On the morning of moving home, one couple heard the doorbell and opened the door enthusiastically to greet their removals company. On the doorstep were two 'packers', both of who were the worse for wear for drink at only 8.00 AM and in fact, one was so drunk he could barely stand up.

They had apparently been out on an 'all-nighter' and come directly to work the following morning.

That might sound amusing to you but there is of course a very serious point to the tale. It is absolutely imperative that you are sure who you are admitting to your house and that they are trustworthy. That applies under any circumstances, but in the case of a professional furniture removals company, they also need to be capable of handling your household items with the utmost care and attention.

So, the most obvious lesson to be learned is to avoid simply asking a "friend of a friend", who also happens to own a van, to do your removal for you. The risks associated with mishandling your items and to be blunt, of theft, should be too great to be contemplated.

However, even if you are using a formally registered removals company, you might wish to consider just how well they know their own personnel. Some companies regularly supplement their workforce on a day-to-day basis by taking on casual labour. It's easy to give someone you have never seen or heard of before one of your uniforms and then send them into a customer's house.

There is nothing necessarily wrong with removals companies outsourcing aspects of their work to other companies - packing services might be one good example. The real question is just how thoroughly they've vetted the individuals or company concerned before effectively giving them free run of your house and your possessions.

Here are a few questions you might therefore wish to put to potential removals companies before giving them access to your home:

• Will all of the personnel entering your property be employees of the company you have asked to do the removal?
• How long have the personnel being allocated to the job, actually worked for the removals company?
• If they are relatively new employees, what background checks were carried out as part of their recruitment?
• If they are casual labour, the above question must be asked again only with added emphasis.
• If the removals in all or part have been sub-contracted out by your removers, what other companies are they using and how long have they been working with them?
• In the event subcontractors are being used, does your removals company guarantee that they know not only the company they're giving the business to but also the individuals that company will be using in turn for things like packing your items? Remember, if a removals company has subcontracted out something such as the packing and then the Packers and Movers Delhi to Gurgaon in turn have picked up casual labour, then your protection is virtually zero.

Beware of stories involving casual labour but with reassurances that someone from your removers will be there to "keep an eye on things". In practice, with you and your packers/movers circulating around the rooms of your home, trying to keep an eye on everything individuals are doing is absolutely impossible.