Probably easier in point form -
1. End of October 2006 - Discussed moving my 3 bedroom house in one trip and the size truck I would need. Was told 10 tonne @ $75 per 30 mins. Ordered truck. When it arrived it looked small, was told it was indeed 10 tonne. When I disputed my invoice James at Citymove stated that the contractors used their second truck which was 32m3 instead of their usual truck 34m3. I was not told this information or offered a slight discount at the time of the move. Yesterday (31.1.07) I phoned Citymove, without giving them my name, and was told on two separate occsions that their 10 tonne trucks were 50m3 and 100m3. A large difference from the 10 tonne truck they provided for my move.
2. The removalists took 10 hours to complete the job. The previous year I had used Citymove and they took 5 hours in a smaller truck moving practically the same amount of items over the same distance. I ordered the bigger truck for my next move to cover the 7 additional items - pot plants, washing machine, treadmill.
3. I was incorrectly charged an aditional 90 mins and the 5% fuel surcharge levy.
4. Two of my small pot plants were broken and one went missing - the removalists did not tell me this had happened.
5. They offered free mattress wrapping. Any other items that were wrapped were charged at $60. The removalists did not wrap my mattress but they wrapped my television which incurred the charge.
6. I complained to Citymove and was given a discount I felt unreasonable as it was a discount off the incorrect invoice.
7. I took Citymove to the Dept of Fair Trading who could not resolve the issue.
8. Today I had a hearing at the Consumer Tribunal in Sydney and Citymove did not appear. The judge felt that the move should have been completed in 6 hours and not 10. He also felt that the credit card charge of $10 was too high and they should have discussed the size of the 10 tonne truck with me in cubic metres which would have given me a better idea of what truck to order. As I have learnt, the tonnage of a truck does not represent how much room the truck has for items. This was not explained by Citymove at any time. The only time they gave me the cubic metres was when I specifically asked yesterday, prior to the Tribunal Hearing.
My advice when moving is to ask for the cubic metres of a truck, to buy your own bubblewrap (cheaper from Officeworks) and to check their credit card charge, if expensive go with a company who will accept a cheque or have your cash ready.
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