Pitfalls of the Man and Van

June 28th 2008 Just had a phone call asking if we could assist, the customer had hired a man and van who turned up in a suit and refused to do any loading, we were fully booked and couldn't help on that occasion.

You've heard all the stories about the MAN AND VAN, dirty vans unreliable men, these are on the whole true, they've even started to turn up on the net now, I get phone calls every week from people who have been left in the lurch by these men who have let them down, either by their vans breaking down or just by not turning up and were now impossible to contact. One or two things you should look for are, never hire a man and van or removals unless you see a picture of the vans with a company logo or name on them, and always use one with references that look genuine.
We recently helped out Deborah Bailey, who was moving from Streatham in South London to an address in North London, she had booked a man and van off the net, he didn't turn up and had his answer phone on, she had found him using a search engine. He never phoned her to let her know there was a problem. Read what she had to say.

"I experienced the Vanandman.com service in a somewhat distraught situation. Having opting (foolishly) for a slightly cheaper man and van removal "company" on the website, I was let down (I.e they didn't bother to turn up, and avoided my calls). Following a desperate 12th hour call to
Gary, he offered an immediate solution, despite his own heavy workload at that time. Gary and Steve arrived within the hour and removed all my belongings promptly and delivered on time, as agreed. I cannot thank them enough for their keen and enthusiastic help - something which is difficult to find these days. Not only that - but their fee was very similar to the other spurious man and van! I have learnt a valuable lesson, and would recommend vanandman.com without hesitation.
Thanks!"

Deborah Bailey

Please don't make Deborah's mistake, use a reputable company, ask questions and use your instinct, don't be swayed by the promise of cheaper rates, your the one who will suffer come the day of your move.

We were hired by another Lady recently, She hired a man and van removal company to pick up her furniture, they put it in storage for her, they arrived in a dirty old van, loaded her items then drove off, when she phoned them to say she had now moved into her new property, she was told that her furniture had gone missing "it's somewhere" they said, they had found two chairs and a couple of pictures, but that was all. When we arrived at the address she was given, which was a large grubby looking house with two dirty old vans plus an old builders van and hidden behind these a Rolls Royce. It turned out, there were no chairs or pictures and we now believe they had sold everything, which had included some rather nice pieces.

There are web man and van's, with nice little sites but no logos or names on the vans, these pictures have probably been down loaded off the net, in reality all they have is a dirty old transit, usually an ex Gas Board or Post Office van that's why there are no pictures of the vehicles,. They will have no experience and no principles, If they lie on their web site can you believe them when they give you a price, will they turn up? maybe, maybe not.