Moving Pains (continued)

So yesterday the movers (Top Movers) finally came. They arrived on time at 0800 but with only 2 people. It took them 8.5 hours to pack and load a one bedroom apartment!! I sort of expected they would take lunch somewhere in between, but they didn't. So I didn't eat or drink anything all day (all food had been thrown out). That still would've been such a big deal, except that they didn't know how to pack. They would not fully pack the boxes, so if the boxes were shaken, you can hear stuff shifting around inside. When I told them they needed to stuff the boxes with paper or something to prevent this shifting, they said they only wrap breakables. Don't they realize unbreakables can still get damaged? When I insisted, they gave me an attitude saying this is how they do it and it's never a problem. I don't believe it. They started stuffing a little bit of paper, but not enough to really keep things in place. I'm pretty much expecting things to arrive damaged. Oh, and they only had small boxes! So anything bigger than the box would either be squeezed in, or bubble wrapped and left as is. They forced my printer in one of the boxes, but didn't pad it at all, and the top didn't close properly. Put one heavy box on top of it and my printer is crushed. I also had to insist on getting my electronics wrapped, and getting a plastic (bubble wrap) lining for the box containing the liquors. They also almost didn't get everything into their truck. They decided to put the 2 sofa pieces into the truck last. Smart move guys. Next time, get the big things in first.

What did go well though, was the check out with the makelaar. He seemed quite happy with how clean I left the apartment. The only problem I had was that he thought it would be better if I had the final bills for utilities sent to the owners and have them pay it out of the deposit. Unfortunately, it takes 4-8 weeks for these bills to be sent, and the owners have an obligation to give me back my deposit within 2 months according to my contract. There is also nothing in my contract about having to pay the final bill out of my deposit. So, I insisted the final bill be sent to me so I could pay it and get my deposit back sooner - hopefully before I close my Dutch bank account.

Oh, I made one last try to change my mailing address without making a visit. It turns out there is a section on the Dutch site (not the English site) that lets you change address. So I thought, great... until the site came back with a form I had to print and mail into ABN Amro. I couldn't even get my local bank rep to use my work address they already have on file as the mailing address. Stupid bank.