When relocating in Edmonton, unforeseen circumstances may force altering moving company dates last minute. See policies on short notice date changes.
Entrusting your life possessions to Edmonton moving companies already makes for stressful enough situations without curveballs derailing ideal timelines.
Yet failed closings, repair delays, or other unplanned events outside your control often necessitate requesting date modifications shortly before scheduled moves.
This leaves families urgently wondering – will movers accommodate significant date shifts on such short notice?
While moving policies vary, most quality movers make good faith efforts supporting reasonable date adjustments when possible.
But late notifications still risk forfeiting deposits, paying stiffer fees, or retaining less ideal backup slots.
Standard Change Windows and Fees
Many movers consider any requests within 1-2 weeks of the confirmed move date as “last-minute changes”. This threshold leaves slim flexibility in adjusting schedules or rebooking limited transportation/staff.
If lucky, you may just encounter heavier fees around:
- Retaining deposits – Date modifications mean tied-up trucks and crews are now wasted if deposits are refunded fully. Expect losing original deposits of around $200+.
- Priority upcharges – Even if deposits are retained, short notice requests disrupt optimized routing and resource plans. Expect premium last-minute priority service fees around $100+.
- Administrative fees – Manual work reassigning staff teams and inventorying trucks has overhead. Expect minor admin fees of around $50+.
So while logistically still possible to accommodate new dates, brace for steeper charges in the $350+ range from baseline moves. Still cheaper than outright forfeiting entire deposits and paying double though.
Alternatives If Original Movers Cannot Accommodate
Despite best efforts, original movers simply may not have backup options for short-notice complex relocations.
But before losing all deposits and restarting full search processes, ask them to reassign your contract.
Many clustered moving companies share capacity agreements allowing seamlessly escalating booked contracts across partners.
So while your original selected company cannot shuffle things around to directly assist new dates, they may leverage trusted affiliates or subsidiaries with better immediate flexibility to overtake the move contract.
This preserves deposits already made while tapping wider transportation/labor pools – a win-win provided aligning partner’s quality and offerings match initially expected.
Proactively Check on Plan B Availability
While once-in-lifetime moves merit meticulous planning, also anticipate “what if?” scenarios should target dates slip.
After booking top mover choices, also contact second-tier alternatives shortlisted during research to baseline availability as plan B contingencies should modifications arise later.
If only needing storage or loading help shifted earlier/later, outside specialized providers also offer helpful redundancy lacking transportation assets. Just ensure supplementing piecemeal.
While juggling multiple tentative holds risks sinks costs if plans solidify with another, the small security deposits minimally cover should flexibility become necessary with one.
How to Minimize Disruption From Date Changes?
Beyond dodging outright forfeitures from date changes, also minimize ripples by:
- Giving maximum possible heads up about delays sooner than the last minute. Even an extra couple of days may help rebooking success odds.
- Communicating the absolute latest and earliest workable date ranges accounting for best/worst case contingencies.
- If new property arrangements require middle-of-month moves, offer flexibility picking upFRONT add-on costs making nonpeak requests more palatable.
- Compromising on ideal capacity reservations if their next opening only handles partial storage/labor needs initially.
While moving always presents uncertainties, showing good faith efforts demonstrating urgency and willingness to offset operational disruptions caused goes a long way towards mutual resolutions all parties can live with when forced to make last-minute modifications.
So breathe easy knowing quality moving companies make Herculean efforts to support even 11th-hour requests within reason.
Slightly looser budgets, open communications, and creative workarounds mean derailed timelines need not imperil entire relocation campaigns.
Commit to promptly signaling changes while proactively mulling contingencies should target dates slip. Stay nimble and savvy if needing any last-minute adjustments.
