Matthew James Global Relocation

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. We chose their ¨GOLD¨option where they are meant to securely package all our goods, look at the photos and decide yourself. This resulted in damage to my property. Would you want your property transported like this? When I complained about this service, I received this response from Rachael Pepper (one of their directors): ¨Although we have already agreed that some goods may have been packaged better, you have definitely received a Gold service¨. I presume they will respond saying that they offered ¨compensation¨ (GBP 80). Considering the cost of their GOLD option is over GBP 200 more than BRONZE, I take this as typical corporate cynicism.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £2400

First the rep Jason turned up very prompt and smart. He took time in asking all ours need and requirements for the move. Very polite and totally professional service. I got email with the quote later in the week agreed fee. Then wow on day of move the 3 guys turned up all smart and looked pro. Even brought extra boxes and hanging rail just in case I didn't have enough. They say moving is the most stressful thing your ever do. For me never use Mathew James. They take the strain even when we arrived at new home they made shaw all crew knew where all rooms was and placed everything marked in right room. Well done gents. You was all great. Carry on the great work guys at Mathew James removals.

Service cost: £700

We hired Matthew James for a move from London to Valencia, Spain. $ pieces of furniture arrived damaged. A hepplewhite table arrived with a table leg torn off and another one loose.
Other pieces ware damaged. After 5 weeks company has not sent an insurance adjuster and only offer to pay for repairs and not loss of value despite having brokered an insurance policy covering those losses.

Will have to deal with the financial conduct authority and the insurance company to adjudicate the claim.

My recommendation is not to use this company.

Service cost: £4000

Absolutely awful. Ordered a move from London to Spain. Everything that could be broken, was broken. Most of the crystal glasses arrived in pieces, out of 36 only 6 survived, even though everything was wrapped and included "fragile" stickers all over the packaging (This packaging was done by me and wasn't even reinforced by them.) A large picture frame was completely torn off the picture, and they claimed it was like that before the removal, even though it's obvious that it was broken off into four pieces by some force. Vinyl records, cups, jewellery boxes - everything had pieces missing from it. Looks like the boxes were just thrown around.

Service cost: £5000

Every step of the move with this company has been completely unprofessional. Their ‘customer services’ team are arrogant and incompetent. Furniture was damaged and they refused to take any responsibility. Our furniture arrive more than a week late. I was promised all my shoes would be individually wrapped and carefully packed... they were all thrown into boxes together with zero care. I haven’t even finished unpacking my boxes and am genuinely afraid of what disaster I will uncover with each box opening.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: £6500

Terrible. Salesman Max advised that our shipment would leave UK on 29th June. Shipment did not leave UK until 27th July. When queried, salesman began quoting small print, advising that all times are approximate. General Manager Chris ignored repeated requests for updates and could not confirm a shipping date. I made 4 separate requests for the Managing Director Matthew DeMachen to call me which he never did, making several excuses each time. Customer service advised in writing that he was "unavailable" as he "heads up a multi-million pound business." The cost of this move was £5835. They will tell you what you want to hear to secure a sale. Quick to take the money and no interest in the customer once they have it. The company will put more effort in attempting to remove your review (by reporting it for various reasons) than resolving any issues. However, I feel sorry for the lady whose full-time job at Matthew James is to attempt to have reviews removed / defend the actions of this amateur organisation. All correspondence is available to anyone who wishes to contact me. I would be interested to see just how many reviews the company has removed to date. Highly incompetent, avoid.

Service cost: £5835

I chose Matthew James because they looked like a good company but I was so wrong. They quoted £4,600 for a 3 bedroom house to Spain. They could only bring half the stuff but didn't tell me until I had travelled to Spain and my husband had also left so there was nothing we could do. He people who were going to rent my house dropped out because they couldn't move in. When we received the delivery it was labelled very badly so we had to open everything to find anything all at once. They had snapped off my dressing table legs and labelled it snapped off legs!! We received our dining table legs solid oak but they 'lost our dining table top and Dyer waiting 3 months they are now saying they never picked it up and that we must still have it! I am now reporting them for theft. They have left me waiting for this pathetic verdict since the 16th December. I am still left with half my furniture in England and have to pay someone else to pick it up.
I would strongly advise anyone not to touch them with a barge pole. They are appalling.

Service cost: £4600

Moving internationally from England. As I could not be present at pick up (only drop off), I asked for MJ to contact the person who had my belongings in England to arrange pick up. They did not. MJ contacted me and said that they would pick up the next day. I was clear that they should not arrange pick up with me, so thought that this was a simple FYI. The goods were not ready, since my contact in England hadn’t heard anything from MJ prior to them turning up one day.

I had to pay £100 (+ VAT) for an additional pick up. That was arranged with my contact in England. Pick up was scheduled before lunch, they arrived late afternoon without even an “excuse us”! They did however find it strange that the office had promised pick up in the morning, because they were booked in for another job that day.

Drop off was flawless. However, it would not be fair to all companies out there who are serious to give Matthew James anything other than a 1-star review.

Not happy with all later interaction with them. Emails went unanswered, phoned and got a reassuring “we’ll look into it” and “we’ll get back to you”, then nothing more. After months of me nearly hounding them, they finally admitted that they were in the wrong regarding pick up and returned the £100 (+ VAT). Their tactics of trying to wear me down and make me give up didn’t work. I’ll hand it to them, they did a decent efffort to scam me. In short, major faff for me because of their incompetence!

Really upset with the whole ordeal. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone! Please, for your own well-being, choose another moving company.

Service cost: £974

Matthew James Removal was moving my stuff from Kent to new house in East Sussex. Lots of stuff have been broken , they left my plates etc in the kitchen cupboards and didn’t bother to move to new house . Also they have promised to take the pots from balconies to my new house but ignored me . I have paid in front as I thought they will provide me with great service but I was wrong.
Also our Bvlgari watch gone after the move . They took from the watch winder.
I can only say be careful before you use them . Awful company and unprofessional service.
I have been ignored by them lots of times.

Service cost: £2500

I asked Chris to arrange my goods to be put in my living room, sent him my house key, when I went to see Lee there my goods were stored in a corridor, I explained I left my front door key in microwave to enable driver to get better access if easier through my front door than patio doors, I asked to leave the key at the shop opposite, about 40 meters away, key left in garden, shop closed Chris said, opens at 7 am to 7 PM, all furniture DUMPED in my kitchen, 2 x 9 feet leather sofas, 3 tables, 2 coffee tables, chair etc. Spoke to Chris, said it was delivered, is in your house, you should have been there, he knew I work in Switzerland, he said they often deliver to empty houses, now I have to pay another company to attend, Chris made it clear in writing, we are not returning, not in your area in the forseeable future, what more you want from us? Maybe to complete what you charged me for, I have reported to the ombudsman with pictures.

Service cost: £1150

Appalling experience and I warn anyone not to pay these exorbitant prices for a complete disregard for customers and absolute lack of care.

I booked their service for a removal from London to Madrid and specifically asked them several times (per email) to inform me, 24 hours in advance, when the lorry was due to arrive in Madrid. I also gave them a Spanish number to call.

They sent me an email - which I couldn't check in time - barely a few hours prior to the delivery being made. They claim that they called the Spanish number but *somehow* it did not occur to them to leave a voicemail (this should highlight the intelligence levels of those manning customer support roles).

Of course, since I couldn't check the email in time, by the time I did, the 'crew' had already left Madrid, leaving my stuff in a depot which apparently NOBODY ELSE could access to get my stuff delivered to my address. When I emailed to ask for the next delivery date I was given a date over two weeks after.

I have thus spent 3 weeks without my stuff living out of a suitcase. With no apologies or even the honesty to accept that they royally screwed up. They had ONE thing to do, and one thing only - give me 24 hours notice - and they didn't even manage to do that. Somehow they expect the customers to be fully available and online 24 /7.

When I pay for a service I normally expect the flexibility and the service to be provided by those who get my money. In this case, short of hauling the stuff myself, the onus is on the customer at all times.

Disgraceful. A complete shameful approach to customer service. Only hope eventually enough people stop using this service and people lose their jobs for their incompetence (good people lose jobs for less every day).

Service cost: £900

We had the full packing service moving from London to Spain. From Jason’s initial visit the guys at Matthew James were amazing. We did not have a definite moving date and they were extremely accommodating and patient with us. On moving day Matt and his team turned up and for the next day and a half packed everything. They were very efficient and professional and took away the stress. 10 days later we were reunited with the 101 boxes/items packed by the guys in the UK by Kris and George in a huge double lorry. An hour and a half later all the stuff was in the house. They also erected the beds and sofa unit and all with a smile and happy words. Everybody we came in contact with at Matthew James were very professional and nothing was too much trouble for any of them. Highly recommend this Company.It was worth every penny we paid. ps nothing was damaged.

Service cost: £3650

While they were generally nice and that things went generally ok, the staff didn't strike me as particularly careful with our things, and not surprisingly damage was done.

On the pick up side, they ruined our stairs with chipped paint and black smears all over them and dents in the walls. One of the guys let a huge box slide on the stairs scrapping all the paint back to bare wood and I had to spend time painting it all over again while I had to deal with the move.
While I had taken time to label properly fragile boxes with extra instructions like "this side up", this was ignored and boxes where picked up upside down (I'll come back to that).
I had left the picture frames to be packed by them as instructed and here again, a vintage frame was badly handled, fell on the floor and broke.
Some of the furniture were left unwrapped in the street, one of the guy sat in my expensive office chair in the street while waiting to lift it up in the truck and an other sat on my scooter. While this isn't terrible things, it just demonstrates the general carelessness for clients property.
It was also quite painful to see our Imac boxes being thrown carelessly onto the truck.. When my partner asked one of the guys to be more careful with her plants, she was met with quite an agressive reaction from one of the guys.

Upon delivery, it was better, the guys were nice and careful, but some hassle occurred because of the company's poor planning.
Our house is a bit hard to get to, so I had pay an extra £540 to book a shuttle so the huge truck wouldn't have to come on the small country roads and could park down the village 5 minutes away.
The day before, I receive a call from the driver explaining me that they had to hire a van 40 minutes away and that only one of them could drive! So he asked if I could come pick them up and do the taxi so the truck could be brought closer meaning I would have had to drive back and forth eight times that day while I had to deal with receiving my things, checking them, etc. Not counting the price of gas..
When I complained to the company about it saying I paid for the shuttle and asked why they would send a guy who could not drive, they told me I shouldn't worry about it and that it would be sorted out.
The next day, I realized it wasn't and the poor guys had to do four loads with two hours drive in between them! I felt so bad for them and it took them all day to deliver our things. Just because the company couldn't sort it out properly.
My scooter's mirrors were removed and the drivers were not told where they had been left. The next day we have to drive an hour away to collect them as they were left in the truck without them knowing. Again, bad organisation and bad communication that impacted their staff..and us.
Upon inspection a lot of our things had few marks or dents on them which wasn't surprising after seeing how they were handled.
For the money paid, which isn't cheap, I was expecting a better level of service, to be honest.

When I complained about it all, I was refunded £200 which, to their credit, they didn't have to. But at some point the boss argued that my international move was complicated, hence all these problems. While I totally agree that an international move is complicated, this is also why we pay a lot of money to hire a company that specializes in these and I found this very strange to give me this excuse.
Once the refund had been settled, the boss then bluntly asked me for a positive review and it really felt like he was buying it.

Two days later, I finally unpack the box with my vintage turntable in it, the one that had been handled the wrong way despite the written instructions. And sure enough, the lid, that had been replaced two month earlier, was broken. When I raised it, this was simply ignored which they were within their right to do as I didn't take insurance.
And I am now using my right to write an honest and detailed review based on my experience, because accurate reviews are important for us customers and I'm afraid that I can not recommend this company, not will I use it again.

Service cost: £6438

So far we cannot fault Matthew James.

From our first contact in the sales dept with Sandie Harris to the international relocation dept speaking with Darren Kelley ,all apsolutlely perfect and proffessional.

On pick up Marc and George arrived and went through every detail. both really great guys, packed dilligently all our things.

Our boxes will be in storage for a few weeks ,and will write an update on Delivery once in the UK.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £1550

Despite their glowing statements on their website, I would not recommend this company for any sort of move, unless adding to an already stressful time works for you!

Their sheer arrogance and incompetence added to the stress of a big move for us.

We were only offered the so called Gold option by Chris the so called sales person. It transpires that this does not include so called export wrapping of furniture, beds, etc. With gold, these items are only wrapped in dirty blankets. Yet somehow as a customer we were expected to know that there is a platinum service which would include export wrapping!

I asked for all new boxes, and floor protection. I was assured by the same Chris that they only use new boxes. On the day, the crew arrived with mostly used boxes and said they had not been told to bring only new. This was a major cause of stress for me. Nor would the crew recommend using the "dirty blankets" on my lovely carpets - another error in communication.

It then transpired that Chris massively underestimated how much there was to be moved, and we were then expected to pay for the difference in cubic metres, as well as pay for the upgrade to Platinum which we were never even offered! Due to the miscalculation in cubic metres, the crew were here far longer than planned, and needed to call in a Swiss company to help with the packing/loading. The Swiss company on arrival immediately, and without fuss, proceeded to protect all floors and carpets as a matter of course! It has to be stated that MJ removals took a long time to agree to this extra help, and much time was lost that could have been better used for packing.

The final insult is that a brand new, expensive carpet has been stained because the base of the bubble wrap roll was dirty, and as it was moved around the room to wrap items, it has left many stains on the new carpet. MJ removals refuse to take accountability for this and are sending us Without Prejudice letters this morning, which we find insulting. Why on earth would I cause myself more hassle with this intransigent company by having to get carpets cleaned that were not marked by the movers?


We have yet to take delivery of the goods in the UK as the stress of the removals days left me ill and I have been advised by my doctor to rest for a few days.

I felt it imperative to write a review now to prevent others from wasting their precious money on a company where the customer comes last, where there is poor/incomplete communication and where they cannot correctly estimate how much stuff is to be moved, and who then blame the customer for all the foregoing, who has, in addition, had to pay for the so called service in advance!

I shall write an update once the stuff has been delivered to the UK.

Service cost: £5582

Bad experience with Mattew James. The main issue was communication and time of collecting and developing.

I tried to communicate with them using all time email. And never communicate with me at the reasonable time.
I got that the collecting was from Monday to Friday because my wife flying on Sunday. In the week of delivering we didn't receive anything previous information, we sent a daily email but without any answer. And on Wednesday they said to me on Monday or Tuesday of the next week. I must call long 4 times, I get the delivering was on Sunday morning when my wife flow this evening.

On delivering, the same situation without any answer. Until 15 days after of collecting, they said to me at the end of the Third week after collecting and on Wednesday of the Third week, they said to me the delivering will be the 5th week after delivering, they come on Tuesday and they notified this on Monday evening. The report of the flow of moving was unexistent until the last minute.

On the other side, the box was really well for my wife and when we opened the boxes, we only discover 2 glasses and 2 glass figures have been broken but outside boxes were damaged and wet.

In summary nothing of communication, big problems with collecting and delivering. And in general moving with real problems.

Service cost: £1000

Mathew James Removals a Platinum Service

Mathew James Removals were excellent from start to finish moving our household effects from Zurich to Essex. The quote was very competitive versus the local companies. We paid for a platinum service and that was what we received! At the Zurich end they sent a team lead by Emanuel, who were polite and hardworking over the two days. Kieran and Emanuel (our main team) were assisted by Chris and Fabian on Day 1. Day 2 Kieran and Fabian completed the job. Can not fault these guys at all! Delivery in UK again was efficient and the team were responsive to all our requests about placement of our goods. Would highly recommend them.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: £6800

Terrible experience using this company for moving from London to Switzerland, even though we opted for the most expensive package. Unprofessional and spotty communication even in the beginning but after the delivery was complete and we still had questions they simply decided to ghost us and we haven't received _any_ communication from them for over a month! Zero client care. We still need help with the customs clearence which a spectacularly inept partner of theirs (FILIDS Sarl) arranged and Matthew James refuses to communicate at all! The movers decided to randomly leave some of our belongings in the apartment for which we now have to arrange additional postage. For 4,500 GBP it certainly feels like an absolute rip off. Do yourself a favor and stay as far away from this company as you can!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: £4500

In this world of such negativity it gives me great pleasure to say something nice about a company who’s services excel your expectations.

I was recommended Matthew James by a friend of mine and from the initial dealings with the office staff, agreeing the quote and making the arrangements, I felt comfortable that I was dealing with a professional outfit.

The packing and wrapping was done by Shane and Ben who didn’t come up for air except when persuaded to have a cup of tea. They were very respectful and their attention to detail was first class.

A year later our delivery was arranged and a 3 man team (Mark, Brandon and Adrian) turned up with our goods and furniture. Again, they were very friendly and worked their socks off! They placed each item in its designated room and couldn’t do enough for us.

Overall, from start to finish we were very impressed and wouldn’t use anybody else if we move again.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: £1800

After chasing our allocated surveyor for days, we finally received a quote for our international move from the UK to Germany.

They asked £5100 for 30cubic metres, Bronze Level (aka we pack everything, they just move the goods).

A friend, who recommended MJ to us, had been quoted £3100 for 30 cubic metres, GOLD Level (aka they dismantle and reassmelbe furniture, pack and move goods) (also for a move UK to Germany, only 150miles distance difference).

So we challenged our surveyor on the price and stated this inexplicable price difference of 2000 pounds - he admitted having rushed the quote and promised to send a new one by the next day.

It's been five days now and we have not heard back yet, what a mess!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: £5100

GOOD REVIEWS ARE CLEARLY BOUGHT, this is the worse moving company you could go with, save your money and stress levels and go elsewhere.

I could write pages and pages on the details of the bad experience we received, but will summarise it for you:

Packing with ridiculous amounts of bubble wrap leading to high overspill:

When the people came to help us pack, we noticed that they were using an exceptionally high amount of bubble wrap. The high ratio of our items to bubble wrap meant that we ended up using more boxes than we were able to have estimated. I would have expected to be advised of this and have a quote created accordingly. Interestingly, when we questioned their employees helping us pack, they mentioned that most people (conveniently) end up with more boxes than estimated. This was very contrary to what we were advised when we made the call to enquire about the overspill as we were told it is 'exceptionally rare' for that to happen.

Unreasonably high overspill volume fee: We were then charged an overspill volume which was 50% higher than the agreed cost, despite the fact that the advisor had made the quote himself. Furthermore, some items in the quote were double counted. Unfortunately it did not end there.

Unacceptable long delay in delivering our goods. As we settled this additional charge we were told that the advised date of delivery of our goods at the beginning of June won't be possible anymore, and that it will likely be the second week of June. We spent many weeks chasing for the actual delivery date, and once this was confirmed it kept slipping again and again. The latest was it was supposed to arrive last week, then on the weekend, now it's Monday morning and we are still waiting. It is now 21 days after we wanted to receive our goods.

This company will shamelessly charge you ridiculous overspill volume fees and only brings your goods whenever it is convenient for them and they have enough other goods from other customers to make the trip worthwhile and convenient for them.

Save yourself the pain and GO WITH ANOTHER COMPANY. I really wish we did.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: £5000

Issues since day 0. The first manager provided an inaccurate quotation at higher cost than needed. The second manager was very responsive until money was transferred, then the real nightmare started: 3 times MJR changed their mind about import documents. Then it took them one month to find a lorry for transport. No updates on status shared, despite multiple calls and emails. Then an extra bill for storage space arrives, with a threat of no deliver if the extra payment is not made. On a Friday afternoon I called them, just to find out delivery is due on Sunday, making it impossible to book parking spots at the delivery address. Their solution: pay 500 pounds to store my items at a local depo and deliver using a van. No apologies, no help given during this whole process.

MJR is not part of the Removals Ombudsman Scheme, so filing a complain is useless. If anyone knows how to report this type of situation please share, thanks!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: £3000

Terrible movers! I have done three international movings with other companies and this is with difference the most expensive and the worse. I have never seen that a company ask you more money to deliver your own goods after having signed a contract and having all the invoices paid. We felt like if they got our items kidnapped and if we don't pay the keep our furniture and stuff. We chose them due to their good reviews and because the person who came home to do the quote sold the company as very serious and professional. Far away from the truth. Once they get your money and your things for storage the good manners disappear and the "mafia stile" shows up. I did my moving from UK to Spain with them, including months of storage and everything went well until I found a home and told them to deliver. Then the nightmare started. I asked to deliver 6 weeks before my required delivery date (despite they had told me on collection that with 3 weeks would be more than enough...). Then they started with excuses, saying that they didn't have trucks coming to Spain, that this date could be delayed etc etc. For a while, they didn't return our calls, we have to try for ages to get our assigned person (Chris Austin) in the phone. Finally, when they decided to go ahead, they asked us for more money for exclusive delivery, otherwise, they say, we should pay 30% of the declare value of my items to customs for having being outside UK for more than 1 year!!! I asked them several time to deliver before that day, so we could avoid taxes... but they say no possible. What is funny is that those "taxes" they forced us to pay, we had to pay in Matthew Jame's bank account and despite I have asked for a copy of this payment to the customs, they never show the copy... it looks like the money finished in their own pocket. When we manage the shipment starts, they claim that the truck is stuck in customs and after being waiting the whole day for the delivery done they didn't show up. Obviously, they don't bother to keep contact with us... At the end, they came the next day, late and the driver complains that our street is not good to park and that he might go!!!?!. After complaining for a while and several calls to their main office, the driver and young partner decide to download and bring our furniture at home. The bad manners continue: First they refuse to assemble the furniture, another call to their office and shown the contract - as was agreed to dismantle/assemble furniture on arrival, and finally they assemble it. Maybe it was better it was not done, as they broke, my children bed, my wardrobe, scratched my bed etc. The driver and young helper were angry because they say "were delayed in their trip to southern Spain" and they try to finish quick and treating our furniture very badly.

Do a favour to yourselves and if you are looking for a removal company, don't chose this one

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: £8000