So I moved apartment over the weekend and since the last move was a bit of a nightmare of stairs, and my back at times is a bit crook, we decided to get removalists and pay to avoid having to do it all again. We live in a 2 bedroom apartment, but just a couple with relatively minimalist furniture, but there is always more stuff than you expect!
The place we moved to is a new apartment building with a loading dock and lifts, and they have very strict cut-off times for moving (Mon-Fri only as well). I booked 4-6pm, and asked the removalist to come at 1:30pm sharp and made them very aware of the strict conditions at the drop-off.
So moving day comes (Friday), and I get a call at 1:30pm sharp. I answer the call expecting them to be downstairs, however they told me they’re still halfway through unloading the previous job a 30 minute drive away, and “can we rearrange for next Monday or Tuesday instead”. Obviously I wasn’t very happy with this suggestion (I would have to fork out a few more days of rent for starters), and asked them just to come as soon as they could. I then rang the owner and asked if a third man could join so we could get it done on time, so he came himself.
The truck and three guys arrived at 3pm, and given the time remaining, I had to stop working despite having a deadline to meet (working from home), and help them carry boxes and furniture. When my partner came home soon after she also (reluctantly) got stuck into it too. With the five of us, we managed to load the truck quick smart, about 1.5 hours. We actually had to leave 3 SUV loads of stuff there because we ran out of time (my partner and I had to do this ourselves the next day with our own car).
On of the last trips carrying stuff down, there was a dining table which I had separated the frame and top. One guy started to carry the frame by himself, and struggled a bit down the stairs, so another guy helped out, but in the rush, cut a corner too sharp and snapped a leg clean off.
We then rushed to the new building and managed to get everything up to the new apartment just in time for the 6pm cut-off when they stop allowing elevator usage for moving stuff. An exhausting ~3 hour experience.
It was an incredibly quick move (the guys did work hard), however there were five of us in total and I was literally running up and down stairs ferrying boxes even quicker than the guys (the previous job sounded like a nightmare so the guys were probably already pretty knackered).
The total time was 3pm - 6:15pm by the time they packed up the truck and took off. The owner charged for 3.5 hours at $170/hr ($595 total) which I thought was fair enough given they have to drive the truck back etc.
However, the table is pretty damn broken, not going to be a simple fix, and there was other damage to some other items (scratched walls in both places, broken sandwich press, scratched up cabinet), because of the rushed move (not time to wrap things).
When I asked if they could do anything about the broken table leg at least, the owner replied that ‘we did the best we could given the short time we had and it was the fastest move we ever did’ and wasn’t really open to any compensation.
Realistically, the move was rushed because they were 1.5 hours late, and the move was fast because there were three of them, and my partner and I had to help to get it done on time. My partner was in tears by the end because of the stress of getting it done in time, and having to move heavy boxes after a long day of work (she works on her feet all day). I had to miss a few a hours work and a deadline too which doesn’t reflect well on me at work..
Am I being unreasonable here asking for just at least $50-100 to fix the table? Should I bother chasing it up further or just forget about it?
TLDR: Removalists turned up late and had to rush because of strict cut-off times in the drop-off apartment building, and ended up damaging some stuff because of the rush.
I'll be honest and say that if I was in that situation, I wouldn't even bother trying to claim $50-100. I'd just be glad that the move is over and focus on getting everything setup at the new place.