One group that has taken advantage of the popularity of the backload are shonky removalists. The advent of the internet, lack of regulation in the industry, and record low interest rates, mean that anyone can take out a loan for a truck and advertise themselves as a removalist, and in the interstate sector the shonky ones  dub themselves as ‘backloaders’ and provide ‘backload rates’ no matter where they’re heading.

To run an honest, legitimate and safe removals company is costly. As with most businesses, there are dozens of costs to be paid. Aside from the cost of a truck there is registration, maintenance, fuel, equipment, wages, superannuation, insurance, business administration and advertising costs. The rates of a legitimate business will reflect this, and most honest removals companies will tend to have rates in a similar range.

A shonky removalist will tend to avoid spending on maintenance, equipment, insurance, pay below award wages, run cash businesses, and manage to avoid much advertising expenditure by offering rock bottom prices.

Removals agents work hand in hand with shonky removalists. These agents will register multiple websites and begin to sell removals services. Curiously, many of them have websites that look to be straight out of the year 2000, and rarely will they have a registered address. With a little digging you will soon realise that removals agents do not even have their own trucks.

Removals agents will spend on marketing and offer too good to be true prices. Without their own trucks they cannot complete the job, so after making a booking their challenge is to find a shonky backloader removalist willing to do the job for even cheaper than the price they initially quoted.

As mentioned, to run an honest, legitimate and safe removals company is costly. A shonky removalist can easily save money by paying cutting corners, but at the end of the day all removalists must pay for a truck, registration, fuel, wages and some level of maintenance. Whilst shonky actions like underpaying workers and not maintaining insurance can save some money, it still doesn’t explain how shonky removalists and ‘backloaders’ can offer rates that are often half of those of the legitimate competition.

There is a saying “if it seems too good to be true it probably is” and in this case there is no exception. There are a number of risks when you use a shonky backloader and some of them are as follows:

Imagine you’re move day finally arrives, you’re precious belongings are carefully packed up, and you wake up and do the final preparations before waiting on the removalists so you can get on the road to your new city.

If you’ve chosen an honest removalist, you’ll get a call as the truck is traveling out, the driver will reconfirm the ETA with you, and duly arrive on time to begin a smooth move. If there is a legitimate delay, you’ll be advised, and the driver will arrive at the updated time, often with an extra worker to make up for lost time.

If you’ve chosen a backloader, the arrival time will come and go. You’ll think little of it, assuming the truck is caught in traffic or the removalists are grabbing breakfast. After some time you’ll call the backloader, and get no answer. After a few more calls and messages, you’ll finally get the standard response: “sorry we can’t make it anymore due to mechanical problems”.

Your big move will quickly become a big nightmare. Often shonky backloaders will blow off a job due to finding a more profitable job elsewhere, and the old excuse of a broken down truck is all too common. You’ll scramble to find a solution, and later realise you have to fight to get your deposit back. Meanwhile the clock is ticking, and you should have been on the road already. In the best case you’ll find a company like Premier Removals for a same day move, but the delay might cause you to lose thousands in missed flights and short term arrangements for hotels, storage and other costs.

Another common scenario with shonky backloaders is the levying of additional charges on top of the too good to be true quotation. Come moving day, you’ve very likely budgeted for a number of costs aside from removals, including transport and hotel costs, real estate costs, cleaning costs and a number of incidentals like transferring registration of vehicles.

The great price you got on the move may be helping out, but this price won’t always stay the same.

It’s not unheard of for shonky removalists to make additional charges for long walks, stairs, heavy items and even in the extreme case of a disreputable Brisbane company, for the use of removals blankets. A common shonky tactic is for your belongings to be loaded on to the truck, at which point the removalists will advise you the final volume was much greater than the quoted amount, and ask for hundreds or even thousands more with the threat of unloading your belongings and leaving you stranded at a crucial moment. Whist these additional charges may not be wrong in themselves, the shonky factor comes from the way they were conveniently left out at the time of quoting in order to undercut legitimate companies and win the job.

Legitimate removalists will take great measures to avoid causing damage to your belongings in a move. Typically in a long distance moves, your belongings will be inventoried, with existing damages noted. The reality is even the best of removalists will see damages from time to time. An honest company will have terms and conditions that clearly state what is and what is not covered and will offer some sort of redress. An honest company will also certainly have insurance to cover major damages or total loss (e.g. a vehicular accident, fire or flood).

When using a shonky removalist, there is no guarantee your belongings will be taken care of. In the event of damage occurring you have almost zero recourse and certainly won’t have insurance.

When booking via a removals agent it becomes even more complicated and you can look forward to endless passing of the buck, until you eventually get tired and chalk it up to experience.

A legitimate removalist will quote you based on the pickup and delivery dates you require. Even when a legitimate company is offering a backload and you have to work to their schedule, you can expect them to stick to the advertised dates.

A shonky backloader is a total different storage. These people will advertise backload prices no matter which direction they are going, and if they even have terms and conditions, you will see that no guarantee is given regarding a delivery date. Ahead of your move, you might be very happy to get a great price. Let’s say you’re going from Brisbane to Dubbo, you might be pleased to get a cut priced backload, and happy with the promise of a 3-4 day delivery time frame. The shonky removalist will load up your belongings, fully intending to deliver in 3-4 days, but when a removals agent calls the shonky removalist and offers a full truck load from Brisbane to Cairns, your belongings will be hastily put in to storage (perhaps into the shonk’s garden shed) so they can set out to Cairns. Eventually the shonk will make it to Cairns, wait for another load to take them back towards Brisbane, and eventually reload your belongings.

Meanwhile you’ll be in Dubbo, living out of a hotel and wondering where your belongings are. Either your calls will be ignored or you’ll be fed every excuse in the book. Eventually when you get angry, the shonk will claim that a backload doesn’t have a guaranteed delivery date. Days (or even weeks) later, your belongings will finally be delivered. If you’re lucky and were able to stay with family you’ll be angry and frustrated. If you were forced to live out of a hotel you’ll be up for hundreds of dollars in extra expenditure.