Shelleys Removals prides themselves on being first class with trained professionals for an easy move.

I must have got a string of terribly bad luck then. Because evidence of this service didn't happen in my case. From the moving stuff from my place to storage, the cleaning job or the move to my new house.

I have moved 5 times in 5 years and Shelleys Removals were the worst. Sorry guys but I've never had such an exhausting move. And I'm sure you expected this review from me.

The move/packing of the truck itself wasn't that great. Which I could forgive in the beginning. It's moving men. No big deal. But then when a string of other occurrences happen it all adds up.

This is a bit of a 'straw that broke the camels back' situation.

First of all the movers were 45 minutes late... With no call to let me know they would be. Again, at the time I was like 'yeah, whatever...' but read on and you'll work out why I am writing about it.

I had two asian men arrive. One could hardly speak English and started arguing with me about what level my apartment was on as soon as he got there.

I had written on my moving sheet that I was on level 1... He thought different.

He said, in broken English, 'You said you on ground.'
'No', I replied, 'I said I was on Level 1.'
'Level 1 is ground.'
'No. Level 1 is Level 1. Ground is ground.'
He shook his head and stopped talking to me.

I began explaining to him that I had thrown some items away (two desks and three lamps) but had included a couple of boxes to make up for them. I had called Shelleys Removals to ensure this was ok. He didn't understand me and said I would be charged extra. I told him 'But I'm being charged for space. It all equals up in the end?'

The other guy (who was actually quite sweet) told me that he was new and apologised. The new guy did nothing but argue. When moving one of my chairs he was finding it difficult to get out. He turned around, looked at me and asked 'How you get this in last time? This chair too big. Won't fit out door.'

A guy got it in. I'm sure you guys can get it out.

Then he told me I had to pay for the move. But I was told that Shelleys would call me later in the afternoon to grab my credit card details. He insisted I pay then.. ('You pay now.') He called them... and Shelleys Removals told him I didn't have to pay right then and they would call me later. And apologised for the mix up.

After the move was done I called my Mother to joke/complain about the whole morning. She laughed and I had a bit of a laugh about the whole thing... and I got over it. It's a move after-all... not serious stuff.

But now I'm just disappointed about the whole process.

I also arranged for Shelleys to clean my apartment for my final inspection. This is when I got angry. Really angry.

Because I was moving from Melbourne to Sydney, I was in Sydney at the time of the clean looking for work. So my Mother helped me and waited at the apartment for them.

They were over half an hour late then too with no correspondence to let them know when they would be at the apartment. My Mother had to call me to get their details to find out where they were. She was annoyed, because she had to get to work.

The clean cost me $500. My apartment is a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom... small place. I had lived there for 12 months. I expected for that price the place to look brand new.

When I arrived back to Melbourne, I checked the place out before handing back my keys. The floor was disgusting. Dusty with boot prints all over it and leaves outside were inside!? There were streak marks left all on the glossy cupboards in the kitchen. Even though I had left a note to tell them to use Windex with paper towel to clean them. The balcony was filthy.

Yes, I was fuming. At the time my fiance' was up in Sydney, I was doing the move myself, working full time, trying to find another job in Sydney and a place to live there. I had a lot on my plate. And for a $500 clean job I expected perfection. And I didn't get it. That was the main problem. It wasn't so much about the money... it was that the job wasn't properly done first time.

My property manager got them to clean again. He said $500 was a lot, has he had inspected the place while I had been living there and saw the condition I had left it in and didn't think it would take that long/cost that much.

I called and asked about the price and it was explained to me why it cost that much. A couple of things took longer than usual. I'm still not convinced.

My property manager ended up liaising with them to ensure the place was clean to his standards for the next person to live in. They corrected it and my bond was refunded.

Fast forward to arranging the move to Sydney. We were told our things would arrive 7th March at 9:30am. I had a discussion with Shelleys Removals and they said that all of my stuff might not fit in the truck. Because it was coming up with someone else's stuff. Which was fine. I told them my boxes were all marked and to bring up important things like bed, fridge, washing machine...

I was meant to be working the day of the move. However I had arranged time off my freelance job to be there for the move. I was/am working 12 hour days on a very important project so I wanted everything to run smoothly as I am getting paid per hour.

The day of the move I called to check the movers were running on time. I was told my stuff was still in Melbourne.

They had tried calling me the day before to ask me what I wanted on the truck because it didn't all fit. When I didn't call back... They left without packing anything at all. Even though we had already discussed what to bring.

Unfortunately I had not got a missed call on my mobile. After they told me they called I checked - and they had tried to call. They left a voicemail message the afternoon before that said 'Hi Bridget. Shelleys Removals. Could you please call us back? Thanks.'

Obviously I got this WAY too late. But to be honest, even if I had got it the afternoon before I don't think I would have called back right away anyway. I was too busy at work and a message like that is a 'I'll deal with that later' message.

However if their voicemail HAD BEEN 'Hi Bridget. Shelleys Removals. Unfortunately not all your furniture can fit on the truck and we need you to call us back immediately so we can arrange what we should move'... I would have responded.

Either way I didn't get the message. Stuff happens.

But for something as MAJOR as that... They had my e-mail and my Mother's phone number. I would expect a 'first class' service that is open 24/7 to try contacting me CONTINUOUSLY until they spoke to me. They should have tried to call me all afternoon, night and morning to let me know what had happened.

At least to let me know not to take time off in the morning and wait around for a truck that was never going to come.

Again. I was fuming. Yes, I yelled. I screamed. I swore. And I was rude. I lost my cool and turned into the woman from hell and I apologise for being so horrible. But if you have moved interstate after trying to find a house and a job... I'm sure you'd understand a move would be something you just want to run smoothly. And stress tempers can flare.

I called my partner terribly upset and he called them to find out what was going on. He, too, was very angry about the whole thing too.

Luckily they sorted out another truck to get out to us a couple of days later. And I do thank them for that. However, we were told that we had to be at our apartment at 7am for them. My partner and I slept on the floor of our new empty apartment the night before so we didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn getting there.

He even commented 'If our stuff isn't up here...' and just shook his head. I'm pretty sure WW3 would have happened.

At 6:30 we got up and waited... Until 7:30am. They still hadn't arrived and I had got no call informing me as to their whereabouts. After calling Shelleys I was told they were meant to call me to let me know when they were coming. But the woman's child had thrown her mobile in the toilet so she didn't have their number... or something. So she would get back to me.

While I was on the phone to Shelleys... the removalists called... to let me know they would come at 9:30-10.

A whole 2 and a half to 3 hours later than what we were told. Again, I had taken time off work to be there for the move.

At this point there was no point getting mad. I was over it and just accepted that nothing was going smoothly. At least our stuff was coming and we didn't have to deal with them anymore.

Shelleys Removals, thank you for sorting out the cleaning situation and getting another truck up. Honestly. I mean that.

But on your site you say 'Shelly Removals is a removal and storage company that provides first class moving and storage services for consumers and businesses Australia wide. Our promise to you is to ensure an easy and successful move, serviced by our reliable and experienced team of movers.'

That's what I paid for. That's what I expected. And I didn't get it.