Playbook, removals company
The word insured, and the limit nobody expects behind it
There is one sentence that prevents more removals complaints than everything else on a firm's website put together, and almost nobody writes it: what is included as standard is a liability limit, and a limit is not the same thing as what it would cost to replace your table. Saying that early turns an argument in three weeks into a purchase decision today.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for insurance and coverage holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- The word insurance is doing the wrong work. What a removals firm carries as standard is a liability limit on goods in transit, and customers hear a promise of replacement value.
- The limit is commonly expressed per item as well as overall, which is the detail that turns a reassuring total into a disappointing settlement on one expensive thing.
- Boxes packed by the customer are usually treated differently from boxes packed by the crew, because nobody can say afterwards what went in or how it was wrapped.
- High value items normally have to be declared before the move to be covered at all, and a declaration made after the van has gone is not a declaration.
How it arrives
- are my things insured in the van
- what is the limit per item
- am i covered if i pack the boxes myself
- do i have to declare anything valuable
- is my tv covered in its own box
- how much is the extra cover
What has to be indexed for this to work
| The standard cover and both of its limits | The overall figure and the per item figure, side by side. The per item one is the number that decides most claims and it is the one usually left in a clause nobody reads. |
|---|---|
| How self packed boxes are treated | Written explicitly rather than left as an exclusion in a list. This catches people out constantly, and it is the single most useful thing to say to somebody who is about to start packing. |
| The declaration requirement for high value items | What counts as high value, how a declaration is made, and the deadline. A deadline stated before the move is a service. The same fact stated afterwards is a refusal. |
| The extended cover option and its price | What it changes, what it costs, and by when it has to be arranged. Presented as a real option rather than as an upsell, because for a family moving a house it usually is one. |
The reply
Our standard cover is a liability limit rather than replacement value, and the limit is set per item as well as overall, both of which are on our terms page. Boxes you pack yourself are treated differently from boxes we pack, because we cannot verify what went in or how it was wrapped. Anything of high value has to be declared before the move to be covered, and there is an extended cover option priced on the same page. It is worth reading before the day rather than after it.
It says the uncomfortable thing first, which is what converts this from a future complaint into a present decision. Every clause names the actual mechanism, per item, self packed, declared in advance, instead of gesturing at terms and conditions.
Where it stops
The trigger. Any question about whether a particular item would be covered, any request to add cover to an existing booking, and anything about a claim.
Whether a specific item is covered depends on the cover you have chosen and on the declaration, and I cannot see either. Leave your name, an email and your job reference and the office will go through it with you before the move.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- That goods are fully insured, or covered for their replacement value.
- That a particular item would be paid for if it were damaged.
- A limit or a premium that is not on the published terms.
- That a declaration can be made after the move.
Questions
- Does saying this plainly cost us bookings?
- It costs a few and it buys the rest a great deal of goodwill. Customers who hear the limits early buy more cover, which is revenue. Customers who hear them late make complaints, which is not.
- Should the self packed rule really be in the standard answer?
- Yes, because the moment it matters is weeks before the move, while somebody is deciding whether to pack the kitchen themselves to save money. Told then, it is a genuine choice. Told after a broken dinner service, it is a technicality.
- Can it tell somebody how much extra cover would cost them?
- It can quote the published price for the option. What it cannot do is apply it to their move or confirm what they already have, because that lives in your booking system and the assistant has no view of it.
Keep reading
- Everything for a removals companyPrice depends on volume and access, so a survey comes first. Insurance limits are what customers misunderstand most, so say them plainly.
- Handling insurance and coverage in generalWhether something is covered turns on the policy wording, so the assistant explains process and never adjudicates. Claims have to reach a person fast.
- Missing and damaged items, handled in the order they resolveMost missing items are in the wrong room. The rest are a claim with a reporting deadline, and the deadline is the useful thing to say.
- When the date moves, and the clause that was written for exactly thatChains move on the morning itself. Your terms on date changes, waiting time and standing a crew down answer nearly all of it.
- No triage after a move has gone badlyOnce somebody says the move went wrong, every clarifying question reads as resistance. Agree first, take the details, stop there.
Try it on your own material
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