Removals nightmare

Hydreliox

Hi all,

A bit of a nightmare. We paid a firm in South East Asia for a FCL 20 ft container of our personal items to be shipped to the UK.

Currently the UK firm is refusing to make final delivery to us as the company we contracted apparently has outstanding payables to the firm in the UK. As it stands our items are being held as bargaining chips between the two firms, the removals company in SE Asia has become difficult to deal with and the final UK based movers can't provide me with any resolution.

Is there anything we can do to get our stuff from the UK based firm. I understand we do not have a direct contract with them.

Thanks for any advice!

steampowered

The property belongs to you - not to the SE Asia firm. It can't be used as collateral for the Asian firm's debt.

You could raise a county court claim against the UK firm for the recovery of your property.

Before issuing a claim you should write a 'letter before action' giving the UK firm 14 days to let you have your property.

As you do not have a contract with the UK firm, the UK firm would be entitled to insist that you collect your property from their premises or to charge you for delivery.

Hydreliox

Thank you for the detailed response. It certainly provides me with some relief. I will research the county court claim and letter before action routes!

waamo

It might be easier and quicker to pay off what this SE Asian company owes given you would have to pay for delivery anyway.

It might be worthwhile exploring that option before going through the court process.

Clearly if it's well in excess of the potential delivery fee then it's off to court you go.

Hydreliox

I would probably look at the option of collecting the items myself however the other options are indeed duly noted. I suspect it is rather a large amount owed and they have taken payment from the SE Asian firm for my delivery as just paying towards the outstanding balance.

Hydreliox

For further information I have contacted British Association of Removers to see if they can assist in any regard. I will update here with any response received from them for the potential benefit of other forum members. Thanks again for the replies!

bris

They won't deliver if they haven't been paid to deliver.


it will be on account but as the account hasn't been paid then it's on hold.


You could just ask for a price to deliver or ask about getting it collected by someone else.


I would doubt they are holding the container as a bargaining chip but instead just refusing to deliver due to not getting paid for it.


Give them a call and work it out, you will need to fight the Asian company for a refund but it wil be hard to do.

Boohoo

Hydreliox wrote: »

Hi all,

A bit of a nightmare. We paid a firm in South East Asia for a FCL 20 ft container of our personal items to be shipped to the UK.

Currently the UK firm is refusing to make final delivery to us as the company we contracted apparently has outstanding payables to the firm in the UK. As it stands our items are being held as bargaining chips between the two firms, the removals company in SE Asia has become difficult to deal with and the final UK based movers can't provide me with any resolution.

Is there anything we can do to get our stuff from the UK based firm. I understand we do not have a direct contract with them.

Thanks for any advice!

Do you have any idea where this container is?


I am not sure what happens if the container is in a UK port awaiting payment/collection, will somebody(you or removal firm) have to to pay the port authority storage fees as i would of thought these fees would not be cheap.


As for the container do you own it or does that belong to the SEA company?

Hydreliox

The container is at the UK removal firms storage facility as far as I have been told and therefore has been cleared from customs etc.

I'm not sure if the SEA company owns or has rented the container but I do know it isn't mine

hollydays

We've seen various disreputable removals companies on here.
Much like the uk, but more complex
You may need to consult a solicitor