Moving Monday - big problem with removal company - advice please!

user1977

pinkteapot said:

p.s. They might say they're VAT registered... Did the website show a VAT registration number? Just curious.  

Doesn't really matter whether they are or aren't, as long as the OP was expecting 20% to be added to the quoted price.

nightsong

Thank you very much, everyone. Very helpful comments.

We have sent him an email describing everything that happened. We're not going to use them now - his attitude stinks, frankly. I wouldn't trust them with our stuff after this. He hasn't replied, of course.

In retrospect I agree we could have sent a test amount to see if that arrived in his bank account. He didn't suggest it of course, and it didn't occur to me. Unsurprisingly I'm quite stressed ATM!

Basically he thought he could bully us into doing something we had very good reason not to do, for his own convenience. We've called his bluff.

Fingers crossed there are no unwelcome repercussions.

gingercordial

nightsong said:

Many thanks, eddddy.

To answer your questions. I got an error message when I tried to pay via internet banking. The name of the payee and the bank details didn't match. According to the guy at Nationwide, it wasn't close, as then I'd have got a different message.

I found them online. They appear to be a reputable local company with a lot of positive feedback - I checked reviews. I did a tour of the house via phone with this guy and he seemed perfectly OK and professional.

The quote was "£xxx + VAT". There website clains they are VAT registered, and also that they are members of the local chamber of commerce.

I was expecting a proper invoice which included the VAT but what I received this morning was an email with their name and bank details. If he typed it out rather than using a pro forma he could easily have made a mistake, but he insists it's correct. I took a screenshot of what I input to the bank and he still said it was correct.

I signed the quote and returned it so I guess I have entered into a contract. But my question is, does that contract mean anything when a) he refuses to take payment via a method that his firm clearly offers, and b) he's told us to get another removals company?

The option he gave us was stark. Either pay via internet banking (I can force the payment through but Nationwide strongly advises against it, and if there is indeed a mistake and the money goes to the wrong account I'm unlikely to get it back) or go elsewhere. I'm sure he thought he had us over a barrel and we'd do as he said, but we have options he presumably hasn't even considered. Most people have to move on a given day - fortunately, we don't.

I don't want to use them now. I was pretty upset by his behaviour, frankly.

I know you're not using them now, which seems sensible, but in case you change your mind - are you absolutely, 100% sure that the man you were speaking to is the man from the removals company?  Did you call him on the number you have used previously, or a number that was in the email with the payment details?

It's possible that a scammer could have intercepted the emails and sent the one with the payment details.  If you called a number on that email you might have been speaking to somebody who is nothing to do with the real company.

Forgive me if you'd already thought of this and checked!

diego_94

If they bank with MetroBank, then most other banks are unable to check the account name, hence why this message comes up. Just had the same thing with a tradeperson I've got doing work for me. But he advised of this beforehand, and requested we sent a £1 test payment before sending deposit.

youth_leader

Is it possible it was a ploy to irritate so that you would cancel?  Because of the stamp duty rush?

I've just been on a website where someone has just posted that some unscrupulous removal companies are cancelling bookings through people offering more money. 

amyr

Appreciate you're now pursuing a new removals firm, but RE suggestions to send a small amount and test if it's been received: categorically do not do that. This absolutely won't protect you if you are being scammed. 

Any reputable firm would be on to their own bank to see what the issue is. Anything less than that, you're right to walk away.

anselld

amyr said:

Any reputable firm would be on to their own bank to see what the issue is. Anything less than that, you're right to walk away.

Several of the smaller Banks with legitimate business accounts do not implement CoP.  Notably Metro Bank as mentioned above plus several others.  Only the "big 6" have been mandated to implement the new system.  There is no "issue" with the others they just don't have that facility yet.  The firm has done all that is possible by double checking the bank details are correct.  They should have been more polite, yes, but we don't know how much they were provoked by the OP.