Dear United Van Lines

Suck it.

Yours,
Yankee Librarian



Let me explain, United lost a box of stuff when they moved me one year ago. It never made it on the inventory list and it never made it to my new place. According to them, it never existed.

Why am I just now bringing this up? Because they didn't come back to me until a few weeks ago with a settlement. See, the box isn't the only thing missing. They lost a piece of my grandma's spinning wheel, they broke a glass, and some vintage TV trays. They are willing to admit they lost the piece of the spinning wheel, but the box that I estimated at having a value of about $600? Noooooo...

Why did it take so long? Part of it was due to a wrong phone number. My old phone number was put on the form by the person handling my account and I didn't catch it before I mailed the forms. Once we got that worked out, someone came out to look at the spinning wheel and the other items damaged. That was several months ago. After getting tired of waiting, I called to find out where the claim was.

This is when they told me there was no evidence the box was missing because there was no evidence of it ever existing, and that I was, in my own terms, shit out of luck.

The bastards.

I cried foul. The claims dude, from here on out to be known as the moron, said he would check with his manager and get back to me the next day. That was a week ago. Again, tired of waiting and tired of dealing with the moron, I called his manger and left a message asking that someone, anyone tell me where my claim was. Because you know what? It had been a year. And why did I have to keep calling to get an update?

The moron called me back and told me I was still shit out of luck. Because see, it was my responsibility that the all items made it on the truck. I congratulated the moron for working for a company that writes policies so tight that they bear virtually no responsibility when moving items cross country. I told him it was ridiculous to expect someone to be aware of every tiny bit of small print when they are dealing with one of the most stressful things a person can do: pack up their lives and move cross-country. And what makes it worse, this is coming from the company that a person not only pays to move their items, but the company a person trusts to get all of their items to their destination. This is all coming from a company who tells you, no, reassures you, that they are there to make your move smooth.

There was no proof, he said, that the box existed or that it was ever in the hands of United Van Lines. I saw it, I told him. I watched it being loaded. I have a picture of it. Not good enough, he said. It wasn't documented. My word wasn't good enough. I thanked him for calling me a liar.

I went on to tell him that the company he works for is unprofessional and irresponsible. He works for a company unable to hire people to do the job they are paid to do: getting a person's stuff from point A to point B. They are unprofessional and irresponsible because they put the blame on the person who isn't the so-called relocation professional.

United Van Lines, you are invited to suck it. I'm irritated about losing my Where the Wild Things Are action figures. I am. Really. But I'm even more upset about the items I can't replace: five years of work-related contacts carefully compiled through some hardcore networking; pictures drawn for me by friends who stopped to see me at the reference desk; postcards sent to me by friends; Christmas cards made and designed by friends; gifts from friends; photographs of my nieces and nephew; photographs of a trip I took to Toronto; magnets and other trinkets I bought on various trips; a small glass globe my bother gave me when he returned from China.

Yes, United Van Lines, that box did exist and it meant a lot to me. It was my stuff. It contained my memories. It contained things I can never, ever replace. Not caring enough to even attempt to take any sort of responsibility in this matter is an insult to me and every single person who gave me something that is now gone.

You know what, United Van Lines, sure, you can suck it. But really, I think you should take this opportunity to fuck off. Completely, totally, and royally. Fuck off.

(My only option at this point is to go into arbitration. They are sending me the money to settle the other claimed items and they will send me the arbitration paperwork if I decide to file.)