Kent Removals & Storage

We had the most appalling and soul destroying experience with these Kents. Due to my ill health, we needed someone to completely take care of our (large) local move. Having had good experience of Kent in the past in other states, we signed up for $16k worth of packing, shipping and unpacking. The quote included a packing team for 2 days and a moving team of 4-5 men for 2 days, and the plan was that the packers would spend 2 days packing, then the movers would spend the next 2 days, which was required as we only had access to the goods lift in the apartment block for 4 hours each morning.

All good until a few days before the move when I got a call to say there was a change of plan and the packers would start a day later and overlap the movers. That didn't sound so bad, but it was the start of everything unravelling. The packing team arrived late, and consisted of 2 guys who worked flat out for the day and managed to pack less than half of our stuff. Then the next day, 3 guys arrived with a truck to do the move, the same two plus their mate. When I asked where are the packing team and the 4-5 movers? we were wold we are it, mate. It then became obvious that they weren't going to complete the packing and move us out in the 4 hours that we had access to the lift. A phone call to Kent resulted in my wife being told they were "used to dealing with difficult people like you".

Anyway, to cut a long story short, they did finally get everything moved out of the apartment by 9pm on the second day, but only because we sweet talked the building management into allowing us use of the lift, and only because nobody else in the building was moving.

The "manager" at Kent said to my wife "There, I told you we could do it, nothing to worry about.

Yeah, right, until we started unpacking. And finding box after box where our valuables had just been thrown into the box in haste without being wrapped. I have a large collection of old model railway locomotives, where the condition of the box for the value of the item is extremely important. Every box was torn or damaged, wooden presentation cases scratched and scuffed where they had been thrown in together. The leather case for my headphones was ripped. A 1 metre steel rule was bent in half to squash into a box, a car battery was wrapped up with my guitar case and placed on top of other contents which then got crushed lengths of model railway track were bent in two to fit in to a box. A wooden boat kit that I was planning to build had its contents spilt at some point, and instead of carefully putting the contents back in the box (or even telling me it had happened and asking me to help), all the wood was just tipped into a box and then other stuff chucked in on top so that all the parts were broken. Then I found that the spare parts for my classic motorcycles which were all carefully sorted and stored in a tool chest had all been tipped out of the toolchest into a cardboard box, with no wrapping, so they are not only all mixed up but they are damaged.

The puzzling thing is the lack of logic. Power boards, old biscuit tins, Tupperware containers carefully wrapped but valuables just tossed in haphazardly.

Do not go anywhere near these people. They are the absolute worst.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $16123

I have moved about 6 times in the past 10 years (internationally to London and London back to Sydney) so this is not my first time at the removalist rodeo.

I used Kent for a regional move in Sydney and .. wow.. i've never had such terribly awful customer service.

They arrived 4 hours late (no communication) they lost boxes and damaged items. Not one person got in touch with me to apologise or help rectify the situation.

And the pièce de résistance of this awful company is that they were going to charge me $500 to replace the $400 worth of damage and missing items incurred by their utter incompetence - despite having paid $380 in insurance and the cost of replacing the items that went missing.

This company is an utter joke. I'd rather pay $4000 to a bunch of monkeys to move my house next time. You would get the same service.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4000

I am so DISGUSTED! I went with Kent because of their old reputation of care, and paid more for it. But my most valued items arrived smashed! At both ends of the relocation, staff piled three boxes high on trolleys that they RAN with, really fast, over our bumpy gravel driveway - same situation on uplift as delivery. Running as fast as they could go because of their tight deadlines! Bouncing boxes marked FRAGILE and thudding them into the truck! Then dumping them on the ground at the other end. No training visible here!

On top of that, they refused to wear masks are told me they were unvaccinated!! In Victoria!! Coming into my house and practically daring me to object! I've reported them to police.

But now I am fighting for compensation for my smashed, expensive computers and computer screens. Kent dare to say, don't get them repaired without their permission!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. I regret bitterly not going with the company I knew well, thinking I needed to pay more for 'reliable' service! They clearly no longer train staff or grant them the time they need to do removals at a SENSIBLE PACE. SHAMEFUL. I know I've got a lot more smashed china waiting for me in boxes as yet unpacked.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

I hired this company to help move a few months back (relatively small move, 2 bedrooms & not a large amount of extra furniture) for a move from one side of Brisbane to the other. On the day of removal one of the removalists (the fees paid for 2) wasn't doing anything other than standing out the front of the house talking to the other one & talking on the phone. Seeing as the company charges by the hour, I called the company office to double check I had definitely paid for 2 removalists & they confirmed this.

After that phone call, the removalist recieved a phone call from the company office & then immediately approached me in an intimidating/aggressive way & shouted at me for about 5 mins straight & then threatening to not do the move at all if I didn't agree that he was doing work. (Also keep in mind that I was a young woman & on my own at the time, & both removalists were large men). While this was happening I was on the phone with a family member that was helping with the move, so that family member heard every threatening word of this 'conversation', & I stayed on the phone with them for the remaining time that the removalists were at the house because it felt like an unsafe environment.

As well as this event, the removalists permanently marked a lot of my fabric furnishings, & were really rough with items that were clearly marked fragile (TVs, clearly labeled & packaged mirror cartons etc.).

After they completed the move I made it clear to the company office worker over the phone that I had been verbally attacked & that I would be making a formal complaint. A few weeks after that I sent through my formal complaint email, after which their HR team proceeded to gaslight me & ask why it took so long to report & saying if I hadn't submitted an official police report then there was no proof & nothing must have happened.

After that email they have completely ignored my reply emails, and apprear to have zero interest in taking any responsibility for how their removalist behaved.

[UPDATE]

After posting this review elsewhere, the company contacted me to "resolve the issue", which was just them repeating their denial that anything happened & that as far as they're concerned my removal service went "very well"... That was just insulting at that point.

Do not give your money to these people. If I could rate them lower I would.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $965

Recently engaged Kent to relocate the family from Townsville to Cairns NQ. Prior to the move, we had a high quality (Bosch) washing machine that was less than two years old and in perfect working order. After arriving in Cairns, the washer has a massive leak from the base, displays error messages, and is obviously not fit for purpose anymore. Try managing a family of four (including a baby) without a washing machine!

Avoid this company at all costs. They'll seem to offer great personalised service before they get your money - after that, they have no interest in you at all. All of my attempts to contact Kent to talk about a way forward have been completely fruitless.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: 5500ARS

I've used Kent Removals twice now. Both time, fantastic service.

First time was moving from Melbourne to Brisbane. Pretty stressful moving interstate as I've never done it before. Kent staff came to my house inventoried everything and gave fixed price. My goods were packed up with care and moved up to Brisbane to be stored with Kent for 3 months until I needed it. Redelivery process was even easier, arranged a day for delivery and they unpacked everything exactly where I wanted it.

The second time I used Kent was moving houses in Brisbane. This time I used their hourly rate. Craig and Yasi should be commended as it was a very hot day. Glad I wasn't moving my stuff. Even on the hourly rate they didn't waste time. Again this move was stress free.

Thanks Kent!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $15000

Moved from Melbourne to the Czech Republic in October 2023. Collection guy was grumpy, ok fine, whatever. He packed everything and told me there were 46 boxes, so I signed off on that. Everything was already in the truck so I couldn't count it myself. 46 boxes arrived after 5 months (no communication from them along the way, even though we were told we would be kept informed). 46 boxes arrived, but we are missing a lot of stuff. Obviously there was actually more than 46 boxes collected, and the grumpy pickup guy miscounted.

Next problem was the unpacking - we paid for Kent to unpack and take away all the packaging materials. They subcontracted to a removalist company in Brussells, who then subcontracted and the guy who turned up was basically a delivery driver/ courier with a larger than usual van. He was clearly not going to unpack and was not in any way prepared to do anything more than delivery the boxes.

We then contacted Kent about the missing stuff and also the unpacking, they basically blew us off and said it was actually our fault for not insisting that the poor delivery guy stay and unpack. They also just kept monotonously repeating that 46 boxes had been delivered so that is that. I have asked them what we can do to try and track down the missing item(s) and they have not answered the question.

Belinda from Kent got in touch with me after I lefet a negative review on another site and offered us $150 to shut up and go away, but we just want a refund for the unpacking (and you know they would have charged more than $150). Since we refused, Belinda has sent another email basically telling me to p*ss off.

Even if they had just lied and said they had tried to locate our box but couldn't, that would have placated us! We know that it was a long shot and had pretty much accepted that life happens and sometimes you lose. And if they had just offered us a decent refund, that would have been ok with us. But nope, they had to dig in and be dicks about it. I can't remember who said it but basically, any company can be good when things go right, it's how they handle things going wrong that shows you how good they are. And Kent is terrible.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5000