Trust · E
Things were left behind
It happens in the same four places every time, and it is entirely preventable by two habits that cost a few minutes: a list made as the vehicle loads, and a walk-through with you before the doors close.
A crew working from memory in a house they have never been in before will miss something. Everybody does.
What prevents it
The same four places
The loft, because somebody has to physically go up there and the hatch is the last thing anybody thinks about. The shed and the garage, because they are outside the house and outside the sequence. And the cupboard under the stairs, because it is dark, awkward and full.
Those four are checked explicitly and separately rather than being swept up in "is that everything?" from a hallway.
Nothing is assumed to be rubbish
The most upsetting version of this complaint is not something forgotten; it is something thrown out. A crew deciding on your behalf that an item was waste is the one failure on this page that cannot be fixed afterwards.
So it is a rule rather than a judgement: if it is not obviously refuse, it is asked about. Where you cannot be reached, it stays and travels.
The walk-through is short and it is not optional
Every room, every cupboard, the loft hatch and the outbuildings, with you, before the doors close. It takes a few minutes. It is the last opportunity to catch something and the cheapest insurance on the entire job.
Where you genuinely cannot be there, it happens by photograph instead — every room recorded as it empties, sent the same day.
And the things that are not yours to take
The mirror image of the same complaint. Fitted items may be fixtures under a sale contract, or part of a listed building, or the landlord's. Where there is doubt we leave it and ask rather than unscrew it and apologise.
Things were left behind
Questions about things were left behind
- Do you go into the loft?
- Yes, physically, at survey and again on the day. It is where this complaint originates more than anywhere else and it cannot be checked from the landing.
- What if something is not obviously ours?
- We ask. If we cannot ask, it stays and travels. A crew deciding on your behalf what is rubbish is the one mistake here that cannot be undone.
- How long does the walk-through take?
- A few minutes, and it covers every room, cupboard, the loft hatch and the outbuildings. It is the cheapest insurance on the whole job.
- What if we cannot be there?
- Every room is photographed as it empties and the set is sent to you the same day. It is the substitute for having stood there.
- Will you take fitted furniture?
- Only with clear instruction. Fitted items may be fixtures under a sale contract, part of a listed building, or a landlord's property. Where there is doubt it stays.
- What about the garden?
- Counted at survey and checked at the walk-through. Pots, tools and anything anchored are all common casualties of the "is that everything?" approach.
Ask us the awkward questions
Will you survey before quoting. Will the crew who load us unload us. How many vehicles will our goods be on. What happens if the day overruns. Start there.