The timing · CLOCK
Somebody else set the time
The job itself is easy. The window is not. A seller who is only in until the afternoon, a shop with goods-out hours, a saleroom with a collection deadline, a storage facility with gate times — in each case the clock belongs to somebody who is not you.
Everything on a collection job is planned backwards from a window we do not control.
How a fixed-window job is run
Tell us the window at booking
Not the preferred time — the actual window, and what happens outside it. A seller leaving for work, a shop closing its goods-out door, a saleroom charging storage after a deadline: each of those changes the plan and none of them is negotiable on the day.
Given the window, everything else is arranged around it, including the parking at the collection end, which is usually the part nobody has thought about.
The seller's street is a street too
Customers survey their own address carefully and assume the collection end is somebody else's problem. It is not — it is the same city with the same restrictions, and a red route outside a seller's flat is exactly as unhelpful as one outside yours.
Send the collection address at booking rather than on the morning and it gets checked properly.
What we do and do not do for you
We collect goods. We do not pay sellers on your behalf, verify that an item is what was advertised, or negotiate about condition. Those are between you and the seller and they should be settled before we arrive.
If something is obviously not as described, we will call you and do whatever you decide — including leaving it. What we will not do is make that judgement for you.
And building windows at the other end
A managed block may permit moves only on certain days or between certain hours, which is a second fixed window on the same job. Where the two do not overlap, the item is collected inside the seller's window and held until the building allows delivery.
Somebody else set the time
Questions about somebody else set the time
- Can you collect from a private seller?
- Routinely. Send the address, the window, and roughly what it is so we bring the right equipment.
- Can you pay the seller for us?
- No. We collect goods and do not handle money on your behalf. Settle payment directly before we arrive.
- What if the item is not as described?
- We call you and do whatever you decide, including leaving it. We will not negotiate with the seller or make the call for you.
- Can you collect from a shop or a saleroom?
- Yes, and those usually have a formal goods-out procedure and a deadline. Tell us both and we plan the day backwards from them.
- Can you deliver the same visit?
- Usually, and it is the normal shape. Where the destination is not available the item is held rather than left somewhere unsuitable.
- The building only allows moves on certain days.
- Then that is a second fixed window. Where it does not overlap the collection window, we collect and hold until the building permits delivery.
What is the awkward bit?
Both addresses, what the item is, and the one thing about the job that is difficult. A photograph beats any description.