They Broke My Table: Your Rights When a Move Goes Wrong
It happens in every removalist's career, including ours. Something gets damaged on a move. What matters is what happens next, and that depends on what you know. When you hire a removalist in Australia you are covered by consumer guarantees that cannot be signed away. Here they are in plain English. General information, not legal advice.
The guarantee you already have
Under the Australian Consumer Law, services must be provided with due care and skill, and that includes removals. NSW Fair Trading says it outright: the guarantees cover removalist services. The guarantee is automatic. It exists the moment you book, it costs nothing, and it applies whether you read this post or not.
Why 'all goods at owner's risk' doesn't fly
Some quotes include fine print saying the removalist accepts no liability, or that everything moves at your risk. Terms like that cannot wipe out your consumer guarantees. The law beats the fine print, and a business claiming otherwise is misleading you.
One honest caveat: these guarantees exist for consumers. A household move is clearly covered. A large commercial relocation can sit outside the consumer guarantees, so a business moving offices should lean on its contract and its own insurance instead.
What you can actually ask for
The remedy depends on how bad the failure is. The law splits it into two buckets, and you do not need to cite section numbers to use them, you just need to know what to ask for:
| The failure | What it looks like | What you can ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Minor | A repairable scratch, a scuffed table leg, a missing box of books | The removalist remedies it: repair, or pays the reasonable cost of repair |
| Major | Furniture destroyed, goods held unless you pay more, a move so bad you would never have booked it | Cancel and get a refund, plus compensation for reasonably foreseeable loss |
Gather evidence before the truck leaves
The strongest claim is a boring one: photos of the damage, the packaging, and where it happened, taken the same day. Check items against your list as they come off the truck and note damage on the delivery paperwork before you sign anything. A signature on a clean delivery sheet is the receipt the other side will wave around later.
Then put it in writing quickly, ideally within a day or two, with a list of what was damaged and quotes or prices for repair or replacement. For our own moves the rule is report in writing within 7 days and keep the original receipt for the item, and the same discipline serves you with any mover: fast, written, specific.
If talking gets you nowhere
Step one is NSW Fair Trading, 13 32 20 or online. Lodging a complaint is free, and it often works, because a business explaining itself to the regulator is a more motivated business. Have your evidence bundle ready.
Step two is NCAT, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. NCAT hears consumer claims up to $100,000, application fees start at $64, concessions pay a quarter of the fee, and lawyers are not required. For a damaged dining table, the tribunal is realistic rather than theoretical, and businesses know it.
How to make claiming painless, the honest version
Book with a mover who tells you the excess and the claim process before you book, not after something breaks. Keep original receipts for anything you would want replaced, in a photo folder if not a shoebox. And report damage fast, in writing, every time. Claims go sideways when they go quiet.
And if the damage happened on a move with us: same rules. Tell us within 7 days in writing, send the original receipt, and we would rather sort it than argue about it.
Due care and skill is guaranteed by law and fine print cannot remove it. Evidence beats argument, written beats verbal, and Fair Trading and NCAT are free or nearly free. General information only, not legal advice.
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