Regrettably, not all removalist companies have your interests at heart. Cost-cutting to maximise profits; misleading and blatantly dishonest quotes; compromising on the quality and reliability of vehicles, equipment, and staff; the absence of training or industry affiliation and accreditation, are just some of the shortcuts and underhanded tactics employed by unscrupulous operators – to your detriment.
Surfside Removals & Storage has been in the removals game for almost a quarter of a century, and we’re constantly appalled – but not surprised – by the horror stories relayed to us by clients concerning their previous moves with some other companies. Here’s a summary of some of the most common issues encountered so that you might avoid similar nightmares, expense, and/or damaged or destroyed belongings.
Red Flags:
1/ Making fantastical claims about capacity (but with no physical address/depot)
AVOID THE REMOVALIST whose website states that they’ve completed 10,000+ moves in the past year (which, if it were true, would be an impressive 31 moves per day if they were to work an unlikely 6-day working week), yet lists their business address as a residential dwelling or apartment in [insert suburb]. Either they’re too busy to stop work, hence there’s no need to ever garage or maintain their fleet of vehicles, or they’re preying on your naivety and your desire to take people at face value, which, sadly, is not advisable in an industry that still lacks proper accountability.
2/ Thousands of fictitious 5-star reviews, countered by hundreds of scathing (but genuine) 1-star reviews
AVOID THE REMOVALIST who trades off his review ratings on various unmonitored customer review websites, whose listings contain a ridiculous volume of 5-star ratings by faceless first-time reviewers whose verbiage, poor spelling, and grammar suspiciously resemble the verbiage, poor spelling, and grammar of the previous 500+ 5-star reviewers – suggesting something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
And these glowing reviews flow consistently on a 3:1 ratio following a bona fide 1-star review that typically threatens the said company with legal action as a consequence of missing/damaged goods, lack of punctuality or attendance, or being ridiculously overcharged. Note also that these companies do not usually maintain a social media/Facebook presence or a genuine Google business page because the likelihood here is that they’ll be quickly exposed by honest feedback as the deceitful and calculating operators they are.
3/ The use of hire vehicles to conduct moves
AVOID THE REMOVALIST whose vehicles you have absolutely no recollection of ever seeing on the roads, and whose website contains blatantly reworked images using free stock photographs (often from overseas countries with the steering wheel on the left side) and displaying fictitious signage. If a company is capable of conducting 10,000 moves in a calendar year (see red flag 1), then they should have the liquidity to pay someone to post at least one authentic photo of a removals truck or van. If not, avoid them at all costs because on move day, you’ll be surprised to discover an Acme rent-a-truck or similar blocking your driveway. These vehicles are not purpose-built for larger removals, and they often lack maintenance, proper equipment and tools. To add insult to injury, no effort has ever been made to calculate the capacity of these vehicles when taking into account your load size; often resulting in two or three trips when one trip was quoted (and guess who’ll foot the bill for these additional trips? Tip: not the removalist), or a job that’s half done with the onus then placed on you to transport all the belongings that were abandoned on your front lawn.
4/ Inexperienced, unqualified, untrained staff, and unbelievably low quotes
AVOID THE REMOVALIST who quotes a ridiculously low hourly rate, yet promises a ‘qualified’ removals team will be dispatched to your address. Given that the objective of any business is to make money, if you quickly do the math, you’ll discover that to turn over any profit at all, the company is either:
(a) deliberately lying to you about your likely move cost (i.e. you’ll be stung for several hours more than was originally quoted); or
(b) employing and exploiting cash-strapped backpackers and foreign students with unlawful/unethical pay rates to conduct moves on their behalf. The trouble inherent here is that these transient employees are not motivated, nor are they trained in removals work, resulting in damaged goods and delayed execution of your move at unforeseen additional expense. And more common than you might imagine are reports of previous moves in which pseudo removalists stand around on their phones (with the blessing of the boss), while the customer is left to lug their own heavy boxes to the truck to minimise the shock of unquoted hours.
5/ Your ‘local’ removalist company (whose depot is 2.5 hours away)
AVOID THE REMOVALIST who is not upfront about their office/depot location. It’s very easy to bid on Google advertising as a ‘local’ removalist, regardless of the move location. It’s equally easy to create a nice website that displays hundreds of distant suburbs by postcode as a ploy to secure a good search engine ranking, despite the fact tthat he company has likely never visited or worked in these suburbs.
Sure, if a removalist is prepared to travel to your home, some 50-100km away from their depot, without charging you any extra for time on the road, petrol, maintenance, etc., then go for it. The reality is that although your original quote may be agreeable (particularly in light of their ‘glowing’ credentials – refer to red flags 1 & 2), rest assured it is you who’ll be stung for the overheads. You’ll also be left gobsmacked by some of the creative excuses put forward by the company to explain away the hundreds of dollars in surcharges that will ultimately land in your lap.
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In closing, we hope this article will provide you with the confidence to make informed decisions when organising your next move. The takeaway: always do your homework – your belongings are too precious to be destroyed, and your money is too hard-earned to throw away.
For complete peace of mind, give the friendly, professional team at Surfside Removals a call. Our reputation is solid and we’re arguably the Central Coast’s leading removals company. We invite you to put us to the test!
Call now for a free quote – fixed price or (genuine) hourly rate – on 1300 00 6683. Alternatively, fill out one of the quote forms linked here. We look forward to being of service!