Low price at a cost (in case you're wondering why these guys get such mixed reviews)

My sister and I hired Leopard Movers to move things from Cape Town to KZN. When I checked out their reviews on HelloPeter, I wondered why some people gave rave reviews and others slated them. Now I understand. The staff were great - efficient, careful, and all our stuff got here in one piece. If I had only to deal with them, no problem. The manager, Mr Charles Mandaza, was another story.

First, I needed help to move some furniture from a different location in CT to the pick-up point. I was quoted R1000, which seemed OK. Then the guys arrived with a single-cab bakkie which already had a boat in it (!). Turns out the manager is extremely strict with the number of items you can move like this, and since I had mentioned a bed and couch in my email (as the larger items needing moving), this was all I was going to get. When I asked to add two chairs and a bookcase, he insisted on a 50% increase in price, and would not let his guys move the things until I had undertaken to pay him. R1500 to have 5 items of furniture strapped precariously on top of a bakkie is no longer a bargain.

Then the delivery in KZN. We were told the truck would arrive "from Monday onwards". We understood that the arrival time was not guaranteed, and neither of us had any problem with fitting in with the truck schedule any day at all from the one mentioned. But on Sunday morning, while both of us were still in Cape Town, we received a message to say the truck was delivering that day. I was able to receive my things at my home after 3pm, but my sister was only getting home 9pm or later that night. Not only was Mr Mandaza absolutely uninterested in trying to accommodate her, he also gave zero information about arrival time, so it was not even possible for her to arrange someone else to meet the truck at their home. Her attempts to find a solution were unapologetically met with "our T's & C's say..."

Eventually, my brother-in-law (who had a 4-hour round trip to fetch my sister and their kids from the airport that evening) arranged for the things to be dropped with the security guard at his workplace - necessitating their hiring a second vehicle to get the stuff to their farm afterwards. The truck arrived at 21h40 that night (how the staff were expected to do a farm delivery in the dark I have no idea), and the poor guys still had a two-hour drive back to Durban. Clearly their well-being was no more important to the manager than our convenience.

I have no problem with sacrificing convenience for a lower price - that was well understood. But one would expect at least a passing reference to the customer's needs and constraints, and if these really could not be accommodated, the minimum amount of information to allow them to make another plan. Mr Mandaza showed absolutely no interest in anyone's convenience but his own, and attempts on our part to negotiate were only met with increasing unpleasantness.

Moving is stressful enough. Pay a bit more and use someone who actually cares about service.