Problems with the moving company: What to do?

If you are unlucky enough to find a moving company that has not fulfilled what you contracted , or has caused damage to your personal belongings, you can file a claim for damage during the move before the Transport Arbitration Boards that exist in each Autonomous Community, Ceuta and Melilla. The Transport Arbitration Board is the institutional body that replaces the Courts and Tribunals in claims within their jurisdiction. These are created to resolve commercial claims related to the fulfillment of land transport contracts and auxiliary and complementary transport activities and are the only ones competent to resolve this type of claim. You may resort to them when the problem does not exceed 15,000 euros and as long as the contract does not expressly say that the competence of the Transport Arbitration Boards is excluded before the beginning or what should have been the beginning of the contracted service. If the problem is greater than 15,000 euros , it is necessary that the two parties, by mutual agreement, submit the controversy to their knowledge, so that the Arbitration Boards are competent. The Transport Arbitration Boards resolve claims and intervene in conflicts, of economic content, in relation to the following land transport (road, railway and cable):

• Bus, taxi, tram, funicular, etc.: called Urban
• Intercity buses, taxis, railways, etc.
• Those with full load, fractional load, etc. Merchandise calls. In our case, moving companies could be classified in this group.
• Those that involve Travelers (regular, discretionary, tourist, vehicle rental, etc.).

It refers to internal, international or intermodal transport, which is when one of the two modes is land, for example, road-ship, rail-air, etc. , so any user, carrier, shipper or intermediary who is one of the contracting parties in a transport can do so directly. The characteristics to take into account are the following:

• To resolve claims, you only need a simple claim document and a single hearing procedure, which is why it is quick and non-formal.
• Is free .
• The claimant may choose to present the claim at the Arbitration Board of the place of origin or destination of the transport or signing of the contract , except if there is a clause stating that a specific Board cannot be attended.
• Representation by another person is allowed if the claimant cannot appear before the Board.
• The decision of the Board is as if it were a sentence and has the same effects as res judicata.
• Resolve all economic claims that do not exceed 6,000 euros , of any contract for the aforementioned transport, unless one of the parties has expressly expressed to the other its desire to exclude its competence before the execution begins or should have begun. of the contracted service. Although it can also intervene in claims of more than 6,000 euros if there is an express agreement , or the parties agree to it.

• They make an opinion and report on the conditions of compliance with transport contracts and their clauses.
• They participate in the deposit, valuation and disposal of merchandise whose shipping costs are not paid by the obligated recipient, the claim is presented within eight calendar days.
• They carry out the deposit and disposal of the transported goods when delivery is not possible and they are at risk of being lost.
• They are warehouses for merchandise that is refused or whose delivery is impossible upon reaching its destination.
• They make deposits and precautionary assessments prior to arbitration if there are doubts and discussions about the state of the transported goods.

LEGAL SUPPORT

• Law 16/1987, of July 30, on the Regulation of Land Transport, articles 37 and 38, (BOE of July 31), modified by Law 29/2003, of October 8.

• The Regulations of this Law, approved by Royal Decree 1211/1990, of September 28, articles 6 to 12, (BOE of October 8).

• Order of March 30, 2001 establishing rules for the performance by the Transport Arbitration Boards of functions of deposit and disposal of merchandise (BOE of April 14).

• The regulations of the different Autonomous Communities that have constituted them.

If you want information about each Arbitration Board by province (phone numbers, emails, addresses, etc.), click on the map and you will obtain the required information. This article is based on legal supports updated as of 08/26/15.