While receiving extra help is almost always appreciated when we’re getting something done, it might not be appreciated as much if it comes with an extra price tag of $1,000.
And it’s definitely the same when the task at hand involves moving furniture from one house to another.
Recently, a woman in Singapore came forth to talk about her unpleasant experience with a moving company she hired to help move furniture from her old home to her new one.
In particular, she emphasised how the company overcharged her by almost $1,000 when comparing the amount she paid to the amount that she was quoted at first.
Initially Told that Services Would Cost $1,300 During Online Consultation
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, the 47-year-old woman, Mrs Yang (hanyu pinyin), explained that she was moving house from Pasir Panjang to River Valley and hence needed the aid of a moving company to help her move her home’s furniture last Wednesday (7 September).
According to Mrs Yang, she found the company while searching online and decided to engage their services after reading the online reviews of the company.
During an online consultation, Mrs Yang claimed that the company, which was not identified by her, told her that one delivery trip would cost $320.
In addition to that, Mrs Yang also decided to engage the company’s packing services due to her busy schedule.
After discussing with the company, both parties agreed that all of Mrs Yang’s items could be sent to her new house within two trips, and that the services would cost Mrs Yang $1,300 in total.
Friend Was Charged Less for More Furniture
She then shared that she was charged less than $800 when she moved furniture from her older one-room condominium to the one in Pasir Panjang.
Apart from that, Mrs Yang added that a friend of hers only paid $1,500 for moving services when her friend moved out of their 278spm home.
In contrast, her new house is only 91spm large, suggesting that her friend probably had more items to move.
Company Said that She Had “Too Many Items”, Charged Extra for “Distance Pushed”
Although everything seemed smooth-sailing at first, Mrs Yang only found out that the company had charged her $2,380 after the moving services had been carried out.
As for why she was charged almost $1,000 more than the original quoted price, the company replied her by saying that she had too many items, causing the company to increase the number of trips taken from two to four.
Apart from that, the company also said that there were issues with the “road” to her new house, prompting them to charge another $150 for every trip taken due to the location, which made their job “more difficult” since they had to manually push the items to Mrs Yang’s new home.
Mrs Yang then explained to Shin Min that she decided to share her experience in hopes that members of the public can be more aware of these “pricing tactics” that moving companies may use when they are hired by customers.
Boxes Not Filled Completely
And if you think that the exorbitant price tag was the only thing that Mrs Yang had to deal with, you couldn’t be more wrong.
According to her, some of the boxes were only one-third full when the family opened them at night.
Recounting how she and her family were “too tired” on the day of moving, Mrs Yang said that she only realised these issues at night after paying the moving company.
Some Boxes Driven to Her House Did Not Even Belong to Her
Apart from that, Mrs Yang insisted that some of the boxes that were driven to her house contained items that did not even belong to her.
She explained that when her husband went to check on the movers, he saw a large number of boxes that remained in the delivery truck after the family’s items were unloaded from the vehicle.
Mrs Yang then said that she believes the company increased the number of boxes used on purpose by not filling them to the brim and increased the number of trips needed to move the family’s things by filling the truck with things that did not belong to them.
Company’s Response
When contacted by Shin Min, the company said that it charged Mrs Yang “reasonably” based on the services that were engaged.
However, the company also added that it eventually decided to refund Mrs Yang $880 after she called the company multiple times to complain.
One of the company’s partners explained that the boxes contained many fragile items, which meant that the company had to wrap them in bubble wrap in order to prevent them from breaking.
Since the bubble wrap took up “most of the space” in the boxes, this meant that the company had to use more boxes to contain all of the family’s items.
As for the extra charge for “distance pushed”, he claimed that many companies have such a charge too.
According to the partner, the “distance pushed” includes the distance between the old house and the unloading area and the distance between the unloading area and the new house. The movers will be required to push the boxes manually throughout this distance.
In Mrs Yang’s case, the distance was around 130m.
In particular, he said that Mrs Yang was charged an extra $150 per trip due to how the path to her new house was made of stone, which made the job of pushing the boxes “more difficult” for the movers.
Lastly, with regards to the “other boxes” in the vehicle, the partner mentioned that the company will place essential materials such as bubble wrap and tape in their vehicles so that they are available whenever the movers need them.
Featured Image: Shin Min Daily News