Terms and conditions

1. When the contract starts

A quote is not a booking. We send you a written quote; if you accept it, we send a booking confirmation. The contract between us starts when we send that confirmation, and it is made up of the confirmation, the quote it refers to, and these terms.

If anything in your booking confirmation differs from these terms, the booking confirmation applies.

2. Quotes and what they include

A quote is based on what you have told us and, where we have carried one out, on what we saw at the survey. It holds for the period stated on it, normally 28 days.

Unless your quote says otherwise, it does not include parking suspensions or permits, ferry or toll charges, congestion or low-emission zone charges, storage beyond any period agreed, or work by other trades such as electricians or fitters.

If what we find on the day is materially different from what was described — significantly more to move, an access problem that was not mentioned, a floor we were not told about — the price may need to change. We will tell you what the change is and why before we start work, not after we finish. You can decide at that point whether to go ahead.

3. Your right to cancel within 14 days

Because you booked with us by phone, email or through our website rather than in person at our premises, you have a legal right to cancel within 14 days of receiving your booking confirmation. You do not need to give a reason.

To cancel, just tell us — call 0800 014 1306, email office@transscot.com, or reply to your booking confirmation. Telling us before the 14 days are up is enough; it does not matter if the move date itself is later.

If you cancel within this period we will refund everything you have paid, including any deposit, within 14 days of you telling us.

There is one exception. If your move date falls inside those 14 days, we can only hold the date and do the work if you ask us to start before the cancellation period ends. We will ask you to confirm that in writing. If you then cancel after we have started, you pay a fair amount for what we have already done, and if we have completed the move before the 14 days are up, the right to cancel no longer applies. We will always make this clear at the time rather than leaving you to find it here.

4. Deposits and payment

We normally ask for a deposit of 25% to hold a date. The amount is stated on your booking confirmation, and the date is not held until we receive it.

Your deposit is fully refundable during the 14-day cancellation period described above. After that period it is applied against any cancellation charge under section 5 — so if the charge is less than the deposit, we refund the difference.

The balance is due on the day of the move, before we unload at the destination, unless your booking confirmation says otherwise. We accept cash and bank transfer. We are not registered for VAT, so no VAT is charged and none appears on your invoice.

If you pay through Klarna or Clearpay, the full amount is settled with us in advance by them and your instalment arrangement is with the provider, on their terms. That arrangement does not change your rights against us under these terms, and it does not change ours against you.

5. Changing or cancelling after the 14 days

Tell us as early as you can if your date changes. Move dates commonly shift with completion dates and we will do what we can; whether we can depends on what else is booked. Where we can move you to a new date we do not usually charge for it.

If you cancel outside the 14-day period, we charge for what your cancellation actually costs us — crew we have committed and cannot redeploy, a vehicle we cannot rebook, and anything we have already paid out such as permits or materials. As a guide, the closer to the date, the more of that cost is unavoidable:

• More than 10 working days before: no charge.
• 5 to 10 working days before: normally up to 30% of the quoted price.
• Less than 5 working days before: normally up to 60%.
• On the day, or if we arrive and cannot start because access or keys are unavailable: normally up to 100%.

5a. How cancellation charges are worked out

Those percentages are a guide to our typical loss at each point, not an automatic charge. We will always try to re-book the slot, and if we do, the charge reduces or disappears. We will tell you what we are charging and why, and we will not simply keep your deposit without explaining it.

If you think a charge is too high you can ask us to show how we arrived at it, and you can dispute it. Nothing here removes your right to challenge a charge you believe is unfair.

6. If we have to cancel or reschedule

If we have to cancel or move your date — a vehicle breakdown, crew illness, weather that makes the job unsafe — we will tell you as soon as we know and either rearrange at a time that suits you or refund everything you have paid.

Where our cancellation causes you a direct, foreseeable cost that we could reasonably have avoided, we will deal with it fairly rather than pointing at an exclusion clause.

7. Access, parking and what we need from you

Please make sure we can get in at both ends on the day, including any parking permit, bay suspension or lift booking your building requires. If a permit is needed and has not been arranged, we may not be able to park close enough to work, and additional charges under section 2 may apply.

Please tell us before the day about anything unusually heavy, fragile or valuable, and about access constraints such as tight stairs, long carry distances or restricted lift sizes.

Please be there, or have someone there who can make decisions on your behalf, at both collection and delivery.

Fridges and freezers need to be emptied and defrosted, and washing machines need their transit bolts fitted, before we arrive. We do not disconnect or reconnect gas, water or electrical appliances — that needs a qualified trade, and we will happily work around whoever you engage.

Please check every room, cupboard, loft and outbuilding before we leave. We will do a walk-round with you, but you know what is yours.

8. What we cannot move

For safety and legal reasons we cannot transport certain things, and we would rather say so now than refuse on the day:

• Hazardous items — gas bottles, fuel, paint, solvents, chemicals, fireworks, asbestos.
• Illegal items or substances.
• Cash, jewellery, watches, deeds, passports and similar valuables. Please carry these yourself.
• Live plants and perishable food where the journey would spoil them, unless agreed in advance.
• Pets and livestock.

9. If prohibited items turn up anyway

If items from the list above are given to us without our knowledge, we may refuse to move them, or where we are legally required to, hand them to the relevant authority. Where we reasonably have to store or dispose of something, we will contact you first wherever it is safe and lawful to do so.

10. Our responsibility if something is lost or damaged

We are responsible for loss or damage caused by our failure to take reasonable care. Where that happens, we will repair the item, replace it, or pay you its value — whichever is appropriate.

Our standard cover is up to £40 per item. This is the long-standing figure across the removals industry, and it exists because the price of a move does not include insuring the full replacement value of everything in your home.

You do not have to accept that limit. Tell us before we start and we will arrange cover at a higher figure, and tell you what it costs. It is also worth checking your home contents policy, as many cover belongings in transit during a move.

A single item means one object that we handle. Where we packed a box, the box and its contents count as one item.

11. Limits on our responsibility

We are not responsible for:

• Normal wear and tear, or a fault the item already had.
• Electrical or mechanical failure where there is no external sign of damage.
• Damage inside boxes you packed yourself, unless the box shows external damage — we cannot see how something was packed.
• Flat-pack and particle-board furniture coming apart, which it frequently does when moved regardless of care.
• Damage caused by something you asked us to do after we advised against it.

12. What we cannot limit

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our responsibility for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

You always have your statutory rights as a consumer, including the right to a service carried out with reasonable care and skill under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Nothing here reduces those rights. If any part of these terms turns out to be unfair or unenforceable, the rest still applies.

13. Damage to your property

If we damage the building itself — a scuffed wall, a chipped door frame — tell the crew before they leave so they can record it, and tell us in writing as soon as you can. We will put right the area affected.

Where damage was unavoidable because of how the item had to be moved, and we told you that before doing it, we will not be responsible for it.

14. Telling us something has gone wrong

Please check your belongings when they arrive. If something is missing or damaged, tell the crew before they leave if you can, and tell us in writing within 7 days so we can look into it while the circumstances are still clear.

If you find something later that you could not reasonably have spotted at the time — damage hidden inside a wrapped item, for example — tell us as soon as you do find it. The 7 days applies to what was reasonably visible on the day, and it does not cut short your statutory rights.

We may rely on photographs, inventory sheets and job records when looking at a claim, and you are welcome to send us yours.

15. Delays outside our control

We are not responsible for delays caused by things genuinely outside our control — severe weather, road closures, accidents, or a delay in your chain. If that happens we will tell you as soon as we know and get to you as soon as we safely can.

This does not cover delays caused by our own poor planning. If we are late because we did not organise properly, that is on us.

16. Unpaid charges and storage

Where we store your belongings, they are held in a container allocated to you and charged for the period stated in your booking confirmation. Storage charges continue until the goods are collected or delivered, so please give us notice before you need them back.

If charges remain unpaid, we may keep your goods until they are settled. We will write to you first, explain what is owed, and give you a reasonable period — at least 28 days — to pay before we take any further step. Only after that, and after telling you again, could we sell the goods to recover what is owed. Anything left over after the debt and reasonable costs is yours, and we will return it to you.

17. Complaints, subcontractors and the law that applies

We sometimes use trusted subcontractors, particularly on long-distance moves. Where we do, we remain responsible to you for the work under these terms — you deal with us, not them.

If something goes wrong, contact us on 0800 014 1306 or at office@transscot.com. We will acknowledge within two working days and aim to resolve within fourteen. If we cannot resolve it between us and you have exhausted our complaints process, we will point you to a certified alternative dispute resolution provider and tell you whether we agree to use it in your case. We are not currently a member of an ADR scheme, so we say that plainly rather than implying otherwise. None of this affects your right to go to court.

These terms are governed by Scots law. If you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you can bring proceedings in your own country as well as in Scotland.

18. Business customers

This section applies instead of sections 3, 5a, 10 and 12 where you are booking for the purposes of a business. Consumer protection legislation does not apply to business contracts, and the terms below are correspondingly firmer.

There is no 14-day cancellation right. Cancellation charges are as set out in section 5 and are payable in full, without the reduction described in section 5a.

Our total liability for any claim connected with the work, whether in contract, negligence or otherwise, is limited to the price paid for that move. We are not liable for loss of profit, loss of contracts, loss of business, loss of data, or any indirect or consequential loss whatsoever.

You may not withhold or set off any amount you owe us against any claim you may have.

You confirm that you own the goods or have authority from the owner to enter into this contract, and you will cover us against any claim brought by someone else who says otherwise.

Nothing in this section limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.