Backloads.com.au
Reviews and Complaints

My partner and I moved from NSW to VIC. 2 bedroom place, the usual furniture. They clearly use some kind of contracting service as they arrived in a Hertz van with no company clothing or anything. I'm no expert but I know enough to put the heavy boxes at the bottom and the light ones on top. They didn't know how to operate the truck lift, and at one point it appeared everything would fall over. One of the guys mentioned that desks usually break - possibly trying to cover his ###...or psychic.

We drove past them and could clearly see the driver on the phone.

When they dropped it off, it was too different people, who conveniently had no idea how things were broken. First thing off the truck was my flat screen TV, stand completely broken off. The dryer turned out to be broken - the drum inside now misaligned and scraping, and we found the mattress to be soaked in soy sauce. We packed none. And my desk was chipped and broken.
We took out insurance that said in the fine print that mishandling was covered. It apparently is not. When we rung the person said to take photos and email them. The next morning, first chance they had, they told us we weren't covered. They have since not replied to any emails.

Did I mention that we were asked the day before to pay cash? Well we had also put our card details online (a rookie mistake on our part) when we signed up, which they also charged. THANKFULLY we managed to get a refund for the extra payment (how gracious of them to not charge us twice for their [censored]house service)

Please do not use this "company". They don't deserve to be operating. AVOID AT ALL COSTS

I moved several boxes from Sydney to Perth in April using Backloads. After reading terrible reviews (warning sign 1) I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I spoke to a man named David and he assured me everything would be ok.

Warning sign 2. The guys that came to take my boxes away did not label them as part of the same delivery, even though I had my name on the boxes, I queried this and was assured it would be ok.

Warning sign 3. The guys that came to pick up my boxes were going to Melbourne which was news to me as my boxes I was told were going directly to Perth. We had to call the freight company to get it sorted and I was assured it would be put into a container and all go to Perth once the container was full.

Issue. Only 3 of the 4 boxes were delivered a month after they were picked up from Sydney. No one at Backloads was assisting and David was very rude in dealing with the matter. We complained to consumer affairs and filed an insurance claim WITH backloads.com only to have my claim form and emails unanswered. This has been 5 months now. The contents of the box were quite expensive clothing and I am really annoyed at how little care was taken and the fact I am now being ignored.

This company do not care about the customer, they are very unprofessional and I would highly recommend AGAINST using them.

Original job was $3300. They then charged an extra $300 without contacting me direct from my credit card. Even though they have a 'secure payment' site they retained my credit card details. When I queried the charge they retaliated and invoiced me another $300. They calculate the inside volume of a 20ft container as 38cm (should be 32.8cm) meaning they overcharge on every job. They missed two pickup appointments and got there on the third. If they did the job I paid for without getting greedy I would have been saying they are good value (except for missing the pickups). This is the way they do business- Lessons learned 1. Do not use this business 2. Cheapest is not always the best. 3. Take a photo before they start unloading so you have proof of volume. 4. Do not give them your credit card number.

I booked this almost 10 days ago stipulating I needed pickup within 3 days. They assured me of a particular day and 3hr window. Didn't arrive, no courtesy call...nothing. I called again, left message. No return call came. My Father, on the Gold Coast, was waiting at home for the pickup for 6 days running! Nothing came, still no courtesy call. Finally he was promised Saturday pickup. Didn't come. Then a Sunday pickup was assured. Didn't happen. On the Monday they said they'd arrive in the morning - they came 4pm. I am in Sydney and was awaiting delivery for 2pm. The poor fellow doing the actual delivery called me to discuss details. I also received a call from his wife. She confided that she and her Husband are subcontracted and receive a LOT of complaints about backloads.com I agreed to pay cash on delivery (from the outset). Only an hour before delivery did they advise they would not accept cash and wanted direct deposit. Given I was in the middle of moving house and had no internet I was unable to do this. I offered to provide my credit card details. They said no and that my delivery would now have to go to their storage facility and a storage fee of $300 charged as well as a further $308 for redelivery...down the track! These guys are modern day pirates holding peoples goods to random, assuring a service they simply don't provide and I believe they have no intention of honouring the terms of service. It's all a ploy. Shocking, absolutely shocking. I'll be taking this to court - FOR. SURE. Steer clear.

Originally quoted us $1100 for items. Ended up not having to pick up as many items as originally quoted.

My goods have since arrived in Sydney; yet to the wrong address. I originally told them to send it to a storage facility I requested and had paid for; yet they took it to their own centre. They have then charged me a fee for storing my goods.

Even though they picked up less items; they are charging an additional $300 as they picked up "4 extra boxes". They are holding my goods ransom as a result.

These people are horrible, horrible, evil individuals who deserve to be shut down. I Don't know how they continue to get away with this (stupidly I didn't read all hte negative reviews before booking them).

This was the worst company I have ever come across. They kept changing the day for pickup and when they eventually did arrive the mover swore at me because he couldn't get the bed down the stairs. He then left and said he would come back later. It is now 7pm and they still haven't returned. I then called them and the guy 'Gary' yelled at me again and said "don't you believe me? I am keeping my word. I don't want to come tomorrow on my day off!" What a terrible company. I am now hoping to get my stuff moved to Brisbane in one piece! NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN!

BACKLOAD REMOVALS AND TRANSPORT are hopeless, hopeless and more bloody hopeless!

Are they even a removal and transport company, let alone provide a backload service?

Why do they even provide quotes if they can’t provide a removal/backload service?

I waited five days for someone to collect my few items and like everyone else on this page never received a phone call or text to let me know when the removals would be arriving to move my items!

Was told on a Monday that the removal driver would call that night to confirm pick-up on Tuesday – no text, no call. So I rang the office on the Wednesday – staff member told me (after she supposedly checked with the truck driver) that my items would be picked-up that evening on Wednesday. Waited, waited and waited – no removal truck turned up and no phone call or text!
Rang the office again on the Thursday, spoke to some guy who told me some silly story why the removals didn't turn up –he informed me he had booked and confirmed a pick-up for Friday. Friday comes and goes and no pick-up or phone calls! Rang again on Saturday and was assured items would be pick-up that day – sure enough NO phone calls, No pick-up!

I was left to arrange (at very short notice) a backload with another company two weeks out from Christmas – thankfully a more professional and more genuine removal company has come to my rescue - and cost a lot less than what Backload.com quoted me.

Out of curiosity I thought it best to check out some reviews on Backload.com and I came across this site! All I can say is, thank goodness I hadn't paid upfront – only wished I had seen this page two months ago when I had booked my move! I will definitely be letting folks know through facebook NOT to deal with Backload.com and tell everyone about their NO SHOW, NO PHONE CALLS and NO CUSTOMER SERVICE! Will also put a direct link to this web page on facebook so others can read all the complaints about this very dodgy company!

Talk about a dishonest and very despicable business operators – what a bunch of [censored] bags!

For those still waiting and fighting to get their refunds etc, perhaps a phone call or an email to ASIC will be forthcoming. Even go one step further and seek legal advice – a potential class action might be worthwhile pursuing considering the amount of people that have been affected.

How’s this for comical – have just received a phone call almost two weeks from when my stuff was booked to be picked up! Call was from a removal company that Backload.com outsourced my job to and even the truck driver I spoke with said that I wasn't alone with my complaint and like me, other customers received the same bloody pathetic service (lack off) from Backload.com and end up booking with other removal companies! I told the truck driver he shouldn't do any further business with Backload.com, as it reflects badly on his and other removal companies Backload.com outsource to.

DONT USE THIS SERVICE

Just cancelled my order after it has been neglected 3 times. The third time it was made ' a priority' but I get the feeling its not big enough for this company to be concerned about. If so a notice would have been appreciated.
I have received no apology for wasting my time in moving my items and no notice that it hasn't been picked up. The only way I found out was by contacting my flatmates. The phone staff told me my stuff had been picked up
and it hadn't. They had no idea.
This is a terrible way to run a business. Neglecting the most fundamental courtesies and being totally unreliable, the staff on the phone didn't even sound surprised.
They wasted a week of my time. What if I needed that stuff for business ?

Backloads are a budget moving service with well budget service.

DO NOT BOOK THIS COMPANY!

We booked to have our furniture picked up for a move from NSW to QLD on the 22nd of December through backloads.com.au (and through research since found out they were previously Cobb & Co, they also go by Interstate Taxi Trucks and Regal Removals) and were told by 2 people at the company that our furniture would arrive on the 24th (the same day as us). I actually questioned this, with it being Christmas eve, but they told us the trucks were going up to QLD anyway because it's back-loading.
We were told once our furniture was packed onto the truck that our stuff would not be arriving until the 13th of January.

At this point we had packed everything we own, all of clothes, our fridge, our washing machine, everything.
I called the company to find out why the dates had changed but could not get an answer from anyone as the manager was always "busy".
I called many times over the following days to find out why it was going to take so long for our stuff to be delivered, with no answer from anyone.

It is now the 25th of January and we STILL do not have our furniture, despite having paid almost $2000 for our stuff to be delivered, because they would not deliver without full payment being made, even though I was wary of this after being dodged around by them and reading all the horrible reviews about them not delivering furniture.

I wish, I wish I had done my research beforehand, but we were in a rush around Christmas time to book everything.

The manager I spoke to was EXTREMELY rude and told me all of this was "normal" and the fact we have been over $1000 out of pocket having to buy air mattress, renting a fridge and washing machine (buying ice to keep stuff cold until we could do that), $30 a go at the laundromat, a few different t-shirts and such for the kids as they had no clothes, school shoes we should not have had to buy so they could start school, living day by day on groceries until we got a fridge, and many, many other costs, were "normal moving costs".

I'm sorry but they are NOT normal moving costs. No one should have to go more then a month without furniture. In this household I have myself, my sick mother, and 4 children that have had to sleep on cheap, dodgy air mattresses every night. Everyone is suffering, particularly my mother who finds it hard to get up and down off the floor. My mothers medication all went off because it had to be stored in a fridge.

When I spoke to the "manager" he spoke over the top of me and eventually hang up on me, even though I was not rude at all and simply, at this point, just wanting my stuff delivered. I tried to deal with it over email after this, explaining how out of pocket we have been put, but to no avail.

My mother spoke to him today and he did the same thing, except told her she was DUMB for packing all her belongings before he hang up.
He told her WE could not be trusted, she asked why, and he said because we have complained and we need to "tread lightly" about how much more we complain. He then told my mum he had half a mind to charge us for storage and repacking costs, even though it is THEIR fault our stuff is in storage!
My mother ended up in tears through the insults he threw at her.

I was told that the managers name was Sam James, but to be honest, I do believe it is a fake name.

There are 4 children in this house, 2 who have to go to school while sleeping on the floor. The other 2 are also both students, and so am I, who again have to sleep on the floor but also packed our study material and have not been able to complete assignments because of this.

On top of everything else, the house has become a stressful environment because nobody has their things, their is boredom, frustration, everyone is sore from being on the floor all the time, we are struggling financially because of all the excess costs, and many other stresses this has caused us.

I am greatly, greatly concerned about WHEN our stuff will be delivered, and also what kind of condition it will be in when it gets here, as many of the reviews I have read have mentioned their stuff being damaged. Their insurance was so overpriced, for example $200 for a minimum just to cover the TV, so we could not afford that, but at the time I trusted that they were experienced removalists. Now I am not so trusting and am very scared, not only because they are dodgy but because I have complained to them.

Something needs to be done to stop this company abusing its' customers like this. People need to be warned not to use this company because I have never, ever dealt with anyone like them. They will not even tell us where our furniture is, only that it is in storage somewhere in Canberra!

I do believe this company has been investigated before under Cobb and Co, and since changed their name. Everyone I have spoken to is rude, and the manager is the lowest form of life, and they need to be stopped before they rip off anymore families. I am doing everything I can at the moment to get our stuff up here, but to be honest, it's not looking good.
Please, DO NOT book this company, for your own sake!

If ANYONE else wants to contact me, or is currently going through anything legal with this company please contact me on [protected]@hotmail.com

UPDATE!

So after being promised MULTIPLE times our furniture would be delivered Friday, and calling yesterday to confirm and being told it was on track, I called today to make sure. I was told it will be here tomorrow (Saturday)!
I was then told No one ever told me it would be delivered Friday (a lie!), I even have an email!

He told me if I call again, they would delay our furniture EVEN MORE! I was then hung up on.

This company is the f**king WORST! I have NEVER, EVER dealt with anyone like them!

My daughter found ‘Backloads Removalists’ on the internet three weeks ago and was attracted by the comments on the website of "hassle free delivery" and low price so she booked on line for 5.6 cub m. to be picked up from our home on the Gold Coast and taken to Sydney. On line it asks for a date range, which she gave as Monday 23 Feb - Thursday 26 Feb as she was moving on Friday 27 Feb. She was contacted to say that the goods would be picked up on Monday morning 23 Feb and that money would be taken from my account when the goods had been picked up.
We were told they would pick up our boxes between 12 and 1 pm but they didn’t arrive until 9 pm only to say that they couldn't fit our boxes in, as they had an emergency pick-up on the way, even though our capacity size was less than our stated amount. The driver said another truck would be coming through on Tuesday and he would tell the office to make sure our boxes were on that truck. Even though they had not picked up our goods, they took the money out of our bank account on the Monday which meant we were in no position to find another removalist in case we couldn’t get our money back.
The truck did not come until Friday afternoon to pick up our goods despite numerous calls to them and false promises throughout the week. We were told that the boxes would arrive on Sunday morning. I rang the office again to say that this was unacceptable as my husband and daughter were driving down to Sydney to move in on Friday and I was flying down Saturday especially to help her unpack the boxes. I had the unfortunate experience to be put through to the operations manager who was the rudest man I've ever encountered in business. He has no customer service skills and even told me I was "stupid" to book a flight when I didn't know when I was getting the goods. At this stage I thought the whole operation must have been a scam, as surely no-one moves on the date a removalist tells them they can, you book the removalist to suit the day you are moving. There was no apology or even reasonable explanation as to why my daughter's boxes were not in Sydney by the due date throughout the ordeal. He told me that he didn’t have to do anything about it because the conditions read that the goods are guaranteed to be delivered up to 3 days after pick up. I reminded him that the pick up day was supposed to be Monday not Friday so surely that rule did not apply as it was the company's fault that they weren't picked up. He said that it didn't matter whose fault it was the rule still applied and without giving me any assurance that the boxes would be delivered, hung up on me. The boxes arrived the following Tuesday afternoon, one week after they were supposed to be delivered and 4 days after pick up (so much for their guarantee) causing undue stress, financial loss and wasted time. I emailed the General Manager to put in my complaint but have had no reply. Besides a couple of staff members, everyone else has been rude, inefficient and evasive.