How many hours is 'Half a day' ?
Discussion
So, in short, my wife and I are moving from our rented accommodation to our first home. We are pushed for time as we both work full time and have two children, with a third due in October. Therefore, my wife sourced a removals company who seemed reputable and was given a quote of two half days @ £295, of which all items would be removed and taken to the new house. We never fully moved into the rented house as after a month we found ourselves in a position to buy, so have actually cut our 12 month contract short - therefore, we do not have a fully equipped home with all our belongings here, a lot stayed in storage etc. The new house is approximately a 4 minute drive away in the next village.
Fast forward to today, they arrived at the rented house at ~13:50, filled their van, went to the new house and dropped it all off and were gone before 16:00. At most this was 2.5 hours and there's still a chest of draws, two children's beds, a 4 piece suit, two tables, two TV's, lots of boxes and a 1/4 of a garage load to go too.
I phoned them and enquired as to what their half day rate included and was met with quite a belligerent man, who didn't understand my concern that we'd paid £295 for half a days work, but it didn't seem like half a days work had been carried out. He would not tell me how many hours the half day was, reinforced the point that the Luton van was full, but I told him I moved here with most of the staff in just one trip with a Luton van....he scoffed and said we were going round in circles and that "at 4pm, they had been working for 2.5 hours and there wasn't much time left in the day.
Well, I just timed it and I moved a car full of boxes, toys, bags of clothes etc in less than 35 minutes.
I am well aware we have been shafted, but I don't think there's anything I can do about it for now. However, my concern is that they'll turn up for another 'half day' tomorrow, poorly fill their van and once finished dropping it off they'll consider that another half day done.
So my question is, what's your interpretation of a 'half day' and do you think it would be reasonable to pay less, considering they may well only end up doing a total of 4~5 hours work for 2x half day rates?
Thanks,
SMN
Fast forward to today, they arrived at the rented house at ~13:50, filled their van, went to the new house and dropped it all off and were gone before 16:00. At most this was 2.5 hours and there's still a chest of draws, two children's beds, a 4 piece suit, two tables, two TV's, lots of boxes and a 1/4 of a garage load to go too.
I phoned them and enquired as to what their half day rate included and was met with quite a belligerent man, who didn't understand my concern that we'd paid £295 for half a days work, but it didn't seem like half a days work had been carried out. He would not tell me how many hours the half day was, reinforced the point that the Luton van was full, but I told him I moved here with most of the staff in just one trip with a Luton van....he scoffed and said we were going round in circles and that "at 4pm, they had been working for 2.5 hours and there wasn't much time left in the day.
Well, I just timed it and I moved a car full of boxes, toys, bags of clothes etc in less than 35 minutes.
I am well aware we have been shafted, but I don't think there's anything I can do about it for now. However, my concern is that they'll turn up for another 'half day' tomorrow, poorly fill their van and once finished dropping it off they'll consider that another half day done.
So my question is, what's your interpretation of a 'half day' and do you think it would be reasonable to pay less, considering they may well only end up doing a total of 4~5 hours work for 2x half day rates?
Thanks,
SMN
So, some detail was left out;
The guy on the phone tried to change our booking of the morning slot to the afternoon slot, as that's when the Luton van would be free. When we said the cleaner is booked for 10am so we need the stuff out in the morning he then said he cannot guarantee that if the work is not completed before the half day, then some items may be left. So, they are sending a smaller van, of which I only need them to take the large items of which I will be there to instruct.
Someone else had commented "Why didn't you just do it yourself if it's that easy" but have since removed their post.
In response to that, we were stretched for time as we both work full time and have children and further to this, I started a new job last Monday and we were both at a funeral today. This is on top of having to get the new house ready etc.
I told the guy on the phone, if it's all moved and it's all taken care of, that's fine. I'll still feel miffed if they do it well under a days rate, for me anything less than 8 hours is not a full day, but if they do 2x half days and it's still not all moved in and they've spent in total ~4 hours, where do I stand?
The guy on the phone tried to change our booking of the morning slot to the afternoon slot, as that's when the Luton van would be free. When we said the cleaner is booked for 10am so we need the stuff out in the morning he then said he cannot guarantee that if the work is not completed before the half day, then some items may be left. So, they are sending a smaller van, of which I only need them to take the large items of which I will be there to instruct.
Someone else had commented "Why didn't you just do it yourself if it's that easy" but have since removed their post.
In response to that, we were stretched for time as we both work full time and have children and further to this, I started a new job last Monday and we were both at a funeral today. This is on top of having to get the new house ready etc.
I told the guy on the phone, if it's all moved and it's all taken care of, that's fine. I'll still feel miffed if they do it well under a days rate, for me anything less than 8 hours is not a full day, but if they do 2x half days and it's still not all moved in and they've spent in total ~4 hours, where do I stand?
SpeedMattersNot said:
I told the guy on the phone, if it's all moved and it's all taken care of, that's fine. I'll still feel miffed if they do it well under a days rate, for me anything less than 8 hours is not a full day, but if they do 2x half days and it's still not all moved in and they've spent in total ~4 hours, where do I stand?
It’s been covered by other people, but you’re thinking about this the wrong way around. You’re paying them a set amount to move your stuff from A to B. I presume you were happy with the amount quoted, as you engaged the firm to do the work. They told you the move would be split over two days - again, I assume you accepted this, as they’re now doing the work for you.Whether it takes them 10 minutes or 10 hours should be irrelevant to you, so long as the move completes when they said it would, and you’re charged what you were quoted.
If they’re a reputable firm, I’m sure they’ll spend as long as required tomorrow to move the rest of your stuff. From what you’ve written it sounds like it won’t take long.
If they don’t, then I guess you’ll be having a conversation about the quality of work, and whether you’ll be paying them the full amount on the invoice or not...
As an aside, without wanting to sound harsh - new job, kids, busy lives and a funeral - none of this is relevant, other than you’re clearly already stressed, and are piling on more stress with a house move. Try to relax, and trust them to do the job.
.... of course, if their quote was much lower than other removal firms, you may now also be finding out why.
Still, doing the job by the date required, for the amount quoted - that’s really all you should be thinking about, not how many hours they’re taking. It just seems they've got a lot to do tomorrow in comparison to what little they achieved today. As said, if that does happen and it all goes well, that is fine. My concern is that they'll stop after 2 hours tomorrow and say "that's your half day up"...hence the original question, how many hours is reasonable for a 'half day's work' ?
The comments about how busy we are were specifically in reply to someone who had removed their post, asking why didn't we just do it ourselves.
The comments about how busy we are were specifically in reply to someone who had removed their post, asking why didn't we just do it ourselves.
In reply to your original question my answer would be any amount of time up to about mid-day, or any amount of time from about mid-day. As others have pointed out you are paying them to do a specific job, for which they have quoted 2 x half days at £295. They have done half the work, or thereabouts, and will complete the job in the morning. Not sure what you are getting fussed about?
KevinCamaroSS said:
In reply to your original question my answer would be any amount of time up to about mid-day, or any amount of time from about mid-day. As others have pointed out you are paying them to do a specific job, for which they have quoted 2 x half days at £295. They have done half the work, or thereabouts, and will complete the job in the morning. Not sure what you are getting fussed about?
I think what he wants to know is, there are normally 8 hours in a day, so half a day would be 4hrs.That is to say, from for example 8am until 5pm including 1hr of unpaid lunch.
Unless you are the previous poster who does a 12hr shift, so half a day would be 6hrs
So them having worked for 2.5 hours is not really half a day
Is this really a SP&L topic?
OP, when one moves one normally allows oneself time off from work on the day of the move. If the removals firm complete the job today then why are you moaning. You say you’ve started a new job but surely your employer would be understanding if you needed a day off to move.
OP, when one moves one normally allows oneself time off from work on the day of the move. If the removals firm complete the job today then why are you moaning. You say you’ve started a new job but surely your employer would be understanding if you needed a day off to move.
From their point of view (and all of us looking in from the outside - You booked and paid for a timeslot encompassing a half day.
As they arrived on time and worked on your removal at the agreed timeslot, they seem to have discharged their contract and obligations under your agreement.
The fact that you failed to supply sufficient work for them during that half-day period isn't automatically their fault.
Unless, you have a contract that stipulates an hourly rate, which I assume you don't.
).
As they arrived on time and worked on your removal at the agreed timeslot, they seem to have discharged their contract and obligations under your agreement.
The fact that you failed to supply sufficient work for them during that half-day period isn't automatically their fault.
Unless, you have a contract that stipulates an hourly rate, which I assume you don't.
).
SpeedMattersNot said:
It just seems they've got a lot to do tomorrow in comparison to what little they achieved today. As said, if that does happen and it all goes well, that is fine. My concern is that they'll stop after 2 hours tomorrow and say "that's your half day up"...hence the original question, how many hours is reasonable for a 'half day's work' ?
The comments about how busy we are were specifically in reply to someone who had removed their post, asking why didn't we just do it ourselves.
To actually answer your question rather than try to be clever like some, I would say half a day is approx 4 hours, at least 3.5 hours.The comments about how busy we are were specifically in reply to someone who had removed their post, asking why didn't we just do it ourselves.
Im lost have you paid for everything to be moved? If so £300 is a bargain if they are reputable and insured, then as above it doesn't matter how long they take
Furthermore they probably factored in more time in case of difficult stuff, we've all had that one piece of furniture that takes ages to get up a flight of stairs
As long as it gets done for the money who cares
If I was paying a day rate , not a price for the total job I would have ironed out the specifics before hand and just asked "what is half a day"
Furthermore they probably factored in more time in case of difficult stuff, we've all had that one piece of furniture that takes ages to get up a flight of stairs
As long as it gets done for the money who cares
If I was paying a day rate , not a price for the total job I would have ironed out the specifics before hand and just asked "what is half a day"
clockworks said:
To me, in this context, "half a day" means simply that they can do another job for a customer on the same day, so they are charging you 50% of their normal day rate. Hours on the job don't really come into it, unless they have to pay the crew overtime or an overnight allowance.
This. Did you expect them to quote perfectly to the minute how much time it would take?Based on what you’ve said, that crew would have had enough time to do one other job that day. Thus it is a half day rate
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