Removal company refusing to pay out

HiltonFarm

Hi all

Thank you in advance for your help.

We moved house in February at a cost of £4,800 (from England to Scotland).

It was a terrible move, the removals turned up late and had the wrong size van so had to leave items behind such as trees and plants previously agreed.

Unfortunately the company were stopped by VOSA on the M6 and were deemed over the weight limit. The two vans were impounded for being over weight. One was allowed to go after unloading a third of the items and all but one of the removals team leaving just the driver.

Unfortunately an addition lorry that they 'borrowed' had a faulty tail gate and all of our belongings were soaked.

They revived a fine from VOSA and as a consequence arrived over 24 hours late.

The contract stated that we needed to let them know of damages in writing within 7 days. I discussed this with the removals company and asked them to send an official form. Which they did not. In the end we mailed them with details but this was sadly on the 8th day. There is over £10,000 of damaged items and it is heartbreaking. I concede that other than a text message saying that there are damages we were one day late.

Today we heard that our claim had been rejected as we were 24 hours late. We also received a solicitor's letter saying that we had obviously damaged the items ourselves as we didn't take their packing service. They agreed to pay for a Christmas tree that they acknowledge they left but nothing else. How full must the vans have been to not even squeeze a Christmas tree on?

It was a strongly worded solicitor's letter and it has just been the icing on the cake for this saga.

The claim was submitted on Feb 15th followed by requests for photos and information on the items and now they have rejected it.

I accept that other than a text we were 8 hours late in submitting the claim however, are they not in breach of context for delivering 24 hours late? We spent a horrible night in our floor in a house with no electric and despite what they say, being impounded by VOSA for exceeding their weight limits is not an act of God. This is what damaged our furniture, not our packing.

Any advice please?

Quentin

In view of the sum involved you may consider instructing a solicitor over this is justified.


If there was an insurance policy involved, then there will be a formal complaints procedure set out in the policy and you should follow this if available - if they ignore your complaint for 8 weeks or you aren't happy with the reply then you would be able to escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you

newbutold

Do you have any legal cover with your home insurance? If so you could possible get some legal advice with it.

HiltonFarm

Thank you

I asked the insurance company about the FOS and they said that they wouldnt entertain our claim as we are not the policy holders. Her actual wording was ' they only cover complaints from an insurance policy holder, regrettably as there is no contract between yourselves and our counts insurer the ombudsman will not consider your case'

HiltonFarm

Sorry clients not counts

rs65

Does your home insurance cover this?

societys_child

£10,000 pounds?

HiltonFarm

Sadly yes, £10,000. Nearly every piece of furniture we own was damaged, either scraped, smashed or soaked (the third van was full of water). Mirrors and pictures were damaged as well as all of our garden furniture including barbecue.

Alter_ego

Why did you wait till day 8 to inform them in writing?

HiltonFarm

You are absolutely right and I accept that. I had sent texts (no 3G or wifi) and called and we were lulled in to a false sense of security by them being thoroughly pleasant and repeatedly offering to send the form out. When we hadn't received it after the 7th day we wrote - silly us.

Geoff1963

Not nice.

the removals turned up . . . and had the wrong size van

One was allowed to go after unloading a third of the items

Having to unload a third of the items to become road-legal, means the van was too small, for even what they did take. The VOSA action is a formal record that the company ( by their own incompetence ) had to deviate from any plan they might have had. It is proof that they exposed your property to risk of damage, while they were being paid to take care of it. The foreseeable consequential transfer, exposed it to further risk of loss and damage ; even without the leaky lorry..

Did the company unload the items from the vehicles at the far end, and did anyone notice then that they were soaked ?
Was the damage obviously only from water ? Most packing relies on the vehicle being watertight, so their packing wouldn't have fared any better.

other than a text message saying that there are damages

How specific does the contract say, the complaint must be ? Sounds to me like you made the complaint in plenty of time, then followed up with some extra details. If complaints must be made on an official form, within a deadline ; that unfairly allows the company to prevent you doing that.
The Law Commission is proposing that wills can be filed by text message.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40590117

followed by requests for photos and information on the items

Sounds like at this point, they had acknowledged the timed-based validity of your claim. Perhaps since then, their insurance company has refused to pay out to them ; because they didn't take proper care. Maybe they can be traced, only to explain their reasoning.