We just want to add some relevant context to this review, which is unreasonable. Your Father booked a medium (transit) size van, with driver and helper to move 8-9 items from Brighton to Worthing (14 miles). Your Father advised there was a bed, mattress, sofa, washing machine, desk and 4 large boxes which would have fitted into a transit van. He stated that he would take your clothes and smaller items in his Jeep if needed. We quoted a total of £73.00, a great price. After a few days your father confirmed the booking to take place a week later on the 15/03/19 at 10am.
The driver and helper arrived promptly at 9.45am ready to move the items. Firstly, the flat was on the fourth floor, which is 8 flights of stairs not 4 flights as in the booking. Then the driver and helper were shown the rooms with items to be moved. It was actually moving a full 2 bedroom flat, not 8 or 9 items. Vanuse do not charge by the hour and therefore the drivers were booked for the job, which should have taken least than 2 hours to complete.
The driver was shocked to see how many more items had to be moved than was quoted for, something your Father has apologised for. I am sure the driver did ‘sigh’ after walking up 8 flights of stairs and seeing that nothing had been packed and even the beds not stripped or dismantled. This had a big impact on the driver’s day as the job was not as described and would be 4 hours rather than 2! 9 out of 10 companies would have left at that point.
The driver did contact our office and sent us a video, which I wish I could post here. It clearly shows that there was a large amount of stuff, no preparation, nothing packed or dismantled and a lot of packing to be done before moving. I then called your Father who apologised and said that he was not aware of how much stuff there was too move. Fortunately, the driver had a much larger van than ordered, but there had to be an extra charge for the additional time and items to be moved. I offered for the driver to return later in the day, but it was decided to move the large items first whilst you packed. You may not have been aware of this exchange.
Adding to the delays was you dictating the order in which the items were taken down to the van instead of allowing the driver to use his expertise. The van needs to be loaded correctly and certain large items need to go in first. The driver should have informed the office of this, rather than saying to you ‘let me do my job’ and it would have been handled differently, so I apologise for that. But, I think that it had been a very stressful time for all involved, something that happens when you are not prepared and rushing packing everything on moving day. So as I said on the phone to you I apologise that exchange happened and I have told the driver this cannot happen again. This driver has completed 100's of jobs for Vanuse and has always received 5 star reviews. As for the damaged item, this is the first you have said about this. It was not mentioned in your call to me and in the calls with your Father, or his later email.
As for leaving before the job was finished. It was agreed with your Father that the driver and helper would return on Saturday morning to move the desk. This was reasonable as the driver was running behind schedule, they had to leave and agreed to return at no extra charge.
You may have forgotten that you called me to cancel them coming back to move the desk, as you had arranged someone else. That was your choice, we do not let people down.
I am sorry that you feel you had a bad experience. But, in view of the circumstances, I feel that we did provide a good service for a very good price. We were flexible when confronted with a much bigger job than we were booked for and we still kept the charge about 40% less than competitors. In future we recommend preparation is key for a stress free move, that won't ruin your day.
