How to file a moving damage claim, step by step

1. On delivery day

Walk the load as it comes off. Check the inventory numbers against the sheet and write any damage or missing item next to its number before you sign. "Received in good condition" with your signature under it is hard to argue with later.

Photograph each damaged item where it sits, with the inventory sticker in the frame, and the box it came in. Keep the broken pieces and the packing until the claim is settled; the mover may ask to inspect them.

If you find damage inside sealed boxes after the crew leaves, write to the mover that day or the next. Concealed damage is still claimable, but the longer the gap, the easier it is to say it happened after delivery.

2. The written claim

A claim with no dollar figure is easy to sit on. Name the amount.

Send it to the mover named on the bill of lading, not the broker who sold the move. Email works if the bill of lading gives an email for claims; keep a copy either way. A phone call is not a claim.

Put in: your name, the bill of lading or order number, the pickup and delivery dates, each item by inventory number, what is wrong with it, what it weighs or what it cost, and what you want: repair, replacement, or a sum of money. A specific amount matters; a claim with no figure can be treated as incomplete.

Attach the photos, the delivery inventory with your notes, receipts or replacement quotes, and a repair estimate for furniture. Keep the claim to the facts. The adjuster reads hundreds of them.

3. What the plan you chose pays

Released value pays 60 cents per pound per article, whatever the item cost. A 50-pound television comes back as $30. Full value protection means the mover repairs, replaces with like kind, or pays the current value, up to the value you declared, minus any deductible.

Items worth more than $100 a pound that were not listed in writing before the move can be limited. Boxes you packed yourself are often excluded from damage to the contents unless the box itself was crushed. Read both lines on your bill of lading before you write the figure.

4. When the answer is no, or too little

Ask the mover, in writing, for its arbitration program. Every interstate household mover must offer one. For claims of $10,000 or less, arbitration is binding on the mover if you ask for it. Above that, both sides must agree.

Small claims court is the other door, with its own limit by state. A complaint to the FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database records the problem and can trigger a review of the company, but it does not decide your claim or pay it.

Moves inside one state follow that state's rules and the mover's own tariff. The state desk pages list the regulator and its complaint door.

Canada and the UK

Canada has no single federal claims rule for household moves. Check the contract for the claim window and the liability limit per pound or per item, and use the provincial consumer protection office if the mover stops answering.

In the UK, read the contract's claims clause and the goods-in-transit limit. Members of the British Association of Removers follow its code, which includes a dispute service; ask whether yours is a member. Trading Standards is the door for a firm that ignores you.