Citymove / Removalist - Sydney, Australia
www.citymove.com.au

In short Citymove made a number of monumental blunders directly costing us in excess of $500, subsequently they failed to provide any kind of explanation or apology, even refusing to speak with us about the matter. Eventually they insult us with an offer of $30 in compensation.

When we summoned them to a tribunal they tried to buy us off with a further $100, when this didn't wash, they rather tellingly pointed out that they go to the tribunal all the time and that we would not win! Unsurprisingly they lost and failed to comply with the order made by the Tribunal.

As a result many hours of time have been needlessly wasted by both ourselves and Citymove, it has ended up costing them, both financially and in terms of what little is left of their reputation. This is a prime example of how not to run a business, had Citymove called us on the following day as we requested, offering an explanation and an apology, it would have cost them nothing, and you would not be about to read the following account of events. 'Please put down any hot drinks down before reading on'

5th March - Excited about the new house... Booked a Move with CityMove over the phone for 17th March at 7:30am. 5th March - CityMove confirm booking by email... (that's a good sign right?) 16th March - CityMove confirm via phone that move is on tomorrow - We add an additional man incurring extra costs. 16th March - Extra man is confirmed via email... (These guys are really on top of their game) 17th March - Yayyy! - Day of the move! - 7:30am - no sign of CityMove. - 8:00am - still no sign - start trying to phone CityMove - get straight through to hold music (It's nauseating). <Roughly 1 hour of bad muzak later...> - 9:00am - Finally get through - apparently they have had problems with their phone system! - 9:10am - Bit of a mix-up with the van's apparently - there were 2 Kristi's moving that day? - 9:15am - Still unable to tell us when a van would be available! - Told them not to bother and asked that the Mgr call us Monday first thing with an explanation. What followed was one of the worst experiences of our lives... Imagine trying to book a removalist on the same day of your move... Now imagine it's a Saturday - the busiest day of the week... Imagine phoning around 25 removal companies in the Sydney area before your mobile phone battery starts to die because you have spent over an hour on hold listening to muzak... Imagine all your belongings and furniture on the street outside your old house because someone else has moved in... Now imagine the heavens open... Rain and Cardboard Boxes aren't ideal bedfellows. Imagine having spent $158 to book a security guard at the property you are moving to as a requirement of the strata management, and missing that appointment. (Pause to let heart and BP to return to normal levels) - 7:00 pm Last soggy box is loaded from the van to our new house thanks to the sterling work last minute stand in John Bull Removals. - 7:01pm Offer our first born child by way of thanks to John Bull Removals.

19th March - 10:59 Look incredulously at mobile phone for 50th time to check we have not had a missed call from Citymove! 19th Mach - 11:00am Phone to speak to Citymove for an explanation - It seems James Russell does not deal with complaints over the phone, only by email (Bad news if you don't have email). 19th March - Send email to James, expressing our dissatisfaction with the show so far and highlighting how much their incompetence had cost us (about $500) 20th March - Email from James, kindly offering us... wait for it... $30 in Compensation - (1$ for every minute they were late up to a maximum of 30) 20th March - Email to James declining his kind offer, and explaining that all we originally wanted was an apology and explanation, but that given this was not forthcoming, we were prepared to pursue this as a matter of principal. 20th March - Lodged a complaint with the office of fair trading 27th March - Phone call from Dept of Fair Trading telling us we had a strong case and that they would contact CityMove on our behalf. 30th March - Phone call from Dept of Fair Trading telling us CityMove were unwilling to speak to them and that we should refer the matter to the Consumer Trade and Tenancy Tribunal. 30th March - Lodged a complaint with the CTT - Hearing set for 10th May. 11th April - First contact from James Russell by Phone, He stated that after speaking to his Lawyers - In order to save us and them time, we should accept a goodwill payment of $100. He also rather tellingly warned us that "We go to the Tribunal all the time and you will not win"! - See you at the Tribunal James.

10th May - Tribunal Day - James Russell and James Wheeler turn up in cheap suits that fail to intimidate us. It takes the magistrate several attempts to explain to Mr Wheeler (Company Director) that should he proceed, he will have to accept the decision as final. Finally he agrees and they stumble through the proceedings like naughty schoolboys. Disappointingly, their argument centers around the fact that they were simply running late, and because we canceled they were therefore not at fault. Unsurprisingly for everyone but them, the magistrate disagrees and awards the decision to us... $479 by the 18th May... Thank you for coming. 10th May - James R asks for our bank details - saying it would be paid the following day. 10th May - We send a confirmation of the amount and supply our bank details again. 11th May - Email from James R saying after taking legal advice (They have previously advertised for law students on Gumtree.com.au) they were planning on appealing. 11th May - Long email from me reminding them of the prior days events, and suggesting they invest in more training for said lawyer. 14th June - Still no sign...We go to local court and file an order to pay - incurring a $67 Lodgement fee and Interest of $3.54 to be added to the original amount. 19th June - Email from Yasuhiro Kuramochi at 'Stemove' - What are our bank account details so they can transfer $479 19th June - Wrote back to Yashuro explaining that the amount is now $549.54 due to cost of order and interest. 20th June - Email from Yasuhiro Kuramochi <blocked::http://theyasu.com/> - They will transfer $479 now and remaining later! 20th June - Wrote back to Yashuro with Bank details, and explaining that we had already given these to city move on 2 occasions. Resisted the temptation to ask him when he was going post some crazy video antics on his website. 21st June - Transfer of $479 to our Account. - 3rd August - Email from Martin Ward, Operations Manager at CityMove (In London) asking what it would take for us to remove the entry we placed on nocustomerservice.com. 3rd August - Replied stating that such a question was best addressed once the matter had been settled, and that $70.54 was still outstanding. 4th August - Phone call from Martin, He was very pleasant, and apologetic but unfortunately was not across any of the details of our dispute, and certainly not aware that the matter had yet to be settled. 14th August - Still no response from CityMove, I wrote to them explaining that I was considering updating my complaint on www.nocustomerservice.com and would they care to comment. 28th August - Still no response from CityMove so I posted this in full to inform anyone considering using their services just how appalling our experience has been with them.

If your looking for a removal company, please look elsewhere.