Goods trapped in move and I am paying for storage

NewboyUK

I moved from the Philippines back to the UK after a 4 year work contract in March.
We agreed and paid for a contract with Allied PIckfords in Manila, the goods were boxed, collected and taken in Feb.,

My goods were shipped to the UK just after the lockdown began, we are now unable to have our goods delivered and they are being stored in London and we are being charged for storage. I feel this is unfair as Pickfords will not delivered due to lockdown and we cannot collect either from the facility they are using. I have paid them to hanfdle end-to-end delivery up front but they are blaming my contract with Allied Pickfords, saying this isn’t Pickfords UK so the contract isn’t with them.

These goods are the entire contents of my apartment! It isn’t just purchases, it’s clothes, all our belongings, computers etc...

Anyone in a similar position and any ideas? There is no incentive for Pickfords to do anything as they are making some money and I cannot even arrange another collection even if I have to pay them as well!

princeofpounds

Sorry to hear this. I am not sure what to advise, but this appears to fall under the laws surrounding bailment, and so you might get somewhere googling that (and specifically interference with goods). Allied Pickfords may be your contractual counterparty at the moment but UK Pickfords is a sub-bailee I think.

Pickfords (whichever legal entity) may not be performing their contractual obligation, but you'd have to check what your signed. Also Philippine consumer contract law is doubtless not the same as the UK, so those contractual protections won't apply. 

There is certainly no government prohibition on moving house or working, so this is a discretionary choice by the company.

Comms69

Just curious why cant you go collect them?

Obviously you dont get free storage (and you should claim the cost from your insurance - which given you're moving your whole life, you clearly bought)

kazwookie

Welcome to the club!

Not an international move, but house sold end of March, goods went into storage for what I thought was about 2 to 3 weeks while onwards house purchase was completed, cat went to cattery for what I thought was 7 days, we were off to a hol  rental for 6 days.

However vendors puts themselves on 12 week lockdown, on gov. / their doctors advise, so that leave me with a rental to pay, cattery to pay, storage fees to pay etc approx £1600 per month.

The removal company did write to me and to be fair have kept in touch with me, stating that anything in storage would have to stay there and no access to it for the foreseeable future.

I am t my wits end over this and the cost££, when it come around to paying for next months I am going to ask for discount from all of the companies, even though they all gave me very good prices to start with, no harm in asking, will I get any discount who knows.

I am sorry to say you are just going to have to sit this one out, like me and wait, the housing market needs to get moving soon, hopefully Boris and his gang will announce something for this on Sunday, or when ever the roadmap to end lock down is made public.

otauna

We had this.
Moved from Canada in March, our container arrived in April, originally they said we could only have our items stored at our cost, however after a polite request they delivered our container on the back of a lorry. We had to enter it and unload ourselves without any contact with the driver. It was hard work as the container was 5ft off the ground but we managed.
As your goods have been placed into storage already I’m not sure what you can do really until they’re able to deliver. 

We received a partial refund as we did not receive the unpacking service that we originally paid for. 

NewboyUK

Comms69 said:

Just curious why cant you go collect them?

Obviously you dont get free storage (and you should claim the cost from your insurance - which given you're moving your whole life, you clearly bought)

Sadly collection not possible as it’s a secure and closed unit apparently, also the insurance doesn’t cover this event.... super....

princeofpounds

Hi Newboy - this one has been playing on my mind and I'm ashamed that the forum hasn't been able to help more.

I had one thought - do you know if the entity you have contracted with is a subsidiary of the UK entity?

AdrianC

princeofpounds said:

I had one thought - do you know if the entity you have contracted with is a subsidiary of the UK entity?

It isn't.

Allied Pickfords Phillippines is part of SIRVA Inc.
SIRVA used to own Pickfords UK, but sold them in 2008.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080327005609/en/SIRVA-Completes-Sale-Moving-Operations-U.K.-Republic

There is no commonality of ownership - they are two completely different companies, who just happen to share a name through a common history.

edgex

You don't have a contract with PickfordsUK, so how can they charge you? They can't.
They have been contracted by Allied Pickfords, so they need to fulfil that contract. That's who you need to be pushing for a resolution.

Comms69

edgex said:

You don't have a contract with PickfordsUK, so how can they charge you? They can't.
They have been contracted by Allied Pickfords, so they need to fulfil that contract. That's who you need to be pushing for a resolution.

You're wrong. You also dont have a contract with british gas when you move into your new home, you still owe them the money for whatever gas and electric you use.

It's a contract by action, rather than agreement. They are not obliged to release the property until the bill is paid, and any attempt to remove it would be theft. 

Missy79

Don't have any advice unfortunately, but agree that charging you because they have failed, and continue to fail, to fulfill their contract seems very unreasonable. Surely at a minimum if they fail to deliver through no fault of yours the storage should be at their cost!