Moving Matters experience
Moving Matters experience: if only the service had matched the friendliness!
A month before we moved, we contracted with ATR/Moving Matters of Wokingham to move our heavy and bulky items, which were indicated and noted.
A week before we moved, it became obvious that there would be more items than first estimated, so we contacted the firm twice to alert them that more space would be needed.
On moving day the young team of four arrived with a truck and soon decided it was too small. They sent it back for another one, which also turned out to be too small. We were asked to pay an extra £840 for the larger van, which we expected to be capable of taking all our items. We paid in cash and were given no receipt.
The team loaded up the lorry but left half a garage full of items and then departed, leaving behind some of the heavy items specified in the original contract. We never saw the team again.
We were unavoidably delayed (M4 closure) in picking up the keys to the new house. Luckily for the team, unluckily for us, the garages at the new property were unlocked. Knowing they were keen to get home to attend a celebration, and not knowing how late we would be, we reluctantly gave them permission to offload into the garages. With hindsight, we should have insisted that they wait until we arrived with the house keys. We expected some compensation for allowing them to do only half a job. We believed that we had paid for items to be taken into the new house, not left in the garages. In the event, we had to move the furniture in ourselves, including the heavy and bulky items for which we had asked their help.
We also had to hire a van and drive a two-hundred-mile round trip to collect the items they had left behind, some of which were the very heavy items originally intended for them to transport.
When we asked for a refund for (a) having to carry our goods into the new house ourselves and (b) having to pay for a van and fuel to collect what they had left behind, we were refused.
If you are tempted to use this company for your removal, make sure you have everything in black and white beforehand. They were all very pleasant people, but we feel shortchanged by their lack of diligence. It appears that with this firm, staff gratification comes before customer satisfaction.