A reader who moved from Ireland to Gard in the south of France has told how he has been left with a mostly empty home, after a removals firm took charge of his household possessions and never delivered them.
Peter Reid, 55, a writer and director, who used to rent a home in Dublin, decided to buy in France with his wife and daughter after visiting friends in the Gard two years ago and loving the weather, scenery and food.
Last year, they found a “perfect” house in the small town of Quissac, and the purchase went smoothly. However, things went wrong when it came to bringing their belongings to France, Mr Reid said.
“We had all our furniture and everything in a storage unit in Dublin we had rented. We just came over with clothes and a few essentials. We planned to have it all brought over in a truck.
Read more: Paying upfront for removal company in France: is there way around it?
Moving date secured
“We rang around a few movers, but there aren’t that many that come to France from Dublin – more go to Spain. We found someone who would do it and everything seemed reasonable.
“They had a website and seemed legitimate – they are legitimate, as far as I know, and have been in business several years.”
He said they agreed to pay half upfront, then paid the rest when asked to – a total of €7,000 – after the movers took delivery of the items and were helpful dealing with issues, with several items having got damaged from a leak in the storage. Delivery was planned in December.
However, their contact, ‘Michael’, told the family there were difficulties obtaining a ferry slot. January was then agreed on, but after that “the updates stopped,” he said.
In February, someone else phoned from Michael’s phone saying there were “personal issues in the company and work had to stop for a couple of weeks” but the belongings were said to be “heading for France the next day”. However, a couple of weeks later, Mr Reid said Michael called again referring to problems with ferries, strikes and riots.
He was told the delivery would be “for certain, within a week”.
Unanswered calls
In April, with calls and emails unanswered, Mr Reid said he sought legal advice and was told that at this stage it potentially amounted to theft.
However, he said he understood that suing would be costly and not guaranteed. Consumer affairs officials in Ireland told them they could only record the incident, but had no power to intervene.
He said after they sent a letter threatening legal action, he was called again, and told their belongings were in France and they would have them within a few days.
Since then, they have made “endless attempts,” to contact the firm he said. He said their enquiries showed it to be run by the man he had spoken to and his daughter.
“All we want at this stage is our goods back,” he said. “There was a lot of valuable furniture, as well as beds, couches and dressers, including items handed down to my wife from her mother – an antique table and several genuine Persian carpets, as well as small trinkets.
“It would be thousands and thousands if we had to buy it again. But the stuff we’re really annoyed about is personal items that can’t be replaced. There were boxes and boxes of personal papers, including legal documents, and there were pictures that were very personal. Everything we’ve collected over the last 20 years.”
Mr Reid added: “We currently have a very nice house, but very sparsely furnished. As far as I can see the company is still functioning but appears to no longer be delivering overseas. It seems like Michael has disappeared off the map.”
They are very worried about what would happen if their belongings, especially personal papers, are dumped and never located, he said.
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The website of the company, The Removal Hub, based in Dublin, states it has a fleet of more than 50 vehicles and 70 years’ experience.
The Connexion tried to contact the company on June 10 via the email and phone number provided on its site. We did not receive a response to our email, but we received a phone call from Ireland, from a person who stated he “does some contract work for” the company.
He stated: “The director has had a stroke so they’ve had to close the firm for a space of time and it will be for a while more. It will be open again in about four weeks’ time.”
He said there was no way to contact anyone, because “if it’s closed, it’s closed”.
Consumer rights
Irish consumer rights and trading standards body CCPC told The Connexion that there are strong consumer rights in Ireland and that businesses based in Ireland must, according to the Consumer Rights Act 2022, provide a satisfactory service.
“If challenges arise, it is up to the business to resolve issues where the service does not work as set out in your contract,” a spokeswoman said.
“They should do this at no cost to the consumer, within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer. The actions a business will take will depend on the type of service you have.
She added: “In this case we suggest that your reader checks the terms and conditions of their contract with the removals company. In cases of breach of contract, one remedy may be for the consumer to negotiate a suitable resolution or else seek a full or partial refund of the amounts paid.
Escalating an issue
“Where they do not receive a satisfactory response or outcome to their complaint and where they feel that the trader is acting outside of the terms agreed or applying unfair terms, they may wish to submit a final written complaint to the business.
“Failing a satisfactory response, they may wish to contact their card provider regarding the possibility of a chargeback on their card (which is a reversal of the transaction on their card). However, please note that chargeback is time sensitive, and each card issuer has their own terms and conditions around chargeback, therefore we would suggest that you contact your card provider directly to discuss this option.”
While the CCPC can only advise, not act directly, she added that, where people in the EU have exhausted the usual complaints process with a business, they may use a network of independently-managed offices which help settle disputes between consumers and sellers based in another EU countries.
In this case, she said our reader should contact the European Consumer Centre France, who will, in turn, reach out to the Irish centre. If the matter remains unresolved at this point, the final option would be to take legal advice, she said.
