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NO.1 FOR LONDON AND THE HOME COUNTIES |
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| Welcome to the Grab Away Services Blog. On this page you can keep up to date with news and gossip from the world of Grab Lorries & Skip Hire in Surrey, London, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. |
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| 20/01/2012 - Mercedes Benz |
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It is with regret we find ourselves having to start this year’s blog off with a report on some appalling treatment and terrible customer service.
In the autumn of 2010 we purchased a brand new Mercedes Benz Axor Grab Lorry through a local dealership. We are sorry to say that since day one we experienced an abundance of problems ranging from rusty body work to a faulty power steering ram/pump and a leaking hydraulic oil tank to major transmission problems.
A variety of mechanics have been called out to the vehicle as well as it being returned to the dealerships on a number of occasions – within the first two months of ownership the lorry was off the road for a total of two weeks not to mention the odd number of hours here and there for call outs – and yet no serious fault was ever found or admitted to.
The vehicle has only ever been operated and driven by one of our drivers who has twenty years lorry driving experience; fortunately he was wise enough to keep a log of the vehicles activities/problems from the beginning.
The stress and anxiety, not to mention the embarrassment of letting down our customers and the loss of earnings to us have had a huge impact on our company. We are a small business and depend heavily upon each of our vehicles being in full working order – is it really too much to anticipate that when you go to the expense of purchasing a brand new vehicle it will be problem free for at least the length of the warranty??? Aside from any legally binding responsibility whatever happened to a sense of moral commitment to your customers? At what stage do you think… something’s not right here; this really isn’t fair on our customer and we owe it to them to sort it out. Surely it shouldn’t be for the customer who made a purchase in good faith to have to keep banging the drum; only to have it fall on deaf ears.
However this wasn’t to be the end of the tale. As the catalogue of unfortunate events continued the vehicle, and thankfully not our driver, met a tragic end when on 1st December 2011 whilst driving along the A3, due to catastrophic mechanical failure, the vehicle caught fire, the engine exploded, the transmission locked up leaving the driver with no control and the lorry fell on its side. Mercifully our driver managed to kick his way out of the windscreen to safety and no one else was involved.
Despite on-going and extensive investigations still no fault has been found with the vehicle and so we find ourselves with the likelihood of a long winded legal battle ahead and in the meantime the additional burden of not only paying for a vehicle that is now defunct but also paying for a hire vehicle to replace it to try and ensure the smooth running of our company for as long as possible in the hope that justice will prevail.
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A3 Accident - Photo Gallery |
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| 27/10/2011 - Grab Away Services Ltd.....as featured on C4's Grand Designs! |
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Well it was certainly worth the wait for our five minutes of fame - Did you see us on last nights episode of Channel 4's Grand Designs????
This time we went in with no expectations and wow not only did you see our lorry looking resplendant in the company colours of Oxford Blue and Yellow but we even got a glimpse of our driver - what more could we ask for.
The footage clearly showed off our fine looking lorry and full company details and, this means we can of course add the experience to our credentials. As you can imagine we are very very chuffed! |
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http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/grand-designs/suppliers/ |
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| 19/08/2011 - High Expectations v Low Disappointments |
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In April of this year we were approached by Red House TV/Channel 4 to ask if we would be interested in providing the grab work for a project in Woolwich for Sarah Beenys’ “Help my house is falling down”. We understood there would be no guarantee that our lorry would be featured in the final cut and that this was only a possibility. However, it would mean that our company details would feature on the programmes website for anything up to a year ie until the next series.
With this in mind and excitement in the air we agreed and on the first day of filming both our designated driver and lorry were gleaming and ready for the cameras to roll.
Our enthusiasm and anticipation grew when we received a call from Red House TV to confirm that a lot of footage had been taken of us that day.
Eagerly we waited for the broadcasting date to be confirmed and there we were perched in front of the TV at 8pm on Thursday 21st July keen to see our company name emblazoned across the big screen…the setting was perfect; an end of terrace rundown property badly in need of refurbishment – untouched for the last 23 years and situated at the foot of a sweeping road – all of this, of course, providing the perfect backdrop for our lorry to be seen heralding along to save the day but….sadly NO…..it was not to be. Instead the reality was that we ended up on the cutting room floor along with 38 of the 42 suppliers involved in the project and with only the flickering hope that members of the general public/potential customers may spot our name on the list of participants should they visit the C4 web site. Don’t get me wrong we are delighted with the advertising and are pleased to have been of assistance but what an anti-climax not to have been featured.
I guess we’ll continue to wait for our five minutes of fame and, perhaps next time it will come to us in a less obvious or unexpected way. Keep Watching………
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http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/help-my-house-is-falling-down/woolwich-suppliers |
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| 15/07/2011 - Proud to be British! |
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| Every Picture Tells a Story …and this one certainly does just that. Grab Away Services has been receiving more and more job opportunities in London recently and, as most drivers in our trade will agree, the vast majority of job locations in London are not the greatest of places to visit what with all the usual dreary ingredients of a typical building project in the Capital; Cranes towering over high rises, Hoarding keeping out the unwanted, Diggers and Machinery packed into the tightest of spaces, Disgruntled Builders who battle through unwanted traffic twice a day to get to and from work…. SO when an opportunity comes up for work in a location like Westminster Abbey it can’t help but get the adrenalin going – it reminds us of our heritage and just why we are proud to be British! |
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If it's good enough for Wills and Kate/Click here to see our photo .... |
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| 29/06/2011 - Welcome to the world of Grab Away Services |
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What an exciting time for Grab Away Services now that we have been introduced to the wonderful world of social networking, and, not a moment too soon we hasten to add!
It's great to be in a position to touch base with all our fellow business contemporaries, valued clientele and potential new customers on a regular basis; to share news and views and just generally keep you in the picture with what's happening here with us.
2011 is certainly marking a time of change for us. Earlier this year we signed up to a computerised Transport Management Diary System known as "Roadrunner" provided by a company called Road Tech Computer Systems Ltd. Whilst the preparation took a little time and planning we have to say since day one we haven't looked back - a paper diary suprisingly quickly felt as archaic as a cavemans' drawings! The Road Tech team; led by Robin Wardley were absolutely superb, with their patience never waning as they led us through the various stages of the programme; nothing was ever too much trouble, either when personally visiting our offices or, when answering our various (and many) queries over the telephone. We really cannot recommend them highly enough.
With the smooth running of our diary firmly in place we decided to invest further and have recently installed tracker equipment in each of our lorries; not only ensuring an efficient service for our customers but also enabling us to keep a tighter check on our fuel costs. Satellite Navigation Systems may help our drivers to know exactly how to get to where they're going but having an overview of where each of our lorries are, and when, allows us to ensure the speediest and most fuel efficient journeys for our company and we all know, only too well, how important it is to keep the cost of fuel down! |
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Click here to access Road Tech Computer Systems Ltd |
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