Removal Company Not Turned Up | Your Rights and Next Steps

A Booked Date Is Part of the Contract

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 makes what a trader says or writes about a service binding where you relied on it when you booked. A confirmed date and arrival time on a booking email or text is exactly that. The same Act requires the service to be performed with reasonable care and skill, and a firm cannot write those rights out of its terms.

So a no-show is not a grey area. Before you do anything else, send the firm a short message asking whether it is coming and when, and keep the reply. A written answer, or a written silence, is what every later step relies on.

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  Screenshot the booking confirmation with the date, time and price.

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  Message the firm rather than only phoning, so there is a record.

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  Note the time you gave up waiting and booked someone else.

Getting the Move Done the Same Day

The priority on the day is the move, not the argument. If you are on a completion or a tenancy end date, a replacement van today is worth more than a refund next week. A firm with a free crew can often still do a flat or a small house in the afternoon, and our same-day man and van service exists for exactly this.

The government's home buying guide notes that Fridays and the first and last days of the month are often very busy for removals, so a no-show on one of those days is the hardest to replace. Ring round early rather than waiting another hour for the first firm.

Your Remedies Under the Consumer Rights Act

Where a service is not performed as agreed, the Act gives you two remedies against the firm. The first is repeat performance: the trader must do the job properly within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you, and bear any cost of doing so. The second is a price reduction, which can be the full amount you paid.

A refund under the price reduction remedy must be given without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days beginning with the day the trader agrees you are entitled to it, using the same means of payment you used unless you agree otherwise, and without any fee. If the move has already been done by someone else, repeat performance is no use to you, and the price reduction is the remedy to ask for.

Getting a Deposit Back From the Card Company

If the firm will not refund, how you paid decides what happens next. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes a credit card company jointly responsible where the price was more than £100 and no more than £30,000, even if you only paid part of it on the card. Citizens Advice gives the example of a £50 deposit paid by credit card on a £250 purchase, where the full £250 can be claimed.

If you paid by debit card, ask your bank for a chargeback. The Financial Ombudsman Service says you usually have around 120 days to raise one. If the card company does not send a final response within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with it, you can take the complaint to the ombudsman.

That is the strongest argument for paying any removals deposit by credit card. A bank transfer to a firm that then disappears has none of this protection.

Reporting the Firm

Complaints about traders go to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, on 0808 223 1133, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. Citizens Advice passes the information on, and it is clear that you cannot report to Trading Standards yourself.

Consumer law also got sharper teeth recently. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force in April 2025, and on 15 April 2026 the Competition and Markets Authority used its new powers for the first time to fine the AA and BSM driving schools £4.2 million over a booking fee not shown up front. If a removals quote grew hidden extras before the day, say so when you report it.

Choosing a Firm That Turns Up

A written quote with the date, arrival time and price, a deposit paid on a credit card, and a phone number that a person answers the day before are the three cheapest protections there are. Ask for all three when you book, and treat a firm that will not put the date in writing as a firm that may not turn up on it.

Larger removal companies that belong to the British Association of Removers carry extra protection for advance payments, which suits bigger moves. Our guide to a man and van against a removals company sets out what that covers and when it is worth paying for.