What does your inventory actually look like?

A described list — room of origin, type of contents, and anything individually identifiable listed separately. Not a carton count.

Before anything is stored, as a matter of course. An inventory you have to ask for after the fact is not doing its job.

How long can goods stay?

As long as the gap runs. The storage agreement sets out access, charging periods and the notice we need to bring things back out.

Can two people store separately in one job?

Yes, and each share is recorded under the name it belongs to and released only to that person.

Goods in store are covered to the level your storage agreement states, subject to the exclusions written there. Declare anything of unusual value before collection.

What if something really is missing?

It is established against the list on the day of release rather than discovered later, which is the whole point. From there the booking contract sets out the claims process.

Damage · B

We never got everything back

A quiet complaint that surfaces months after the job, and one where the customer is usually unable to prove anything and the firm unable to disprove it. Both positions come from the same failure: nobody made a list.

Storage without an inventory is a container you cannot see into. The disagreement afterwards is inevitable.

How a hold is made accountable

Listed at the property As the vehicle loads, where the goods are — never afterwards from memory.

Described, not counted Contents described, so the list still means something months later.

A copy to you Before anything is stored, not on request afterwards.

Named shares Where more than one household is involved, whose things are whose.

Access by arrangement Reaching held goods is possible with reasonable notice.

Checked out against it The same list used on release, so both ends reconcile.

Why "twelve cartons" is not a record

It is the most common form of storage inventory and it is useless. Nine months later nobody can say what was in carton seven, and an argument about whether something was ever stored has no possible resolution.

A list that describes contents — the room they came from, what kind of things they are, anything individually identifiable — can actually be checked. That distinction is most of what an inventory is worth.

Made at the property, not afterwards

An inventory written back at an office from a driver's memory is a reconstruction. The list has to be made where the goods are, as they are loaded, by the person loading them.

It is slower. It is the only version that means anything, and it is the single thing that turns storage from a matter of trust into a matter of record.

The reconciliation at the other end

Goods come out against the same list they went in on, and both ends are signed. If something is missing, that is established on the day rather than discovered weeks later with no way to investigate.

It also protects us, which is worth saying plainly. A firm without a list cannot defend itself against an honest mistake any more than a customer can prove one.

What cannot be held

Nothing hazardous, nothing perishable, nothing alive. Money, documents, passports and jewellery stay with you — a store is not somewhere you can call in on at short notice, and those are exactly the things people need unexpectedly.

We never got everything back

Questions about we never got everything back

What does your inventory actually look like?: A described list — room of origin, type of contents, and anything individually identifiable listed separately. Not a carton count.
Do we get a copy?: Before anything is stored, as a matter of course. An inventory you have to ask for after the fact is not doing its job.
How long can goods stay?: As long as the gap runs. The storage agreement sets out access, charging periods and the notice we need to bring things back out.
Can two people store separately in one job?: Yes, and each share is recorded under the name it belongs to and released only to that person.
Is it insured?: Goods in store are covered to the level your storage agreement states, subject to the exclusions written there. Declare anything of unusual value before collection.
What if something really is missing?: It is established against the list on the day of release rather than discovered later, which is the whole point. From there the booking contract sets out the claims process.

Ask us the awkward questions

Will you survey before quoting. Will the crew who load us unload us. How many vehicles will our goods be on. What happens if the day overruns. Start there.

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