Removal Company

tantrum123

Last year I engaged a removal company to move the contents of my house FROM my home and then BACK again for the price of £1,000. I made a verbal agreement of the cost of the move with the saleman who came to my home to initally survey the move. I received no written confirmation of the price agreed. After the first move I came to pay the salesman the price of the first move. At this point he claimed that the price we'd agreed on was only for the first move and not both as we had originally agreed. He insisted I'd misunderstood and ordered me to pay £1,000 for just one move. I told him I did not have that cash with me as I was only expecting to pay £500. I gave him the £500 and he asked me to transfer another £500 into his account when I returned home. I felt confused and under pressure so I agreed but once I'd left I knew that I'd been scammed and I did not transfer the other amount. I engaged a different removal company to return my goods who charged me £500 for one move and were professional, gave me the cost price in writing before moving and were courteous. I rang several other comapanies to check the market price - all of whom quoted me approximately £500 for the same service. This confirmed my belief that I had NOT misunderstood the quote from the initial company (I had clarified it with the salesman TWICE on his initial visit to my home). That was 6 months ago - since then the salesman has been phoning me and texting me about every two weeks. Some months ago I informed him that I did not intend to pay this extra amount as it was not the original agreement. He continues to call me and has now said he is engaging a debt collector and insists he will not cease to contact me until I've paid. Any thoughts on my legal recourse with this man and this company?

dudara

Ask him to provide evidence of the original agreement and evidence of its transmission to you. Also include in your reply evidence of your quotes from other companies, and state that you consider £500 to be a fair settlement of the services provided.

Remind him that if he continues to persue this topic, you will engage legal services.

Walter2016

He has none.

Its all "he says, you said" and there's nothing in writing. Therefore if it ever went to court (highly unlikely) it would be for him to prove that £1,000 was a reasonable rate and reasonably charged.

You would then show that £500 was a reasonable rate and by showing a charged £500 from another company and quote from others, you would easily win any case.

Inform your solicitor that you have the issue and then tell the removal guy that you have no problem having this heard in a court and that if he has any further issues he may issue court proceedings to your solicitors and you will defend same.

Same answer to any debt collector.

tantrum123

Thanks Dudara. He has no evidence because the agreement was completely verbal. He said he'd go to the small claims court which I welcomed as I want to settle the matter. When I told him I'd agreed to go to the small claims court he changed his mind. He then said he wasn't going to small claims court but was going to engage a debt collector and continue to text and call me.

tantrum123

Thanks Walter2016. I think he knows he has no case but he says he is within his rights to keep contacting me. I think I'll get a solicitor.

cormie

Do bear in mind that quotes from removal companies can and do vary considerably. It's not really relevant at this stage, but depending on how a company is set up, where they are located etc, their costs to complete the removal, the service provided, whether they are insured or legitimate at all can greatly affect the end price. There's huge amount of people running removal services who are not operating legitimately at all, even if they have a website, branding on their vans etc.

Out of interest, can you give a briefing of the move? I'm guessing you were moving the contents to self storage for renovation work or similar? What size unit did the contents take up, what vehicle arrived and how many men? What was the distance between collection and delivery point and was everything PBO (packed by owner) or was a full packing service included too?

tantrum123

We got the same size truck, distance, same amount of men, loaded and unloaded on the return by a fully insured, legitimate company for €500. Exactly the same service. I got about 5 quotes for this price from well established legitimate companies. The price however, isn't really the point here, as much as that fact that I invited somebody into my home, made an agreement with them, trusted them and they deliberately lied to me about their price in order to get my business (and who knows how many other customers).

manonboard

Block his number from texts and calls.

Don't tell him so he doesn't know it's blocked and wont use a different one.

If he finds a way to contact you again, tell him you are recording them and will bring a case of harassment against him.

If a debt collector is engaged, tell them you are willing to go to court and that you do not consent to any further contact. If they want money, they can bring a court case.

Don't feed this real life troll. They only persist if they think they are having an effect towards getting the money or causing emotional distress (which makes them feel like they are winning). ignoring them is the best possible course of action and if it goes to court it sounds like an easy victory for you.

Record everything, but do it with calmness and no pressure on yourself. The important thing is to not let it get to you as you deserve to be well all the time and scammers are just a part of life.

tantrum123

Thank you manonboard. It's difficult to not get upset. Especially because I am not interested in confilct and don't like this type of thing at all. I just wanted to get my stuff moved. I never expected this rubbish to happen. It's taught me a valuable life lesson - get everything in writing before entering an agreement with a company. If I block his calls I suspect he will show up at my house, as he has already suggested. (This by the way is from a seemingly legitimate insured company, not a man with a van).

Walter2016

I don't know whether you are in the south or north (£ symbol), but if he calls to your house it can be construed as harassment. Similarly continuous calls can be construed as harassment and should be reported to the gardai.
Considering you have all his details which you can also give the gardai, one visit to him from the gardai would end it.

The money end is a civil matter, but harassment is a criminal act. Laws are similar in Northern Ireland.

"Any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, by any means including by use of telephone, harasses another by persistently following, watching, pestering, besetting or communicating with him or her, shall be guilty of an offence." Non-fatal offences against the person act. 1997

Hollister11

It might be worth getting a friend or family member to call him and ask for a quote for the exact same service. If it says 500, you know he is trying to scam you.

nuckeythompson

Is this a freight company or removal company? They may have standard trading conditions if they are affiliated with a governing body. Was this in the republic or the north. I've worked in both sectors .

tantrum123

They are a removal company based in the Republic. They don't give quotes over the phone, they quote by coming to your property and doing a survey. Thanks for your replies!

nuckeythompson

They are supposed to send you their t&c with their quotation. As he didn't they do have a hope

Kings Inns or bust

Just to point out that 'one word against another' and 'verbal contracts' can easily go either way if one party decides to go to court. I make this as a general point as I see it cropping up quite a bit on boards. That aside tell him to leave you alone, block him and if he continues to harass you involve the guards.

tantrum123

I won't be terrribly upset if the court rules in favour of the the company. The point is that I don't accept their version of what happened. If you give in to these people where does it end?
Hopefully the judgement will go in my favour and this saleperson will stop his bad practice. Thanks for your replies.

Kings Inns or bust

tantrum123 wrote: »

I won't be terrribly upset if the court rules in favour of the the company. The point is that I don't accept their version of what happened. If you give in to these people where does it end?
Hopefully the judgement will go in my favour and this saleperson will stop his bad practice. Thanks for your replies.

I'd be very surprised indeed if they can even spell summons; let alone it get near a court room.