Munden's Moving

In November 2020, my partner and I hired Munden's Moving to move our large furniture as I had previously used them and had a good experience. One of the pieces of furniture was a new, higher quality Sauder presswood desk bought so she could work from home during the pandemic. One side had drawers and the other was supported by a sole piece of presswood. It makes sense to not put all the weight on the side without drawers. Unfortunately, one of the movers wrapped up the desk and a different mover then tipped the desk on its side to put it on the dolly, but on the side without the drawers. The wood snapped and the desk was now broken.

We didn’t think it was a big deal, it's insured, and the movers assured us it was covered. So we went on with our day, everything was moved over and done.

We knew we had 30 days to submit the insurance claim which we did the following Monday. Now this move happened at the end of November. Between the holiday season and COVID-19, I expected them to be rather busy. We sent along the requested information and waited a few days for an update but didn't receive any communication back. We eventually followed up two weeks later and they confirmed they were swamped but would get back to us ASAP.

Fast forward three months (December, January, February) and we followed up with the company as we had heard nothing from them. That was when we were told it was clearly stated in the email we were sent before our move that IKEA-like furniture was not covered but as a sign of goodwill they would cover half the cost of the desk.

Now I will admit, I had noticed the ”IKEA-like furniture” statement in the original email and assumed that it referred to furniture specifically from IKEA or similar flimsy furniture. This was a sturdy desk when you didn't try to pull all its weight on the wrong side. When I reached out to seek clarification, their response was the statement referred to anything made out of presswood.

Here's the thing, pretty much all of mine and my partner’s furniture is presswood. The only furniture I own that isn't presswood are a few antique pieces and, that's right, furniture from IKEA. Solid wood furniture isn’t in a lot of people’s budgets anymore. If they had wanted to be clear about what their basic insurance did and didn’t cover, they should have used the phrase, “flat-pack furniture” instead of “IKEA-like”. When I pointed this out, their response was even if the piece was covered, they were only obligated to cover about 1/6 of the cost of the item (their basic insurance only covered 60 cents per lb of the item). Extended insurance would have added an additional $150 to $200 on top of the $1000 we paid for the move.

I wanted to share this in case you were seeking their services in the future. If you have a bunch of solid wood furniture or you're flush with money for the extended insurance, you might be fine. However, given their response to our claim, I have my doubts that the extended insurance would offer enough extra protection.

The movers were good overall but my interactions with the office assured that I will find another moving company the next time we move and that we will actively not recommend Munden’s to our friends and families.