Cummings Moving Co. Broke lamp and wrongfully discarded many items South San Francisco California

In March of 2020 we had a small fire with a lot of water damage, so we had to move everything out, put it in storage for a few months, and move back. For the two moves and the storage, we paid Cummings a total of $6777.50.

Most of our complaint is due to their unauthorized disposal of a number of items. When we moved out, we authorized that some items could be disposed due to water or smoke damage. The move foreman made two lists: a storage list and a “dispose/dump” list. However they disposed of (or possibly kept—see below) a number of additional items that we did not authorize for disposal and that they did not put on the disposal list--a large chair mat, a hamper, two large bookcases, a large box of sewing supplies, a large paperweight, a clothes hanging rack, the contents of a desk drawer, an inflatable mattress, and two expensive torchiere lamps.

Before the movers left, we checked the disposal list carefully and none of these items was listed, except the torch lamps, so we figured everything else was on the storage list, which ran to three pages and listed mostly boxes and furniture. After they returned our goods after storage, we noticed that the above goods were missing and filed a claim for the missing items. They denied our claim, saying they were not on the storage list! If they were not on either list, they obviously failed to list them at all, but took no responsibility for this omission.

However I doubt if it would have done any good even if they listed the missing items on either list because they expressly agreed to save and return two torchiere lamps but failed to do so. Initially they put the two torchieres, which were in perfect condition, on the disposal list. When we saw this, we objected and told the foreman to store and return them, which he agreed to do. We marked them as “save” also.

Nevertheless, when they moved the goods back from storage, the torchieres were missing and a different foreman told me that they were disposed and offered no explanation, except that I should file a claim. When I filed a claim with Cummings and listed the lamps as “disposed against express instructions”, they completely ignored this in their reply—see below.

The lamps cost $434 and were fairly new. We don’t know what happened to the lamps and the other goods, but they charged us $580 for dump fees. However one of the men, when wheeling out our dining table, which we authorized for disposal, indicated that this was an expensive item and that he would be taking it home for himself.

The other part of our complaint concerns the extremely sloppy and unprofessional way they packed and handled some of our goods. They put an expensive vase in the same carton with a heavy metal parts storage cabinet, with no padding or wrapping of either item or between. By some miracle, the vase was not broken.   But in another carton, a lamp was not so lucky.

Below is a picture of the top of the carton showing how it was packed: everything (mostly telephones) was just dumped in with no padding.

In answer to my claim, Cummings said that we had selected only basic coverage, which was $0.60 per pound, and all we were entitled to was $3 for the lamp, which weighed 5 pounds. They completely ignored our claim for the missing torchieres, which they disposed of after expressly promising to store and return them. They evidently felt some guilt because they said that “in good faith” they sent us a $50 check for “reimbursement based on your evaluation” and that our acceptance of the check would release Cummings from any further liability and our claim was now closed. We figured that our loss for the damaged and missing goods was many times more so we are instead publishing our sad story in hopes that others will be warned and will have more information before trusting their household goods to this mover.