When Richard Finn booked a removalist to pack up the contents of his family home and ship the container from Perth to Melbourne, he didn’t expect to become a pawn in a dispute.

Mr Finn paid over $5000 to Wridgways for the relocation which included a car, white goods, clothes, furniture and their kid’s toys. It was booked to arrive on April 23, the day before the family was due to land in Melbourne where his wife was starting a new job.  Since then it’s been delay after delay, until he learnt the real reason his family has been without their belongings.

“I’m told it’s been held in Victoria but Wridgways have not got control of it because of an ongoing dispute with a principal contractor,” Mr Finn told Oliver Peterson.

Mr Finn attempted to find out who the contractor is and try to negotiate the delivery but Wridgways would not release the information.

“They’re holding onto my goods, it just happens to be in a Wridgways container,” he said.

“They’re using it as leverage I guess.

“Until these two companies sort out their dispute, we’re simply living with a porta-cot at the end of a bed with no warm clothes.”

The Finn family is currently paying to stay in a serviced apartment with their only belongings being the clothes they could fit into their suitcases. They have a rental sitting empty, which they are still paying for.

“This is the frustrating thing, it’s open ended,” said Mr Finn.

“We don’t know details about the dispute, we don’t know when it’s going to end and so far nobody’s willing to tell us who the dispute is with.”

“I want to buy back my own container and deal with the fall out after that.”

Press PLAY to hear about the Finn family’s plight:

UPDATE May 11 – Statement from WridgWays:

WridgWays is one of Australia’s iconic heritage brands, established in Melbourne in 1892.

Being a national business focused heavily on interstate moving, Covid-19’s impact on mobility of the Australian population was particularly devastating for the company’s main revenue streams.   As trading conditions for WridgWays and countless other Australian companies continued to worsen through 2020, operational challenges began to impact the company more significantly in the first quarter of 2021.  Some customers have unfortunately been impacted by that situation, and WridgWays acknowledges that some unreasonable delays have occurred.

For this reason, WridgWays has engaged an established national industry participant to provide additional immediate customer support and services and we expect supply issues to be resolved expeditiously.    Effective immediately, WridgWays will be leveraging the capabilities of the assisting business to ensure that all customer domestic shipment delays are resolved within the next week. 

Mr Finn’s shipment is safely in WridgWays care, and through these newly engaged logistics solutions, the delivery will be completed as soon as possible.  Where appropriate, compensation may be considered with regard to accommodation costs incurred. 

WridgWays apologises for the impact that this has had on Mr Finn and his family, and are working hard to ensure that he receives delivery with a week from today.

(Photo: iStock by Getty)