Each time Rashmi Kanoria thinks of shifting house, her hair stands on end. The hassle of shifting gives her cold feet.

Those who shift house frequently know how stressful the process can be. The time spent on selecting a company that understands the customer’s individual needs and is accordingly willing to customise its services is the key to a glitch-free shift. But in recent years, despite the increase in the number of companies that help to relocate, the movers-and-packers sector is still in a state of disarray.

However, there are companies that offer value-added services, including door-to-door delivery of cars and insurance for goods during transportation. These companies offer a variety of transportation vehicles, depending upon the distance and the client’s budget. But on the flip side, there are those who offer extra services to beat the competition but do not deliver. What is worse is that after the shifting, they even go to the extent of charging for the ‘free’ service.

So instead of being gullible, it is best to check the credentials of the company before opting for it.

Anita Agnani who plans to shift out of her house at Naraina Vihar in Delhi in December this year is already losing sleep. “All the companies I have contacted over the phone are promising extra services. One has offered a covered truck at the price of a regular open truck. I just hope it lives up to its promise once I actually engage its services by paying an advance,” she says, a trifle apprehensive.

Her apprehension is not unfounded. There are other areas too in which packers have been known to goof up. Sunita Raina who once had an unpleasant experience recounts, “I had sought the services of a smaller company. I wasn’t aware that it did not have trained staff and that it simply hired labourers to do the packing and loading and these labourers are not accountable to any one.”

However, the reliable ones send a team of packers two-three days in advance to pack all the household items and minimise the chances of breakage during loading, transportation or unloading. Explains Amit Sharma of Reliable Cargo Movers and Packers, a company that provides relocation services all over India, “Each item is individually packed and sealed in cartons. Electronic goods are packed in thermocol before being placed in crates.”

Such companies use a variety of packaging material, from corrugated sheets to bubble wrapping, depending upon the fragility of items. For long distance or inter-city hauls, they use waterproof material to cover the truck to protect against rain water damage. Most big companies also help the clients unpack and set up the house by arranging the items.

Meera Malhotra, who shifted from Greater Kailash to Defence Colony in Delhi recently, says, “It was very convenient. The packers unpacked everything and set up my kitchen before leaving. In fact, they even came to my house the next two days to help us settle down.”

However, things were not this smooth four years back. In 2002, when Malhotra shifted to Greater Kailash, the company had miscalculated the size of the truck that would be required and had to suspend the process until another truck arrived. That wasn’t all. “They just piled up everything in my drawing room and left. It was like a huge mountain of cartons and it took me many weeks to unpack,” says Malhotra.

For any customer, the primary concern is that his goods should be relocated safely without any damage, but occasional damages are unavoidable. So to cover for any financial cost that a customer may have to bear for repairing goods damaged during shifting, Reliable Cargo Movers and Packers advises its customers to purchase insurance to cover all household goods. Explains Sharma, “Although we take all possible steps to minimise the chances of breakage during packing, accidents can happen. If customers do not insure their goods or if they insure the goods at a lower value, we do not provide any compensation for damages.”

However, compensation policies differ from company to company. Skywing Packers and Movers, which has a network of offices across the country, purchases insurance on behalf of the customer and compensates the customer up to 80 per cent of the value of the damaged goods. Advance Packers and Movers also undertakes insurance (transit and risk) on behalf of the client to save the client precious time.

Saba Hasan, a Delhi-based artist, regularly uses the services of packers and movers. “My biggest concern is that the paintings do not suffer any damage. So I always insist on purchasing risk insurance for the transfer.” But as Hasan found out, when it comes to claiming compensation for damages, it’s not a clear-cut procedure. Once, when her paintings were being shifted from Delhi to Chennai, the frame of one of her paintings broke. The insurance company did not pay for the breakage as it claimed that the glass and the frame needed to be insured separately.

Unless an expensive item is damaged, people usually avoid the cumbersome procedure for claiming money from the insurance company. That’s because whenever a person files an insurance claim, the insurance company tries to find a loophole to invalidate the claim as it did in Hasan’s case. “When people buy an insurance policy, the company never bothers to explain these details. So, it is for the customer to read the fine print,” she says.

Other than relocation of household and commercial goods, most companies also provide car carrier and goods warehousing services. They undertake door-to-door delivery of cars using car carriers or car trailers.

The staff at Skywing Packers and Movers explain, “The car is not packed but the wheels are secured in the carrier truck. Once we unload it at the depot, we offer to drive it to the delivery address.” Pranav, who paid Rs 11,000 for his car to be transported from Delhi to Hyderabad, was satisfied with the service as his car was delivered damage free.

However, not everyone is that lucky. So to avoid all kinds of damage, read the terms and conditions of any deal you finalise with the packers before shifting base.