How much to claim for movers' furniture damage?

October 25, 2015 2:58 PM

I've recently moved and my great-grandmother's dresser now has some significant new chips and one thing I'd call a gouge. :( The claim form from the movers says you can request a repair--or put down an amount of compensation you want.

I don't think I want them to repair it because I'm afraid they'd make it worse, to be honest. The form says "If the item is repairable but you will accept a nominal cash allowance instead of repair, enter the amount you are requesting."

I'm finding it impossible to put a value on this incremental damage to a not-previously-pristine but valuable and sentimental piece. $10? A million dollars? I would like to crowdsource a reasonable figure.

posted by bradamant to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

When movers damaged my dresser, I actually wanted it to be repaired so I selected that option but they instead paid out the full replacement value (it was a $200 Ikea piece).
posted by vegartanipla at 3:04 PM on October 25, 2015

I would contact a reputable furniture repair place, ideally one that specializes in antiques, and ask for an estimate to fix the damage. Request that amount.
posted by insectosaurus at 3:05 PM on October 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: insectosaurus's suggestion makes a lot of sense, but I moved to a new city so I'm feeling daunted by the prospect of identifying a good furniture repair place and having to arrange for them to look at it possibly during business hours when I don't want to take off from my new job. I can imagine the phone conversation now: "How much is it worth?" - "I dunno." - "What wood is it made from?" - "Ummmm, grandmawood?" :P I'll do it if I have to, but I feel like the form is inviting me to make up a figure.
posted by bradamant at 3:12 PM on October 25, 2015

Metafilter may be able to help you find a reputable furniture repair place in your city. You could start by sending them photos of the whole piece and close ups of the damage. They might also be able to tell you how to locate helpful identifying information.

Really, without knowing more about the piece of furniture it's going to be hard to tell you what a reasonable payment would be.
posted by alms at 3:36 PM on October 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

Attach a photo and I'll ask my dad, who is somewhat of an expert on antique furniture.
posted by mrfuga0 at 4:15 PM on October 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

You really need to post a set of detailed photos if you want anyone to hazard a guess.

Unfortunately, sentimental value doesn't enter into the calculation. Really, this is just a question of how much the item would cost to repair, even if you don't actually want it repaired. Local furniture repair place is going to be the best option to get an estimate of that. At least if you take a set of detailed photos to post here, you can potentially send those to a furniture repair place for a quickie estimate.
posted by ssg at 5:00 PM on October 25, 2015

Also, don't get your hopes up that they will compensate you in any fair fashion. We had movers drop and destroy a stunning Art Deco statue, and the total compensation was less than it cost to have appraised. We could have sued, but it wasn't worth the time sink to do so. Point being, even professional cross country movers are slime balls when it comes to fixing problems they cause.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:31 PM on October 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Sorry for the late follow-up... was having trouble getting home from work in time to have enough light to take a decent photo. Then I discovered the paperwork from the loading which documented every previous scratch on each surface of each furniture item and realized that I'll just end up in a stupid debate about which scratches were pre-existing. I simply put in a claim for a broken lamp and some other obvious stuff and let it go. Thank you all.
posted by bradamant at 12:14 PM on November 10, 2015