Trek Removals continues its descent into the bowels of home moving hell! We have searched and researched the worst moving stories that we could dig up and tell you. These stories are cautionary tales to learn something from when it comes to house removals, commercial moves, relocations and storage.
In today’s moving horror story we take a look at the perils of a 2.4 children family versus a cowboy removal company that gave them a most unexpected surprise.
The family unit was planning their move from Manchester to London. They had called upon the services of a small London Removal Company that had “experience” with long haul moves. They negotiated a rather cheap deal and the moving wheels were set in motion. If there is a moral to this story it probably would be “you get what you pay for.”
The family entrusted their entire household belongings into the hands of this firm, which turned out to be a Father and his two sons. The family unit seemed a bit wary at first as the Father & Son removal company was almost two hours late arriving.
Once they finally did show up they began working with enough speed, vigour and professionalism to quell any doubts. In fact, they seemed almost like they knew what they were doing.
The family unit were going to follow the vans on back to London but along the way they lost sight of the moving vans on the motorway. They assumed that they were far ahead of them.
The family unit arrived at their new home and found that there was no sign of the removal vans. They waited for an hour before calling ahead to the “expert” removal company. One of the sons answered and said that they were at the new house and currently unloading the boxes!
After initial confusion passed, it only became clear what had happened once the question was asked, “What address are you at?”
The removal boys had driven this family unit’s entire household belongings to the wrong London address on the complete wrong side of the city. What was worse is that the house the removal men had arrived at was already inhabited by an elderly couple!
It took hours to sort out the mess, and the Father & Son removal company even tried to charge the family extra for the delay. The family of course refused.
This is just another cautionary moving horror tale about a “supposed-to-be standard” home move that went horribly wrong. If you want to avoid becoming the subject of one of these stories then look into getting a free moving quote from a professional home removals company that has a proven track record in moving and relocations.
Continuing this series of horror story blogs on the perils and problems from moving home and home removals, and after our blogs on cowboy removal men and the pitfalls of doing it yourself, it’s time to look at transportation problems.
The following moving home story is again, sadly, very much true. As far as personally handled house removals go, Trek Removals thinks you can’t really beat this one.
An Elderly Couple from the UK decided to move from their large house in London to a quiet village in the Dorset countryside to fully enjoy their retirement from work and urban living. Now a move and relocation through a London removals firm would have made sense for this elederly couple to have utilised, but they were determined to be hands on and orchestrate and execute their London move by themselves.
They asked for help from their daughter and son-in-law, who assisted with the packing. The elderly couple owned many fine items from a fine China collection to sculptures and many other delicate breakables. Their first mistake was asking their daughter and son-in-law to help them pack. None of them knew how to properly secure these delicate items. Most of them were merely wrapped in newspaper and stacked inside boxes. Some of the boxes were not even sealed!
If there was a “How to move house” manual this would be one of the cautionary examples used of how NOT to do it.
The elderly couple had their own van, which used to be for the elderly gentleman’s tradesman work. They cleared out all the work tools and bric-a-brac so they could stack in the piles of poorly packed moving boxes. Bare in mind they were driving from London to the Dorset countryside, a two to three hour drive. Four if you take ito account the doddery driving!
Due to the loud engine roaring, the hum of the road, the whistle of the passing motorway traffic and their generally poor hearing, they failed to catch the sounds of smashing in the back. Yes, as you might have guessed, the unsecured, badly packed fragile household goods (even marked in big red letters as “Fragile”) had fallen open and were now smashing about in the back from the vibrating van.
Upon hearing some of the breaking, the elderly woman told her husband to pull over at the next rest stop to check on their boxes and items. Once the elderly couple opened the back doors they were shocked to discover the mess of broken glass, fine China and artwork across the van floor and within the boxes. The problem was they still had another hour left to get to the new house, so they decided to push on with the journey, which caused more breakage. You have to admire their persistence.
The moral of this story is simple, if you are going to do your own home moves, make sure you securely pack and secure all fragile, breakables and delicate items. At the very least ask Trek Removals for some advice on packing. We just want your removal and transportation to go as smoothly a possible. Better yet, leave it in the hands of the professionals. Avoid breakage and heartbreak! Contact us for a free moving quote on house removals. Especially if you’re looking at a long haul move from a city like London.
