I have an issue with a removal company, AnyVan, that did a house move for me.
We discovered after the move that our two television sets had been broken, though the company denied this.
The removal team were upstairs when they dropped one of the TVs. My son and daughter who were in the house at the time heard a loud thud followed by silence.
My son went upstairs and asked if they had just dropped the TV. The remover he spoke to said ‘no dropsies.’ There was a language barrier as two of the removal team spoke little to no English, and the driver spoke broken English.
After the move, I was told by the driver to sign a form. I thought it was to confirm the job was complete.
Damaged goods: This reader says she had two TVs dropped by a removals team (stock image)
A while after they left, and once I had got there myself, we plugged the main TV in and switched it on only to find the entire screen had smashed.
That’s when we plugged the other TV in – only to find that the screen was also damaged, which has since spread even further.
I reported this to AnyVan and subsequently submitted a damage claim form on their advice but they have rejected it completely on the basis that I signed a ‘legally binding waiver’ at the end of the move. J.L, Cheltenham
Harvey Dorset, of This is Money, replies: Moving house can be an incredibly stressful experience.
Like many people, you chose to hire a removal team in order to ensure that your moving day went as smoothly as possible.
AnyVan is an online marketplace, which takes bookings from customers moving house. Self-employed drivers then bid for the work and AnyVan decides which removers are allocated to the job.
In theory, leaving your house move to the professionals means that you will save time and reduce stress by having your belongings efficiently packed up and moved to your new home.
Unfortunately for you, you didn’t exactly get what you paid for, and instead were left with two broken TVs.
When you complained to AnyVan about this they rejected your claim as you had signed a waiver, which you thought was a document confirming the move was complete – an issue arising due to the language barrier between you and the removal team.
I contacted AnyVan on your behalf, and I am pleased to say that they agreed to compensate you for your damaged item.
AnyVan sent you £1,990 as compensation – the value of the two TVs.
AnyVan also told This is Money that your claim was going through its internal claims process when I contacted them. It said it had waived the fact you had not taken out a full compensation policy.
A spokesperson for AnyVan said: ‘At AnyVan we know moving can be stressful, and our mission to is to ensure customers have as much peace of mind during this process as possible.
‘Every customer is also able to feed back directly on our transport partners after each job, with our average partner being rated 4.8 out of 5. On the very rare occasions something goes wrong, we always strive to find solutions for our customers.
‘In the case of J.L, she had originally not opted to take our full compensation policy at time of booking, which covers accidental damages. She was also not able initially to provide us with the make and model of the TVs being claimed, or proof of purchase, making it difficult for us to establish the value of the items.
‘However the customer agent involved requested both these things be waived, and was escalated through our internal claims process on 19 November.
It added that it paid you the £1,990 within its stipulated complaint resolution period of six weeks.
AnyVan continued: ‘Our advice to any customer making a move is to always ensure you have chosen an insurance level for the goods being moved you are comfortable with, and where possible to keep a record of the details of valuable goods for insurance claims.
‘Not all companies will be able to honour accidental damage claims, when either accidental insurance cover is not in place, or no proof of purchase is supplied.
‘AnyVan is pleased we have been able to help J.L in this instance, but it is not usual for many other companies to be able to do so.’
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