Interesting article. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/...html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage
I agree, need to insure. But sadly, I do agree that the bank should be responsible. I can see where they can claim they are not in many cases because anyone can claim that anything is in there later (unless they want to disclose, and I bet some cash only businesses would not want to!), but in this case they opened the wrong box, they inventoried it, they did not have a notary, and they lost items in storage. I don't see how they are not totally responsible for it.
Very disturbing indeed. I remember my dad keeping a number of small family heirlooms in a safe deposit box at his local bank in rural Maine, which he used for years. He recently told me that he had withdrawn everything and was keeping all of the items at home. I wasn't sure what to think about that, but it looks like it was a good idea. It doesn't surprise me that the bank is fighting the court battle tooth and nail ... no matter how much they pay in attorneys' fees, they don't want to end up being found liable and having a precedent set for other possible lawsuits.
A truly bad story but there are some things we can learn from this debacle. 1. These things seem to happen at large banks. Really no surprise there, they are always consolidating, selling, transferring and staff turnover can be high; standards are often lax or criminal as we have seen at Wells Fargo. Yet I'm sure there are some OF members who still bank there. It is worthwhile to seek out a smaller, community bank for your banking and SD box needs. You know them, they know you. 2. Don't ignore correspondence from your bank, the victim always claims 'I never got the letter', but it was probably overlooked, ignored, thrown out, spouse opened it and never told the other, whatever. Keep on top of your financial stuff. 3. Don't put stuff in the box and leave it there for years. Go in to the bank once or twice a year, sign in, open the box, make sure everything is ok. Make sure there have been no unauthorized intrusions. 4. Do not automatically assume that if you insure your watches that you are on easy street. Unless you have strict documentation, recent appraisals, receipts, photos, etc every insurance company is going to scrutinize a claim, especially if it is a massive loss like what occurred here. An insurance company will look for every way possible to deny, or reduce, any claim of loss. Don't get complacent on values. Personally, I live in a town of about 12,000, I've been banking at the same bank, which is part of a small bank chain, for over 16 years. Although the bank has changed hands several times the people remain the same. I have no fear that they are accidentally going to drill my box open by mistake. But if I was in a large city they probably wouldn't know me from Adam, and wouldn't care. So choose your bank carefully, in this case small is probably better. And let's remember, losses like this are very rare, most SD boxes are never tampered with or broken in to, or what happened in this case. Keep it in perspective.
For me a safe deposit box cuts insurance costs like 90 pct vs watches i keep at home. I just tell the insurer when i swap watches out. Why on earth someone wouldn't insure contents is beyond me
My mother tried something like that: mason jars in the attic insulation. Filled with silver dollars and stuff like that. Then when she died--oh, but you know that part already.
Never store your valuables in a bank which is not a stand alone building. Too easy to break in from the neighboring basement.
When I was a kid I remember being at my grandmothers digging in the yard. Her husband went nuts because of where I was digging. We found a jar of nails buried there. We always wondered what else might have been there
Clearly some people still believe in them. I went into the headquarters of a large Hong Kong bank a month or so ago to ask about hiring a box and the nice young woman told me that the waiting list was 20 years...
Unless you and the bank together inventory every item in the box carefully and with excruciating detail how is this even possible? You would have to document all details of each item every time time you enter the vault...this is simply impossible and a setup for enormous fraud. Especially with vintage watches or coins...even if you did jointly inventory the contents, who is to say they are not fakes...or how do you determine value when condition is the difference between 6 figures and 5 figures. It is impossible. And frankly the majority of those storing items in a bank vault don't want this information shared or recorded. This is precisely why safety deposit boxes are not covered by the same regulations as your cash. As the article points out...in most cases people simple forget exactly what's in the box, or that they removed an item years earlier...or that a relative had access.