What to do if Your Movers are Late

It's the stuff of nightmares we know, you're all packed up and ready to vacate the premises as you anxiously keep checking the time.. 'okay maybe the traffic's a bit heavy and they'll soon be here' you nervously try to reassure yourself, but it's now getting on a bit and your stress levels are starting to flash red! So what to do..

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When booking a Mover especially in a big city like London one of the main concerns is reliability, or at least is should be rather than just focusing on the cheapest price possible.

So the object of this post is to hopefully put your mind at rest regarding what can normally happen during a typical move, and also at what point it's really starting to look like something has gone badly wrong.

Confirmation leading up to the move

This is ideally what you're looking for... a well organised man and van Mover who touches base with you to make sure everything is okay your end and they'll be with you around the time you've booked. Some Movers may do this by email a couple of days before the move, or others may send a text before they set out on the day. This works both ways because they also want to know you're going to be there and be ready to go.

Haven't heard anything, but hoping for the best

Okay so let's assume there's been no confirmation from the Mover and you've tried contacting them but there's no answer. Understandably you're starting to get a little apprehensive as you look at your pile of belongings which may even be in the street by now. At this point there's not much you can do other than wait, they might be too busy to answer the phone and could turn up at any minute.

Normal delays due to traffic and previous job running late

Unfortunately 'running a little late' is an occupational hazard with moving due to the unpredictability of London traffic conditions and the possibility of previous jobs taking a bit longer than expected. In our experience a 'normal' delay without the customer being notified could be up to about 20-30 mins. If the Mover anticipates being later than that he should message you to let you know his ETA - but again it might be difficult to do at the time.

How long before it's obvious something is up

If you haven't had any prior confirmation from your Mover and haven't been able to contact them, then all you can do is wait it out for a reasonable amount of time. Everyone has different tolerance levels but if they still haven't arrived an hour after the booking then it's starting to look like you may have booked the wrong Mover and they're not coming. Two hours late without any contact or notification and it's almost guaranteed they're not showing up.

What to do if the Mover has clearly let you down

Okay so it's now become obvious you've been abandoned. There can be several reasons for this, maybe something genuinely went wrong with the Mover's vehicle and method of communication, or more likely you unfortunately (for whatever reason) chose an unreliable Mover.

It's important at this point to try and stay calm so you can weigh up your options. Start ringing around to find a Mover who can do short notice (as in immediately). It might take a few calls but keep going as you will find someone. Tell them what has happened and see what they can do.

We hope this helps, and happy moving!