Pickfords

Horrible service. The director, managers and staff provided the worst service. No one knew where my boxes were. The tracking number did not even work. They did not know airlines. They did not follow up or get back to me unless I made numerous long distance calls. One staff member told me to seek compensation and now the company is going back on their word and not providing any compensation. Boxes were 8 days late. Paying so much for service you expect it to be done right and with help from the provider. This service is not worth even 10 pounds.

Service cost: £751

With disappointment I write this review. NEVER use Pickfords as a moving company - unless you want your items stolen.

I recently moved from London to Singapore. The shipment took just over 3 months as I purchased part of a container (a full container was too large).

When my shipment arrived to my new house in Singapore, to my disappointment and frustration two electronic items were stolen and I don't know what else may have been taken.

I want to make myself clear, it's not the monetary value which I am most frustrated by, it's the fact that I fully trusted Pickfords and they have stolen from me. What gives them the right to take something that is not theirs?

A customer would expect non damage or loss to their goods incurred by Pickfords personnel - this was not the case and hence I urge nobody to use Pickfords as a moving service, save yourself the money and hassle.

What I ask Pickfords is:

- How can you employ staff that are untrustworthy and willing to steal from your customers?
- How can you then not make it right out of goodwill by compensating those customers for their loss?
- What steps are you taking to minimise damage and loss by your own staff?

Whatever the case, I fully agree with the other poor reviews on this site - DO NOT USE PICKFORDS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

The company is dishonest, does not hire trustworthy employees and furthermore does not take responsibility to compensate for the loss of its customers. There is no duty of care or goodwill.

Expect Pickfords to take your money for the move, damage or steal y our goods, and then wash their hands of any complaints.

You're better off moving your goods on your own using a zip van or a friend's car, or in my case paying the airline for extra baggage.

Service cost: £1000

Where to start? Three unexpected and "inexplicable" delays meant our air freight items arrived four weeks late (so a two month wait in all, up from a 2 week aim and a 28 day guarantee) .. And then only half of them arrived. The rest of had been lost, bringing another two week wait. No communication throughout so I had to keep chasing when one, then two, then three days passed without a delivery or any update on where our items were. Eventually got a response by emailing our order manager and the UK Managing Director. Two weeks since the last of our items arrived (did I mention they were scratched?) and I'm still waiting for Pickfords' accounts department to put through our refund.

Heroically bad. Do yourself a favour by avoiding them and the rest of us a service by putting them out of business.

Service cost: £1500

Mixed bag. Uplift from London was efficient and chaps were friendly. I was told they would 'crate' one large and precious painting, but found out later it had merely been wrapped in usual wrap, resulting in damage to frame. Our belongings were in storage for over a year and when they were delivered to Edinburgh there were signs of having been stored in damp conditions. Driver from London was a misery and complained about having to drive up in pouring rain and left most of the work to others (local lads were fantastic and never stopped). Several boxes were soaked through but he didn't tell me at the time. The wet boxes had been concealed in dry boxes. Beware the fact that you only have a certain length of time to report damage - not easy with large numbers of boxes. We're still finding damage. Would not use them again.

Service cost: £7000

I was advised that I didn't need to pack items in drawers because they will be covered by sheet of paper/cloth by crews on the day of move and I thought that was really helpful with reducing the amount of my packing. However, after the move finished, we started noticing small items were missing from some drawers such as miniature telescope or confectioneries. Although they are not high value items (of course we packed all high value items separately and carried by ourselves), it doesn't mean that they can be nicked by the such big removal company's "well trained" crews. It was very sad day for us to have realised that someone we trusted behaved in such manner. The customer service is totally heartless, I informed them about this but they were not really interested in our report.
It's not about the value of the items, it is about the principle. Any removal company crews shouldn't interfere clients personal belongings. Don't trust their crews.

Service cost: £1600

This is one of my worst-ever experience, with any service company.

I used Pickfords for an international move because the initial quote seemed ok and service responsive, but it ended up being a disaster, for several reasons:
The door to door move took much longer than initially announced (almost 14 weeks, compared with a promise of 8-12 weeks). The date of reception was also suddenly changed, with no clear justification, and I had to insist multiple times to finally get an appointment for delivery.
- The overall state in which my goods arrived was very bad, clearly due to hasty packaging.
- Some valued items had simply disappeared (highly breakable ones), with no explanation provided. I suspect movers stole them or broke them and quietly hid them to avoid any blame.
- Some items came in broken, but I could not get a claim because of some exception in the insurance rule (despite spending hundreds of Pounds in insurance fees).

They're very good at finding excuses for these problems, but not for providing any actual help. Do yourself a favour and avoid. Even if the initial price elsewhere may seem a bit high, you'll end up saving much more by not using Pickfords.

Service cost: £1100

I am extremely disappointed with the whole experience and inconvenience caused using Pickfords.
From the Initial packing of goods (why put shoes and remote controls in a box and label as kitchen !)from losing Winter clothes and a damaged Wardrobe.
The lack of care and the general respect for my belongings is not at all what I expected from Pickford’s.
The constant chasing that I am having to put in with an insurance claim does not help this situation.

Service cost: £2300

As a diplomat from a Western European country I have been moving back and forth with my family across the planet (Europe, Africa, North and South America, the Middle East) since 1976 (about twenty relocations) and Pickfords has been by far the worse removal experience I have ever had. We needed to remove about sixty boxes of private belongings, part of it to my home country, the rest to an apartment I Portugal. The packing in London, the destruction beyond repair of a valuable inlaid wood table through carelessness of their staff, the removals to my home country and to the holiday apartment: the whole process has been fraught with stressful, unpleasant incidents, unilateral changes of plans by Pickfords or their subcontractors, inadequate advance warnings of delivery etc. This was all sloppy and unprofessional to the utmost and has been a terrible, stressful experience. I did remember having called on their services many years ago and had been reasonably satisfied, so little did I know how bad their service has now become. They were the cheapest of three quotes I requested but had I consulted removalreviews I would have known and stayed away from them. Interesting reading indeed!
On top of that Pickfords’ staff, in particular a lady who spoke almost incomprehensibly on the phone and kept interrupting me, humiliated me by stating the removers would not enter my apt to deliver our stuff until one hour after I paid up the extra they were making me pay, though I had given my word in writing I would do so. I had no choice but to cough up because they were keeping my belongings hostage. In other words they blackmailed me into paying an extra. A removal lorry could have gone through without any problem to the apt in question, provided a minimum of precaution was taken, as was suggested to the driver, who steadfastly refused. So the delivery went into storage and I was made to pay for the extra cost of a second unnecessary delivery. The same problem occurred during the delivery to my home and I had to find a van myself, in spite of the “door to door delivery” they were contracted to.
The lady in question said I should have read the small print (the usual trick used by "some" companies) that stated a 14 m. long lorry would be used and I was supposed to tell them if the lorry would be able to reach my premises or not. If I did not know what 14 m. was (I knew) I was told it equals the length of a London double decked bus. So she implied I was supposed to go through the streets of the destination cities (starting where? from London?) all the way up to my premises measuring street widths and curves to see if a double decked bus could manage them. Or maybe I should have hired a double decked bus cum driver… It was so ridiculous it made us laugh except the extra Pickfords charged was no laughing matter.
Another interesting read is the website of the British Association of Removers and their Code of Practice Pickfords has subscribed to. It states: “promoting and protecting consumer interest beyond the requirement of the law”. I especially draw attention to Articles 1, 1.1 (destruction of table) 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.9 (not to refuse to release goods), 3.3 (provide clear information), 3.5, 3.8 (provide clear information on vehicles used), 5.1 (use vehicles suitable for removal work), 5.3.3 (destruction of table) of the BAR Code of Practice. Pickfords obviously couldn’t care less for that Code.
Speaking with someone in the business I found out the problem is companies like Pickfords, in fact most of the removal industry now work increasingly with subcontractors. They obviously go for the cheapest ones and cheap almost always means bad service, being it for packing, transporting or storing. The subcontractors, who hire sometimes incompetent people who have no link with say Pickfords and pay them cheap, decide by themselves for example the date and hour of delivery, and in the case of the delivery to my home, brought it two days forward because that was their best convenience regardless of the customer’s previous arrangements.
The contract between Pickfords and me stated “door to door delivery”. I paid in advance as requested, in good faith and I answered to the best of my abilities the questions they asked about access. I am not however an expert on where outsized lorries can or cannot go in town all the way to my home or vacation apartment. To reject on the customer the onus of extra costs because 14 m. long lorries the customer has never seen are used is utterly unfair and to blackmail him into paying these extra cost under threat of non delivery outrageous. This, I think is in total contradiction with the BAR Code of Conduct. Never in any of our many previous relocations was the size of the lorry an issue (nor was I made to pay extras by their competitors).
With such bad service and their reputation going down steeply it wouldn’t surprise me if Pickfords soon went bankrupt. In the meantime my advice to diplomats, military, expats, businessmen and retirees, British or others: stay away from Pickfords.

Service cost: £2500

The team that arrived to ship my one bedroom flat from London to New York was unbelievably unprofessional. One of the gentlemen put the entire weight of his body on my fragile $4,000 coffee table nearly breaking it. The team did not bring proper crates for packing and began to pack items loosely in cardboard boxes. Small, fragile ornaments and picture frames were packed together. Thankfully, I was watching the whole thing unfold and told the entire crew to leave. I just saved $60,000 worth of items from being entirely ruined, future lawyer fees and insurance claim nightmares.

I would never recommend these clowns to anyone. If your employer or anyone recommends them—DO NOT follow through with their service. If I could give zero stars, I would.

Service cost: £4000

Honestly I could write an entire novel about my nightmare with Pickfords but I'll try to keep it brief. We moved from UK to Canada in early 2019 and, as the title suggests, they misrouted our container to Africa instead of Canada. A five week shipment took over 3 months to arrive - I was 5 months pregnant when we loaded our stuff and it arrived when I was 9 months along - a week before the baby was born (I was actually on bedrest at that time so we had to hire people to unpack for us.) This wasn't pickfords fault apparently (they claim the shipping co, Maersk, loaded the wrong container) but pickfords was our only point of contact during this and I felt their customer service was horrible throughout. In fact, they refused to acknowledge that the container had even been misrouted, even after Maersk told me it had. Their negligence caused us a huge amount of a huge amount of financial, mental and emotional stress. Here's an overview of our experience: 

Negatives:

- Hidden fees (eg insurance, parkings) that we weren't made aware of until after we'd paid for the move. For example, the insurance ended up costing twice as much as the "3%" they tell you in the beginning due to fine print clauses that they don't point out until later. 
- They promised things when quoting that they didn't deliver - eg council parking permit (I had to walk up and down my street asking neighbours to move their cars.)
- Packing and unpacking were not careful or as thorough as promised.
-Poor communication / not answering questions / vague or confusing answers when they did. 
- They wouldn't track our shipment for us - I had to do it myself with shipping company. Found out from them that our container was in morocco but pickfords dismissed me and told me I was wrong and ignored my concerns for two weeks.
-delivered wrong container to us, costing us and the delivery company a lot of money (we had to start our lease on our house early to accommodate this and also take days off work to recieve and clear this container.)
- They told us it'd be no problem to get compensation for our delay, but when it came down to it they told us they required extensive paperwork to "prove" that we were put out by the delay (this was never mentioned before and by the time we were asked, we were unable to provide some things they requested so lost out on compensation.)
- Insurance claims were a pain - we had a few minor things and they pushed back on everything and used 'fine print' to stiff us for relatively small amounts. 


Postives:
-They were usually quick to respond to emails/calls (even though their answers were often vague and unhelpful as I've mentioned.)
- They eventually did pay some compensation and for some rental furniture for our home while we waited for our container. However, this was something I had to push for (after everything they should've offered it up as an option in the beginning.)
- The movers on both ends were very friendly and helpful, and the shipping company in Canada was really wonderful to deal with when our shipment went wrong. 

All in all, their customer service is not only lacking, but in our case, dangerously negligent. I had to push them to help us at every point along the way; there was no point in which I felt like they were genuinely trying to proactively help me. I'm sure in 95% of their shipments, nothing goes wrong and they are fine, but in the cases like ours where things do go wrong, be prepared to fight tooth and nail to get them to take you seriously and provide any kind of assistance.

Service cost: £5600

I have made 11 international moves, and six long-distance in-country moves. I have dealt with companies in Europe, in Africa, in India, and in the United States. My experience with Pickford's was without any question the worst ever.

Administratively it was a nightmare to deal with this company. Promised shipping dates were not respected. Packing dates were changed. There was no coordination whatever between different departments, who regularly gave conflicting information. I was told with 24 hours notice that the insurance for which I had paid Pickfords would not be available, on the putative grounds that my shipment contained too many high value items.

One anecdote will give the flavour of doing business with Pickfords. After many delays the goods were packed and on their way, and Pickfords sent me a written notice that my goods had safely been loaded on the ship. I heaved a great sigh of relief, and went to a ship tracking app to track the progress of the ship. To my astonishment I found they had selected a ship that was bound for European ports and would not begin to cross the Atlantic for two weeks (so much for the delivery date promises). But more jawdropping was the fact that on theday Pickfords sent me the loading confirmation THE SHIP WAS STILL AT SEA AND HAD NOT EVEN ARRIVED IN THE UK. I couldn't believe it. Obviously the goods had not been loaded, if the ship had not arrived. When I called Pickford's to inquire just how they had loaded my container on a ship which was not in port, they had no explanation, much less an apology, for what had every appearance of a downright lie.

It was hard to determine whether I was dealing with incompetence or indifference. Of course the one does not preclude the other.

In fairness, I have no complaint with the technical work of the packers. They were experienced and competent and while there was breakage, it was within reasonable limits for a full container shipment.

Under no circumstances would I consider doing business with this firm again, nor would I recommend it to anyone.

Service cost: £15000

We were moving from London to Canada and wanted to ship 4 small boxes of personal effects we could not get in our suitcases. We ended up with a total of 80 kg that we asked Pickfords to ship. I received two quotes, one that was to the destination airport and one that was delivered to the door which was about 25% more and it would arrive in 7-10 days. I wanted to pick it up at the airport but was convinced that I could experience obscene "handling charges" on the destination end, so I agreed on door-to-door as Pickfords claimed they would handle all the paperwork and I would incur no further charges. I provided all paperwork requested, including inventories. They dropped off the boxes on a Friday and picked up the packed boxes on the Monday explaining that they would provide a final invoice on Tuesday.

The first red flag went up when I did not receive the final invoice on Tuesday, or Wednesday, despite phone assurances that we would. By Friday, the second red flag was raised when they contacted me saying they would have to open the boxes and remove an item claiming it was liquid (it was not liquid), at a charge of 30 pounds, plus 20 pounds to send it to a UK address. Given that we had already left the UK and were at that point in Canada, this was very concerning. I had to argue extensively that there were no prohibited items in the shipment, at which point Hannah tried to point out the conditions of carriage I had apparently signed onto when I was given the quote. Given it was a verbal quote over the phone, I never did see these conditions of carriage, but regardless, there were no prohibited items and I finally received an invoice on the Monday after it had been picked up, 7 days after it was picked up on a 7-10 day service.. Keep in mind that they stated several times on their website and on the invoice that any delays would incur storage fees, so I was very concerned they would try to charge me more for this. Finally, they shipped my cartons by DHL and I received a tracking number.

When we came through customs on our arrival, I went to Customs and had them stamp the inventory for the goods being shipped. I immediately provided this to Pickfords and DHL. I then received notification that the shipment was delayed at destination because I had to go back to the airport to clear it through customs and then go to DHL to provide the clearance. So much for door-to-door and looking after all the paperwork. There was an additional form that required a stamp from CBSA that I was not provided initially in order to get it stamped on our arrival, but within seconds at the CBSA office, they stamped it and I then proceeded to the DHL depot as instructed.

On arrival at DHL, they checked the documents and released the goods to me. There was no discussion of potential delivery times, so the door-to-door service I paid about 80 quid for was not even an option. Given the potential hassles that would ensue and being only 30 yards away from the goods, I opted to collect them rather than argue the point.

When I contacted Pickfords regarding a refund of the additional charges, they said I should have contacted them again to escalate and arrange delivery. The UK is 7 hours ahead and the Pickfords office was closed, I was at the DHL depot at the airport, 30 yards from my goods. Helen repeated the line about high "handling fees" that could be incurred, but would not specify by whom, or how much. I was open to not having issue if they had incurred any charges, but they would/could not provide any information to that regard. They sent me an invoice they say a previous client had been subjected to, which was absolutely not applicable. The communication I received claimed that it was always a requirement to clear goods in person, so Pickfords knew, or should have known that they could not actually provide me the service they promised. They have absolutely refused to refund me for services they had no intention or ability to provide. I paid via a bank transfer, so have no recourse. If I had paid by credit card, I would have enough documented evidence to pursue a claim through the credit card. In hindsight, Pickfords must know this as they said they would charge more if I used a credit card. I have all the emails and documentation and it is very plain to see. I was amazed they refused to refund such a small amount, but it just shows the level of integrity this company has.

In short, this company has no integrity and should not be used. I should have gone directly to DHL rather than dealing with this dishonest middle-man company. If you do decide to use them, do not fall for the fear mongering tactics they will use to get you to pay more. Pay by credit card so you have some recourse and ensure you keep every bit of correspondence. I would be happy to share any of this correspondence with anyone interested, but I would strongly suggest avoiding Pickfords and instead dealing with a company that has some integrity.

Service cost: £322

Booked Pickfords as I had done several times before in the last three years for a move within London. It was hair raising. They sent a team of inexperienced non-English speakers , got the quantity (site of vehicle) and length of time needed completely wrong and after a harrowing experience that included me collecting a whole car full of stuff they had left behind and spending two nights in a hotel due to the delay they now refuse to pay for the damage to items. Turns out their new insurance arrangements disadvantage the customer to the extent that customer is practically uninsured. Their staff duly took photos and made a note on the delivery note as in previous moves where damages were duly handled but nothing happens now. Turns out customer has to handle everything with a third party that had not been disclosed to me before the actual move or in the course of the contracting process. Customer has to prove ownership, value, causation etc when it is of course Pickfords who are liable for damage. Thankfully my damage was not big. But a grand big warning here!! Also, they damage lampshades every time, all of them. Don't give them any lampshades to carry. Also strangely the non-English speaking crew suddenly refused to transport any candles (not they knew the word for candle) so chaos left right and centre. Avoid!!

Service cost: £1603

Please read and take notice of mine and other reviews. This company were dreadful. At least £5000 worth of damage to our furniture. Our job was a packing and removal, packing service didn't happen as they came without the proper tools, we ended up doing it ourselves. Furniture went into storage and when it was delivered two weeks later there were an unbelievable amount of damages. Sofa's, garden furniture, tv's, etc etc. Even the guys unloading couldn't believe the way it had been stacked and one was injured as all the furniture fell on him due to the poor stacking. Now over 3 months later and still fighting to claim on the insurance I took out with them, I cannot even get calls returned. Avoid this company, they should not be in business.

Service cost: £5000

This company are a bunch of crooks!!

They were the most expensive but I thought the best. The gave me a quote which I eventually accepted and paid in full. On the day of the move their packaging team phoned head office to advise that the intended shipment was going to be bigger than quoted. Head Office authorised the shipment to go ahead. To my horror two weeks before the ship docked they contacted me to say as the shipment was bigger than expected I owed them more money and sent me an invoice. At this point the arguments started.

They then held my goods to ransom and put a hold on my goods at their destination. I eventually had no option but to give in and pay this company more money to get my possessions.

They are a bunch of thieves. STEER CLEAR! If I could give them a negative star rating it would be -5.

Service cost: £800

Where do I begin? Our experience with Pickford's has been absolutely horrendous. We were misquoted the correct container size from the initial assessment. The removal guys arrived and by 9 PM that evening they realized they wouldn't fit everything in. The office was shut so we couldn't contact anyone to discuss our problem. The removal guys took the remaining 30 boxes in their other van back to the depo. The following morning we were told it was going to cost us an extra $2000 to ship the extra 30 boxes. We had no choice but to agree. On arrival in the UK. The original 20 ft crate arrived with a number of damaged items. But it took a further 3 months for the 30 boxes to arrive. On arrival we realized that 5 boxes were missing. The total damages and lost items came to approximately 2500 pounds. Our original point of reference was James Sanderson who was so slow. He eventually sent off our claim 5 months after we had arrived back in the UK. Weeks went past we heard nothing. I couldn't even contact him via telephone. Eventually we were informed he had left the company. We then had to start our claim again with another employee.. who then left 3 weeks later!! We are now with our 3rd customer service individual who has now informed us that our insurance doesn't cover the items that Pickford's lost.!! I am at a loss for words.. I pointed out that we employed Pickford's to move our belongings, if they are lost by their employees, or at their depot, that is their responsibility regardless of insurance. I think under normal circumstances it would be called theft!! We have had no apology whatsoever, and are now entering the 6 month mark without any form of resolution. We are constantly having to chase Pickford's to find out what is hppening. But sadly we just go round and round in circles. This is not how to operate a business Pickford's. What would have been nice, is if someone contacted us with an apology and a refund for the items that Pickford's lost and damaged. I don't think I have had a worse experience with any other company.

Service cost: £9000

Buyer beware - Pickfords sub-contract removals from South of France/Monaco (yes, it is in the small print but don't think that because you are paying top money you are getting brand leading service - you're not!). Shambolic communications/service through third party with Pickfords acting as commissioning intermediary. We were also hit with an additional bill in the few days prior to the move. Pictures unwrapped and frames chipped, glass broken. Effectively you are paying premium prices for a below second rate service - definitely try elsewhere! Perhaps they are paying more attention to sponsoring their Pickfords powerboating fun than to providing a decent service to customers?

Service cost: £1700

So never use this company. If you do as I did then it will doubtless be a disaster so here are some tips to deal with them. I successfully got stuff repaired under insurance and then got compensation even thought they said they didn't provide it and played hard to get. So do the following:
1. Insure all your goods
2. When they get packed make sure you photograph all items (the before photos you are bound to need)
3. When the belongings are delivered have your camera available again and photo all packing and photo when they boxes are opened. Digital pics are cheap to take and you will need them
4. If anything is damaged do not sign the delivery note. Write that you refuse to sign and the items are damaged and that you want the items repaired through the insurance and also compensation - the point here is it is then on their official paperwork
5. Immediately contact pickfords and send before and after photos showing the damage and if necessary scanning their paperwork where you have not signed
6. Then follow up time and time again
7. Then argue on compensation. They have clear standards they are required to meet as being a member of BAR so hold them to it
8. Keep a record of every email and use this against them. Again and again. Mention legal action and they will have to refer to their legal advisors so you get their attention
9. Then when they pay they will not notify you so regularly check your bank account. Their payments are under the acronym PMM so look out for that
10. They have now finally paid both insurance and also compensation and amusingly they refuse to tell me they have paid

So the moral of this story. If you want to avoid all these steps. Don't use them. I've dealt with politicians for most of my life so hopefully this may help those that have used pickfords and are in a mess. It is possible to beat them but you have to make it a major exercise! Good luck.

Service cost: £30000

Used Allied Pickfords because they had such a good reputation, but were quite disappointed. They insisted on repacking our items for insurance purposes, but our original packing was actually better and many items arrived damaged or completely broken. 'Their' insurance company is actually separate from Allied, and when we tried to make a claim they just masterfully bounced us back and forth between each other. Every claim seemed to be related to moisture damage somehow, which was a convenient exclusion from the policy. Wouldn't use again in a hurry!

Service cost: £1200

I engaged Allied Pickford to move from Singapore to Australia and it is the worst experience ever. Firstly they offered competitive quotation. Unbelievably the actual price is more than 50% than the quotation. They held back my belongings and refused to ship it until I paid them the extra charges on the purported extras I had. I escalated the matter but their senior management just not keen to entertain me. They sent a team lead, who was argumentative rather than providing solutions to my issue. They also delayed my shipment by 7 days from the agreed delivery date. Their customer service has since disappeared when I asked them for compensation. Very regret to appoint Allied Pickford. The worst decision ever. NEVER USE ALLIED PICKFORD.

Service cost: £7000

I would really not recommend Allied Pickfords Australia or UK.
All our furniture was packed very badly and with no care at all. Allied Pickfords in Australia were understaffed and inexperienced. They had packed bedding in with shoes and computers that weren't packed with any protective packaging whatsoever. The packers in the UK were shocked upon opening all the boxes and couldn't believe it themselves.
We are still waiting for the insurance company to sort out their reports and are not willing to replace our bed and mattress but have it repaired instead which the bed manufacturing company have said is impossible to do!
I have communicated all of this to to the managers of both countries and have been offered a mere $AU150 compensation for our troubles which is just a joke frankly! By offering this compensation, they are basically admitting they are at fault but not willing to pay for all the real and stress this has caused my family!
They have not replied to my last 5 emails after this and have chosen to ignore my concerns.
We only chose them because they had offices in both countries but this has proven no help whatsoever as they keep blaming the other one and will not take responsibility for their very poor service.
The only person who could do their job properly was the salesperson who came round initially and sold us an amazing package which of course they didn't live up to from the minute we signed the contract. This has caused us incredible stress and worry and would definitely NOT RECOMMEND Allied to anyone who is moving internationally.

Service cost: £14500

I am going to echo all negative points of other reviews left by customers of Pickfords. For my move from Boston to Barcelona, Pickfords at first seemed like they were professional and trustworthy, but this is a testament to their sales team.
I paid over 2500 British pounds for a 1-bedroom + small amount of antique pieces move. It was overpriced in my opinion, but I was starting a new job quickly and needed to pack my things quickly. Lesson learned. Never rush this or you could get stuck with a company like Pickfords.
My belongings arrived 18 weeks (a full 6 months) after they were picked up. While the local movers both in Boston and Barcelona were a joy to welcome and took care of my things, Pickfords did not. I had to chase up my agent every week for an update, she never initiated the conversation. Also, I was told by them repeatedly that it was the the delay was the fault of their US carrier for placing my belongings on a container set for the UK when I was moving to Barcelona. They never took ownership for this error that caused the delay. I flew to Barcelona and waited a full 6 weeks without my belongings.

The customer "manager" also had the audacity to say she did not think my opinion and complaint were sincere. When, in fact, all my complaints were objective (email trails, and delay as a result of their business partner).

Contacts at Pickfords I worked with:
Ashley Tegerdine - agent who did not keep track of my belongings
Alexandru Andronic - Took weeks to transfer my complaint to the customer service department
Samantha McKeon - the customer service "manager" who accused me of being insincere with my complaint

My hope is that either there is an entire change in personnel or that enough of these bad reviews surface on the internet so no one uses Pickfords and the company is forced to either improve or shut down.

Service cost: £2600