Your rights with a removalist

The guarantees on the label

Wherever in Australia you buy products or services, the Australian Consumer Law protects you. In its plainest form, the government’s consumer law site puts the service guarantee like this: “If you pay for a service it must be done correctly and with care and skill.”

NSW Fair Trading sets out the same law in more detail. Services must be:

The same page adds a line that matters for a truck full of furniture: “When delivering a service, the business must take all necessary steps to avoid loss and damage.”

These guarantees apply automatically, whatever other warranties a business gives or sells you. A warranty is a voluntary promise made by the business, and it operates in addition to the consumer guarantee, never in place of it. Products and services normally bought for personal or household use are covered.

When a guarantee is not met

The law sorts a failure into a minor problem or a major one, and what you can ask for depends on which it is.

Minor and major problems with a service
Kind of problem	What NSW Fair Trading says it means	What you can ask for
Minor	A problem that can be fixed within a reasonable time. The business has the right to assess it first.	The business must fix the problem for free. If it does not do so within a reasonable time, or cannot, you can have it done elsewhere and ask the business to pay the reasonable cost, get a replacement or refund instead, or claim compensation for how far the value has dropped below the price you paid.
Major	The service creates an unsafe situation; it is substantially unfit for its purpose and cannot easily be fixed within a reasonable time; it would have stopped someone acquiring it had they known; or it is significantly different from the description.	Cancel the contract and get a refund, which may not be a full refund because you pay a reasonable amount for work already completed as expected; or keep the contract and pay a lower price that takes the problem into account.

“Reasonable time” has no fixed number. NSW Fair Trading says it depends on the type of product or service, and that in a dispute a court or tribunal may weigh various factors.

Damage to your belongings

Beyond a fix or a refund, you can ask for reimbursement of damages and losses if the supplier could reasonably have anticipated the problem. The aim is to put you in the position you would have been in had the service done what the consumer guarantees say it should.

NSW Fair Trading’s own example is a dry cleaner: curtains come back damaged, and the customer is entitled to a remedy for the service, such as a refund of the cleaning fee, and also to have the cleaner pay for the loss, which could include replacing the curtains.

As an illustration, not a ruling. A glass-fronted cabinet arrives at the new house with a cracked door. The questions the law would ask are the ones above: was the service done with acceptable care and skill, could the business reasonably have anticipated the damage, and what amount would put you back where you would have been. How a real case turns out depends on its facts, and this guide can’t say.

Two limits come with reimbursement. You are responsible for proving the amount you claim, and a business does not have to pay for damage or loss its own conduct did not cause.

What to keep

Proof of purchase, such as a receipt or a bank statement.
The details of the problem, and copies of any correspondence showing how you have tried to resolve it.
Your working of the amount that would put you back in the financial position you were in before the problem.

What the guarantees don’t cover

The guarantees do not apply when you got what you asked for and changed your mind, for example because you saw it cheaper elsewhere. Any business with a change-of-mind policy must still follow its own policy.

The order to raise a problem in

NSW Fair Trading’s steps for reimbursement start with the business: contact it, verbally or in writing, explain the problem and present your claim. If it refuses to discuss it, or you can’t agree, the options it lists are formal dispute resolution or legal action.

Your state or territory consumer protection agency can help with your rights and options, and may help you work out a solution with the business. The national consumer law site lists each one:

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission can investigate businesses that mislead consumers about their consumer guarantee rights. It does not resolve individual consumer guarantee disputes, and it does not give legal advice on a particular situation.

The guarantees cover the service. Whether goods in transit are insured is a separate question, and this guide does not arrange insurance or give financial advice.