No doorstep delivery: Man wants to charge woman '$100 per level' for carrying furniture up shophouse

A woman was forced to move several heavy pieces of furniture by herself after a delivery man allegedly requested an extra fee for doorstep delivery.

Cecilia told Stomp that she had ordered furniture from online shopping platform Taobao, which were to be delivered to her newly established language school located in a shophouse along Norris Road.

However, the woman was away when her parcels were delivered on Nov 4.

When she asked the delivery man to return an hour later, he allegedly refused to do so and told her that "he has to leave everything".

Unbeknownst to Cecilia, the man had placed her items along the stairs on the ground floor and left.

"I called back to ask if he could carry them up, but he said there was no lift and wanted to charge me $100 per level," she recounted, adding that she rejected his suggestion.

The woman eventually finished moving the items after three hours, she told Stomp. 

A quick check by AsiaOne found that the language school is located on the third floor of the building.

"I complained to Taobao, but they just said sorry about that and that's it!" Cecilia exclaimed. "It was a bad day for me!" 

1,000kg of clothes left at void deck

In September, a man was upset to find bags of clothing left at the void deck, even after paying an extra $600 for his Taobao order to be delivered to his home. 

Zhang told Shin Min Daily News that the logistics company, Ocean Pearl, informed him that their staff were unable to deliver the packages as they were too heavy.

His order weighed over 1,300kg in total, and was divided into 14 bags, with 10 of them weighing at least 130kg each, said the man.

As they were unable to lift the hefty bags by themselves, Zhang and his wife had to open the bags at the void deck and bring the items home in batches - a process which took them three hours to complete. 

A spokesperson from Ocean Pearl told Shin Min then that the company was worried that their workers would get injured, or sprain their backs while moving the items.

"We were also unsure if the lift could handle the weight of the bags, so we informed the customer that we couldn't deliver the bags to his doorstep," added the spokesperson. 

ALSO READ: Void deck turned 'dumping ground'? Clementi resident says courier left parcels unattended

lim.kewei@asiaone.com