5 ear-splitting warning alarms your removal firm is a con
You’ve likely come across at least one removal company horror story in the newspaper or online (and if you haven’t you may want to head on over to our article on Spine Tingling, Nightmare Removal Tales). Whilst it is human nature to think that scams only happen to other people, the sad fact remains that there are plenty of cowboy traders in our industry. Here we share some valuable advice for ensuring that you don’t fall victim to a cowboy outfit, with 5 warning signs to look out for.
1. The company advertises solely on Facebook
This warning alarm is the loudest of all – any individual can pop a post on Facebook, and in reality any person with a van can call themselves a removals firm. If you can find no other online presence for the company positing – such as a website at the least, then steer clear.
2. The company doesn’t work on written quotes or does, but provides pricing on scribbled bits of paper
A removals quote should include various pieces of information – such as how the charges are worked out, and whether they charge by number of professionals, weight, volume of items or a mixture of all of these things – safe to say that a price simply scribbled down won’t provide the complete picture. Ultimately this demonstrates complete unprofessionalism on the company’s behalf (you can read about how to compare quotes from removal firms in our blog: Apples for apples – Four pointers for comparing removal quotes).
3. There are numerous negative reviews about the company on websites such as Yelp, Yell.com, social media and CheckATrade
No company can please every customer, every time – any removals firm that has been in business for more than a year will have had at least one job that doesn’t go as planned. That said, the test of a company comes when things do go wrong – so the ways in which issues are handled are far more telling than when a job goes without issue.
The warning signs that should be heeded however, is where a company has numerous complaints from customers online, with seemingly little done to rectify the problems.
4. Google “company name” + “scam”
This is a simple two-minute check that could uncover complaints made online that aren’t found on traditional forums such as the websites listed above.
5. Walk away if a company asks for cash up front with no documentation
We only ever charge for our services upon completion of the work; the only exception to this rule is where the job is outside of North Yorkshire, in which case we’d take a deposit to cover initial costs. While some companies do take a deposit prior to the day for every job they handle, you should be wary of businesses that ask for a full cash payment with no exchange of documentation beforehand, and no explanation as to why they work this way.
Don’t settle for any old removal company – choose a name that’s been in business for more than 10 years, with a solid track record behind them (such as our good selves). Find out how affordable our removal service is – call our team on 01904 375 995 or email the office via admin@vanmanyork.co.uk and we’ll be back in touch as soon as possible.
