How do I go about arranging for a moval van and how to setup a backup?

cashmonger

is http://www.removalreviews.co.uk a reliable site for reviews?

penguingirl

Ask friends/family/neighbours/EAs for recommendations. Speak to them on the phone. Last time I moved I had a written contract including details of deposit, when final amount would be paid, additional charges etc. If my van hadn't shown I would have rung every man and his dog on the day to get someone to do it, and then taken original company to small claims. Obviously that didn't happen, and the company were worth every penny.

n217970

No disrespect to the OP but do you by any chance suffer from anxiety problems? I appreciate moving can be very stressful but you seem to panic over every step. Seriously this is one of the easier things. Go onto google - find a local removal firm and check the reviews - I believe you are currently in Manchester? AMS Removals has 53 reviews on Google averaging 4.9 stars. This is probably a good place to start - ring/email them and tell them what you need. Relax.

cashmonger

n217970 wrote: »

No disrespect to the OP but do you by any chance suffer from anxiety problems?

Yes but nothing I am not used to :P. A therapist once told me I have 'extreme generalised anxiety disorder'.

I am actually getting anxiety filling out the free quotations because I worry that they could be theives and you are giving both your old address and new address and minute detail of all of your valuables! I mean that's alot of exposure isn't it?

illusionek

When I moved few years ago I went with the cheapest quote. The guy cancelled on me at 10PM night before.

When I moved last year I went with most expensive quote which was almost 4x cheapest one. I thought I have to learn from last time.

They meant to arrive 9AM they turned up 5PM after me calling every hour to check where they are.

Simply there are no guarantees ...

cashmonger

Price != quality.

PasturesNew

I had a 4-5-6 bed house once, house clearance man failed to appear. This was old furniture/junk stuff, so it was the day before, not "on" the day ... but I couldn't even get hold of him until after noon. He not only failed to appear, but didn't see the issue .... and said "put it out the front and I'll pick it up in a few days".

NOT an option! For starters there was a LOT of it! And I couldn't do that as the new owners would be arriving the next day and that's just plain rude/wrong ... and what if he still failed to turn up?

So, it does happen. That was a chap with a very good local reputation, who happened to think that because his van broke down he didn't need to let anybody know, and didn't think to quickly hire one and crack on with his day .... it simply wasn't important in his eyes.

That's "laid back areas" for you.

Tigsteroonie

If you're on the right side of Manchester, I can recommend Master Moves of Stockport from personal experience - maybe not the cheapest, but definitely very helpful and professional.

cashmonger

What do you mean by right side? as opposed to the wrong side?

Shouldnt the mover be coming to you regardless of where you are :P?

I see ams removals seems to have almost unanimously positive ratings.

cashmonger

I just had a quick look at cost of van hire and it is only £45 for the day. I did a quick look at petrol price for a return journey and that was only £13.

So under £60. Say I did it myself I would need to travel back that would be £20 train fare. So £80.

The quotes I have been getting are £250-300 to move a 1 bedroom flat just over 30 miles.

That is a huge markup on what it costs them or it would cost me to do it. I understand they would charge a bit for labour but £190!!!?

I haven't driven in over ten years though so wouldn't want to do that myself and I have noone I could ask to do it.