Thank you for your question.

The law here is similar both in Scotland and England and reference has to be made to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 which you can get online.

The Act prevents a party from excluding or restricting liability for breach of duty if it was not fair and reasonable to incorporate the condition into the contract. Guidelines are given as to whether a clause is fair or reasonably incorporated:

(a) the strength of the bargaining positions of the parties relative to each other, taking into
account (among other things) alternative means by which the customer's requirements could
have been met;
(b) whether the customer received an inducement to agree to the term, or in accepting it
had an opportunity of entering into a similar contract with other persons, but without having
to accept a similar term;
(c) whether the customer knew or ought reasonably to have known of the existence and
extent of the term (having regard, among other things, to any custom of the trade and any
previous course of dealing between the parties);
(d) where the term excludes or restricts any relevant liability if some condition is not
complied with, whether it was reasonable at the time of the contract to expect that compliance
with that condition would by practicable;
(e) whether the goods were manufactured, processed or adapted to the special order of the
customer.

In this case I would argue that it is not fair and reasonable for a specialist piano remover to incorporate a clause like this into a contract. Prevention of damage to the instrument itself and to the premises the instrument is being uplifted from and delivered to is at the very root of the contract and the reason that we use specialist piano removers. For liability to be excluded is not, in my opinion, a fair and reasonable term and this is the way I would approach the issue with their manager.

I am assuming you were given a copy of the terms and conditions beforehand. If not, they can't rely on them at all of course as you can't import terms and conditions after performance of the contract.

I hope this helps. Please leave a positive response so that I am credited for my time.