Pickfords

Pickfords were contracted by the firm of Caroline Coats & Co (also never use) to clear family home when my mother went into care. Rolled up to deliver items to me with no notification and as I wasn't in then stuck them in storage without my knowledge or permission, refused to release them to my agent and charged me well over market rates for storage (although never sent me a bill despite having my address). Claimed I had not paid the bills they refused to send me. Refused to answer any correspondence whatsoever despite their MD acknowledging in court that the property was mine and being well aware that Coats did not represent me and had no authorisation to enter into a contract with them (i.e. contract between Pickfords and Coats was fraudulent and illegal). Refused to co-operate with the police when they became involved over missing valuables. DO NOT ever consider using this firm for anything.

Service cost: £10000

We had a signed agreed contract with Pickfords Removals Ltd to move us from Totton, Southampton, UK to our new home in Italy.
They did full estimate and started off at £12,000 and after a few different quotes, we agreed a quote of £6057. Quite a difference.
They collected our goods as agreed and we had a delivery date.
Once we left the country that we had to pay another £900 (which turned out to be £1080) or they would not deliver our goods.
The date of delivery came and Pickfords told us they waited down the road until we paid or they would have kept our goods, they would not deliver our goods until we paid. I told them this was blackmail and extortion.
A lot of boxes were way unpacked and stuffed with paper to bulk them up.
Then they lost and damaged some goods and we are now struggling to get an insurance claim which we paid £600 for.
They have admitted what they have done by email.
They seem to think this is all ok to do this.
There were also mouse holes in some of the boxes when they arrived too.
Delivery to Italy.

Service cost: £6057

Pickfords until packing at home good service although numbering incorrect which was noticed at unpacking
At arrival the removers noticed unloading from container to lorry that the goods was packed which to much pressure. Took photos and send to pickfords.Hard plastic coffeemaker broke in two, showcase if which I worried but said not worries will be ok.
BIke was damaged during packing but at the end the company does not take responsibility and offered a lousy 40GBP per item on photo whilst damaged due to to high pressure stowing close to 800GBP.
This was a once use of pickfords they have totally no eye for customer and customer service. Not recommended.

Service cost: £7000

This removal was coordinated by Pickfords Edinburgh who after receiving my comments told me their Operations Manager had read my comments and she had issued new training guidelines and handbooks to the people involved in ABERDEEN. Not sure this is the problem but it is obviously meant to show the problems have been addressed. Others can judge.
 
It is now 2 months since we moved home from Aberdeen to Stirlingshire. The experience was so poor I decided to wait some time before submitting a review of the service.   The removal team were late on the first day due to snow and heavy traffic, but when they arrived the foreman (the only Pickfords employee!!) introduced himself. He was very polite and very cooperative.   It was after the packing had commenced that one of the men told my wife they were subcontracted by Pickfords and only the foreman was a Pickfords employee. We had used Pickfords for our previous move from London to Aberdeen 28 years before and they were excellent, but then all staff worked for Pickfords. I was surprised to hear that this was no longer the case, the salesman did not point this out.   Maybe Aberdeen and North Scotland is different in not having permanent removal staff. The crew was supplemented by 2 men from the Pickfords Glasgow depot, and they were very professional, careful and worked very hard.   I had left Aberdeen on the morning of the second day ito pick up the house keys ready for the delivery on the third day, so my wife remained in Aberdeen to close up the house when the removal was completed.   She told me things became very frantic in the afternoon of the second day and the packing was rushed. They did not work beyond 3:30pm on the first day and they were short of time to complete the packing on the secod day.   They arrived early on the delivery date and started to unpack. They worked steadily and it was difficult to keep track of what was being unloaded. The Aberdeen crew took a break but the Glasgow men kept working and tried to get the Aberdeen crew to do likewise.   The crystal and crockery were unpacked by them (we took the packing and unpacking option) but the bulk of the boxes were distributed between the rooms of the house for us to unpack later. Later we found some porcelain items were missing from the boxes they had unpacked. They were small  and perhaps had been discarded with the wrapping paper which was removed by them. However they were of great sentimental value.   They departed just around 1pm and we started to unpack, however it took 4 men 2 days to pack and it would be well over w week for us to get the bulk of the unpacking done.   We found some items missing and were advised by Pickfords that we had 7 days to make a claim for any loss of damaged items. We reported what we found missing but many boxes were still untouched so it seems impossible to make any realistic assessment within the allotted time.   I had specifically asked the salesman about moving greenhouse items including a number of fuchsias and pelargoniums I had grown over 3 to 4 years into mature show plants. He assured me they would be carefully packed in the bottom of their deep removal boxes (which by my reckoning would be around 9 or ten boxes), and they were experienced in handling plants.   When I came to unpack the boxes stored outside the house, I discovered they had miraculously managed to pack all the plants in to 2 and a half boxes. This amazing feat was achieved by piling the plants on top of each other until they filled each of 2 boxes.    The half box of plants was similarly packed in the lower half of the box, and heavy items from the greenhouse piled in on top!!, I guess to prevent the plants from jumping out of the box as they were transported by road? ONLY A VERY EXPERIENCED PACKER WOULD THINK OF TAKING SUCH A PRECAUTION.    When I called the coordinator the first response was that my plants were not covered by the insurance. My concern is that they do not see anything wrong with how they packed the items.   I had woodworking machinery broken and damaged but this was not discovered till a couple of weeks after the move due to our focus on the household effects and getting the livinig area sorted out. The damage would have been obvious to the men loading the machinery but they said nothing.   I feel like I have been an unwilling participant in a sketch from Monty Python. I should have guessed Pickfords were disorganised when a week before the move, the coordinator phoned to advise me that the Friday scheduled for the delivery was a public holiday and could we move the date forward by one day.    At this stage the exchange process was concluded by the solicitors so changing at this late stage was not possible, so the original dates stood. As one of the removal men commented, they must have syuddenly realised they would have to pay extra for working on a holiday.   Also when we had unpacked the boxes we called the same coordinator to organise pick-up of the empty cartons. It took  more than 3 weeks before this finally happened despite several calls to the coordinator. She had been calling the Aberdeen crew to pick-up, and when I discovered this I asked politely if she was aware we moved FROM Aberdeen not TO Aberdeen. She apologised and finally got the message to the Glasgow depot to arrange pick-up.   One of the other companies from whom we had received a quotation made a point of explaining they provide exclusively their own employees who had been through their own training programme. I did not pick up on this at the time, but understand he was telling me indirectly that others such as Pickfords did not follow the same principles.   We are very disappointed at the decline of Pickfords service, but our previous experience was over 28 years ago, how things have changed. I could not recommend them for any removal work north of Glasgow, however the men I met from  Glasgow on two separate occassions were very polite, helpful and very professional in their work.   The comments cover only a few of the more memorable things which occurred, which is why I decided to wait a reasonable period of time before submitting this review, but I hope it serves to help people thinking of moving make up their minds on what to look out for.            .

Service cost: £4300

Pickfords Edinburgh were paid to pack,store, and return our property. They have demonstrated an utterly unprofessional attitude throughout, their staff are either totally incompetent or simply dishonest. In addition to packing dirty nappies alongside our kitchen equipment they have damaged or lost a great many items. They also only packed half of the items in our loft before closing it and telling my husband it had been fully emptied. We subsequently had to hire a van to remove the remain items and then throw most of th away as we had nowhere to store things before moving to our new house. They are now saying that only items notified to them within 7 days are covered by their insurance so most of our missing items aren't covered because I didn't realise they were missing till I went looking for them.

Overall they have turned an already stressful experience into a total nightmare and charged us a fortune for the privilege.

Service cost: £4500

I chose Pickfords because they've been around so long and also because my new company chose them for their lowest quotation. Let me start by saying that this is clearly no longer the company which established a good reputation. I was told by one of the removals men that it's now foreign owned and all Pickfords now does is sub-contract out to local companies and take a big slice of the fees.

Now, the men who collected and wrapped all our belongings were fantastic. On the other end too. But those poor workers are clearly being badly treated: there weren't enough of them; they hardly had a break; the hefty fee I was being charged for living on a 3rd floor wasn't being passed on to them, who did all the carrying; the guys who delivered my stuff to a foreign country weren't even provided with access to showering facilities (they were so grateful when I offered them ours) and were sleeping in the truck by the side of a road because entry to lorry parks was impossible. Is there really any need to treat your workers so badly? They clearly hated Pickfords and let us know it.

I paid for a full pack and unpack. The latter was impossible as there were only two men to do it. Despite me and my girlfriend helping them all day-- and we all worked hard until late--there was still a lot of unpacking to do when they left. When I informed Pickfords of this they said nothing stood in the way of a full unpack and dismissed my complaint.

On top of this, the contract states delivery within a generous time period. Forget it. Our stuff was delivered two weeks after the maximum cutoff date. No apology, no offer of a partial refund or of expenses incurred being reimbursed. Basically, once you give them your money you're at their mercy.

Avoid them like the plague. They're just milking the good reputation until they run it into the ground. Go with a local company who actually does the job. I wish I had.

Service cost: £5000

Having moved between different countries 6 times in the last 20 years this has to be the worst experience I have ever had. The initial contact with the Sales Person was positive and we were quoted for a service with full packing and unpacking to Mallorca (it says Barcelona below as the drop down menu does not offer the choice of Mallorca). I paid in full in advance by debit card - I had also requested an insurance for the goods, when I called to give my debit card they simply forgot to charge the insurance part. They did however not advise us of this until literally 24 hours prior to picking up the goods - telling my wife that the items would travel uninsured as there was still an outstanding balance! I had to call back to rectify their mistake, just in the nick of time. Pick up was the most positve experience, the staff was courteous and packed all items as specified in our contract. As this was a company relocation I required an invoice - it took at least 20 emails to be able to get an invoice and a correct one at that. Communication was awful - I had to constantly chase them up, asking for information about a delivery date etc. The worst part of the experience came when the goods were delivered. Pickfords appears to be subcontracting this service to another supplier who simply did not care about what had been agreed - they dumped most of the boxes and refused to unpack - and a call to Pickfords did no good either. In addition to that an expensive mountain bike was damaged. I have now repeatedly asked Pickfords to explain why part of the service that was contracted and paid for was not delivered - for the last 4 weeks I am being told that they are conducting an "investigation". Not sure what they need to investigate - the contract states they should have unpacked, photographs were provided that show that they simply left boxes behind - you don't need to be Inspector Morse to figure out that something went wrong. I have never experienced this level of poor service and downright incompetence. If you are organising a move abroad I would strongly recommend to look elsewhere.  .

Service cost: £3089

Do not use this company!
We had to make a house removal and chosen Pickfords for the services.
Removal was from London to Moscow.
According to weight estimations (800 cub feet) 5000 kg we had to pay 15 000 euros for import duties, beside 5700 GBP for service. When I asked the weight to be calculated not approximate but exact as there is no way to be 5 tones, they refused. 
Later we decided to send just most importand things and through away the rest. I booked an appointment, paid 160 pounds!! for thisit. 

I saw 4 containers from which 2 were half empty and 1 almost empty, used to store empty boxes!!
I asked just 1 container (half empty) to be send to russia and took the other things.

They done a recalculation and surprisingly new import taxes were calculated to 2700 euros. For 1300 pounds (again estimation)!
There was literally 1 saofa, q table and 6 chairs with total weight of 500 pounds. 
Once again they refused to weigh it and asking me to pay for estimates.
I wish I read the others review befor.
Thanks.

Service cost: £5700

More expensive than most but we used it because of its good reputation. Also offered full packing and unpacking and storage options etc. Fairly complex move between houses and flats in London. Movers reasonably polite and fairly professional though nothing special. Punctual generally. Initially we were told our sofa could not be moved to the basement ("we'll never get it down there" etc.). Later this was done with little difficulty.  Furniture re-assembler was almost rude and very self-important; had limited tools and used ours. Worst part: no real offer or attempt to unpack (numerous boxes) despite this being part of the deal. Only after discussing with colleagues did I realise that this was not usual. Many small items were packaged in so much paper, indistinguishable from the "stuffing" paper in the boxes, that we almost lost them while unpacking; some disappeared completely. Several items were damaged but the company tried to deny responsibilty as they had not charged us for insurance for one leg of a multiple leg journey (essentially their error not ours). After numerous letters and the suggestion of a solicitor they agreed to pay for the damage though the amount was less than ideal. The only part of the process that happened quickly and very efficiently was the transfer of money from our bank account to theirs. I would not use them again - not transparent, poor communication, and really only interested in the fee.

Service cost: £4000

Nice chaps who worked hard to pack all of our belongings. One younger chap seemed to spend more care properly wrapping things. I did have to request that a delicate table be properly wrapped/protected, but otherwise many items were taken unprotected - such as canvas paintings, mirrors, furniture etc. The same went for the banisters, I thought they were meant to be protected with blankets strapped, luckily they managed not to scrape it. Some empty boxes etc were left behind. The loading team also complained that the estimator had underestimated the load. There seemed to be lots of space in the truck, but transpired they wee collecting another shipment. At the price I paid and after the discussions I had I thought it was load our belongings and store overnight to then drive up to Manchester. Unfortunately the truck had to be driven around to other places and parked overnight somewhere else with an overworked driver. (and belongings being rattled about on journeys that I had not expected) For some reason the local delivery team was here at 8.00am, although a 1.00pm delivery was requested due to legal completion time of property. The same driver and two nice lads worked very hard to unload. they really could have done with another helper. The local unloading guys were casual hires and not full time Pickfords staff (unless on those zero hours schemes). Didn't bother me as obviously nice hard working guys who had been vetted.. but you would feel better if ti was full time staff you were paying for. Our double bed had it's screws and bolts lost. the driver gave us his number and said if we find them to call him and he's get over to assemble. really nice chap. We eventually found them days later after having bought new screws to assemble. (they had been put in a drawer, not taped to bed frame). As we continued to unpack, a few bedroom boxes had clothes scrumpled up and used as padding in boxes, including some of my wifes clothes that now need to be ironed/dry cleaned. Other items of furniture have slight scuffs and dinks that might otherwise not be there if properly padded/wrapped. One service we looked forward to was having all of our empty boxes collected. After about 6 attempts to arrange this over more than a few weeks, I never got a call back about this once. I talked to my account handler in London as well as the team in Manchester. My house is still full of boxes ready folded for collection as offered by Pickfords. Even today I phoned again (Manchester) and was told my request would be forwarded to operations.. I told the lady on the phone that this was my sixth attempt, so she apologised and put me on hold. She got back to me and said operations would definitely collect today and would phone me. Unsurprisingly, no call, no collection, complete customer failure. No idea what to do next. Have now messaged FB and Twitter, and review sites like this. Perhaps they will pay some attention now? If anyone from Pickfords is reading this , please forward to someone who has a bit of clout and gives a damn. I'll leave it to the people looking for reviews to make their own minds up on whether to employ Pickfords services or not. C.

Service cost: £3195

I read the reviews on this site and was stuck for who to choose for my relocation to Finland! I eventually chose PIckfords as they seemed the most polite and professional when I called. 
Obviously I was still nervous as the reviews here were so poor. Yet they were fantastic! I could not say one thing to fault them! I was kept in the loop with all activity, the gentleman were polite, efficient and helpful. One of the employees had been with PIckfords for 24 years, a good sign right!?
When in Finland, the delivery arrived, all in perfect condition and again with great service, despite them having a nightmare journey over, getting trapped in between cars etc. They remained helpful and polite. 
I have given them 5 stars, couldn't ask for any more. Thanks Pickfords for making the move so easy and a pleasant experience. 

*This site does not have the right area or location for me to review, hence me selcting Austria. Removal reviews I think you need to improve this.

Service cost: $3000

I recently moved with Pickfords and despite the fact I moved from a bigger house into a smaller house and couldn't get to a lot of my boxes for well over a month, they told me I had no claim after seven days. They broke a lamp that cost well in excess of 100 pounds. Lost another one completely (same cost). Smashed a crock pot to pieces, and smashed my best casserole dish from my best dinner set and one I cannot get now! They also damaged a barometer worth in excess of 1000 pounds and I am livid about that. It wasn't packed in a separate box as requested mostly because the person who came to look at our stuff greatly underestimated the amount and they had no extra room for any extra boxes. So this precious barometer was packed along with other things with two flimsy sheets of paper separating it from other breakables! Several things are missing completely, things that were extremely precious to me, I.e.( mother or pearl American Indian jewellery) but when I contacted them (despite the fact I had witnesses who had opened the boxes (most of them unmarked and put into the wrong room) they wouldn't look at me and simply quoted their contract of seven days to make a claim. I wouldn't recommend anyone to use this firm to move their possessions since they do not give a damn. Many of the boxes were unmarked and almost two months since my move I am still left wondering where my things are. DO NOT TOUCH THIS COMPANY WITH A BARGE POLL. THEY ARE INCOMPETANT AND THEY SIMPLY DO NOT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR POSESSIONS WHEN THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR BREAKING THEM AND LOSING THEM (OR STEALING THEM) DISGUSTED.

Service cost: £2189

Pickfords are a waste of money for domestic removals. We booked a full service packing, removal and unpacking service. Booking co-ordinator(s)elusive and unreachable. They charged extra/optional insurance as standard procedure blackmailing us two days before the move. Their movers were rude, careless. Their version of unpacking was throwing things out of boxes. One guy was nice (Ryan), but they clocked off at 3pm and 1.30pm on final day when they were contracted to 5pm (left unpacking unfinished). Now we have to sort the mess out. They left my wife in tears. Not sure Pickfords care and they wont contact us.

Service cost: £2400

Thievery, damaged goods and rudeness"

The move was a disaster from beginning to end. The first appointment for someone to come around was booked and as we lived in an Army Barracks we explained the adviser would need to bring additional ID, such as driving licence etc and all he brought was his PIckfords pass which we already explained would not be enough, so he was turned away.

When he eventually came back three days before the move, he wasn't sure what items were what, brought no boxes explaining that the crew would pack on one day and deliver the next day. I explained that we had asked for the move to go ahead all on one day and he said no! So straight away I would be moving into a house with nothing. I showed him everything including the garage which was separate from the house. I also showed him two sheds that needed to be moved. The adviser Mr Bayliss then explained that for the insurance to be valid, the crew would do all the packing which is why he had not brought any boxes. I asked if we were covered and I was informed up to the limit of what we would be insured etc and he then said ' you won't need it, we are professionals'.

On the day of the move, a crew of five arrived. Two fab young guys who worked downstairs and two guys who worked upstairs who were the rudest men I have ever come across. They would ask me a question and when I answered, they huffed and puffed and rolled their eyes. The fifth guy was on the wagon loading or should I say chucking things on. It was that bad that I had to go out and say to the guy could he be a bit more careful because I could see and hear what he was doing and he just spat on the ground.

The guys then took the keys and loaded up the garage and then they came back and said all was loaded from the garage and they had locked up the garage again. On loading completely they said to me, we will see you in Devon. They didn't even have the right details for me and if I hadn't checked they had an address for somewhere 6 hours from where it needed to be.

I then didn't see the wagon from 1pm until the next morning at 9.30. When they arrived minus one man it was a different crew. They were rude, had no respect for my new property or my possessions. They were asking me where I wanted boxes and they were putting them in different rooms and then moaning when I asked them to be moved to the right room. Despite having a sackbarrow they let my tumble dryer roll down the path to the house, denting it and breaking it ( we had it checked and the denting had caused some problems to the fan and some filiments), so it didn't work. They had only covered some mattresses and my daughter's duvan bed was black where they have put it into the wagon without covering it. My bed which they insisted on breaking down turned up with a bent pole that wasn't bent before and with half the screws missing and was told ' if you can find the screws you can have em'.

When my father challenged the dirty bed, we were told it was because my house was 'squatters dirty', quite the opposite. Army housing have to be vacated with everything prestine. We had all the carpets cleaned and house was immaculate. He was less than complimentary and was abusive when we pointed out we saw what happened with the tumble dryer we did feel quite threatened.

I was so relived to get them out of my house. Over the next few days the true extent of the problems they had caused were clear. Several boxes had not arrived to the house, including expensive electric items from my daughter's room, her art box and other toys. My links of London jewellery had been taken from the pouches in my jewellery box, the pouches had been left behind and a cutlery set. Lots of stuff from the garage was missing. Three boxes of items were broken, glasses, plateware etc. Not to mention the tumble dryer that after being checked was unrepairable, a dirty bed that my daughter couldn't sleep on and my bed which is still not able to be put together and for the last two months since I moved I have had to sleep on a sofa.

When my husband did the move out from the accommodation, he went to the garage to find it had not only been left wide open, but because of bad weather everything inside had been damaged and ruined by the wet weather. The men who claimed to have packed the items up, lost us £450 of items. They had also failed to pack up a bookshelf and hid it in a wardrobe.

On contacting Pickfords I was passed from pillow to post, eventually being put through to a Gareth Davies who has to be the most unpleasent man I have ever had the displeasure of liaising with. He is in a position where he needs to needs to deal with the public and yet he has no customer service skills and when he loses control of a situation and knows he is wrong he becomes abusive and threatening.

Mr Davies claims that Pickfords do not insure military moves, so we could not claim back for all the damage and losses. I was NEVER informed of this and certainly would have never signed anything and would have insisted on another removals firm. The first I knew was when I made a complaint. After a week of complaining, Mr Davies said he would get someone to sort the beds out, get the garage cleared of the now damaged goods and he would look at getting all my damaged goods like the tumble dryer etc replaced etc.

On the day Mr Davies arranged for the crew to come back and removed the damaged garage goods, the crew did not turn up and Mr Davies was on the phone being incredibly abusive to Army personnel all of which can defend what went on and what state things were left in. It cost us £280 to have the items removed by the council. Mr Davies from Pickfords then had the audacity to offer me £80 to cover my losses.

To this date two months on nothing has changed and Mr Davies does not respond to my emails and will not take my calls. He now claims ( something he didn't have at the beginnning of the complaint but does now)to have a paper with my signature on saying I understood I wasn't insured. The Army did my paperwork for the move and they didn't say I wasn't insured and having done previous moves with other companies they have always been fantastic and been insured.

I have been so ill with stress and this has had massive financial implications as well.

Service cost: £2000

Avoid at all costs!
Terrible experience from start to finish. Sales associate appeared professional so we went with the company after doing a price match with Brittania. Highlights of the experience were:
Undervalued the contents size by 500.00
Arrived in NY then spent 2 months in wharehouse in Pennsylvania - they don't tell you that their partners will not deliver until they have enough goods in the van. So we had to wait an extra month while they could time it with other deliveries in our area. With a 6 month old child and pregnant wife we were on air beds and no tables. Not a bit of concern from the move coordinator in UK. We then get a bill for $500 from US storage partner of Pickfords, although they quoted us $75 on original docs. They say they cannot gaurentee this price, but it is clearly stated on the partner website. Finally goods arrive 2 months late and what do you know, much damage has been sustained. Over $3000 dollars worth of damage to furniture, smashed frames, torn artwork, damaged electrical items..etc. Then begins the real fun, insurance with Pickfords. We spent 800 pounds on this policy, and what a waste of money. They spent 2 months coming up with any and every way possible to not accept each damaged item as their fault. Impact damage to furniture was described as due to nature of the wood. All the pics they ask you to send they will say that unable to determine how it was due to packing. The packers it must be said were terrible. One older man who was the expert, who stayed outside and smoked and stuck labels on boxes and two polish jobbers who packed valuable and fragile items with no care or padding. Thus so much damage. They will not send anyone round if you are abroad and will not pay anything like what you need. $3000..they offer 300 pounds. After 3 months you have to accept it as the lawyers fees are much more and they know they have you by the short and curlies. My communication with move coordinator was annoying at best as she could not write in Englist very well and could not even get my name right on several emails. All in all, aweful from start to finish, do not use Pickfords.

Service cost: £4000

Pickfords initially seemed great for an international move and my partner's company chose their slightly higher quote based on reputation - what a laugh!
Packing inventory was incomplete with large furniture items missing. Description were ambiguous and boxes were not numbered.
Packers were careless, chimenea broken BEFORE packing, went in a small box in pieces.
Crates must have been badly packed as a solid chair had two legs broken off and a handmade solid walnut table was loaded with so much weight the screws holding the legs on ripped wood out from the central column.
Pickfords quibbled about the inventory but fortunately we'd taken out insurance based on volume not items. After an official complaint copied to BAR they paid out for damaged storage boxes, the chimenea, a gouged desk top. But the expensive items, £200 chair and the table estimated at over £1,000 they had repaired, though I never thought the table was repairable. Three months after the repair the table has broken again to quote Pickfords when I complained "Unfortunately, the work would only be guaranteed for a couple of weeks, after the repair had been completed.". Really? We'll see about that?

Service cost: £4000

My move was actually from London to Sydney. I would have to say the service received until delivery was good. However, all that became irrelevant when my goods were finally delivered and I discovered they were significantly damaged. It was disappointing that the delivery staff, who were contracted to unpack, also tried to hide the damage. To add insult to injury, Pickfords then did their best not to honour my insurance contract they had sold to me. They frankly lied through the process. I eventually got some compensation but had to take them to court and this took over a year and concerted effort. They truly put me through hell. I would not recommend them to anyone.

Service cost: £1860

Never again. The salesman was helpful and friendly and the packers generally worked well. We needed to store items for three months as the new flat was not ready for occupation, and some items were going to a second address. The initial quote was for the move from one address to another, plus storage. When we were ready to accept delivery we asked for the furniture to be delivered and were faced with a major extra charge for delivery. We complained that the original quote was misleading, and although a rep admitted that it was unclear, we eventually paid up because we wanted the furniture and did not want to pay another month's storage charges. We did think that Pickfords had us over a barrel. Prior to delivery we were asked to arrange parking for the truck, and this was done. However Pickfords did not mention that they would be using two delivery trucks and subsequently sent us a bill for parking fines incurred by the second truck. At the time of delivery we could have arranged for parking facilities for the second truck but the (surly) delivery man did not mention that there was a problem.  Delivery and unpacking was much worse than packing had been and was unsatisfactory and not completed properly. One of the staff (an East European) was so embarrassed by the conduct of his colleagues that he offered to return out of hours to complete the unpacking on his own. We declined this offer. Some items were damaged. The hassle to get anything repaired was too much. In the course of this dispute a Pickfords rep said that it was normal to pack suits into boxes containing china!

Service cost: £8000

First point, the delivery wasn't in Europe, I've only noted that as this website doesn't offer any other option, it was in Sri Lanka.
The pickup was OK, but the packers moved so fast and with so little thought they packed my shoes with the socks in. They even had the hide, having miscalculated the volume, to try and charge me extra. The delivery process was a nightmare. The 'customs inspection' that was covered in the contract meant in effect nothing was covered beyond looking at forms, so their 'local partner' charged like wounded bulls for the privilege of some customs officials looking at my stuff for all of 8 minutes. The extra charges were in a second contract that Pickfords tried to get me to sign on behalf of their local partners, which I can only see as highly irregular. Why sign one contract with one party, when they will use the second contract as an excuse to not only waive liability but rip you off? The charges applied were not just excessive, but were demanded up front and with some menace involved, along the lines of repeatedly ringing and demanding the cash, with someone showing up then and slapping an invoice in front of me with a statement of 'you pay'. I'm not an ATM, I don't run around with hundreds of pounds or dollars in my pocket. This was compounded by the threat that if I didn't pay up pronto, I'd then be paying storage charges. Given I'm not an ATM, my boss who was paying had to sign off on the payment and had for most of the week been overseas, and international time zones mean making payments isn't instant, to say I am unimpressed with the choice of local partner, Trans World Movers, in Colombo, would be a massive understatement. As it was I ended up having my container open by customs, then left unlocked in the storage yard because the local partner hadn't thought to bring any locks. The promise that there was 'security' was no comfort, they are just as likely to steal things as anyone else. Don't go with Pickfords, their contracts mean nothing, you will be hit with manufactured delays and extra charges, and their local agents will make your move a misery, for which the company you have contracted will take no responsibility.

Service cost: £3350

I'm soon to move from London to Qatar and have chosen Pickfords for the move. The crew was booked for last Tuesday 9-10am, but only arrived close to 1pm. The driver told me that he was booked for 12-1pm. So there was the first bad experience! It then turned out that he came on his own, he was 60 and I felt bad for him having to do the repacking etc by himself. He also wasn't informed that he had to repack the goods. In any case, he was very polite and wrapped everything promptly. However, I saw him load two boxes into his van which hadn't been repacked. As soon as he left I reported back to the Sales Manager I had been dealing with. He apologised and reassured me that those two boxes would be repacked once they arrived on site. Now I have to say that I have a bad feeling since my goods got picked up, since already a few things didn't go the planned way. I'm also worried that items might have gone missing as they were repacked in their warehouse rather than at my home. We'll have have to wait and see if the goods arrive (on time or at all), and whether anything will be missing or damaged. I really hope all will go well, but after reading other reviews on here I'm feeling quite nervous. Lead time is 8-11 weeks..watch this space. .

Service cost: £550

My move was actually to Singapore - the move experience end-to-end was awfull. They delayed my delivery because they did not get the last GBP30 after I had paid them more than GBP1000! (and this despite the fact that I had emailed them I was paying it - and that payment failed at my bank's end). The had damaged a number of goods at my end - TV, child cot, artifcats etc. and all I got was compensation for the child cot - I had to dispose of the matteress on my own cost. DO NOT HIRE THEM.

Service cost: £1300

Pickfords could not be more helpful when costing for job, after furniture delivered from storage items damaged 1 beyond repair, £900 wardrobe ruined no payout as still usable. Move from temp accommodation in Yeovil to Taunton priced at £1,300 local firm cost £300. Stored items had pine needles in boxes, no explanation!. It took 3 months to sort out compensation for damaged items and another month to actually pay out. The co. policy seems to be to use delaying tactics until you either settle for their offer or give up. If this were last removals co. in world I would buy a wheelbarrow and move myself. Never ever contemplate using this co. avoid at all costs.

Service cost: £2200

I couldn't rate the service from Pickford's higher. From the initial survey through to the team who packed and moved me everyone was professional, friendly and helpful way beyond the call of duty.
I didn't use Pickford's insurance because my contents insurance covered items in transit, in consequence the cost was considerably lower than any other of the other five quotations I had.
Everything was immaculately packed with reams of paper protecting anything even remotely fragile or sharp.
It was not an easy job, with innumerable stairs at the pick up, a neighbour boxing the van in and refusing to move, double yellow lines at the other end and a two hour hold up while my seller was still moving out. But the crew remained amiable, got on with the job and made the day I had been dreading into a pleasurable experience.

Service cost: £1320

16 weeks ago, on 24th of July 2014 our belongings were taken from our house in Esher to be delivered to Bahrain. For that we contracted Allied Pickfords and paid for their services in advance & in full. The contract we signed was for a sea freight shared container delivered after 7-9 weeks. 16 weeks was surely not mentioned anywhere, even in the smallest print and neither was the way we were treated by all of the UK employees that crossed our path while trying to find out the whereabouts of our belongings. We used South west branch & our coordinator was Ms Tina Matthews. Her correspondence was very good up to the point when the money was taken out of our account & belongings colected. After that it became very sketchy until it finaly turned into our emails either being completely ignored or replied with: "Leave it with me, I will get back to you", followed by complete silence until our next email. To clarify things even more I must say that we did not push or ask for constant attention, the first email we ever sent asking about the progress of our shipment was 10 weeks after it has been colected. We gave them space & time, thought even 3 months is acceptable, but then had enough of being constantly humiliated and disgusted with absence of response to our queries. 12 weeks into the waiting we were given a date, 27th of October for arrival in Bahrain. Bahraini coordinator got in touch, we organised all of the customs paperwork & hoped for the best. After that date pased we contacted the Bahraini office just to be made aware that our belongings never arrived to bahrain on the date stated or any other. Our tacking number and password were not working from the start and when asked Ms Matthews  about it guess what happened: we were ignored yet again! So at this point we had no means of knowing who was to blame: UK or Bahrain office. When we contacted them both Ms Matthew replied that she will check & get back to us. And that was the last we've heard from her or anyone else at the southwest branch. So understandably by this point we had enough of this sharade & decided to write directly to the CEO of Pickfords Mr Russell Start as yet again Ms Matthews failed to provide us with complaints department contact details after we've writen & asked for it. The CEO replied (a huge surprise there!) and passed our complaint onto a relevant area manager and the UK network director to investigate & revert. He wrote that they will be back in touch very soon and here we are, waiting, still..

Service cost: £820

Been waiting for 9 months for these people to deal with an insurance claim on our move from the UK to the USA.  Celeste Puttock from the Reading office says " I am revering the matter to my manager" and that is all, never come up with a solution. Sadly have a good name but that does not reflect in my experience. The claim is really simple but they now don't even return emails. I have used a man and a van service before and that worked well but as this was an international move went with an established name, proved to be a waste of time.

Service cost: £6000