Woman moving from Serangoon to Kovan expected to pay moving company S$228, ends up with S$1,796 bill after 'long pushing distance' fees

A woman who hired a moving company to relocate from Serangoon to Kovan was expecting to pay S$228, but ended up with a S$1,796 bill after being charged S$1,280 in “long pushing distance” fees.

The moving company reportedly said the woman had more than five times the number of items declared, including several large pieces of furniture.

The company explained that such fees apply because lorries can only be parked outside the apartment.

Lei (transliteration), 39, told Shin Min Daily News that she found the company online on Aug. 25 and booked a move for 9am on Sep. 1.

Her new apartment was about 4km away.

Expected to pay S$228

Lei said her larger items included a sofa, massage chair, TV, TV cabinet and a bed frame.

She had initially thought a 10-foot lorry would be sufficient.

The quoted transportation fee was S$198, while furniture disassembly cost S$30, bringing the total to S$228.

However, on moving day, she was told the lorry could only be parked outside the condominium, so an additional “long pushing distance” fee would apply.

According to Lei, the company told her the fee was S$80 for every 60m.

The distance was calculated at 180m for her old apartment and 300m for her new one.

Both locations required two round-trips, resulting in S$1,280 in additional fees.

This brought the final bill to S$1,796.

Lei said she had to make payment when the movers arrived, before her belongings were unloaded.

She reluctantly agreed to the charges because her furniture had already been dismantled and she wanted to avoid an argument.

When she later asked why the additional fees had not been disclosed beforehand, she said the company staff allegedly ignored her.

Company says terms and conditions stated extra fees

The operations manager, Long (transliteration), told Shin Min that its terms and conditions state that quoted moving prices do not include additional “long pushing distance” fees, complicated disassembly and other charges.

He explained that such fees apply because lorries can only be parked outside the apartment.

Long said Lei had initially declared five or six boxes and a few large pieces of furniture.

However, when the movers arrived, they found more than 20 boxes in addition to the large furniture, requiring an extra trip.

He also said the “long pushing distance” fee is not necessarily S$80 per 60m, as the difficulty of each move varies depending on the apartment and circumstances.

The move was initially expected to take two hours but eventually took about five.

Long said the company had another job scheduled for 11am that day but had to outsource it to another moving company.

He also had to send two additional employees to help with the move.