Bitter feud erupts after 26 mattresses were dumped on Aussie couple's driveway
The mum was shocked to see the mattresses dumped on the driveway, however the owner believes they were within their rights to take such action.
A family can't use their driveway after 26 old mattresses were dumped there by a rubbish removal company following a dispute over an unpaid bill. However, the company claims it has acted within its rights and is continuing to pursue its full fee for removing rubbish from the Melbourne home.
Laura Maultby and her partner Jarrod arranged for old rotting wood to be removed from their home in Langwarrin, in southeast Melbourne, by collection company Junk.com.au. After workers cleared it on Tuesday an invoice was sent to the couple, however, Maultby claims it was well overpriced at $514.
"When they picked it up and we got the invoice, I went back through all the communications and found the price, like, buried in the documentation... the pricing was ambiguous," she told Yahoo News Australia.
The couple claim they only had "just over one cubic metre" of wood, while Junk.com.au owner Richard Furnari told Yahoo News his team collected over two and a half cubic metres of wood. He claims the couple were sent price information before the collection was made.
"He [Jarrod] contacted our office and he was sent in writing a quotation of $99 for a collection for two men in a truck, and $190 a cubic metre for waste," Furnari said. "He [Jarrod] said he didn't know exactly how much wood he had before collection."
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Mattresses dumped on property to 'mitigate losses'
The couple refused to pay the invoice and a dispute between both parties turned sour when Furnari warned the residents that workers would dump 26 mattresses on their property to "mitigate our losses of the job".
He claims the couple agreed to this possibility when they engaged Junk.com.au services, as the company's terms and conditions state the following on its website: 'In the event of non-payment, the client expressly provides JUNK Group with the right to... unload either the clients waste collected or the equivalent volume of waste to the property.'
Maultby says these are "unreasonable expectations" in a company's terms and conditions and was "shocked" when she saw the mattresses on her property. A fiery text exchange between the parties followed, and Maultby shared her experience on social media.
Unpaid invoice lodged in court
Furnari advised Yahoo News a collection of the mattresses has since been arranged on Friday to "avoid dispute with the customer" and he has since lodged the unpaid invoice in a claim with the Victoria Civil & Administrative Tribunal.
"Rather than have a dispute over the mattresses, the mattresses will be collected, and we'll just pursue them for the money that they owe in the court," he said.
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