You tried another firm · 3
Somebody let you down
It happens more than this trade likes to admit. A cancellation days before a completion, a crew that never arrived, or a number that has stopped being answered — and a householder left with a date they cannot move.
We will not speculate about the other firm. We will tell you what we can do and when, in that order.
What happens when you ring
Why we answer before we ask
Because somebody whose move has collapsed needs to know within a minute whether to carry on phoning. Taking a name, an address and a full inventory and then ringing back tomorrow is the wrong way round.
So the first thing we establish is the date and roughly the size, and the first thing we tell you is yes or no. Everything else follows only if the answer was yes.
What we will not say about the other firm
Anything. We have no idea what happened — a genuine breakdown, an overbooked week, an illness, or a figure that was never viable being quietly abandoned. All four look identical from outside.
Speculating about a competitor to somebody already distressed would be a poor way to earn a booking, and it would tell you nothing useful about us.
What to ask any firm you ring next
For a written confirmation naming the vehicle and the crew. And what happens if they cannot attend — whether there is a second vehicle, a partner arrangement, or nothing.
A straightforward answer to those two questions is worth considerably more than a lower figure, and any firm that hesitates on the second one has told you something.
If the date genuinely cannot be saved
It sometimes cannot, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. What can usually still be saved is the goods: collected, listed and held while the dates are rearranged, rather than left in a house you no longer have.
That is a worse outcome than the original plan and a considerably better one than a vehicle that never arrives.
Somebody let you down
Questions about somebody let you down
- 01
How fast will you tell us?
In the first minute. You need to keep ringing firms if the answer is no, and taking your details first would waste the time you do not have.
- 02
Will you tell us what the other firm did wrong?
No. We have no idea what happened, and speculating about a competitor to somebody already upset would be a poor way to earn a booking.
- 03
Can you match their price?
We quote what the job costs. Where the original figure was not viable, matching it would put us where that firm was, which helps neither of us.
- 04
What should we ask the next firm we ring?
For written confirmation naming the vehicle and crew, and what happens if they cannot attend. Hesitation on the second question tells you a lot.
- 05
What if nobody can cover the date?
Then the goods can usually still be collected and held while the dates are rearranged, which is far better than leaving them in a house you no longer have.
- 06
Do you take on a lot of these?
Enough to have a settled way of handling them, which is why this page exists rather than being a paragraph somewhere.
Where are you up to?
Both addresses, roughly what is left, and how much time there is. If you are partway through something already, say so — that is the useful part rather than the embarrassing one.