Charles Wilson Engineers Reviews 9

Be VERY careful if you hire plant from this company, we had hired a 4m telehandler through them, the delivery driver, said to me when offloaded the machine, make sure to capture lots of photos, otherwise the company have a tendency charge you for pre-existing damages to the machine which you haven't done, i had taken lots of photos, but clearly not enough because we had been hit with £650 fine after it was off-hired.

If you want to bury waste illegally, dig out hedgerows, create accesses against a Stop Order, knock down a live telegraph pole that is in your way, and even risk working against a Court Injunction, then this is the hire firm for you. Charles Wilson carry out no due diligence before they hire plant, they are just after your money. But watch out! When I was discussing their hire-out procedure with their salesman Richard, so keen was he to direct attention away from Charles Wilson that he gave out one hirer's full name and mobile number, completely against data protection regulations. Duty of Care is something that does not resonate through Charles Wilson Engineers.

Every time I call Charles Wilson, as soon as I hear Lewis's voice I know I'm in for a rollercoaster ride of professionalism mixed with witty banter. He is the epitome of excellent customer service and superb sales acumen.

CW Plant Hire Harpenden - Awful company and terrible customer service to a specialist school.

Use another company like Herts Tool Co or Jewson, these guys aren’t worth your time or money.

We are now in talks to make sure that CW be taken off of Herts recommended contractor list as they have now wasted public funds in a struggling sector trying to look after vulnerable children in Hertfordshire.

The experience:

Our builder obtained a quote from CW Plant and passed it on to us so we could have CW transfer a container for us.

CW tried on 2 occasions to get down to our Hertford site to pick up the container but failed on both occasions.

On the first occasion the driver arrived over an hour and a half late, putting the time at 9:30-9:45am when our road was packed during rush hour leaving the driver refusing to pass through for fear of scraping his truck on the foliage.

We advised they come back at 10:30am another day to try again as the road is typically clear, the road was clear on their return other than an illegally parked car on a yellow line which the truck couldn’t get past.
I have measured the width of the road and found that with a car parked on the side you have exactly 3 meters of clearance which is the required amount for normal HGVs, the only issue is that the foliage was sticking out a bit.

CW then tried to invoice our builder who provided the quote to us, claiming they wouldn’t have invoiced us and have to invoice AR Landscapes as we don’t have an account with them, so they are saying we should be paying our builder.
At no point were we advised that our builder would be billed as we provided our invoicing details at the beginning of the transaction.

Eventually we were stuck arguing with a Depot manager there named Ross who wasn’t having any of it, we managed to agree a discount but by the end we still needed to pay up for a failed service.

As a school we haven’t got the resources to fight this so we paid the bill in spite of our lacking funds.

On the m6 motorway today, absolutely shocking and dangerous driving and behaviour from one of this company’s vans!! OV24 FUB!!

This van was tailgating mine and my partners car through the roadwork speed limit (50mph) The van then undertook our vehicle which is illegal and pulled back in, in front of us cutting us up. When my partner and I pulled back into the middle lane to get away from the van, the van then decided to deliberately pull into the middle lane as well no indication, nothing, nearly side swiping our vehicle deliberately trying to run us off the road on the motorway! My partner had to take severe evasive action to avoid a serious collision on the motorway!

To make the situation worse when we eventually did manage to get past the van and away from this dangerous driver , the driver was laughing and HAD HIS HANDS COMPLETELY OFF THE STEERING WHEEL clapping his hands. His passenger in the vehicle was also laughing and waving.

I can’t comment on this company’s workmanship and professionalism but if we are going off impressions of this company from their driving standards this company looks very very poor! Shocking and disgusting behaviour! And for the record , I will not be using this company should I ever need to use a company in this trade.

Outdated old plant compared to the big boys.
Dirty, Dusty depots.
Rude management.
Inexperienced staff.
Avoid the hassle and go to the big boys.

Very bad experience with the hire. The excavator that was delivered had very badly worn tracks, we took pictures on delivery and a detailed video (we have had issues in the past with other suppliers!) We used it for some gentle soil excavation for one week. It went back in the same condition it arrived. We took pictures and a video again. They then proceeded to try to charge us and additional £1400 for new tracks, which is totally outrageous! I flagged this immediately before the additional funds left the account providing them with the time stamped evidence. Despite this they took the additional money and are now dragging their feet on replies and any meaningful resolution of the issue.
The company does not act in an honest and transparent way, you may be charged significant sums of money for damage to plant and other hire equipment that wasn't your fault. AVOID!!!!!

Avoid at all costs. Receptionist and staff are rude and unprofessional and would rather play silly childish games than act like professionals who represent the company name.

Amazing service from Danny at Bristol. Plant ordered and delivered for the next working day. Danny super friendly and helpful. Definitely recommend