Selecting a licensed company
Make sure to check whether a house-moving company is licensed.
- According to the conditions of the license, a licensed company would have subscribed to a performance guarantee insurance covering at least KRW 5 million, thereby ensuring it is capable of compensating any damages to the packing.
- A consumer can request a quotation for moving or relevant documents (a copy of the permission for freight forwarding business) at the time of the contract to confirm whether the moving company has permission or not, visit the website of the Korea Freight Forwarders Association (www.kffa.or.kr), or contact the local freight forwarders association to see if it is a licensed company (Korea Freight Forwarders Association-Owner of Goods/consumer Plaza-Select a Moving Company).
Contracting a moving company
Check the moving conditions
- Before signing a contract, the following conditions should be carefully checked (Korea Freight Forwarders Association-Owner of Goods/consumer Plaza-Select a Moving Company).
· Check conditions for moving in and out (use of equipment, such as car gondola, ladder, and cost)
· Check the kinds of packing and precautions for handling.
· Confirm the method of paying the moving price.
Contracting a moving company
- Hearing and receiving an explanation of the agreement
· When a client asks a moving company to transport his/her goods, it shall explain clearly to him/her the following matters, show the agreement for freight, and issue a copy of the agreement at the request of the client. However, in the event that the whole agreement is specified in the contract, the issuance of the contract may replace the issuance of the agreement (Article 3 of the Act on the Regulation of Terms and Conditions and Article 5 (1) of the Standardized Agreement of House-Moving Goods).
- Preparing and receiving a moving contract
· The business operator shall prepare a contract and deliver it to the client after completing the explanation, etc. of the terms and conditions of the moving goods (Article 5 (2) of the Standardized Agreement of House-Moving Goods).
· The moving company shall not write a price exceeding what was written in the quotation. However, if the final price exceeds the price given in the quotation because of changes in matters such as the details of the goods, storage period, packing, and arranging, at the request of the client, the company may write the higher price only after notifying the client thereof (Article 5 (3) of the Standardized Agreement of House-Moving Goods).
Paying the moving fee
- A moving company may ask the client to pay a deposit amounting to as much as 10% of the total expense when it issues the contract to the client (Article 6 of the Standardized Agreement of House-Moving Goods).
- The balance, excluding the deposit already paid, can be paid at the following time, depending on the method of moving (Article 8 (1) of the Standardized Agreement of House-Moving Goods).
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Type
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Time
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General moving
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When the client confirms the delivery of all the goods
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Packing and moving
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When the client confirms that all the goods have been fully prepared
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Storing and moving
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When the client either confirms the delivery of all the goods or confirms that all of the goods have been completely prepared
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- In principle, the moving company shall not charge any excess costs over and above what was specified in the contract. However, if the contracted price is exceeded because of changes in matters such as the details of goods, storage period, packing and arranging and if the client is responsible for those changes, the company may charge the excess cost after notifying the client in advance of the possibility that it might demand such overrun costs (Article 8 (2) of the Standardized Agreement of House-Moving Goods).