What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ, NY, NM
Hello, I'm really hoping someone can help me here.
SHORT EXPLANATION: I hired a private mover based in NM to bring my belongings across the country (NY to OR) for us. We agreed on a two week window for delivery. This was in June. I found out after months of me trying to contact him, that he dumped everything in a storage unit he opened a few days after he picked up our stuff up in NJ. He made the storage unit in his name. So far police have not been willing to help us as they keep saying it belongs to the other jurisdiction.
I apologize for the long explanation.
I booked him through U-Ship.com. The contract stated that I needed all my belongings delivered by June 3rd, 2014. Mover agreed to this and picked up everything my fiancée and I own on May 23rd. Communication began to deteriorate immediately. June 3rd came and went without word from him. After several emails and calls to him, he answered saying it would be delivered within a few days and updated us with a “location” that was a few states closer to OR. This routine happened numerous times over the next five weeks once the promised delivery date came and went. I contacted U-Ship who was holding the money until the delivery was complete and they tried getting him to respond honestly with not much luck. He started becoming belligerent and accusing of U-Ship and I about harassing him with constant questions that he refused to answer. He eventually admitted that our belongings were in a Tuck-It-Away Storage Facility in Newark, NJ and had been this entire time. At this point (around July 8), I requested that he simply relinquish custody of my belongings and that I would hire somebody else to transport them, as our contract had been annulled and U-Ship refunded me. After a week of him not responding, I threatened that I would get a lawyer if we could not work this out. At this point, his phones disconnected and he stopped responding to email except saying that he wants to know any police report numbers I file against him and repeatedly asking for my lawyers number.
I contacted the storage facility in Newark to try to confirm that my belongings are there and they were able to confirm that the guyhad opened up a storage unit with them on May 25th (two days after he picked up my belongings) and that they were interested in his whereabouts as well as he had not payed for June or July. In order to prevent the account from going into default and risk my belongings going to auction, I had to pay $254 in rent and late fees and continue to have to pay for his account. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the unit was opened in his name I can not legally get access to it unless he provides written consent or transfers ownership to me.
I tried bargaining with the mover, even saying that I would not take this to court or make him pay back the late fees and rent he owed on the storage unit if he would just sign the paper giving me access to my things again. I hired a lawyer who emailed him saying we will be taking him to court if he doesn’t respond to the deal. He did not. He ceased communications for nearly 6 weeks now.
Law enforcement has been unable to file theft reports as the case is split between four different states and they all say that a different state is the one that has responsibility. I would serve him with a summons for the law suit but the address on his driver’s license goes to a hotel in Farmington, NM who claim they haven’t seen him in over a year. I haven’t been able to track him down with background checks or anything else either. His last known whereabouts are in Farmington, NM because we were able to use his ISP from his last email (~3 weeks ago) to track him down to somewhere within that area.
I’m reaching out to anybody for help on this. All I want out of this is just to have my home back. My fiancee and I had everything in that shipment. We have been living out of a suitcase for 4.5 months. We had a lot of personal correspondence and familial items of sentimental value that could never be replaced. Thank you so much for readings and again, apologies about the length and confusion.
Hello, I'm really hoping someone can help me here.
SHORT EXPLANATION: I hired a private mover based in NM to bring my belongings across the country (NY to OR) for us. We agreed on a two week window for delivery. This was in June. I found out after months of me trying to contact him, that he dumped everything in a storage unit he opened a few days after he picked up our stuff up in NJ. He made the storage unit in his name. So far police have not been willing to help us as they keep saying it belongs to the other jurisdiction.
I apologize for the long explanation.
I booked him through U-Ship.com. The contract stated that I needed all my belongings delivered by June 3rd, 2014. Mover agreed to this and picked up everything my fiancée and I own on May 23rd. Communication began to deteriorate immediately. June 3rd came and went without word from him. After several emails and calls to him, he answered saying it would be delivered within a few days and updated us with a “location” that was a few states closer to OR. This routine happened numerous times over the next five weeks once the promised delivery date came and went. I contacted U-Ship who was holding the money until the delivery was complete and they tried getting him to respond honestly with not much luck. He started becoming belligerent and accusing of U-Ship and I about harassing him with constant questions that he refused to answer. He eventually admitted that our belongings were in a Tuck-It-Away Storage Facility in Newark, NJ and had been this entire time. At this point (around July 8), I requested that he simply relinquish custody of my belongings and that I would hire somebody else to transport them, as our contract had been annulled and U-Ship refunded me. After a week of him not responding, I threatened that I would get a lawyer if we could not work this out. At this point, his phones disconnected and he stopped responding to email except saying that he wants to know any police report numbers I file against him and repeatedly asking for my lawyers number.
I contacted the storage facility in Newark to try to confirm that my belongings are there and they were able to confirm that the guyhad opened up a storage unit with them on May 25th (two days after he picked up my belongings) and that they were interested in his whereabouts as well as he had not payed for June or July. In order to prevent the account from going into default and risk my belongings going to auction, I had to pay $254 in rent and late fees and continue to have to pay for his account. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the unit was opened in his name I can not legally get access to it unless he provides written consent or transfers ownership to me.
I tried bargaining with the mover, even saying that I would not take this to court or make him pay back the late fees and rent he owed on the storage unit if he would just sign the paper giving me access to my things again. I hired a lawyer who emailed him saying we will be taking him to court if he doesn’t respond to the deal. He did not. He ceased communications for nearly 6 weeks now.
Law enforcement has been unable to file theft reports as the case is split between four different states and they all say that a different state is the one that has responsibility. I would serve him with a summons for the law suit but the address on his driver’s license goes to a hotel in Farmington, NM who claim they haven’t seen him in over a year. I haven’t been able to track him down with background checks or anything else either. His last known whereabouts are in Farmington, NM because we were able to use his ISP from his last email (~3 weeks ago) to track him down to somewhere within that area.
I’m reaching out to anybody for help on this. All I want out of this is just to have my home back. My fiancee and I had everything in that shipment. We have been living out of a suitcase for 4.5 months. We had a lot of personal correspondence and familial items of sentimental value that could never be replaced. Thank you so much for readings and again, apologies about the length and confusion.