Got damage?
I had a difficult PCS, to say the least! But the last thing I thought about dealing with, once settling in our house, was filing a moving claim. If you can't figure out DPS, you've come to the right place.
DPS kinda sucks. I mean, it's decently user friendly, but the constant email reminders to log-in or risk being locked out, the secret webpage key words you must know, the expiration of password times, AGHHH.
It gets aggravating.
If you simply need to get around the DPS certificate error page and came here to figure out how:
Click in a blank space on the webpage. It will not show it as you type, just trust the weird coding magic. Type the following red words as ONE word,
thisisunsafe
Boom! You should be in! It will work whenever that error pops up on the site. Which is frequently.
Reminder:
Log into DPS every two weeks -or so- to keep it active. Inactivity will suspend your log in information.
***TIPS for the DAY OF YOUR HHG DELIVERY***
These will come in handy IF you have to file a claim later:
- You will only have so many days to file a claim, and this changes often. Do not rely on bad advice from a friend who last PCS-ed seven years ago. As of March 2022, we had 180 days to file a claim from the day of delivery. Check with your local transportation office. Your moving company may tell you one thing, but they must abide by the government's timeframe.
- Be organized on the day of delivery. Check off your itemized moving number sheet as soon as boxes and furniture comes off the truck, if you can.
- If you have multiple family members helping, assign each their own sheet(s) to be in charge of. We had three adult people managing one pile, and at times, it was left unattended because one person thought someone else was handling it.
- DO NOT remove stickers yet. They are not always coordinating with the appropriate box or piece of furniture that's labeled on your itemized sheets and you'll definitely have a hard time later figuring it out if sticker numbers are switched. It happens more often than you think.
- If something immediately appears as damaged/broken, say something to your movers and have them state so on paper. They must give you a copy. This helps insure you have proof and will receive compensation for it later.
- If a box appears heavily damaged, open it and check contents before your movers leave and have them mark any broken items as proof.
- If a mover accidentally (hopefully not intentionally) breaks something -no matter if it's your HHG or even a part of your home- in the process of unloading, carrying, lifting, etc, document it!!!
- Pay attention. If you hear a large crash that came from a different room, check it out. Don't wait until your movers leave.
- If some items appear as missing on your itemized list, don't freak out on your movers. Many times we have found that a sticker fell off, was mislabeled, or that we didn't catch the sticker number when a box came off the truck.
**AFTER DELIVERY**
So, if you have already PCS-ed, you should be setup with a DPS account. This blog post is about what comes next, but only if you have claims for broken, damaged, and/or missing items.
After your delivery is complete, you should receive an email from your moving company (not DPS) about the claim process, whether you intend to file one or not. In our email, our company explained that we must notify the transportation office of intent to file a claim before beginning on DPS.
We went down to the transportation office on post where they explained that isn't true.
**Before you begin your claim**
Pull out a good ol' sheet of paper and get ready to organize your broken junk!
You will want to note the following:
- The inventory (sticker) number on the item- make sure it matches the itemized description on your HHG sheets
- What the item is, be specific. A credenza is not a table. A loveseat is not a chair.
- A serial number/make/model (if applicable, but this is required for appliances)
- A brief description of the damage (I use words that aren't vague like "broken"; instead, think gouge, residue, cracked, chunk, shattered, peeling, sticky, scratched, etc,) If it is missing, state "missing"
- Year of purchase
- Purchase cost
- Replacement cost
DO NOT THROW ANYTHING AWAY!!!
My moving company hired out a furniture restoration company to come look at our broken and damaged items. Even though they don't repair glass items or appliances, they still needed to see my broken cake plate, tea pot, dryer, etc in person and document everything we had claimed. They wrote down descriptions, brand names, serial numbers, and even took their own photos.
Your moving company reserves the right to inspect what they may end up paying for.
Failure to allow them to do so may impact your claim.
I do not suggest throwing anything away until your claim is 100% settled and paid out. The guy who inspected our stuff even said so! He mentioned he had to return to one home three times to take more photos because the moving company requested him to do so.
READY TO FILE YOUR CLAIM? LET'S GO!
Log into DPS, click on the drop down arrow of your current move and open your moving information.
On the far right, click "file claim"
You will then agree to a "Claim Disclaimer" that explains date requirements and some other info about the process.
If you are within 180 days of your delivery, you do not need a separate loss/damage report, you can go ahead and jump to "Claim"
You will document individual item claims, one at a time. It's pretty easy to do, but can be a lengthy process if you have a lot of items. This is where you will upload the photos, receipts (if applicable), inventory (sticker) numbers, description, brand/serial, etc,.
Thank me now if you gathered it all up beforehand! It makes life a little easier.
You can save before submitting if you need to.
After everything is submitted, your TSP/moving company has so many days to respond or submit an offer for your losses. I believe it's 60 days as of March 2022.
Eventually, the RAC will inform you if an inspection of your items is required. In our case, it was. The army submits your contact info to a local professional who is qualified to determine loss and damage.
The 3rd party local restoration company worked with our schedule and came out when it was a good time for us. They are not necessarily affiliated with your moving company or the military. Just folks who are contracted to observe the damages and report their findings. A neutral party.
And now you wait...
ONCE YOUR OFFER HAS ARRIVED
We received an email from our moving company stating that they have submitted offers for our claims. It also explained that we had to log into DPS to see each offer, as well as accept or deny.
When I logged in, I followed all of the directions to a very straight T and nothing was working! I called up the DPS help line only to determine that the moving company hadn't submitted the offers in the DPS system yet. In the status column, it must state "Offer Made" before you can view, accept or deny a claim.
If you received an email stating you can now accept a claim in DPS, but your items don NOT have an "Offer Made" status, don't waste your time with DPS. It's on your moving company's end. Call them and explain that you got the email, but the status on DPS is still wrong.
Our company was able to update it immediately.
If you notice in the status column, the first two rows I had already accepted. Their statuses changed from "Offer Made" to "Item Settled"
To accept your offers:
Go to the far right and locate the actions drop down. Click on it.
It will highlight the specific item you are about to settle on. then select "details". A new window will appear for that item specifying details of your claim and the offer your moving company is willing to settle on.
If you are satisfied with the offer, locate the "accept" option on the left, under the Item Offer Details Section.
If you are not satisfied with the offer, you MUST transfer the claim to the MCO for them to intervene. You can do this in the actions drop down menu, located on the far right side.
Do not accept ANY offer if you feel the offer sucks or is utterly wrong!
Note: Generally all things; junk, stuff, furniture, knickknacks, electronics, appliances, dinnerware, whatever depreciate.
But in 2022, that's a different story. As I type, we are living in a time of inflation, thus many of the things we claimed are actually valued as WAY more than we paid. In some cases, these items were purchased YEARS ago!
Now all you can do is wait again! Your TSP will have 30 days to pay you out.
Now-a-days, you may be able to sign up for a e-deposit to your bank account; your moving company will send an email letting you know how to set it up if they offer it. This has zero to do with DPS, so don't call them asking how. Unless you like long holds and elevator music.
Your moving company may also mail a paper check. Make sure they have your correct mailing address before submitting your claims!
My #1 trick to the army claim process in terms of receiving high offer amounts:
Don't be a dirty bitch.
This has a double meaning, y'all. And I mean it with kindness.
Honesty goes far, in my opinion. If you attempt to be dishonest and dirty about your claim, you may get paid more, but I firmly believe that karma will find you later with a check engine light, a shattered iPhone or some shitty out-of-pocket issue when you least expect it.
The second thing, keep your house clean and take care of your things. Or at least clean before the inspection company arrives. I run a tight ship. This place is never disgusting. But the occasional dust bunny may escape me, and I don't always scrub toilets daily. I cleaned the morning of my inspection, meaning I dusted all of my furniture, cleaned all glass items, made the house smell nice and look nice. Mopped, vacuumed, had an empty kitchen sink. This place was a showroom. I do believe it makes a difference. It shows the inspector that you are responsible and care about your house and the contents within it. If it looks like a disaster when they walk in, they could possibly assume it always is and attribute that to the damages they see with your items. Remember that not all damages are reported on the losing side where things were packed. It's up to the inspector to determine if the damages look like they could have occurred during the moving process.
It's also up to them to deem if what you marked as missing kind of matches your lifestyle and appearance. If you mark that you have a missing box full of super valuable goods, but your home screams hot wreck garbage dump, they may not agree with the value.
My #1 Advice Regarding Sentimental Items or High Value Items:
It's simple.
Move them yourself if you are that worried.
My husband and I definitely could have gotten away with a split DITY move, which you are authorized to do. We chose not to for the sake of less hassle, but BOY, we were riding deep down the highways; my minivan and his truck stuffed so full that our gas efficiency was half it's normal miles per gallon the whole ride. Going down mountain passes was scary AF. I thought my brakes would fail because of how hard I had to push the peddle for the car to even slow down. To the floorboard, no joke.
My point is that not only did we bring essentials to live, knowing we'd be house hunting and our HHG would be sitting in storage, but we brought high value and major sentimental items with us. Sure, if we broke or lost them, it'd be on us, but I feel like nobody cares for your things better than you do.
In 2019, I inherited a large (40"x30") original painting that is worth quite a few thousand dollars, but more importantly, it was the one thing my grandmother promised me in the event of her death. The woman in the painting is my biggest comfort; saw me as a newborn, was with my grandparents through their best and worst times, observed many family celebrations, the list goes on.
I would absolutely never forgive myself if something happened to her. And if someone else was responsible, I'd probably go to prison for committing a crime...It was best she traveled with me.
I also brought all valuable jewelry, all family photos/documents, and my husband brought his gun collection. If in doubt, bring it with you.
Hopefully some of this helped you out! Moving is not always fun, especially when you're in your new place hoping to settle and chill, just to find boxes with broken junk inside. Filing a claim is not an overnight process, but it also isn't scary.
Good luck with your move and claim, and if the road gets frustrating, remember that you're not alone. Someone else has traveled before you, and there's always someone behind you on the same trail.
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