many were broken or cracked.  

I opened the box shown below, as it had been obviously tampered with and could no longer close properly. To my dismay, it turned out to be our favorite ceramic pot from South Africa ... in pieces.  

I remember watching this pot get packed.  It was originally wrapped in multiple layers of bubble wrap and was placed in the box with the top facing up.  Obviously someone had opened the box, removed the pot and not re-packed it properly.   Very little of the packing material was remaining and the pot had been placed on it's side ... which caused it to crack when weight was applied on top of it.
At the bottom of another box we found the remains of our unique  ostrich egg lamp.

Originally this lamp was placed near the top of the box marked 'fragile' and was well-wrapped.  Whomever inspected this box didn't care to re-wrap the lamp and then placed it at the bottom of the box ... what an idiot!

Surprisingly, as of result of the damaged boxes, we actually didn't incur as much breakage as we had feared.  Unfortunately though, the African pot & ostrich egg lamp will be impossible to replace.
We now move on to the next kind of damage we incurred ... which was due to vandalism caused during the inspection.

To the right is a gift pack of candle balls from Argentina.  It looks like an Inspector cut open the package and proceeded to stab the candles with a sharp instrument ... goodbye gift!

 
The inspectors got to the bottom of this box and probably wanted to see what an iRobot is ... so they just lazily broke through the cover instead of removing it.

Luckily our robotic vacuum cleaner was not damaged. 

 
This box of wine was also sliced open so the contents could be reviewed.  

It seems that it was easier to slash through the box than to lift it up and open it properly.

The next kind of loss we need to report on was due to theft.

The contents in the box to the right were also slashed open.  We packed these boxes full and since there was so much open space, something must have been taken.  This box was missing a battery charger, CD player and my wireless modem 

 

The wireless card for Nicole's laptop computer was also missing.  They just slashed open the box and ripped out the card.

 

This red crate was no longer wrapped in it's box, an obvious indication of tampering.

The contents were rudely gone through and Nicole's laptop computer was no longer in the crate.  The laptop was an older model, but the computer bag and accessories were quite nice. 


This item was also slashed and taken ... but what was it ?
This crate of office supplies was thoroughly gone through.  Nicole's collection of swatch watches was missing, as well as a bag of foreign coins. 

We were very limited as to what we could carry on the plane, so we had to ship many valuable items. We never expected that things could be stolen! 

 
Our biggest single loss came from box #228, which was full of electronic items.  I carefully packed this box by myself.  

I knew something wasn't right when I saw the box had been opened & not re-taped.  Inside the box, the red crate did not have any wrapping around it. 


When I opened the crate, I could see lots of empty space.  The green box was originally on top of the crate and had contained my self-powered computer speakers; wrapped in clothing for insulation. 

Note: They didn't take the power cord, which would render the speakers relatively useless.



 
At the bottom of the crate was a pile of beach towels.  My heart sunk, as these towels originally had wrapped our DVD player and my brand new Toshiba laptop computer.

My worst fears had come true ... they stole my most valuable belongings.  

It is too bad that the boxes had to be labeled, as they could easily identify the ones with electronics or personal items.

gone 
gone 

Box #241 was also tampered with.  The smaller boxes inside were all ripped open; some were empty since their entire contents had been stolen.  It will take a long time to figure out what was taken.  
I am afraid we won't realize some items are missing until we want to use them and can't find them. 

My slingshot was also broken.  I can only imagine that the Inspector decided to "try it out" and pulled back to far ... probably laughing about it afterwards.

A lone  power adapter used to belong to some electrical device that I am sure I will identify soon.  It hurt to realize that yet another item had been stolen.

Box #244 had a lot of empty space ... yes, more computer electronics & software is missing.

This red crate was rambled through and my car battery charger and emergency light was gone.


They didn't take the box for the light, so at least I know what was taken.


They also removed the blade from this saw, which takes time!

We will need to find out how much time the Inspectors had free access to our boxes!
The last type of damage that occurred was from the heat while the container baked in the sun.

Anything made of thin plastic or wax was totally destroyed... unfortunately many were gift items purchased from places we had traveled to.

 

The skin cover on our African drum had shrunk and ripped.  It will cost more to replace the cover that the drum originally cost!

As we found more damage, we only got more upset with the Venezuelan government.  It's scandalous that they could delay the departure of our container in order to perform an illegal inspection.  We can only hope that, by publicizing our damage, that others may be saved from the same result.

Our nice sisal rug is no longer usable.  The glue & padding underneath had melted.  It seeped though to the top and caused permanent stains.

The creases also cannot be flattened out.  The padding had melted  and solidified while the rug was all rolled up.


Our sports equipment was also damaged.

My volleyballs all sustained some level of damage. Some popped due to air expansion, some now have cracks in the outer coating, and any made of leather are now hard and stiff.

 

 
My rubber of my scuba mask also melted, as did the masks we bought from a Mardi Gras.

These were very unique and personal items which will not be replaceable.

 

Certain glasses had frames and cases which also did not fare well in the heat.

The final items which sustained heat damage was our collection of South African wines.

We had been storing the wine in a nice cool place for a number of years, looking forward to the time in which we could begin opening them.

We packed them with plenty of insulation to account for a few hot days... but 7 weeks of heat?

As I began to unpack the bottles, I could see stains in the boxes.  
I never even considered that the heat could cause leakage!
If you look closely at the bottles to the right, you can see that the corks have started to protrude from the bottle.  The cork even punched out a little bit of the aluminum covering. This allowed wine to escape & air to enter.

It is hard to imagine how hot the bottles must have gotten for this to happen! 

Experts tell us that any special flavors are now lost.
 
 
Summary: We did a lot of planning for this move.  We acted upon every lesson we ever learned from past moves, with the goal to minimize the damage to our belongings.  

Unfortunately though, we sustained more losses than we have ever heard about.  The worst thing is that the losses were due to decisions of the Venezuelan Government & actions of it's employees.

Someone in the Government decided our container was to be inspected.  Awaiting inspection, the container baked in the sun for 7 weeks; many items sustained heat damage.  During the inspection, many costly and ir-replaceable items were stolen; other items were vandalized.  After the inspection the boxes were not re-packed and the container was not re-loaded properly, leading to breakage.


The inspection was illegal & unnecessary ... all this damage did not need to occur!   
 


Don't worry Mr. Chavez ... these foreigners will not be returning to your country ...
 
... which is what you probably want anyway.

P.S. We now hear that 'maybe your moving company didn't pay enough bribes'.  Reportedly one mover pays up to $20,000 in bribes every week to keep from having to go through inspections.
Our guy said that paying $1000 for a bribe is normal ... and yet we had these problems... terrible!