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?

Hope all goes well op.

When you do your viewing take millions of photos and videos. You will need these as proof for any snagging issues. And I would definetly employ a professional snagger. We work in the building industry, it's shocking what building firms will try to wriggle out of. And not all poor work will be evident after 2 years.

Hope all goes well with your viewing and your move. It's stressful but exciting. Saturday morning you will be waking up in your new home!

Cancel them. My parents paid a bit less than that to move across uk with a four bedroom house and they packed for them. I can see the price going up.

By imposing new charges and requirements you were unaware of when booking they may very well be in breach of contract.
If it were me I would (in order) -
Check that these new terms are not in ‘terms and conditions’ anywhere pre you entering into contract - is in email somewhere. If not -
Tie down completion date with developer. If possible (If not in chain etc) move a day or two later to give leeway.
Ring round for another quote and if anyone is available for the booking make a provisional booking (to confirm within eg 1 day or 5 hours or whatever)
Call your credit card company and discuss how to block any charge made from current company - I’ve done this before with a disputed hotel booking fee and it worked - the payment was simply not authorised by my credit card - I had prealerted them to the dispute.
Call current company to cancel and explain why new terms mean you no longer are booked with them. If you had known of terms at start you would not have booked with them etc.
Confirm second co.

If terms were there somewhere then you are in different position and may need to negotiate with current company re why you are in difficulty re time etc. They may be able to come to different arrangement.
Speak to developer about consequential losses to you because they can’t get their act together.

Good luck op. Very stressful but just remember in a few weeks you will be past it, in your new home (with belongings).

As an aside argos do tv boxes for large tvs. Two sizes depending on your tv size. We had one both times we moved. Prackef rhe tv wrapped in towels and had no issues with damage.

Just seen update op. Hope the viewing goes well today. Children not seeing the rooms is vv normal in the 80s so thats not something to worry about. Re the laying of the floor on mon the fact you dont see it till day before. Go with a camera, clipboard, lots of pens and paper and take notes x

You have to push the move date out! You need that floor to dry, you need to have had your viewings, you need to have decided your happy with the house BEFORE you agree a date. Cancel the removal company and write off the loss. Get recommended removal company and check terms are as per MN advice in all the posts below. Best of luck!

This sounds very familiar, a friend just moved from one town to another, 4 hours away. The removal company charged £66 an hour for waiting time and wanted the original TV box... Wonder if it's the same company. On the day of the move, the keys for the new property weren't available until about 2 hours after the van arrived. I was picking the keys up, and the office phoned one of the removal men on his mobile before my friend and her husband had even arrived at the house, asking about payment for the waiting time. He put me on to speak to her and she asked me if I could pay it then, by debit card! She knew I wasn't the one doing the moving but still wanted the money. She then phoned my friend and she had to pay from the car, luckily her husband was driving! She also discovered they'd left a whole load of things at the old house because the last 2 sheets of the list had been missed, and they put everything into the wrong rooms and did ridiculous things. The boxes labelled "first night essentials" and clearly labelled with the rooms they were to go in, ended up in the garage with loads of things piled in front of them. Awful company. Anyway, I hope everything goes smoothly for you!

A couple of moves ago we hired a van with an elevating tailgate, whatever they're called. Went to pick the van up and it was still out so we were given a smaller van and told to keep it a day longer.

When it was packed up and the money transferred we went to the estate agent for the keys, the house was a part-ex so was empty, our purchaser was on the rigs so not moving straight in. They rang the company and were told that the person who could release the keys was at lunch, come back in a couple of hours. Went back to be told he wasn't returning to the office til Monday! Only after I threatened to block their door with the van was it sorted.
Good luck tomorrow, don't worry about the children, ours didn't see the house until the Sunday.

So I do hope you're walking around a house and not a building site...

Best of luck if you do move today, @LoobyLou1976

Hope it went well today

Hopefully you will be busy today but PLEASE could we have an update.

Just rtft and gosh it seemed you've been had from all angles. Fingers crossed it all worked out. Did you move? Is the floor dry?

Another one keen for an update - hope the move went ok op

Hello all, thanks for all the advice. Here's an update!

We moved in on the 15th. We went with the removal company we had booked because we were frightened we wouldn't be able to get another one at such short notice. They arrived on time and because I was so organised and literally everything was boxed or bagged, they had the whole house empty in 3 hours and on the van.
Here's the kicker. The RBS banking system went down and the money could not be transferred to the developer. After frantix calling back and forth all afternoon, many tears and melt downs later, we finally got the lawyer to write a physical check for the money. She was just about to take it to the develop when the online systems came back on,allowing the money to be transferred and then the developer to release the keys. By this time the removal men team of four had been sitting in their van at the new house for well over three hours. Yes you've guessed it - we were charged a 'late key release' of £66 per hour. (Actually the charge is £66 per PER two man team, and we had a team of four - they ended up charging us £230 for late keys, so they were 'lenient' on us.
The removal men told me that they had emptied a house the day before where literally nothing was packed and the home owner was still chucking stuff in bin liners, and it took the most of the day to load the van. This is why I think the late key charge is unfair, because in effect you are being penalised for being organised and having the stuff ready to load into the van quickly. If they'd still been at my old house loading the van three hours later, we would never have been charged IYSWIM? The charge starts from the minute they leave your house to go to the new house. The removals company actually phoned us to settle the charge whilst we were still waiting in the car for the keys to be released, which I thought was a bit unnecessary. The men themselves were great and helpful and let us put things in the van that were not on the official list. We ended up moving in the dark by the time we got the keys, it was all very stressful.

In terms of the new house, it is lovely, but there are some snags, mainly decorative (chips in woodwork and paint, scuffs on the walls etc). We don;t have any door numbers which should have been provided, and the radiators need bled because some of them are not heating all the way to the top. The turf looks like it might die because it is so frosty at the moment. One of the shower door handles is loose. I can't see any major snags. The decorative stuff I can do myself but I need to find out what kind and brand of paint they used so that it matches in.
I'm really happy with the house, it will take a while to get things back to normal and the way we want it, but overall I am satisfied. Miller Homes are still on site for 3 years and we have already had a few of the workers back to fix a beeping smoke alarm and a few other things.
One thing I forgot to say, we are literally right at the edge of the building site, the site manager told us he thought they would be further away by now but they are running a bit behind, so in two weeks he hopes to be far away from the house. I can literally see the workmen out my window building the house across the street!

Thanks for all of your help, I hope this has given anyone moving into a new build a bit of an idea what to expect!

In ter

Sorry for typos! No internet on my laptop yet (another snag - BT Openreach was supposed to be wired in by the time we moved in, but its not, so we had to pay for a device that gives you temporary internet, costing a flaming fortune!) - using silly little keypad to type this!

Good news OP. Congratulations on your new home

I’d really suggest getting a professional to do snagging. I had it for a new bathroom - just a friend but he noticed little things I’d never have seen. If you leave it and begin to notice things the company may begin to say that you have caused the issues - for example they might say chipped paint was caused when you were taking in your things.

Have a look at the contract about BT and keep a list of the costs as you may want to charge them.
Have you taken photos or recording of things as at today?

Happy new home OP. I know it's a long shot, but any chance the bank might compensate you for the delay that was their fault?