Guest Working to fish Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Ok, just about had enough. We used xxxxxxx from the UK to ship our belongings over. They then used yyyyyyyyyyy on this side to deliver our goods. Firstly we paid for the sole use of a 20ft container. Our stuff arrived in oz in a shared 40ft container. We found out on the day we were leaving for oz that yyyyyyyy was the firm who would be delivering our goods. When we paid the bill beforehand we were told a different company altogether would be delivering our goods at this end. When our goods did eventually turn up from yyyyyyyyy, the two delivery guys arrived and low and behold they had somebody elses inventory. How hard can it be to deliver a container to a customer without checking name and address agreeing with the inventory. After they unloaded all our belongings we had a flat screen tv scratched on the face, a broken bed, broken chest of drawers, numerous pieces of broken crockery (some old 'willow' china plates as well) and items missing including pans, toy boxes etc. 3 months have now gone by and we're still no further on. Have received only vague emails saying 'yeah, we'll chase it for you' but nothing substantial. We're now wondering whether it's time to get the ombudsman involved. We personally wouldn't recommend either of these companies. eddie:sad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracey from Braintree Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 I remember reading your thread about the trouble you were having months ago. I cannot believe you are still waiting for this to be sorted out! Thanks for naming them and warning us about them. I would definitely go ahead and take action! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Hi Eddie Sorry, but I have had to edit your post to remove reference to the names. The reason is because if the companies disagree with your allegations they can potentially sue Tim for defamation, arguing that he committed a libellous act by enabling you to publish your orginal alleged libel to the rest of the world. If you want to air the issues only, about what constitutes a proper service or not, the facts will do the walking for you without the need for the name of the firm. The other thing is that people say far much more about themselves on the internet than thay realise. If either of the companies wanted to attack you for defamation, it would not be difficult for them to work out your real identity from your description. A stiff letter from a solicitor is often enough to make companies like these sit up, think and look to try to resolve the dispute. Have you tried that possibility? Is there an Australian equivalent to the Citizens Advice Bureau? The CAB tend to be very knowledgeable in cases like this. The Ombudsman will not generally get involved in disputes of this sort. His role is not that of a mediator and his powers are not like those of the Court. But by all means contact the Ombudsman if you think there is one for whichever bit of this you want to quarrel about. As far as I can see, your allegation is breach of contract by one or both of the companies, causing material loss to you in the shape of damaged or lost goods. The Australian company will shrug and say that its only obligation was to deliver a container to a particular address, help to unpack it and then take the container away. They will argue that they did exactly what they had contracted to do. They were not responsible for packing the container in the UK, after all. The removal company in the UK would argue that any damage to the goods "must have" occurred whilst the container was in transit, probably rough weather whilst it was on the high seas. This risk is known as Peril of the Sea in insurance law circles - apparently the term has been judicially defined. UKCO can't order God to provide clement weather, nor can the shipping company carrying the freight, nor can the Master of the ship. The ship reached its destination safely with the container aboard and the container itself is intact. As for the shared container, are you 100% sure that you understand the exact wording of these Carriage of Freight contracts? I don't know the jargon that the shipping trade uses. I do know there is a piece of mumbo jumbo that can (if it is part of the contract) enable them to use shared containers. I don't know what the "catchwords" used in this phrase are. I suggest as follows: Join the Poms in Perth website. (Not PerthPoms but Poms in Perth.) Send a PM to one of its members called Bluenico. He is a shipping agent called Chris and he knows all about international removals. There is a sticky thread started by him at the top of the Migration Issues section. He may be able to help. Finally, the first thing a court would ask you is, "Did you insure the goods, Sir? If so, have you claimed on the Policy?" It is reasonable to suppose that you might have realised that there is no realistic way to keep the contents of a container 100% safe from loss, damage or other harm. It is a risk that is readily insurable. If you chose not to insurer the risk, then you decided to underwrite the risk yourself instead, did you not? Please understand that I am NOT unsympathetic to your frustration. Not at all. I am merely trying to show you the way that a judge in a court would view this dispute. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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