Let’s face it. Shifting your entire household goods is not going to be easy. You have to go through hell lots of issues, right from calling packers and movers companies for rates and estimates to finally scheduling your move and getting your goods delivered; expect different kind of issues. Some time you will feel like confused due to lack of substantial information about packers and movers and other times they are unreachable on phone.
But that’s what reality is. No one has control over the driver who may have to go to his village because his wife is pregnant and has to be admitted in the hospital. After all they are also human being.
Obviously your delivery may get delayed by a day or two because a replacement for the drive has to be arranged. But imagine going through such situation, you are trying hard to reach out to the mover and he is not taking your call. It happens at times but then which packers and movers service provider you engage with make all the difference.
Please, I am not trying to scare you; all I am trying to do is explain you what kind of uncertainty is awaiting ahead. But fortunately there is something which you can do about it and that’s what I am going to talk about in this post.
I am here to give you at least a 5 point safety checklist so that you can be prepared and do everything to ensure your goods are in safe hands and that it will be packed and delivered in safe and sound condition, on time and in budget.
Here’s is a quick safety checklist to hire packers and movers companies in India
Stop Making Random Calls. Find a few recommendations instead
Internet is changing the way we live today. Social media is dominating and touching our lives like never before. There is so much of information available across channels that we easily get confused. Obviously there are advantage and disadvantage of all of this.
But why I am telling all this to you even if I know that you are smart enough and you understand it all. Well I am trying to tell you that Internet may not have all answers and everything that you find on the internet may not be correct or true.
I mean how you can trust someone you found randomly on the internet with all your precious household goods. So next time when you wish to hire a packers and movers company, it’s better to ask your friend, family members or your colleagues for any recommendation. Usually packers and movers companies have presence in multiple cities, so even if one of your friend have hired a mover in Delhi, there is high chance that same mover will have an office in Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune as well. So there is no harm in going with recommendation.
I know you may not find good recommendation when you need it the most, if that’s the case, you may jump on and Post your shifting and relocation requirements to get connected with three handpicked and verified packers and movers in your local city or town.
Starting a packers and movers business in India is easy; anyone with just a little bit of experience and network can get into this venture. Being a service industry and high demand sector, there are always people who are looking to hire such movers. At times people hire them because they are getting cheaper rates, but at least you don’t fall in that trap. I will be talking more on this later in this post.
But the simple point I am trying to make is to go with recommendations and if you don’t find one, then use this platform to find best movers or follow this post for more information.
No matter what Movers are claiming? It’s better to check facts by yourself before Hiring
It’s been long since I started working with packers and movers companies of various cities across India. I came across really superb and highly professional packers and movers companies, but unfortunately I also met same number of unprofessional and unreliable service providers.
So don’t trust them without verifying the facts. It’s easier to get a nice looking website in place and list out all services that you may be looking for. But facts could be different. So it’s very important that you check their online and offline presence, verify their registration status, check for their service tax no and most importantly ensure that they have a physical office and an operative bank account in the name of the firm.
I am not blaming all movers are like that, but it’s better to be safe than feel sorry. I hope you get the point. Did you?
Insurance is crucial. Get it done and verify it yourself
At times, you may be tempted to ignore insurance or you may not be aware of it. But trust me, Insurance is crucial and you must get it done and ensure that it’s actually done by asking your mover to provide documented proof. Also understand everything and know the details and terms and conditions of the insurance.
Cheap movers and packers companies at times just say verbally that they have got insurance, but that’s just to make you understand and they assume nothing will go wrong and if anything goes wrong they will handle it. Don’t fall for such practices. Ultimately it’s your goods and items at stake and the only one who will be affected is you.
Other day a gentleman called me from Chandigarh after reading one of my posts on safety on this very blog. I thought he would ask me to recommend a couple of movers and packers in Chandigarh, but you know why he called me? He told me his story of how he hired a mover and packers in Chandigarh to shift his CBZ bike to Mumbai.
He had several issues like even if he hired the mover for door to door relocation, he had to collect the bike from outskirt of Mumbai, his bike was scratched, front motor guard was broken and according to him there was a small bag in the side box which was completely missing.
Feeling bored, bear with me and read on. I promise it is relevant.
Just imagine the situation of this gentle man. When I asked him about the insurance, He says his Bike is insured. I asked him about transit insurance and he did not know about it; To top it all even movers and packers service provider did not even talked about it.
I advised him to get in touch with the Service Provider and try to sort it out if possible before exploring other options.
Needless to say, Insurance is important and you should discuss about any such situation in advance before you handout your goods to a movers and packers company.
Please keep everything on records and avoid paying in cash
Most of the packers and movers companies will ask you to pay advance so that they can procure packing materials and other stuff. It’s more about confirming your order than anything else, but that’s not a bad idea. Only precaution that you should be taking is to ensure that get a written quotation from them on their letter head with clear mention of any hidden costs. Whatever it is, always insist on paying by cheque, avoid payments by cash.
Some time, they book your order at cheaper rate and start asking for extra money moving forward. Can’t believe? Go do a quick little check on Google with a keyword like ‘fraud by packers and movers companies” or ask a few of your friends and you will understand it all clearly.
Again I would like to stress the fact that all movers are not unethical and unprofessional but there are a few and the biggest challenge is to stay away from such packers and movers companies while you plan your shifting and relocation; be it household shifting, car transportation, bike shifting or storage related services.
I will let you add the fifth Point of your own
Yes. I know I promised to give you five point checklists, but I need to rush and I leave it to your guess and experience. I am just kidding, but on a serious note, here are a few keywords;
- Be practical and logical when you search for movers and packers
- It’s better to connect with movers who have been recommended by your friends or colleagues.
- Irrespective of reference, it’s your duty to verify a mover before you hand over your goods to them.
- Try and make payments by cheque and avoid paying full payment in advance.
- Work out a mutually acceptable payment term
- Understand any risk and ask them to commit on how they plan to handle it if required.
Over to you
I hope this post will help you understand the process well and it will help you make better decision. As always, feel free to share your thoughts, ideas and experience with us by commenting below. Still unsure, we can get you started in minute. Really.
