I moved on Sunday. I am glad I survived. It was hideous…really.
On Saturday at about 11:00 am I called my regional U-Haul to find out where I should pick up the truck I reserved (and paid a reservation fee) on May 4. They have no record of my reservation…so sorry, no truck. I called their national number and THEY can find my reservation, no problem. Many phone calls later, I am promised I will have a truck.
I decide these people are way too disorganized to depend on, so I call around to find another truck. I am fortunate to find another truck! Unfortunately, it is not $39.95 as the U-Haul was to be. It is $114.95. OK, I count my Blessings that I HAVE a truck and move on. (BTW, U-Haul nver contacted me with instructions to get a truck…I called National and managed to get my deposit back. OK, it was only $5.00, but sheesh!).
My moving crew had not contacted me or returned calls so I got on the phone and found another crew. They would like to be paid in cash. No problem. I go down to the ATM and withdraw 1/2 of the amount from my savings. Even though the amount was less than the daily limit, the ATM would not let me withdraw more money. I call my bank (they have this handy 24/7 line). The person on the phone said they could not help me because I am listed as MALE on my account. Now, I set this account up in person more than 15 years ago. I am female. I have an obviously female first name, but I also use Jr. Long story, but I have never had a problem before. I have a very bizarre conversation with this person who says I must come inside the bank on MONDAY and ask them to change my records…but I should be able to get money from an ATM…
I decide to just go to another ATM and get the money and, lo and behold, it lets me have the money.
OK, good. My housemate and I go down to the truck rental place early Sunday morning. We rent the truck. Coming out of the place I trip and fall down their 4 cement steps and roll into the parking lot. It hurt like a bitch and scared the crap out of the guy who was bringing the truck aound and my housemate. I am a very large person, so I am sure this was quite a sight. Fortunately, I was just bruised up pretty bad, but I hardly felt like slinging boxes around.
The move goes OK and all our stuff is in the house. I had had the cable turned on so I figure I’ll hook up the cable and relax a bit. Nope, won’t work. My housemate’s cable upstairs works just fine, but mine is dead as a hammer. I call the cable company. They will send a fellow out the next day but it will cost me $20. Fine, anything, just send the technician!
Next day, the cable guy arrives, we have a laying on of hands on my cable connection and right as the TV picture comes up, we have a power outage. It was out for 2 hours. I am assured by the cable guy that it will work when the power comes back on…fortunately, it does. I am stupidly happy about this.
Next day, a friend of mine is down at my old house helping clear the basement while I am at the new house trying to find some silverware. I get a frantic call from her that she has locked her keys (and the spare) in her car. Grrrrr. I call a locksmith and spend $75 to get into her car. She is happy. I am really really tired of this move.
Next day, my housemate has the phone people out to hook up his phone line. The house is wired for two phones. Unfortunately the lines to his part of the house are cut somewhere away from the house and the utility people will have to come to fix that…he is not happy.
As for my phone, I had to get a new number because of this move and it works just fine. I have been getting an average of 20 solicitaion calls a day since I moved in. I registered my number on the do-not-call list today and have changed my message to tell telemarketers to remove me from their respective lists.
Is it me or has this move had more than the requisite number of snafus?