Unhappy the removals company starts the clock as they leave their depot

[twinnies1987]

Our removals company are charging by the hour. They've charged us the time from leaving their depot to getting to our house. I feel this is really cheeky, AIBU?

...Especially given they were just moving furniture around the house / didn't need their van. I don't think I've ever had a job that pays an hourly wage where the clock started when I left home?!

We live in a small place and I do need them to come back and move all the furniture back again after our building work is complete, but still...

Well that’s when they started work on your ‘job’ , so
you are being unreasonable .

Did you know this was the charging policy? Hopefully you did your homework and shopped around...and therefore chose this local company based on travel their inclusive price...

They aren’t charging you from leaving home, they’re charging you from leaving their work place. All the movers coming to your house will need to be paid from their start time at the depot.

Very normal. All removalists I have ever dealt with do this. Did you not check the Ts and Cs prior?

Of course you are being unreasonable. You are hiring them and need to pay for the time they spend on your job, and that would include travel time to your location

This. They’re leaving the depot, where they work from. Not their home. It isn’t that hard to get your head around is it?

My company pays for my travel time when I'm leaving my normal place of work (e.g their depot) to go to a site visit (e.g your home).

They can't work or earn money in the time they're travelling to you, to work for you, so this time needs to be paid for.

YABU. Thats the time they start working on your job

If they'd have priced the "job" the petrol and time would have been factored in.

Think of it as a call out charge. You’d end up paying for that time in some form or another, it’s just more obvious on an hourly paid basis rather than rolled into a single inclusive price for the whole task.

So do you think the removal company should pay their staff out of their own pockets for the time the staff travel from the depot to your home?

Or do you think that the staff should have one journey to travel to their depot. And then do a second journey from the depot to your house without being paid for their time?

Whichever option you think, both are unreasonable. If you don’t want to pay for a service, then do it yourself!

Their quotation outlined their hourly rate, it didn't clarify that they'd start charging before they started the work

But they do start the job for you as soon as they leave the depot. They're then doing something that you've asked them to do.

How far away are they?

Care agencies do this.
Only pay staff while they're in the client's home and not for all the time they spend driving from client to client.

It's not fair.

Staff need to be paid from the start to the end of the working day.

Is The price for the whole job a price you would be willing to pay if you hadn't known how it was broken down? Is it value for money?

It’s not before they started work. Driving to and from your property is part of the job. I make site visits in my job - there’s one tomorrow in fact - and from the minute I turn the key in the ignition that is part of my job. I’m not driving for fun… in fact tomorrow I am definitely not, bloody M4!

That is standard for removalists. I've moved more than 20 times and they always charge from the depot.

They still pay their own transport costs and use their own time to get to work, which is the depot. They're charging you for travel that's part of the job they're doing for you. Next time get an indication of expected hours or overall cost and check when the clock starts ticking ok their hourly rate.

Can you ask your builders to move the furniture at the end of the job? Offer them a crate of beer!

I’d imagine the staff want paying from the time they arrive at work. I assume they also had to pay for transport to get out to you. I live out the way too and people charge extra as it takes extra time.

Look at it another way, OP.

If you were - say a District Nurse - and you left home at 7am and arrived at the office at 8am. Would you expect to get paid from 8am, once you were in work, pottering about, gathering up your Nursey bag, setting off to see patients? (Apologies to District Nurses - my knowledge is gleaned from Nerys Hughes and the 1970s).

Or would you expect not to get paid until 10am when you arrived at your first patient's house, having driven 30 miles to get to them?

I'm genuinely really surprised. I guess I'm comparing it to using a cleaning agency in the past, where I've been charged for the number of hours at my house, and not the time for the team to go between their last job and mine.

It's just how it is in the moving game. At least you known now you are not just being ripped off.

Yes exactly, I guess that's what I wanted to check

"Didn't need their van".

How were you expecting them to get there?

People who get paid by the hour typically travel.to and from one place of work.
Those that don't- decent employers pay them from when they leave the house to get to their first job.