Global Van Lines - GSA — Your Move: Your Rights and Responsibilities

Your Move: Your Rights and Responsibilities

GSA – General Services Administration
Centralized Household Goods
Traffic Management Program
January 2001

General Points

General information about your move is available in the General Services Administration’s booklet "Shipping Your Household Goods."
Detailed information about the mover’s responsibilities to you and to the Government is contained in the GSA Tender of Service (TOS). Your move coordinator should have a copy of the TOS for your review.

Your Move

Instead of making your own arrangements, your agency has made those arrangements for you. Your agency will pay the moving company directly for the services it provides. To do so, your agency has issued a Government Bill of Lading (GBL). Make sure you have received a copy of the GBL and that it is correct.
Once your agency has authorized the movement of your HHGs, the Government will pay the costs of packing, loading, transportation, unloading, unpacking, and storage-in- transit (SIT).
The Government will NOT pay the cost to move airplanes, mobile homes, camper trailers, boats, birds, pets, livestock, cordwood, building materials, property intended for resale or disposal, or property used in a business.
The Government may pay the cost to move privately owned vehicles when authorized by your agency.
The Government may pay the cost to move your professional books, papers and/or equipment used in your Government employment.
The Government will move your HHGs at Full Value Service. If you desire to increase the base valuation, you must notify your move coordinator, in writing, to have the excess valuation shown on the GBL. The cost for such additional valuation will be charged to you by the Government.

Communications

Communication between you, your move coordinator, and the moving company is vital to the success of your move. If you have any questions, ask! If anything is wrong, contact your move coordinator.

Your Rights

You have the right to have your HHGs moved in a professional and timely manner by a firm that has been approved by GSA to handle Government employee property.
You have the right to have qualified, professional personnel pack, load, transport, unload, and unpack your HHGs.
You have the right to an on-site pre-move survey of your belongings by the mover. Only your GBL Issuing Officer may authorize the mover to conduct a telephone survey.
You have the right to have all items disassembled by the mover at your old residence to be reassembled in your new residence.
You have the right to stop the mover’s work at any time you believe that to continue will subject you or your possessions to harm.
You have the right to review and object to the way in which your property is coded on the mover’s inventory at origin.
You have the right to have the mover provide reasonable assistance in the preparation of a claim. This includes the mover providing estimates of repair at its expense.
You have the right to stop work and rest. Working hours are from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. However, you may continue to work beyond 5:00 p.m., begin work before 8:00 a.m., or work on Saturday, Sunday, or U.S. holiday if mutually agreeable in writing between you and the carrier at no additional cost to the Government.
When your goods are placed in SIT, you have the right to have them stored within 50 miles of the destination municipality. If there are no SIT facilities located within 50 miles, only the GBL Issuing Officer may approve SIT at another location.

Your Responsibilities

You have the responsibility to ensure that the mover services your shipment in a professional manner and to immediately advise your move coordinator when it does not.
You have the responsibility to establish with the mover the date on which your shipment will be packed and loaded.
You have the responsibility prior to pickup of your shipment to advise your move coordinator, in writing, if you want to declare excess valuation above the base valuation on your shipment. Any increased valuation must be shown on the GBL.
You have the responsibility to be present or have your designated agent present as your goods are packed and loaded to protect your and the Government’s interests.
You or your designated agent have the responsibility of verifying and signing the inventory prepared at your old residence to ensure that it properly reflects the contents and condition of your HHGs.
You have the responsibility to advise the mover of everything you intend to move, and you must make accessible to the carrier all items you intend to move, including items in the attic, garage, basement, and storage shed.
You have the responsibility to stop work on your shipment and notify your GBL Issuing Officer or move coordinator when it is not being performed to your satisfaction.
You have the responsibility to disassemble before your move and reassemble after delivery, ice makers, swing sets, outdoor playground equipment, television and radio antennas, satellite dishes, storage sheds, and other similar items.
You have the responsibility to arrange for the disconnecting/reconnecting of gas and/or electric washers/dryers. You also have the responsibility of draining water hoses and draining/filling waterbeds.
You have the responsibility for arranging for the disassembling, reassembling, or servicing of articles that require special servicing or services of a technician or craftsman such as a grandfather clock, hi-fi stereo or other electronic equipment, phonograph sets, gas dryers, wall units/room electric/pipe organs, hot tubs, pool tables.
You are responsible for the transportation costs to ship that portion of your HHGs in excess of 18,000 pounds.
You have the responsibility to be present or have your agent present when your goods are delivered to confirm from the original inventory listing that all boxes, furniture, and other items are accounted for and are received in the same condition as when they were picked up. You must immediately notify the carrier and annotate on the carrier’s delivery inventory listing all loss or damage that is readily visible as your goods are unloaded.
You have the responsibility to instruct the mover in the placement of property at your new residence. This does not mean the mover must place articles being unpacked in drawers, cupboards, cabinets, or closets, except when articles are removed from hanging wardrobes.
You have the responsibility to report and submit a claim in writing for any loss/ damage discovered at the time of delivery or that found after delivery. Any loss or damage that is not readily noticeable at the time of delivery, such as broken china or glassware that was in a carton and not unpacked when goods were delivered must be reported, in writing, to the mover within 75 days after delivery. This does not mean, however, that you cannot file a claim after 75 days. Concealed damage must be reported within 75 days. If it is not, the burden of proof is on you to prove that the mover did the damage.
You have the responsibility to complete and return the GSA Household Goods Carrier Evaluation Report to your GBL Issuing Officer.

The Mover’s Responsibilities

The mover has the responsibility to conduct an on-site pre-move survey of your property to determine weight, packing material, and containers needed.
The mover must inspect and perform all packing, crating, and padding necessary to ensure the safe transportation of your belongings. Except for the packing of grandfather clocks and pool table slate, the use of crates must be pre-authorized by the GBL Issuing Officer. At your request, articles such as electronic equipment may be packed in the original containers if the containers are considered by the mover to be in good condition for shipping purposes.
The mover must furnish clean packing containers of sufficient quality for the protection of your goods, such as barrels, boxes, wardrobes, cartons, all crating materials, and all padding materials and equipment. The mover must furnish new cartons for mattresses, linens, clothing, draperies, and other similar articles.
The mover shall reassemble all property disassembled by the mover at origin e.g., beds, waterbeds, and sectional bookcases and shall service all appliances; e.g., remove washer kits, washer packs/locks, record player turntables, etc. that were serviced by the mover to ensure safe transportation of your shipment.
If requested by you, the mover shall unpack and/or uncrate all property that was packed and crated for movement and shall place the property in your new location as instructed by you. When unpacking is performed by the mover at delivery, the mover must remove all packing or related material from the premises.
The mover has the responsibility to protect finished surfaces from scratching or marring, to pack books in cartons and separate each row of books with an intervening piece of solid or corrugated fiberboard, and to pack kitchenware by itself.
The mover has the responsibility to carefully pack such items as glassware, chinaware, and other fragile articles using clean, modern materials. Excelsior or shredded paper is not acceptable. The mover must wrap ornaments, small toys, and other small items individually. The mover must wrap lampshades and pack them separately from other items.
The mover has the responsibility to notify you as soon as possible and the GBL Issuing Officer within five (5) days after placement of your HHGs in SIT, of the name, address, and telephone number of the warehouse in which the shipment is stored.
The mover has the responsibility to ensure that facilities or warehouses used by the carrier for SIT are commercial facilities used in the normal receipt and storage of HHGs.
The mover has the responsibility to inventory at origin all items in your shipment and to specify the actual condition of those items and to list at delivery all loss or damage that has occurred.
The mover has the responsibility of providing to you all reasonable and necessary assistance in the preparation of claims including repair estimates at no cost to you.