Timeline Part I: Theft of belongings

The following timeline documents our interactions and dealings with U-Haul. 

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05/28/2014, Wed

U-Haul U-Box pod loaded at U-Haul Moving & Storage of Hyannis (Hyannis, MA).  Just before closing and locking the door, I took the series of six photos below.  Projected delivery date is June 11, with access to unload on June 12.  Informed that I would be notified when the pod was five days away from actual delivery.

06/09/2014, Mon

U-Box delivered to Watsonville Self Storage (Watsonville, CA), though we were never informed of delivery and did not know until June 12.

06/10/2014, Tue

Fraud alerts reported on four separate credit accounts for activity in Stockton, CA.  These credit cards were packed in a duffel bag with lots of shoes.  That duffel bag was inside the U-Box pod.

06/11/2014, Wed

Called U-Haul customer service to locate U-Box, was told to call facility of origin.  Upon ending that call, immediately called U-Haul Moving & Storage of Hyannis, and was forwarded to a U-Haul call center because it was after hours.  Agent could not tell me the status of the U-Box and was told to call destination facility.  At this point it was after hours there as well, so I went online to see if any of the information there had changed.  Nothing new, as in it did not show that the U-Box had been delivered.

06/12/2014, Thu

Called Watsonville Self Storage and spoke with Ned, who identified himself as the warehouse manager.  Ned informed me that the U-Box had been delivered on June 9.  He also mentioned that he did not notice anything strange or suspicious about any of the U-Box pods that had been offloaded that day.  Ned told me he would go check the warehouse and call me back in an hour.

This was taking place as I was driving across the country, so I immediately called Kakani.  She was able to rent a cargo van and drive from Monterey to Watsonville before I heard back from Ned.  Upon arrival, Ned informed her that the warehouse needed a 24-hour notice of intent to come unload.  Kakani apologized to Ned, told him that she rented a vehicle for the sole purpose of unloading our belongings from the U-Box, and Ned acquiesced.  She was told that it would take approximately one hour to move the pod so that it was accessible.  Kakani returned to the facility one hour later, walked into the storage facility's office, and asked that Ned show her which U-Box was ours.  Ned walked outside with Kakani and showed her which pod had our belongings, and stood with her as she opened it.  The first thing Ned noticed was that the color of the plastic wrap around the pod was not green; according to Ned, that is U-Haul policy to wrap with green plastic wrap.  The plastic wrap was instead clear, and Ned suggested to Kakani that she take a picture of the plastic wrap (shown below).  After undoing the plastic wrap, Kakani accessed the pod by unlocking the U-Haul lock (that Jeff purchased in Hyannis, MA).  Upon removal, a metal security tab used by U-Haul was in place, and from initial inspection it looked like it needed to be removed using wire cutters in order to open the door.  However, the way in which the security tab was placed allowed it to be pulled through the metal latch with ease.  Ned then said to Kakani that the metal security tab couldn't function properly because of the way it was installed.  Kakani (with Ned standing over her left shoulder) then opened the door of the U-Box and took pictures of the contents inside.  It was clear from initial inspection that two boxes and several pieces of luggage were missing, including the bag that held Kakani's credit cards.  Ned then called the U-Haul office and they suggested to file a police report.  Ned called the Watsonville Police Department on Kakani's behalf and requested to have an officer come to the storage facility to get a statement and file a police report.  Kakani waited several hours for the police officer to arrive.  Upon arrival, Kakani showed the U-Box and its disheveled contents to Officer Irma Haas (Kakani had not moved any of the items in the pod), Office Haas took a statement from Kakani and Ned, and then left.  After the police report was filed, Kakani then proceeded to unload the U-Box and all of its contents.  Before leaving the storage facility, she collected all the paperwork that was affixed to the outer surface of the U-Box (four forms in all); these bill of lading forms were checklists for pod transport and security, and none of them had been filled out.  Kakani then drove the rental van to our new residence.

Clear plastic wrap (instead of green) was used as an outer barrier for U-Box.

The interior of our U-Box when Kakani arrived to unload our belongings in Watsonville, CA (sans many items). 

The locking mechanism on our all-plywood U-Box. The red tag is U-Haul's version of a safety tag. Not shown: padlock that was used to secure the latch closed. Obvious tampering is evident on the left side of the latch.

If we are to take Ned at his word, and assume that when the U-Box was offloaded and delivered on June 9 there was nothing outstanding to note (so presumably it was still wrapped in green plastic wrap), and connect that to the fraud alerts in Stockton (two hours from Watsonville by car) on June 10, and subsequent discovery of the U-Box wrapped in clear plastic wrap on June 12, I think it's safe to speculate that the burglary occurred within the Watsonville facility and not en route.

Thanks for reading,

J