Mum's warning after Facebook removalist's $45 request: 'Decided to dump it'

A mum is warning others to be careful when using Facebook Marketplace after she was subjected to "extra stress" while moving house last weekend. She is now $80 out of pocket after paying a man with a ute to remove unwanted items from her driveway — only to have them dumped right back where they were collected hours earlier.

Kathleen Grace Moko was moving from her Kingsley home in Perth on Saturday and simply "needed some rubbish removed", turning to social media to find someone offering the service. She quickly found a removalist, they agreed on a cash price and he arrived the following day.

"I helped him put all the stuff on his ute to save him time. He left the premises and I left the premises," the mum told Yahoo News, saying it was an easy process.

However, disaster struck when her car battery went flat, leaving her stranded 15 kilometres away and desperately seeking assistance. In the chaos, she missed calls from the removalist who said he was waiting for her for 30 minutes.

"I agree I should've answered his calls but I was kind of in a puddle," she confessed.

Removalist dumps items over $45 unpaid tip charge

It wasn't until later when Moko drove past her old house again that she noticed a huge mess scattered across the driveway, with the items looking familiar. It then dawned on her the removalist had dumped her belongings back on the same spot.

"I finally got back to him and he said he'd dumped the stuff back on my driveway because the tip wouldn't let him dump without paying $45," she said. Unable to contact her for the extra money, the removalist decided not to use the $80 for the tip fee and simply dumped the items, pocketing the money instead.

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In a message exchange, the removalist said, "I did my job... I was there and collected [the rubbish]", with Moko "exhausted" by how the situation had unfolded.

"It took him a day to do the job, a few hours to reply to my messages and because I didn't answer after 30 minutes he decided to dump it," she said. "He claims I don't have proof of paying him."

"I'm feeling let down and exhausted. It's only $80 but that really goes a long way for me and my autistic son."

Mum forced to get $295 loan to clean up mess

The mum has since got a "small loan" to get the items removed once and for all, with a friend of a friend collecting the items for her and the council picking up the mattress.

"I had to get a small loan and I've had to pay someone else $295 to get it sorted... he still has the $80 I paid and blocked [me on socials] and refused to pay back," she said.

Moko is now considering a civil court case to try get her money back, but is currently "busy trying to settle my son into our new apartment".

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