Getting the best deal on anything is important to the modern-day consumer. The best deal you will find is rarely the cheapest, although it would be nice.
Working in the moving business (furniture removals) I can nearly guarantee to you that with every quotation I send out, the client has a cheaper on. With gumtree, free internet advertising and even advertisements sticky taped to the pedestrian traffic lights of your neighborhood, furniture removals is an open market to anyone who can buy a truck it would seem.
The problem with furniture removals is the potential cost to the consumer in relation to the cost of the service. Few other services when performed poorly can create such a financial burden except for perhaps electrical, plumbing and building services. In general, if we are not happy with a service we simply refrain from using it a second time or find a better solution.
Take Gardening for example. If you engaged a lawn moving service but aren’t fully happy with the outcome, you would simply engage another gardener or even purchase a lawnmower. The same could be said for cleaning, basic repairs, the changing of a tyre or ordering of a meal. Unlike a garden lawn however, furniture does not repair itself nor do memories.
The real threat of utilising a poor furniture moving service is the cost which comes after the move. Let’s set aside the risk of loss or theft for a moment and focus on just the potential damage to your goods.
Let’s for example look at the following scenario. A family is upgrading to a new home for more space due to their growing family. They receive two quotations being $2,000.00 and $4,000.00 from two local removalists. Whilst they think the higher quotation offers a much better service, they simply cannot fathom it would be twice as good as the cheaper option and with other bills mounting up, choose the cheaper of the two services. Upon completion of the move they notice the television is no longer working, the dryer seems to be having problems when cycling, the bookcase is a little wonky and the dining table is scratched.
It is safe to say they have well and truly paid more for their move than had they chosen the better of the two removal providers and these issues never occurred. There are of course other things to consider such as time, service experience and stress.
When choosing a removals provider, there is 4 basic rules to safeguard your valuables and ensure you minimise the risk of damages or a poor experience:
- Always ensure you use an AFRA member. AFRA is the Australian Furniture Removals Association. With over 200 members across Australia it is hardly an exclusive club but provides consumers with some form of protection and a minimum standard.
- Look at review websites and in particular, productreview.com.au. Product Review is the most accurate of all the review sites as it only posts reviews where proof of purchase has been made (quotation or receipt) and as such retains some integrity
- Check the movers ABN and search it. Many providers operate under multiple names due to poor business practices and make the decisions to simply change names and start again. Almost as if nothing ever happened.
- Experience counts. Always use a company who has been in operation for a long time (the longer the better) because this shows a consistency of services and you can feel comfortable knowing they have made it this far, they must be doing something right !!!