Removal comany nightmare

[LoobyLou1976]

Hi all, supposed to be moving on the 15th (next Friday) to a new build. We still have not seen the house, it was bought off plan and we have not been allowed in yet. Hoping to get in this week for our demonstration meeting.
We have a date of the 15th which they keep saying we will get in by, so that is the date I've had to give the removal company. They say there are penalties to pay if this date does not go ahead (a sliding scale for example, you still need to pay 50% of the removal charge if the date is changed 5 days before, 75% if its 3 days before, 100% if its the day of the move and its changed).
As we are paying over £1000 for a move 1 mile up the road and doing our own packing, this is a LOT of money to lose if the date changes.

The removal company have now contacted me to say they need to know when we will be getting our keys! Apparently there is a £66 per hour charge for getting your keys late on the day. The developers are still saying they are 'working towards' the date of the 15th and don't know what time they keys will be released. How am I supposed to proceed with this? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

NOW the removals company have said that all items like TVs etc need to be in their ORIGINAL boxes for the move, and if we don't have one we need to hire a special crate at another charge! As if paying over £1000 is not enough. And my large mantle mirror will need extra protection and wrapping at a cost of £20. I'm just really worried because when I made the removal booking I filled in an inventory as well as I could (stated to the lady we had not yet emptied the attic/shed etc so was unsure exactly what was coming), and I'm worried they will start adding costs on the day of the move for items that were not listed. She said on the phone " as long as you're not bringing a grand piano that you've not told us about" that it would be fine.
Sorry for rant, really stressing. How did everyone else get on with their removal company? Were you charged for items on the day that were not in your inventory, and did the removal men tick off a list of things as they loaded them?

What I mean is, no 2 moves are comparable in any sense so it's pointless saying "my move cost x from a to b" as even that same move would have vastly different prices on different days. And that's before you start actually comparing access/stairs/distance to truck/number of boxes.

It sounds like you have not exchanged yet ? Because if you had you would have a definite completion date and that usually is non negotiable once set
The developers are giving you excuses , you should be able to have a walk around by now and it should be in the final snagging and cleaning stages.

I very much hope your solicitor is independent from the developers and acting purely on your behalf , you need to have a chat with the solicitor and get them to ask and get responses to these questions regarding the sale and purchase , visiting the purchase property and exchange / sale dates

As for the removal company they are really quite expensive and pretty pushy by the sound of it , a good company will or should be shouldering most of the physical problems encountered with moving and hence taking a big chunk of the stress caused by a move , I would be tempted to pay them their 10% or whatever it is and sack them as they are adding to your stress unnecessary, ask on a local Facebook page for personal recommendations, there are loads of great company's out there so there is really no need for this.

With all this uncertainty I would be aiming to move on a Monday rather than a Friday then you have weekdays available to get things sorted if they are not going to plan rather than Friday going into the weekend and solicitors office / developers office etc etc being closed

Cancelling your card still makes you liable to pay. It's awful advice

Not if OP pays by cheque instead

If she's currently liable for, say, half of the £1000 quote, the idea was to pay them while avoiding a little "mistake" on their part involving them taking the whole £1000

I'd email the house company and clearly outline my expectations.

1. House will be viewed ASAP - you will be at the site tomorrow and expect to be shown your house. If you are to be moving in in less than a week, it should be safe enough to walk around.
2. Moving company is booked for agreed day of moving. You need the keys the day before. Penalties are xyz and if there is any delay / penalty you expect the builder to cover this

3 I would do a very very thorough look before your belongings are put in. If anything is broken, not working, poor quality you need to document otherwise they'll blame the movers

Any joy today @LoobyLou1976? We've just had our completion date moved back to 22nd Nov as an estimate because they can't fit a gas meter or something. They're blaming Scottish Power. The Sales Development Manager was an absolute cow about it. I'm fizzing. 🤬

Hi, we have been told today that our date is definitely going to be the 15th (next Friday), and that they will TRY to get us in on Monday to see the house if the site manager agrees. Hopefully things will go smoothly now, I'm so sorry to hear that your date has been moved back. Let me know how you get on, maybe they will let you in to see the house in the meantime?

This sounds rediculous, and they aren't even doing the packing for you!
Ask on your local Facebook site and you will be inundated with removal men willing to work for you at a moments notice for about 75% cheaper than your paying them! I'd cancel them now 100%

I own a removal company. Late Cancellation fees are standard practice , weve never implemented them because we have always been able to fit them in if dates change ......you should never book in a confirmed date unless you have a confirmed date ..we take provisional bookings ...remember if you have confirmed the date they will be turning away other moves for that date, therefore not unreasonably they cannot afford to not be earning that date
The surveyor should have accurately worked out the size of the move and what vehicle and how many men they will need.If they turn up on the day to find you have extra items , again its reasonable to be charged more.
Late key release again is standard , we allow up to 3pm and there is a charge for every hour after 3pm until the key is released, not until the move has finished ....again they will have to pay their men these extra hours
We come equiped with tv covers , so we dont expect the original boxes tbh if a tv was packed away in a box we would be suspicious that they were hiding existing damage !

Agree with everything peliroco said - standard practice.

How’s it going @LoobyLou1976?

Fingers crossed you’ve been able to see your house by now!

Hi there
We move on Friday.
I've still not seen the house! We were supposed to be getting in on Monday for a visit, they then told us we couldn't get in because the floors were being screeded and it wouldn't be possible. So believe it or not, tomorrow (Thursday) will be the first time we will set foot through the door for our 'demo' meeting. We move the next day.
My two girls won't see the house at all until they come back from school on Friday, because they are at school during the demo meeting tomorrow, and also, kids are not allowed at the demo meeting! So they will come back to rooms they have never been in or seen before.
Which makes it really difficult to put the correct stuff in the correct room, as we don't know which one they will want!

It's all so stupid and really thoughtless on the part of the developer.

I am just praying everything will be okay.

Wow. Good luck. And please please don’t accept it if it’s not right. It will be so much more difficult to get things put right if you haven’t agreed a list with the developers. If it’s not fit to move into they would need to pay your costs for rent / hotel and storage.

Make sure you have enough time in the working day to get onto anything with your solicitor. Don’t let them put the meeting back to after 4pm for example.

Let us know how it goes!

If they were only pouring the screed on Monday... how long does it take for it to dry? When dsis was building her house they had to get the screed down and leave it for quite a while before they could put flooring on top.

I’ve just googled it and while it says it takes 24-48 hours, that’s the basic dry to make it safe to walk on - I think it then needs to spend up to a month drying out before you can put carpet or other flooring down... there was also something that said you shouldn’t be moving heavy stuff over it for the first week or so.

Are they expecting you to live without flooring? Or put it down before the floor is fully properly dry? It might be worth raising with them in advance - might be new products that don’t take so long to dry but it is definitely something I would want confirming from them that it will be properly fully dry and ready to move into from the flooring point of view - maybe ask for the brand name of the product they use so you can check the technical specs to check it will be ok - safe to breathe around while doing (should be but always good to check) - and what will the consequences of putting flooring down quickly or moving heavy furniture over it be?

Sorry I don’t know the facts to help - just enough to remember it was something that should be checked as it was something that affected deadlines and booking other trades for dsis.

Sorry to be a worrywort- probably not quite what you want to hear!

I'm afraid it might be too late for you to delay everything but you really should have cancelled the removals firm and postponed the completion date until you had seen the inside of the house 4 times as per their brochure.

Totally agree with you, JohnCRaven - and a fiver says Miller will be "unavailable" for the inspection until it's dark

On the screed, there are now types which will dry in 12-24 hours, but I understand it's still unwise to load them with too much for a week or two (or at least that's what I was told with mine) Should make any attempt to move in interesting ...

I hope all goes well for you op.
I’m stressed just reading this thread.

I know someone who just moved into a new build. Not 100% sure what the exact problem with thier floor was but they had lots of last minute major works going on data before they moved in. They ended up having to remove thier ground floor furniture after 2 weeks and have thier floor a relevelled!
So make sure you are 100% happy before agreeing to move in. Any delay now they should cover the costs as it's thier fault you aren't getting much time to check it over.

I think that as you are part-exing your old property to buy new one, you are in a safe position re the move as you should have time to check new house over and snagging. Cancel the house move whatever the cost, would you buy an item of clothing without trying it on, yet you are about to spend thousands on a house you haven't seen?

Do you have a contract with the removals company that spells out all these extras for packing and so on? If so then they either stick to it or you find another company.

Don't worry about the children not seeing rooms before they move in - this was normal when I was kid. My parents would also tell me which room was mine, I wasn't given a choice.

I wouldn't however be moving in to a house on Friday that I hadn't even seen yet ! Not a chance

Fingers crossed for you OP! What a shower Miller are.

Make sure you take loads of pictures - from the dc’s eyelevel as well as your own.
Also take a list with you of things to check - some will be quite straightforward like testing every light switch (and combo of switches where there are lights controlled by more than one switch),every kitchen/bedroom/bathroom cupboard has a door, shuts, remains shut, has quiet close, every window opens and closes and has a window lock and keys etc
Then things like the paint finish - smooth everywhere, no drips, spills, blbs, paint on glass, or doors or carpet etc.
Check radiates work. Ditto phone points, aerials, sockets - and that there are the right number, they are in the right place,

Take a spirit level and ping pong ball with you to check everything is level - things that slope will bug you no end plus are an indication of the care put into building your house. So floors, window sills, top of doors, mantlepiece, everything in kitchen and bathroom.

Ooh and check everything you were told is there is (I was told there would be a washing machine and dish washer which they tried to get out of - did put in eventually but was unwanted stress). Make sure instruction booklets are there for everything too.

But also things like can all the taps be on at once? What happens if you are in the shower and soneonevf flushed the loo?

I’m sure you’ll get lots of ideas of from others too

Are they giving you 3 more meetings orsquashing it all into 1? And what’s the comeback if they have your money if there are problems?

Good luck, hope it all goes well!

Given the dates, the removal company is the least of your problems. Wibdib is right - create a list to go over in the new build. Google snagging list and you'll get loads of examples. You need to be really clear on the visit what needs to be done - and what can be done with furniture in, and what can't. Anything that can't be done with furniture in needs doing before you move - and that means you need to get them to cover your penalties and pay future costs.

Don't accept 'we'll fix it while we're on site' - firm but professional and confirm everything in writing (I'd be having an excel sheet of issues, when to be fixed, and updates but then I love a good excel sheet! like this

So how much is it to cancel 8 days before? I'd cancel, and deal with the fact that it might be £250. Still much cheaper to cancel, go to someone else, even if they want £800, than find an extra billion pounds are to be paid because of a 6 hour delay and a large mirror! Just do it! Now! Get then out of your life! Look up sunk costs fallacy if you need a MN type reason.

Erk, sorry, missed a tonne of posts