PSS International Removals

BEWARE. I used PSS Removals to send several boxes of very personal belongings to Dubai. ALL of the boxes arrived totally destroyed despite being covered from top to bottom in ‘FRAGILE’ tape. Every single item of glassware, crockery, picture frames, electrical, you name it - smashed to pieces and some stuff missing too. Like they had thrown my boxes from the top of a building (I have attached just a few of many images). This ‘family run’ company then dodged all of my emails looking for some for of compensation. All they do is pass the buck. Terrible, shady firm. Go elsewhere!

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £2600

I paid for air delivery, which was supposed to arrive within 2 weeks, but I did not receive my belongings until 4 weeks later. During this period, the staff ignored my daily inquiries about the status of my boxes.

When my belongings finally arrived, they were broken, including a smashed Smeg microwave. Despite paying for insurance and claiming £400, which reflects the market price of the item, PSS Removals only offered me £30 in compensation. This is utterly unacceptable.

I have sent several emails to Jess Bullard, the Claims Adjuster, requesting a reconsideration of the amount or, at the very least, the terms and conditions of the insurance, which I was not provided with at the time of purchase. Unfortunately, my emails have been ignored.

I do not recommend PSS Removals due to their poor service and lack of accountability. I will be leaving multiple reviews to warn others about this experience.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £2600

The two guys who came to pack up my house full of 'stuff' did a great job. Very organised and thorough with what they did, everything well wrapped. Basically done in one day and ready for loading into container next day, I needed a 20 foot container. The time consuming part was the form filling for Australian Customs and for insurance purposes. It does take time, and it does take thinking about. Be very sure you insure the items important to you, no point in insuring a jigsaw or coloring book. I was able to follow the progress of the contain via a marine traffic app. It took just one month from loading at Felixstowe a week after pick up to unloading in Brisbane. Two items, dog related, were picked for additional cleaning and disinfecting, which cost extra but I had been advised this could happen, done quickly and returned to rest of shipment. Overseas Packers and Shippers handled to import and delivery in Queensland. They also did a great job, though because of my need to be interstate shortly after arrival, plus it being a rural delivery, it took a bit longer than usual for delivery which was not the fault of the company. Delivery crew also did an excellent job. Nothing broken, damaged or missing. Communication maintained throughout, pricing upfront so I knew what was involved. From first home visit to get quote to delivery crew leaving, the process went well for me. My advice, plan as far ahead as you can, make sure you read every little thing and spend time reading and completing the forms required correctly, and pay in good time for payments to clear.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: £4200

TL;DR - DO NOT USE THEM.

Think insuring things might help?

DO NOT USE their 'Standard Liability Shipment Protection'. You pay extra based on your declared value, but you don't get your declared value back.

- Declared a glass dining table for £700.

- PSS charged 3.5% of declared value + 0.3% per every month of storage. I paid an extra £49.

- Moved from London to Amsterdam (PSS721215).

- Table came completely shattered. Local company declared it as a total loss and removed it entirely.

- Sub contracted RCS ('Removal Claims Service') comes in. They now value the table as £200, not £700.

- All claims are also subject to an extra £100 'handling fee', as clearly stated in T&Cs, of course.

So I have no dining table, and I get offered back £100. Save yourself from heartache and don't do it.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: £3658

If you value your personal belongings and have expectations of professional and fair treatment I would avoid this company at all costs. PSS proudly state on their website a 'stress free move,' I beg to differ, my experience with PSS has without doubt been one of the most stressful experiences of my life.
I paid PSS a total of £4,245, this included so called 'professional export packing' and standard liability insurance.
PSS damaged 150 of our personal belongings due to the negligence of their packing team. Seeing treasured possessions stuffed, jammed, crammed, squashed, squeezed and forced into boxes without adequate packing was extremely distressing. The damage was endless: packing tape on furniture & sofa cushions, broken furniture, bedding & linen used as replacement packing, handbags & shoes shoved into boxes without packing, books torn & bent, clothing used as packing around an old stool. I was completely horrified and broke down in tears many times while unpacking. I can understand damage from a dropped container or some unforeseen circumstance, but to see 150 belongings damaged as a result of laziness and careless disregard is unforgivable and entirely avoidable. Unfortunately the worst was to come. The subsequent aftercare by PSS was and is even more appalling. It would appear literally once the ship has sailed PSS do not care about their client. After submitting my claim they left me to their incredibly incompetent claims settlement agent. They sent out a loss adjuster, but it would appear her findings did not suit them even though it was deemed 'fair and reasonable' by their own NZ agent. They then ignored my questions with regards to the loss adjusters findings and proceeded to 'make enquiries' for another 4 months. At no stage of 'making their enquiries' did they ask me any relevant questions and they steadfastly refused to accept the loss adjusters findings!
The behaviour of PSS and their claim settling agent Removal Claims Service has been evasive and unprofessional. The settlement offer was significantly reduced from their own loss adjuster findings. The application of an average value and depreciation is without grounds and not in line with their own terms and conditions. The settlement was full of alarming errors and inconsistencies.
Seven months on from discovering my damaged belongings I am still waiting for the claim to be satisfactorily resolved.
PSS make many warm and reassuring statements on their website including 'our customers receive the same level of care and attention we would expect ourselves.' These are just insincere, empty words if you do not follow them up with actions. The true testament of a reputable , professional company is their aftercare, how efficiently they respond when things go wrong. In my opinion as a client PSS have failed in every way possible.

Service cost: £4245

We used PSS for our move from the UK to Australia and they have been an absolute nightmare. We had 2 prior major moves with other companies with no issues at all, but PSS have been a disaster. Some examples: 1) They completely under-estimated our volume of goods, so we ended up paying around 50% more than their 'fixed price' quote - and if you don't pay they may hold your possessions to ransom, relying on the small print in the contract which says you pay for any errors they make. 2) They say they use their own removals teams but in fact subcontract virtually everything in the UK and overseas - the only PSS employee we met was the salesman. 3) They delivered dozens of items damaged and broken through inadequate packing and handling - (which cost over £12,000) from TV's to washing machines, fridge-freezers and hi-fi equipment. 4) They accept responsibility for nothing - everything is somebody else's fault in their eyes. 5) You can forget about their complaints process and BAR membership - in practice they just ignore it and BAR seemingly turn a blind eye and even outsource their complaints process!). 6) Their expensive insurance may be worthless - we paid £1000 just for this, and 6 months after our move we've still not even had a visit from a loss adjuster and no progress is being made towards settlement. I could easily list another another 20 things they have messed up throughout the move. Seriously, if you're going to entrust all your worldly possessions to someone, really do your homework, shop around, forget the sales pitch promises and read ALL the small print, or you might be very sorry indeed. We just wish we had read the reviews online first and found out how terrible they really are, as PSS may well ruin your new start in a new country. Check out the other people they have misled and moves they have mis-managed on the other review websites like removalreviews.co.uk.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: £12000

I moved to Australia and used them for my removal. They were all lovely and replied to emails, all very helpful until they got the payment. On the day of removal they made damage to my floor which my landlord didn't raise so I didn't end up making a fuss with PSS. My parents were also relocating so in the time, I referred my parents to them which was a MISTAKE.

Again all very helpful until they got the money. They damaged my parents hallway lighting which now cannot get replaced and the new buyers are still after us to replace it.

They refuse to reply to me on emails and the goods are still in storage here, with the company on this side refusing to release them until PSS hve confirmed that an outstanding invoice (that they haven't even sent to me) is settled. I have chased them for payment for about 3 months and also to deal with the damage to parents hallway.

Still no further along and im being charged ongoing storage charges here with PALMERS REMOVALS - They are also incredibly difficult to deal with and il be making a separate review about them. They offered £100 off a £1000 invoice that remained for about £250 worth of damage to my home as a 'goodwill gesture' after chasing them for three months. My shipping remains in storage here because they failed to reply to me for updated invoices and I now have an empty house, with them holding an invoice that they hve not replied to me about since June about over my head. I ended up having to threaten them with a bad review and they removed £100 off the bill as a 'gesture of goodwill' but the board of directors has now apparently taken that away because they didn't like the threat..! My goods still remain in storage with Palmers in Sydney not delivering until PSS release the hold.

Honestly SUCH a stressful move I would really really not recommend this company; after the money and zero service or after sales care.

I would also make sure you ask upfront for ALL payments due. They sent us additional invoices for the increase in oil prices which were completely unexpected and the invoice hell we still remain in.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: £6500

I had booked my good from UK, Halifax to India, Bangalore. The price quoted and final price given after taking the goods almost doubled. The weight I measured and weight came in final bill was almost 50 kg difference. However as I had left UK, had no option but to pay. The first surprise came in form of loss of a one item, out of 8 packs. The unprofessional people does not have courtesy to say sorry but just kept denying that it was collected.   The goods reached in horrific condition, my printer broken and the items in pieces in the carton. The international shipment happens in such condition, I had no idea. I sent photos to the all the people that had contacted me over transport quote and after order. Does not have courtesy to revert.   My suggestion please stay away from this transport, if you want to feel happy when your things arrive at your door step.  .

Service cost: £991

We used PSS Removals: International Movers to move our household from the UK to New Zealand.

When we mentioned the size of our property they stated a survey would not be necessary even though we said they should check for themselves if it could prove important.

As they packed up our things it became clear the service was not going to be what we had paid for. Large furniture was simply wrapped in brown paper rather than being properly protected, there was no organisation to the process so several times we found our possessions mixed in with waste material headed for the bin. Also, many boxes were filled with almost nothing apart from packing material despite containing nothing fragile.

Then one of the movers received a personal call concerning his car that meant for the next 2-3 hours he stopped working and simply made personal calls and chatted to his colleagues. By the end of the day it turned out they had not arrived in a big enough van (they used almost the smallest possible) and so some our larger possessions would not fit. The crew stated that this was in no way their fault and when it was pointed out that had they not spent hours on personal calls this problem would have been discovered much earlier one of the men became aggressive. After this we felt that we did not want these men in our house or near our family.

We phoned their office to complain but did not receive a satisfactory response.

Our furniture turned up in New Zealand more than 3 months later which was much longer than suggested. A large piece of furniture has been ruined in the process, it had been dragged across the ground using a lot of force: absolutely no care had been taken in its transit.

We would never use PSS Removals again as they made a stressful move much harder than it needed to be and took no pride in their work and demonstrated a complete lack of professionalism.

Service cost: £2000

I haven't even got my furniture yet! A move from the UK- Australia. I was told it would take approx 4 weeks for it to leave the uk. It's been 6 weeks and the advisor Robert still can't give me any info what is going on an I'm not happy. We feel as though we're being scammed to be honest! No one calls me back, no one tells me what is going on an it's not good enough! We have paid for a service we just aren't getting! I want it sorted out an I want someone professional to contact me an sort this mess out! We have had enough of being kept in the dark. The service so far has been useless!

Service cost: £2500

We recently used PSS to move a house lot from the UK to New Zealand. Up front they seemed really helpful, the packing team who worked on our house were efficient and helpful. But as we found out once our possessions were set to arrive in NZ, a number of the itemised inventories needed to clear customs hadn't been taken. In contacting PSS they were argumentative and unhelpful, meaning I had to work directly with NZ customs to get things straightened out. PSS also handed us over to NZ Van Lines to deliver our goods once on the ground who attempted to load us with additional 'fees' which were ultimately already included in what we had paid PSS. It was a really disappointing and stressful experience in the end ??

Service cost: £3600

In February 2017, I air freighted 6 large boxes with PSS from the UK to Japan. Originally the company were very helpful, polite and I felt secure with them. The paperwork was filled in promptly and the service was excellent.

The problem then began when I arrived in Japan. All the company had done was provide the boxes, pick them up and do customs clearance in the UK and Japan. Once that was finished they washed their hands of me. They air freighted the boxes with DHL.
DHL were an absolute pain! The website was never updated when I tried to see where my boxes were. I had no idea when my boxes were going to be delivered or what was happening.

I contacted PSS, and they refused to help. They just told me to contact DHL! After much difficulty (ringing the UK from Japan etc) I discovered there was a bit of my address missing. Neither DHL or PSS has bothered to contact me about it and resolve the issue. After weeks of waiting in (as it was never clear when the boxes were to arrive) they arrived three weeks late, the day before I was due to start work.

Considering the steep cost of sending 6 boxes, the worry and being restricted for more than three weeks, I would have thought the company would have tried to help me more. Anyway, I will not be using PSS again. And I'm also steering clear of DHL!

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £995

This is by far the worst company I have ever had to deal with. I had to make a decision quickly, and unfortunately did not read these reviews beforehand. For my move from London to Abu Dhabi, I asked few companies for a quote, and PSS was on the cheap side. Their sales team being very nice and persistent, I decided to give them a chance. Do not make that mistake!!
- They overestimated the volume of consignment, and ask you to pay for it once they have removed your goods, i-e once you do not really have choice anymore. That was an extra 20%! - It took my goods a good 3 months to arrive, while other friends using other companies got their stuff in less than 1 month. When  I asked PSS about the reason for such a delay, they came up with some lies that were easy to cross check. - They charged me an extra fee to remove my goods from the port of Abu Dhabi (While this was supposed to be included in the price). When I asked for a split of the fees, this appear as ''abnormal charge''.. I can provide anyone who is interested with all the receipts and proofs if you want to have a look at it.

Service cost: $2800

£4829 Original quote once they assessed the size of container we'd require.
£6282 What we've had to pay PSS to have our things delivered.

Overspill, chassis charges, customs X-rays, currency fluctuations, you name it, they charged it. A 30% price hike once they had our goods in their hands.

That's the money side out the way. From a service point of view, they outsourced the job to some company from Plymouth. Bad packaging, half empty boxes (explains the overspill), and £2000 worth of damages. Even their own local US delivery company reported inadequate packaging (see the report I've uploaded). They won't even acknowledge that their own staff say the job was below standard.

Made our move to the US a living nightmare and all PSS offered was £100 good will gesture which we've turned down out of principle and have raised this with The Property Ombudsman.

Avoid! There are better companies out there. Go for one without a single bad review and who don't outsource. Even 1 bad in 5 reviews is a 20% chance that you'll end up with the service we received.

Service cost: £6282

Furniture was not packaged properly and badly damaged (see pictures of some of the worst items). Dresser had a huge, 43 cm gash across it. My stone-top table was completely cracked through -- the crack extended 80cm across the whole stone and through the entire 5cm depth of the stone.

Other items were cracked and crushed here and there. Service also didn't have very good communication -- never received updates on when the items were being shipped, estimated arrivals, and who the company on the US side would be. Had to actively email every few weeks to try and find out what was going on.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1200

The initial response to my enquiry was great, and they did a very fast arrangement for the collection and packing. The cost seemed to be reasonable too. However, the good stuff stop there.. The communication on the UK side was very confusing and keep getting mismatched communications from various people on the UK side - never know who is actually our move manager and the process was never explained to us clearly in getting through the custom (we had to find out from friends and family). The packing was very speedy, but they don't take great care with your goods, no bubble wrap or any extra paddings at the weak points of the items at all - just paper (it is pretty bad in comparison to the fantastic unpacking service we received from their partner, a different company in Canada) They don't pack china/glass/crystals or furniture corners properly..we ended up with damaged goods, including damages to our very expensive dining table, but that was not what really angered me - what really angered me was then it took us almost 2 months to get a very petty GPB50 for ALL the damages they caused. Their insurance claim department/partner is extremely slow in response and extremely unreasonable in the evaluation on damages (they refuse to pay any cost for damage evaluation, they just simply disagree, despite I got an email from a 3rd party professional repair evaluation service to confirm the cost of repair, they still disagree with that! - how do you reason with the unreasonable people?..), the whole process is so painful I gave up arguing with them via emails as I am 8 months pregnant. I will definitely not be using PSS International for our next move nor recommend it to any of our friends/family for moves.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £3300

These guys completely took advantage of my elderly mother. She understood the fragile items would be properly packed together onsite. There were three pictures and an antique mirror, which she loosely wrapped in a thin plastic tablecloth. And these lunatics posted it like that and now assume no responsibility for the fact that, surprise, surprise - they were completely smashed on arrival.

The insurance is totally useless and doesn’t cover anything so we literally just paid them to destroy our items.

Don’t use these cowboys!! Make sure to head over to google maps and leave a review there too- they are using fake reviews from a reputation management service on their website to make it look like they have a good reputation..let’s grt the word out!!

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £100

I had a great initial meeting with PSS when I first considered moving to New Zealand in late 2016. I was impressed by the promise of careful personal service by a family owned firm. Following my father's death in South Africa and some stressful times in London I arranged my move for March 2018. Most of my goods were well packed and arrived intact although a few of the items which had been simply boxed were broken. However, I had paid a substantial extra amount for two items to be crated - a glass coffee table and an antique French mirrored dressing table.

The coffee table (which was a single unit consisting of glass panels glued together) had been inexplicably disassembled prior to crating so that the entire thing had come apart and could not be repaired. It was entirely destroyed.

The dressing table had been crated, but the most fragile element of it, the three panel mirror, had been left out of the crate and simply wrapped in corrugated cardboard with thin sheets of brown paper between the three hinged panels. As a result the central panel had smashed irretrievably. It is impossible to find replacement glass of the right age and character in New Zealand and so the piece is effectively destroyed.

Compounding the disappointment of the destruction of much loved pieces of furniture is the Insurance process. You are advised to provide the full replacement value of your items at destination. This I did, and was charged a premium based on the value I had given. My claim was paid on the basis of the second hand value NOT INCLUDING the cost of transporting the replacement item from the UK to New Zealand. Neither of the destroyed items is replaceable in New Zealand and so if I had been going to replace them I'd have had to pay extra to transport them here. This is not consistent with 'the full replacement value of the item at destination.'

A further disappointment was the £100 administration charge for the claim.

While each of these provisions, apart from the cost of transport to the destination, is set out in the insurance contract, it is not clear that the basis of valuation in a claim will be the second hand value and not the new replacement value.

Probably what hurt the most however, was the sheer stupidity and negligence of whoever packed a glass coffee table in a crate after taking it apart, and a fragile glass mirror in nothing more than corrugated cardboard despite the clear instruction that it, together with the rest of the dressing table, should have been crated. The carelessness with which beloved items of furniture was treated belied the initial promise of a personal approach by a long established family firm. I felt cheated and let down by PSS Removals and I would not recommend them to anyone.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: £5722

PLEASE READ BEFORE USING PSSINTERNATIONAL as I clearly did not do enough research. I am leaving an honest review of my experience with PSS and mainly their attached insurance company (Removal Claims Service is a trading name of Basil E. Fry & Co. Limited). While PSS initially maintained a very positive and responsive service, after I enquired about a quote I was called just about everyday. Then once I confirmed the first payment and forms was lucky if I was called, even when I needed to be. At that point I had to contact them. The movers were incredible, packing and moving out stuff within 1 day. After they move your stuff, and your stuck, the real problems continue. PSS claimed that our belongings would arrive between 5-9 weeks, however due to unfortunate timing, the shipment arrived in NYC around Easter time, 9 weeks from the day it left our flat. What they don't clarify is that they are only going to be sure to ship your belongings between 5-9 weeks. PSS could care less when it arrives. It was then held up in customs due to the Easter holidays, so we were landed with another $700 bill, which we were not told to expect. After being without out items for over 10 weeks and then having to pay the $700, the real problems bega with the insurance company. PSS has you fill out a form to list and price each article you are bringing over based on how much you paid for the item, then when you go to claim, they find the cheapest Ebay item possible, (without taking into consideration shipping, which can be £30+) and offer you that amount and do not budge. They also then charge you 100 to use the claim service after having already charged you for taking out an insurance policy. I have found they take advantage of you when you're already in a stressful situation moving country, they are not transparent about things, do not prepare you for the extra costs of insurance, and the cost of having your items stuck, (because of having a shared container with others it is out of your control). I have been very disappointed with the aftermath of this service.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: £4800

We recently used PSS to move a house lot from the UK to New Zealand. Up front they seemed really helpful, the packing team who worked on our house were efficient and helpful. But as we found out once our possessions were set to arrive in NZ, a number of the itemised inventories needed to clear customs hadn't been taken. In contacting PSS they were argumentative and unhelpful, meaning I had to work directly with NZ customs to get things straightened out. PSS also handed us over to NZ Van Lines to deliver our goods once on the ground who attempted to load us with additional 'fees' which were ultimately already included in what we had paid PSS. It was a really disappointing and stressful experience in the end.

Service cost: £3600

We used PSS for our move from the UK to Australia and they have been an absolute nightmare. We had 2 prior major moves with other companies with no issues at all, but PSS have been a disaster. Some examples: 1) They completely under-estimated our volume of goods, so we ended up paying around 50% more than their 'fixed price' quote - and if you don't pay they may hold your possessions to ransom, relying on the small print in the contract which says you pay for any errors they make. 2) They say they use their own removals teams but in fact subcontract virtually everything. 3) They delivered dozens of items damaged and broken through inadequate packing and handling - (which cost over £12,000) from TV's to washing machines, fridge-freezers and hi-fi equipment. 4) They accept responsibility for nothing - everything is somebody else's fault in their eyes. 5) You can forget about their complaints process and BAR membership - in practice they just ignore it and BAR seemingly turn a blind eye and even outsource their complaints process!). 6) Their expensive insurance may be worthless - we paid £1000 just for this, and 6 months after our move we've still not even had a visit from a loss adjuster and no progress is being made towards settlement. I could easily list another another 20 things they have messed up throughout the move. Seriously, if you're going to entrust all your worldly possessions to someone, really do your homework, shop around, forget the sales pitch promises and read ALL the small print, or you might be very sorry indeed. We just wish we had read the reviews online first and found out how terrible they really are, as PSS may well ruin your new start in a new country.

Service cost: £12000

Move was for Bournemouth to San Francisco but you can't select that and one star is one too many.

Our original quote was for £4829 and the salesman convinced us we'd fit into a 20ft container because we weren't moving any furniture. We didn’t and had an over-spill. Once they had our personal items in their hands the demand for money started coming in. Over spill, chassis charges, customs X-rays, currency fluctuations, you name it, they charged it. Total cost came to £6282 and they hold your stuff to ransom until you pay. The moving manager couldn't care less about anything other than adding extra charges. Even when I complained about something he ended the conversation with, "By the way, there's an extra charge for currency fluctuation due to the Brexit".

That's the money side out the way. For a service point of view, they outsourced the job to some company from Plymouth. Bad packaging, half empty boxes (explains the over-spill), and £2500 worth of damages. One of the packers cut his hand but continued working. I found myself cleaning blood off boxes while they were packing.

Just check out the local delivery companies report when they unpacked for us in the USA. They couldn't believe it themselves.

We're shocked, disgusted, heartbroken and very upset. Made our move to the US a living nightmare and we've had to refer them to the TPO (The property ombudsman). Fingers crossed we'll get something back for the damages.

Service cost: £6282

PSS WERE OUTSTANDING
Form diligence of the office staff who took their time to understand our requirements and built me a tailored quote to the home survey to the case managers and especially the guys that came to wrap and pack all our belongings, PSS were amazing. Cannot rate them any higher. Had so many fears following reading many bad reviews from lots of companies, I chose PSS from personal recommendations from people we know have had good service.
The guys that came to wrap and pack were absolutely amazing. I have never seen people work so fast but with extreme care for our goods. Careful wrapping and logging all the content details on an excellent inventory was mixed with fabulous advice for cleaning garden/garage items.
Our goods were taken away and we were kept informed of their whereabouts with details of container and ship details where I could track the progress over the following 11 weeks.
An unfortunate 7 day hold up in Malaysia pushed the delivery of our homely items in Perth beyond the estimate of 10 weeks (but that was out of the control of PSS)
Chess Removals in Perth did an amazing quick delivery of our items following quarantine and customs clearance so massive thanks to them also.
I cannot recommend PSS any stronger. There will probably be cheaper competitors, but they won't be able to do a better job.
Thank You PSS.

Service cost: £3800

We have recently used PSS to handle our international move from Edinburgh to Johannesburg. Unfortunately they arrived late and did a very rushed job to get our flat packed up.  Fragile items were not protected by tissue paper / bubble wrapping / or foam balls to minimise friction, movement or damage. Our picture frames and paintings were not protected. fragile items were placed in boxes unprotected alongside tools and kids bicycles and as a result were damaged.  PSS's response was poor basically stating we should have insured against their incompetence.  Their website states they take care with packing your items.  This is clearly false advertising.  .

Service cost: £2000