In August 2010, I relocated to Johannesburg from Cape Town; I took out a loan from FNB and bought new furniture:
A couch, TV cabinet, coffee table, bed with pedestals, microwave and fridge, all these items cost me in the region of R15 000 – R20 000.
I found Key Moves online and they seemed to know what they were doing as they are PMA and AMOSA accredited organisations they proudly cite on their communication material to sell a sense of security and good quality service among consumers.
At the end of November 2010, I paid Key Moves R2 800 to move this furniture back to Cape Town as I recently had to relocate back to Cape Town. As no lease agreements were not signed at that stage, I decided to store my furniture with them from Dec 2010 – March 2011.
I paid the required R400 for storage for all the months and for the R2000 delivery fee in Cape Town for the 30 March 2011.
I became worried when the one contact, Jean Claude Chanu at Key Moves was suddenly not available to take my calls and not returning my emails when I asked about my furniture and the delivery thereof. At this stage everything was paid.
On the 29 March, I get an SMS from Ambassador Removals that I need to pay R1 400 for my move; I sent an SMS back to the person and followed up with an email, with the proof of payment.
I was surprised that another service provider was now handling my move. An email from Johannes Africa at Key Moves said I needed to call Glen to arrange for my move; Glenn Knight is with Ambassador Removals.
There are a couple of things wrong with this picture:
1. I was not informed that my furniture was outsourced to another provider for delivery or storage
2. Why was I now handling the logistics (behind the scenes) to get my furniture?
Yet, the worst was to come:
When the furniture arrived:
The base of the bed was broken, the coffee table was cracked three times, the TV cabinet had yellow paint and a handle is missing a screw, the fridge has dents, the microwave which I cleaned before the move in Johannesburg looked like it was used.
The delivery guys had other people’s clothes and boxes brought in with my stuff, I realised that my box got torn in the process and everything from payslips, personal documents, books had to be repackaged, my one curtain is missing, and I’m not even sure what else?
The couch was the worst, it is one of those coricraft couches with covers, it was cream white in Johannesburg, but it arrived here in some flimsy bags with none of the wrapping they put on in Johannesburg, the covers were black, all of them, and there was an extra pillow stuffed with a duvet and pillow cases, I don’t know who this belongs to.
I contacted Ambassador Removals and they confirmed that everything arrived in a sordid state. I called Key Moves and gave them two options, either to replace all the furniture or reimburse me for the move, as they failed to do either effectively.
They are not interested in this, but want me to get quotations from suppliers to fix the items, why is this suddenly my responsibility?
Also, I was not advised about the insurance, it is on the quotation but at no point was this communicated to me by their sales rep. In terms of the Consumer Protection Act, they needed to disclose this information and ensured that I understood what I was buying into, but apart from that, with or without insurance my furniture should have not been trashed.
Regards
Alfred Thutloa
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