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StormWarning

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  1. I would love to have been able to do so, but David Howie was storing my belongings at a third party location and wouldn't tell me where it was. I now know where they are and delivery has been scheduled for 2 March. If the experience of other customers is anything to go by, I expect to be receiving a lot of damaged goods. But at least I will no longer be at the mercy of Mr. Howie.
  2. Thanks, stu007. It has been a long journey, but many victims of Caledonian / Movecare / Smart Space are finally moving towards a resolution. This article will help. While I still haven't received my belongings, I have had confirmation from a respectable removals company in England that they took delivery of my consignment from an anonymous associate of David Howie last week. It is scheduled to be shipped in early March. At least one item of antique furniture has been badly damaged according to the associate who made the delivery. Mr. Howie is no doubt going to try and make the claim that it was damaged before being stored at his facility. (It was not.)
  3. Thanks, Flyyyte. Apologies for the delay in reply. I was away on an extended holiday and spent most of it “unplugged.” I had previously made contact to a couple of news desks, and for some reason I thought Helen McCardle was on leave, but this turned out not to be the case. She now covers health topics at The Herald and was kind enough to pass my story on to Victoria Weldon, who covers legal issues. We’re in contact. If anyone who happens to be reading this has had similar issues with Caledonian Moving and Storage, please contact Ms Weldon. [email protected]
  4. Ok thank you for those tips. There is a lot of negative information out there already. This story, for example: https://www.commercialmotor.com/news/o-licence-revoked-allowing-out-control-son-take-over. And this one: https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14660275.couple-behind-glasgow-removals-firm-disqualified-over-licence-breaches/ So I suspect my situation is far from unique.
  5. Thank you for this, Bank Fodder. I am pursuing every angle and this is most helpful. I don’t suppose you know a trusted resource where I might find a good solicitor in Glasgow? At this point I have little faith that my goods are still in storage or if so, that they are undamaged. I really am seeking restitution at this point as I have no trust of the business owner. He has simply lied to me too many times.
  6. Yes, you're correct. I should have escalated the issue a long time ago. Because I was strung along for so long with repeated assurances of delivery and numerous sob stories about his personal troubles, David Howie was able to keep me hanging on for a resolution that didn't involve lawyers or the police. At a certain point, I was simply exhausted from dealing with it and I slipped into a long period of depression. I've recently been in contact with other of Mr. Howie's victims and will see what can be done - if anything - to make any of us whole again. In the meantime, at the very least I can warn others to avoid doing business with this unscrupulous man.
  7. Hi BankFodder, Thank you for your reply. I did once attempt to contact the police, and I probably should do so again. Thank you for the advice of asking for photos. I would agree that accusing someone of theft is a very serious charge, but at a certain point, it's hard to think of it as anything else. My belongings are gone. The man who has (or had) them has been playing a shell game with me for three years now. I had pretty much accepted my loss as a (terrible!) life lesson, but every now and then I come out of my depression/resignation long enough to make another attempt to reclaim my items. As you can imagine, this has been an exhausting, and soul-destroying process. I have tried to move on with my life, but the reminders of what I have lost are all too frequent. As suggested, other reviews of this business that will verify my experience: https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/caledonian-moving-and-storage-glasgow https://www.google.com/maps/place/Caledonian+Moving+and+Storage/@55.8892,-4.25279,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x954663ef275d70f8!8m2!3d55.8892!4d-4.25279 These are the people who owned Caledonian before it was struck off the companies register. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC392650/officers However, David Howie is still running the company under multiple other names, including MoveCare. http://movecare.co.uk/ Note he is still receiving reviews - no doubt the positive ones were written by one of his aliases - as well as responding to reviews as the owner of Caledonian. The company went bankrupt - or was struck off the register - in 2015. So why do they still have an active website? https://www.removals-scotland.com/
  8. In July 2012, I placed antique furniture (family heirlooms), paintings, and other personal possessions in a climate-controlled storage unit with Caledonian Moving and Storage for an agreed four-weekly sum of £60, which I faithfully paid until May 2016. So a total sum of £3,015 (inclusive an overpayment of £60). At that time, I made arrangements with Caledonian's owner, David Howie, for my belongings to be shipped to Germany, where I now live.I paid Caledonian £2,280 by wire transfer for the shipping, which Mr. Howie confirmed in an e-mail sent 9 May 2016 that he had received. My belongings were scheduled to be shipped in June 2016. They never arrived. I of course followed up with him extensively, to the point of emotional exhaustion. Mr. Howie stopped answering e-mails and wouldn't answer the phone when he recognised my number. Eventually, I reached him on the telephone and he claimed that everything had been in transit, but that due to the Brexit referendum, his drivers had all cancelled and refused to take the shipment. He also gave me a personal sob story about his business being in trouble and that he was really no longer in the moving business, rather only storage, but that he would see this one shipment through and I needed to just give him some time but that he *guaranteed* I would get my belongings back. I never heard from him again. I tried here and there to reach him, but he never answers the phone and ignores all e-mails. Once, I caught him on the telephone and he again spent a long time explaining his woes and that he's in a period of difficulty and that I just needed to be patient. It has now been years since I have been trying to get my belongs back. Quite frankly, my depression over the loss of so many family treasures - paintings by my grandmother and great-grandmother, a four-poster bed that has been in the family since the 18th century - has had me paralyzed with inaction, scared that if I "upset the apple cart," that I would never see them again. I guess at a certain point I stopped participating in the futility of the exercise, as it only worsened my pain. Some months ago, I discovered that Mr. Howie is now operating as Move Care in Glasgow. The company is owned by his father; James Gibson Howie. I wrote a long e-mail to the company, begging Mr. James Gisbson Howie to intervene. David Howie called me an hour later. He assured me that he still had my belongings and that they were safely in storage. He also assured me that he intended to deliver my goods. Although I should know better by now than to trust this man, he left me with the impression of someone who owned up to his obligations, acknowledged that he has done me terribly wrong, and promised to make good on what he has been paid to do. Of course I haven't heard from him since. Somehow he has managed to get away with the loss of tens of thousands of pounds worth of furniture and heirlooms. The financial loss is nothing, however, compared to the sentimental loss. This was everything I owned in the world. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about something I used to have and will never see again. I don't know how Mr. Howie can live with himself. If you search this site and read reviews elsewhere, you will come across others who have had similar misfortune in dealing with this man.
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