In a perfect world, you will have an accurate estimate of your final moving bill. If you haven’t noticed already, you will find that this is far from the truth. It has become almost a norm now for moving companies to lure potential customers in with one set of estimated pricing and when everything is said and done customers end up with an inflated bill. Unfortunately, you won’t be finding out about the true nature of the inflated billing until you have invested significant time and effort with a moving company.
By then, many customers either realise that they are running out of time and/or they are not willing to invest more time and effort into finding a new removalist company. This guide aims to highlight 5 telltale signs that your moving bill might end up being inflated.
1. The hourly rate is unreasonably or significantly cheaper when compared to competitors.
When something is too good to be true, then it probably is. There is nothing wrong with differentiating prices to win customers. However, the removalist industry, especially in the Melbourne Southbank area, is highly competitive and therefore the prices are usually very competitive. So if you find that one removalist is offering a significantly lower hourly rate it is likely that there are unmentioned fees in the form of add on services. Did you know that some businesses charge a fee for showing up to your doorsteps?
These businesses make up for the cheaper hourly rate through charging essential services as add ons. Imagine that you have purchased a car for a price. At first, it seemed like a good deal. However, once you get in the car you realise that your car is missing the seat belts and the steering wheels. The car that you have purchased is in no way drivable. For the vehicle to function, you must now purchase a steering wheel and seat belts as add-ons, possibly at inflated prices.
What seemed like a good deal is no longer a good deal. Don’t be fooled by overly cheap hourly rates in the Southbank area. If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. If you hastily make a booking with these businesses, you may end up with an inflated bill blowing your moving budget. Do yourself a favour and avoid these surprise bills.
Of course, there might be legitimately cheaper offers from time to time. However, these offers can’t last all year long. Either avoid these too good to be true offers or do your research. Ask plenty of questions regarding “other fees” before committing.
2. Lack of base-rate information. You are required to invest your time and effort to find out more.
It makes sense for businesses to get a hold of your information to provide you with more accurate quotes for your next move in the Melbourne Southbank area. However, if a business has little to no information on the base hourly rate, then you should wonder whether the business is deliberately hiding this information. You may be asked to leave your phone number or give them a call to find out about their rates.
The idea behind this move is to have you speak to their sales staff and close the deal, while having you commit your time and effort to decrease the likelihood of you finding another remover company. If your time is valuable, perhaps it’s best for you to skip these types of businesses, as they actively seek customers with little time and effort to spare. So the next time you need to hire a removalist company in the Southbank area, try to avoid removalist businesses which provide no information on hourly rates and require you to commit your time and effort.
3. Obscured information regarding hourly rates. Too many find prints.
The hourly rate information on websites should be provided to help consumers make informed decisions. However, it’s not rare to find removalist companies’ hourly rate page to be covered with, difficult to notice fine prints. At first the hourly rate may seem reasonable. Then you may start noticing all the fine prints and asterisks. Obviously, they tend to heavily impact your final moving bill. To give you some examples:
- *Stair surcharges apply.
- **Piano surcharges apply
- ***Weekday rate is shown. Weekends rate extra.
- ****Depot surcharge billed at an hourly rate.
- *****Does not include a booking fee.
Consumers have become very adept at spotting these fine prints in asterisks. Nowadays many businesses go even as far as to blatantly hide some of these fine prints. For instance, fine prints are hidden within the quote or hourly rate page. The only way to access this information is to hover over a small “i” icon which seems just like a part of a design to unsuspecting customers. Other businesses have tiny arrow or triangle icons. The fine prints are only revealed to the customers once the customer clicks on these small icons which can easily be mistaken for a part of website design.
Your final moving bill in the Southbank area may be much more inflated than what you had originally anticipated due to hidden fine prints. When the last item is unloaded and you get a bill shock, you may bring it up with your removalist. They will be very quick to show you how to access the hidden information from their website and you have no other options but to pay up.
You can avoid paying all these extras fees. Firstly look for obscured fine prints on the pricing section of the website. If there are many fine prints for additional fees, and they have been deliberately hidden(yet accessible) perhaps it’s better for you to look for another removalist company in the Southbank area. If you are ever in doubt, simply ask “Do you have any other additional charges?” With Easy Peasy Removals, you will never pay more than what is advertised if you are in the Southbank area. In fact you get cheaper rates if you book in during the weekday, as the advertised rate is for weekends.
4. No mention of depot or fuel surcharges.
Distance between the depot and the properties is one of the most important factors affecting the final moving bill on your next move in the Southbank area. As mentioned earlier things are quite competitive, businesses offer similar rates due to the high level of competitiveness. However, the distance between the depot and the properties make up for a significant part of differences in fees. Staff need to be paid for their time and trucks need to be fueled.
Hiring a removalist company that needs to travel a significant distance, would mean that the staff’s wage and the fuel cost need to be covered. An honest company will help potential customers to make informed decisions by declaring the depot and fuel surcharge rates.
Easy Peasy Removals, for instance, charges no depot or fuel surcharges in Melbourne metro. You will quickly find that many businesses don’t mention depot fees and fuel surcharges until you ask them. If a business does not disclose fuel and depot surcharges, it is probably because they are charging these fees but they intend to hide these fees for as long as possible, perhaps until after the customer has fully committed. Don’t fall for cheap and nasty tricks. Beat the hidden fees by skipping businesses who do not disclose fuel surcharge information. As always, if in doubt always ask and get an answer from the removalist company.
5. Hourly or half-hourly billing.
Hourly and half-hourly billing are great…. For businesses, not so much for you. Simply put businesses will charge you half-hourly or hourly increments. Not only you may be paying extra for the work that hasn’t been carried out, it gives some dishonest businesses to drag things out just a little tiny bit so that another half an hour or hour can be added on to your bill. Simply put you may pick a removalist based on their cheaper hourly rate.
At first, it may seem like you will be saving a lot of money, but an extra hour or half an hour of billing will most likely eat into all the savings you received from choosing the cheaper rate. You may be saving $5, $10, or $15 an hour. But extra half an hour of billing will be somewhere around $100-$130.
Of course, not all businesses are honest and they will choose to do the right thing. But then again if the businesses wanted to do the right thing from the start, why not charge the customers by the minutes? Luckily for you, there is a removalist company in the Southbank area which bills customers by the minute so that you end up paying for only what you have used and saved on moving costs. Easy Peasy Removals bills by the minute after the minimum 2.5hours services.
Conclusion – reducing your moving bill in Melbourne Southbank
I have shared with you 5 tips on spotting an inflated moving bill. Moving shouldn’t have to break your bank balance, and it won’t if you make informed decisions. There are plenty of tips for you to access at our moving tips vault. If you aren’t sure where to start, why not start with Moving tips to save money on your moving day? We are here to save your moving cost in the Melbourne Southbank area, all tips are completely free! No strings attached.
