A desperate great-grandmother is pleading with her removalist to find all her belongings after they never made it to her new home.
Audrey, 81, moved from Hervey Bay, 287km north of Brisbane, to Tarcutta, 206km west of Canberra, in early December 2024.
She browsed the internet and paid $5,000 to All Things Moving Australia to transport her belongings interstate after seeing the company’s competitive prices.
Unbeknownst to Audrey however the removalist had failed to properly deliver other people’s items in the past, according to disgruntled customers.
Multiple reviews online warned potential customers to avoid using its services at all costs but Audrey, not being computer savvy, had not seen them.
Some customers failed to receive all their items and many more reported theirs showing up either damaged or broken.
Some people even said they received random items which were not even theirs.
Audrey is still waiting on more than half her belongings to arrive – which she says are irreplaceable items she collected over the years.
Audrey has been messaging Abbey Chen, who is in charge of the business, but many of these texts have gone unanswered.
Audrey said after her belongings failed to arrive she went to the police and hired a private investigator to hunt Chen down.
‘[We] went to the police station after a few days and said, she’s, you know, disappeared,’ Audrey told A Current Affair.
Audrey moved to Tarcutta so that she could be closer to family because of her ailing health and the fact that she could not afford to live on her own anymore.
The 81-year-old is legally blind and cannot walk without a walking aid. She also has high blood pressure, diabetes and osteoporosis which requires her to wear a neck brace.
Audrey is still waiting on her critically needed medical equipment, six generations of photos and handicrafts which were made by her great grandmother in 1900.
‘Please get into contact with me. I am over 80 and in very poor health. You have in boxes my entire life and generations of family history,’ she messaged Chen.
‘I am begging you, please return these precious belongings or at least tell me where they are so I can arrange to collect them.
Audrey asked for a response and after a while Chen finally wrote back apologising for what had happened.
‘I would like to thank you for your patience, I know it has been a headache for you and this has taken a lot longer than anticipated,’ Chen responded.
‘Unfortunately the truck has let me down a few times in the last couple of weeks and I apologise that it has inconvenienced you.’
Chen offered to pay Audrey back 50 per cent of the money she paid for the move and promised a new delivery date that ultimately fell through and she was once again left waiting for her stuff without an idea of when it would arrive.
Eventually a stranger arrived at Audrey’s house with half of her items which were a mix of broken and ransacked.
Multiple boxes appeared to have been opened and some antique items such as Audrey’s gramophone were broken beyond repair.
The man told her that he had been hired by Chen to deliver the items to Audrey and that he did not work for All Things Moving Australia.
A Current Affair tracked down an address that Chen had lived at and met one of her family members who said she was working in Townsville at the time.
When Chen was phoned she said her truck had broken down which was the reason for the lengthy delay.
Chen said she was not ‘an unfair piece of sh*t’ who runs off with people’s stuff but that she was faced with a $30,000 repair bill for her broken down truck.
She promised that Audrey’s belongings would be delivered in February.
‘It doesn’t make me happy knowing that it hasn’t been sorted yet,’ Chen said.
Chen’s truck with Audrey’s belongings in it is now sitting in a mechanic in Maryborough, near Hervey Bay, but is not currently registered to drive.
Audrey’s granddaughter Siobhan said what has happened to her grandmother is unforgivable.
‘I love my nan, what’s happened to her is just deplorable and [Chen] should be ashamed of herself,’ she said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted All Things Moving Australia for comment.
