White Goods Delivery, Positioning and Old Appliance Removal

Most failed appliance deliveries fail for one of two reasons: the appliance did not fit through a door nobody measured, or a doorstep drop was bought and a room-of-choice delivery was expected. Both are settled before a vehicle is booked, with a tape measure and one clear question.

What does a white goods delivery actually involve?

Moving an appliance that weighs more than one person should lift, through a doorway it may not fit, to a position where it has to be left level and upright. A washing machine runs 60 to 90 kg, an American-style fridge freezer well over 100, and a range cooker more again.

That makes it a two-person job in almost every case, and the price reflects two people and a vehicle rather than one. A quote that looks like a parcel price for a washing machine has not priced the handling.

The second variable is the destination inside the building. Ground floor with level access is one job; second floor with a turn on the stairs is a different one, and it is the turn rather than the flight that decides whether the appliance goes up at all.

Will the appliance fit through the door?

This is the question that fails more white goods deliveries than any other, and it is answerable in advance with a tape measure.

Five measurements, two minutes, and the single biggest cause of a wasted delivery removed. If the narrowest point is tighter than the appliance, the answer is known before a vehicle is booked rather than after.

Can you take the old appliance away?

Yes, and it is a regulated activity rather than a favour. A used appliance is waste electrical and electronic equipment, and moving it needs a waste carrier registration. We are registered with the Environment Agency as an upper tier waste carrier, broker and dealer under CBDU654368, valid to 20 August 2029 — searchable on the EA public register.

That matters because the duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 binds the business handing waste over, not only the carrier. A business disposing of appliances through an unregistered carrier fails its own compliance regardless of what the carrier claims.

Fridges and freezers are a further category again: equipment containing ozone-depleting substances is hazardous waste and needs a hazardous waste consignment note. We carry; treatment happens at a partner-operated permitted facility.

Do you connect the appliance?

No. We deliver, position and leave the appliance level and upright in the place you specify. We do not make plumbing or electrical connections and do not hold the trade qualifications that would make that our work.

That boundary is worth stating because it is often assumed. A delivery that ends with an appliance in position is complete from our side; the connection is a plumber or an electrician, and on a gas appliance it is a Gas Safe registered engineer and nobody else.

What we will do is remove the transit bolts and packaging if you ask, and take the packaging away. For a replacement installation the sequence that works is: we deliver and remove the old unit, the trade connects, and nobody waits on anybody.

What is the difference between a delivery and a doorstep drop?

Most complaints about appliance deliveries come from buying the first column and expecting the second. Being explicit about which one is quoted is more useful than any service-level promise.

What should you tell us when booking?

1. Step 1 — the appliance type and its dimensions, from the specification rather than estimated.
2. Step 2 — the narrowest point on the route in, including internal doors and any turn on the stairs.
3. Step 3 — the floor, and whether there is a lift with its internal dimensions.
4. Step 4 — whether an old appliance is going, and whether it is a fridge or freezer.
5. Step 5 — parking and access at both ends, including any height restriction on an underground car park.

Step 5 catches more flats than people expect. A 2 metre height barrier on a residents' car park means the vehicle parks on the road and the appliance is carried further than anyone planned.

What does a failed white goods delivery cost?

The journey twice and, usually, a frustrated customer at the far end. The causes are a short list and all of them are knowable beforehand.

The appliance does not fit; nobody is in; the lift is out of service; the vehicle cannot park within carrying distance; or the delivery was quoted as a doorstep drop and expected as a room-of-choice. Four of those five are answered by the five questions above.

The fifth, the lift, is worth a phone call on the morning for any delivery above the second floor. A lift that was working when the order was placed is not evidence about the day of delivery.

What vehicle does an appliance delivery need?

Usually a Luton or box van with a tail lift, because the weight makes manual loading at the kerb unsafe and the height makes a smaller van impractical. A Luton van takes several appliances at once, which is what makes a multi-drop round economic.

The constraint is at the far end rather than the load end. A Luton needs room to turn and clearance to open a tail lift, which a narrow residential street or a barriered car park may not give. Where that is the case a smaller vehicle with two people is the right answer even though it carries less.

For a single appliance to a straightforward address, the vehicle choice rarely changes the price much. For a round of six to flats across a city, it changes everything.

Does the appliance need to stand before it is used?

A fridge or freezer does. Moving one tips the compressor oil through the cooling circuit, and running it immediately can damage the compressor — the manufacturer's instruction is normally to stand it upright for a period before switching on, and the figure is in the manual rather than in a courier's judgement.

A washing machine has the opposite constraint: the transit bolts holding the drum must come out before use, and a machine run with them still fitted will damage itself. We will remove them on delivery if you ask, and will leave them with you if you would rather the installer did it.

Neither of those is a transport requirement, which is exactly why they get lost between the delivery and the installation. Saying who does what before the vehicle arrives is the whole of the fix.

Who carries the risk if the appliance is damaged?

Less of it sits with the carrier than most people assume. The RHA Conditions of Carriage 2024 cap liability at £1,300 per tonne of the gross weight of goods lost, wrongly delivered or damaged, unless otherwise agreed.

For a 70 kg washing machine that is a small figure against the retail price. Our own goods-in-transit cover is £50,000 as standard, with higher limits to £1,000,000 through partner carriers for high-value work — the goods in transit insurance page explains how a carrier's conditions and a cargo policy differ.

For a single high-value appliance the practical step is to agree a declared value at booking. It is a short conversation that changes the basis of any later claim.

Does this work for trade and retail deliveries?

It is most of the work. A kitchen fitter needing six appliances on site on a named morning, a retailer clearing a showroom, a landlord replacing units across several properties — all of those are scheduled multi-drop rounds rather than one-off deliveries, and they price far better per unit.

The scheduling is where the value is. One vehicle, one round, appliances in delivery order, and the old units collected on the same visit under the waste registration rather than requiring a second trip.

For larger items and furniture the same handling applies — see furniture transport and sofa courier.

How does T&C Logistics handle appliance deliveries?

Two people where the weight needs it, a tail-lift vehicle where the access allows it, and the old appliance removed under our own Environment Agency registration rather than through a third party.

What we do not do is connect anything, and we say so before booking rather than at the door. Our Birmingham office is on 0121 720 3841; enquiries come in round the clock and are answered between 06:00 and 22:00, seven days a week.

Send us the appliance dimensions, the narrowest point on the route in and the floor and we will tell you whether it fits before you commit to a delivery date.