Removal Group

I finally find some time to describe what happened when we decided to move from London to Volos (Greece) at the beginning of 2010. As we have never done a house move before, we thought about scanning the web for offers and then settle with the removal company that seemed to offer the best service overall. To us, the main driver was delivery time, the shorter the better. So, after some web surfing and e-mail quotations, we decided to choose Removal Group
It has been the worst ill-fated decision I have ever made in my life. Keep in mind that none of the companies offered cheap quotes, and price was not really an issue: but keep also in mind that our house removal cost 4,000 GBP, and we did NOT have any furniture to move except 3 small drawer chests and a small library (1 meter by 1 meter more or less). It was all books, clothes, baby toys, kitchen stuff and so on. After the first contacts via e-mail and phone, we fixed the removal date for the 8th of February. We asked for the professional packing service (300 GBP) as we did not have time to pack all our stuff alone. Remember this issue of the professional packing, as it will be a recurrent point in my post. They initially said our stuff would arrive in Greece after 10 days, 2 weeks at worst. Dream on. This is what happened finally, in chronological order:

- We declared a specific volume for the move (15 cubic meters), but after a conversation with the RemovalGroup agent she convinced us to reduce it (based on her experience, 8 cubic meters), but in the end the volume was closer to what we declared at the beginning (13.4 cubic meters), which caused additional delays in the procedure and further payments from our part;

- No professional packing has been done, although we paid for it. The removal team (which consisted only of 2 individuals) arrived having no idea that they had to pack our stuff. Their worksheet reported that they just had to transfer boxes from our house to the lorry. As a result they had to borrow boxes and materials from another company from around the corner which caused additional delays in the procedure. We have been promised that the full packing service would last 2 hours, more or less, but in the end it lasted 6 hours and our stuff was randomly packed with no "professional" attitude. I currently don't have on my PC a picture of how the "professional" packing has been done, but my wife in Greece has taken one in which you can see our daughter's sleeping bag stuffed inside a metallic shoes rack with a shoe on top of it. Not to mention the mix of clothes and kitchen pots, books and baby clothes, shoes and bed sheets. It was a mess;

- During the week following the move, we were never contacted by any of RemovalGroup agents, we were forced to call them to ask for information and updates and during one of these calls we found that we had extra volume that we had to pay for and that was 5 days after the packing day which also caused additional delays in sending the stuff;

- After the stuff was finally sent to Greece and 5 days after the arrival to the deposit of the collaborating Greek company in Athens, we received a phone call from that same company informing us that RemovalGroup has ceased collaboration with their agent in London due to other financial/logistic problems between RemovalGroup and the Greek company: then they denied for days the delivery of our stuff although we had already paid the full amount weeks in advance. The Greek company said we were the unlucky ones that we had to interfere in order to force RemovalGroup to solve the problem with them. Moreover, the Greek company said that we have to pay deposit expenses for a week;

- We have been promised by the RemovalGroup coordinator that our things would be delivered in 10 days: overall more than 5 weeks have passed before we saw our things;3 of our wardrobes and the library arrived in Greece with extended damages. One of them has already been thrown away, the others have been fixed by a carpenter. Fragile things usually get at least bubble-wrapped, and wardrobes and wooden things do have polystyrene protections on the bases or angles to avoid damages. If I know this, surely the movers would have known that in advance, wouldn't they? All our fragile stuff was thinly paper-wrapped with no protection whatsoever. Even the Greek movers were surprised and astonished by the packing, and that says it all (!)

In conclusion the whole service of RemovalGroup has been awful from the beginning till the end (not to mention the e-mails we sent to the coordinator to which she never replied and thus we always had to look for her over the phone in order to try to resolve our issues). Avoid them absolutely! And, as a last point: as I know very well by now some of the people working inside RemovalGroup, it seems to me that some (all?) of the positive reviews the web are manufactured by RemovalGroup themselves (i.e., they are fake).

Service cost: £4000

Thanks for organizing and managing such a big project from the beginning to the completion successfully. I am grateful to you personally and shall also be writing to the management praising the quality of service provided. I have no hesitation to recommend "Removal Group" to many more.

This is only a small note of appreciation. I shall also be writing a formal letter in praise of your work to the management of your company.

Wishing you success for the future,

Sharma.

Service cost: £4250

End of June 2011 I booked with the Removal Group for a part shipping from the UK to Australia. Over the phone I was told my goods would leave the UK in the next 2 weeks after pick up and that it should reach Sydney end of August (10-12 wks). When I called early August to check estimated arrival time of my container it turned out it hadn't even left the UK yet! My contact was apologetic and understanding however nothing could be done and her manager was absolutely appalling! It was quite obvious in the conversation with her manager that he couldn't give a monkey and that it was my problem. As per T&C's there is NO MAX time frame to deliver your goods so be careful as it could take FOREVER!
We are end of Sept and my goods still haven't arrived in Sydney. The latest estimate is end of October.

I wouldn't recommend them at all!

Sorry for the above, but couldn't find Australia in the drop downs so put USA as alternative.

Service cost: £2600

We've just finished our move from the UK, back to the continent, and we've experienced one of the worst situations ever. Moving is always stressful, but this bunch of incompetent guys will make your life miserable.

We decided to use this broker in January 2011, given the rates proposed and having contacted a few other moving companies/brokers. Our first big mistake was to not check the customer reviews on the web before making the decision. There are so many similar stories..


First, this is just a broker company, and they do not evaluate the volume of the shipment. The estimate given was far too low, and this resulted in a significant increase of the total amount to be paid. Anyway, at the beginning of the process, they seemed to be responsive and helpful. But, once they receive the money, you're screwed. This is when the nightmare starts, as it becomes impossible to get any reliable information or communication from them: Just vague information and lies!
Even for getting the additional amount to be paid, resulting from the initial underestimation, they are not able to add two numbers correctly. We had to do it ourselves several times, and it takes quite a lot of energy to manage these people.
Having our goods in storage, we then decided to inform them more than 6 weeks in advance to plan for a delivery date in early May. After about 10 emails and many phone calls or so, we struggled to receive any clear information about this. Then, after so many attempts, we did manage to have Matthew Liscott on the phone and had his "confirmation": "Yes, this date has been confirmed with the moving company". Being a bit na.

Service cost: £3500

I was given a quote in EUR but my Euro credit card was charged in GBP.
I was informed that a deposit would be taken but the entire amount was debited immediately.
I was not informed of a credit card charge during open discussion regarding payment.
I was told that I had to sign the request from and make a payment within 1 hour to guarantee missing my delivery deadline. The deadline was not respected, despite eventually being assured this by email, after having my initial request for formal confirmation ignored.
I was given terms and conditions only after making payment.
I agreed to reduce my volume in order to have my delivery deadline met, but I was not informed during that conversation that the type of removal service had completely changed.
One email sent to me included a confidential email exchange with another client.
I was told that the quote match I had from a "man with a van" should be avoided to ensure a professional and insured service. However, a man with a van turned up to "collect" my goods. According to Removal Group's pledge - they only use BAR registered companies!
When it became apparent that there was a misunderstanding concernign the type of service offered, a third party called me, insulted me and hung up.
I called Leanne to clarify the issue, but was only insulted further with sarcasm and disinterest. When I asked if it was possible to actually speak myself, I was told that I was talking nonsense just like my concerns regarding the payment. I explained that I did not consider the level of customer service to be acceptable and Leanne told me she was a sales representative and not a customer service agent. According to their web site, you will be assigned a "House Removals Coordinator" to assist with your removal! According to my payment confirmation, my co-ordinator is Leanne Fellows. Her email signature refers to her as "Senior European Relocations Manager". Leanne then told me she needed to close the conversation as she had other customers waiting (we had been speaking for less than 5 minutes). I asked to speak to her manager and she hung up.
I never had any contact whatsoever from Removal Group after this. Neither to inform me of the delay nor to check if my goods had arrived.
I was able to obtain information from a third party intermediary, who informed me that when my good should have been delivered to Spain, they were in fact in London. Apparently, at least 4 separate companies were involved in physically moving goods between intermediary locations.
The company that actually delivered my good to me were not a removal company.
The removal companies involved, at no point in time, had a copy of the inventory that I had given to Removal Group.
My goods arrived 2 weeks later than the deadline, damaged, broken and filthy.

Service cost: €1100

Extremely impressed by level of service and professionalism. The quote arrived extremely quickly and reponses to emails and phone calls very prompt and professional.

We have moved home 5 times (twice abroad) and I only wish we knew about the removal group for all those moves.

Definetley recommend the Removal Group.

PS this move was to Australia not USA! For some reason I don't get the correct option to choose from the drop down box. Please fix this mymovingreviews!

Thanks,

Affy.

Service cost: £2797

THEY ARE AWFUL! The Removal Group picked up our furniture in Italy after giving us a written quote and reconfirming the amount on the day of the move, then wanted 50% more it after they took the goods, even though on the day of the move, told us everything was fine.

When the goods did arrive in the US 3 months later items were broken. We purchased damage insurance before the move from them and now they won't call us back. This company is the biggest nightmare in the world. I would be happy to tell anyone how bad it was. I am in the US at 617-536-0878, ask for Andrew.

Service cost: £3000

This has to be the worst experience I've ever had as an end user of a so called service. I moved from Bristol to Hamburg in 2009. The Removals Group are apparently a shell company that "organises" your move by subcontracting to various large and small removals companies. They were very helpful up until the point I paid them my money, which was around £1500. After that, it was a take it or leave it attitude. I supplied and inventory in advance as requested, which included a six month old flat screen tv, packed in its box. The two men in a white van who picked up my stuff assured me that the paperwork would be completed by them, including signing off the inventory. The move was done on a part load basis which meant it was piled in to an HGV with other customers' stuff for the final delivery. When the HGV arrived, they couldn't get it close to the apartment and caused a road block, much to the annoyance of other residents. As they unpacked my things, I noticed one of the removers carrying an old CRT TV into the building. I said that this is not my TV, where had it come from? He denied any knowledge and when I asked the other remover (who just happened to have been present at the original pick up) he also denied any knowledge. The costly mattress was also damaged by some sort of liquid spill and was filthy. Several fragile items were broken and many items were missing. The sofa had been damaged (springs had been broken in the middle). It was a nightmarish experience and I cannot emphasise enough how much I implore you to avoid this company at all costs. They are fly-by-night cowboy scum.

Service cost: £1500

Excellent service and everything went very well. Delivery was very fast. I was expecting to recieve my belongings in 10 working days. But, everything was delivered in 5 working days. Nothing was missing.

Thanks for Melissa and process went very smooth. Would I use them again? Yes and most probably very soon. The service was excellent and price was the best quote that I could get.

Thanks for your help and make our life easy.

(Germany to Denmark)

J Blaze.

Service cost: £1650

I move from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Manchester, UK in July 2011 with The Removal Group and had a horrible experience. The agreed price was GBP 1200 payable in advance. Before paying I specified clearly that some items of furniture would not fit down the narrow stair case and would need to be hoisted out of the 3rd floor window. This is a very common procedure in the Netherlands. The Removal Group promised categorically that the movers would have the block and tackle required in the van and would be able to do the hoist. I obviously also gave our address in Amsterdam. On the afternoon before the move, 2 men came from Pearson Home Moving. It turned out that The Removal Group is only a sales office and subcontracts all the actual moving.  The men from Pearson explained that they would not be able to do the hoist because they were not insured and never use the block and tackle method. They also announced that their enormous HGV would not be able to get closer than 2km from our house because it did not fit in the city streets. Finally they said that they always have problems with The Removal Group who always promise more than they can deliver. I frantically tried to get in touch with The Removal Group to no avail. Finally at 6pm on the night before the move I got an email announcing that they would charge an additional GBP 700 to hire a van to shuttle the goods from our house to the Pearson HGV and an additional GBP 600 to hire a mechanical lift to lower the large furniture items out of the window.  Obviously I was livid. In the end, after a great deal of stress, I hired a transit van myself for GBP 60 and the block and tackle for GBP 10 and the move was a success. I recovered these costs from The Removal Group after writing an email threatening to take them to the small claims court. I think that The Removal Group are profiteering cowboys who attempt to add extortionate last minute charges on purpose when the customer is already committed to the move and has little choice but to pay up. I was lucky that I was able to avoid their tactics this time. I have no complaints about Pearson. They did a professional job.

Service cost: £1200

I cannot comment on the actual performance of company movers, but can comment on the order process.

We were planning to move a part of our house from Switzerland to London last August (2010). I chose the medium priced offer from Removal Group. Their website looked professional and the reviews were good; only later I noticed that most of the reviews are hosted on their own website..

I was in contact with the sales representative (it looked like she was the only one who works there, noone else ever answered the phone) and even though she was a bit too pushy, I decided for this company, which was more than 3 weeks before we planned the moving.
She sent me several forms one day, I sent her one back but didn't even complete the residual orders neither sent the order form by fax as they request. The same day changed our mind about moving and rented a smaller place in Switzerland. I called to Removal Group to apologize that we won't be moving to the UK all the stuff any more.

To my shock, Leanne told me that she will charge me cancellation fee. Unfortunately, I gave her my card details a day before to pay a small deposit (around £150) to book the time slot. She told me that she would charge me 30% of the original cost, which was about £800 (against their terms and conditions say that when you cancel up to 14 days before the moving, they won't charge you a penny). They were so nice that they 'gave me a discount' - they charged me only £500, and never charged the deposit. I refused to pay any cancellation fee, I haven't even completed the order and told them explicitely NOT to charge my card with anything else than the initial deposit already a day before. Removal Group still charged my card with £500 and stopped communicating with us. Well, apart from several threatening emails that were refering us to their company lawyer, who probably didn't even exist. When I requested his/her contact details, they never came back to me.

Our company law department advised me to report this as a fraud to my bank, which I did and eventually recovered the full amount.

That's the story in short. Not very good, is it? I feel quite sad about it; the whole time I was happy to accept an apology and the money back from the company, but they left the bank to force them to return it. My learning experience: never give your card details before the order, even though they stress you that the time slot may not be available any more. It is not worth of the stress..

Good luck with moving!

Service cost: £2500

The quote was very competitive compared to others I had received. The removal group customer service was excellent, and Andrew and Kelly were very easy to get in contact with. I was arranging a move from the UK to Ireland with just over a week to go, and everything was arranged promptly.

This was the first time I had moved house using a real removal company, and the whole experience was relatively stress free, so thank you.

Removal team were great, stayed cheerful despite the immense heat!

E Powers.

Service cost: £5225

I had a horrible experience with the Removal Group.
They did not come for a survey. After the pickup they wanted an additional 1250 GBP (total cost agreed was 1025 for move and storage) since they claimed unreasonable extra costs. Their terms and conditions leave a lot of room for that. I refused to pay. They charged my bank account without authorization. I got my money back (after months) through my bank (it was treated by my bank as a non authorized transaction). They threatened to abandon my goods in the street. I had a lawyer send them a letter, they kept my goods in storage. However when I wanted to have my goods back, it took them more than two months to deliver them. I had to call them many times, they never returned any call. Only once I threatened again to go to a lawyer I finally got my stuff back. Strangely enough, I even had offered to pay 600 GBP to settle, but finally they did not want this. Possibly they realized that had I gone to a lawyer it would have become expensive for them (they do not seem to have a good legal protection).
The people I dealt with are called Lisa Cook. She seems nice on the phone but is unable to add two plus two correctly, she really did an infinite number of mistakes, adding VAT twice and things like that. To any direct, important question she answers: "I have to talk to my agents" or "I have to talk to my manager". Typically she does not get back to you (of course, before we agreed on the move it was all a different story.. ).
The manager, he was really the worst ever, is called Stuart Hall. He is the one who threatened to abandon my goods. Essentially, he told me just so many lies (lots of excuses when they were refusing to release my goods).

I can only advice: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. I moved many times and never had any no problem (that's why I was maybe too relaxed with this move and did the big mistake to take a quote from a company that did not bother to do a survey).

In any case, it was the worst move ever.

Service cost: £1025

My name is Mark Scott and Iused your service for my removals and storage to France. I would like to express my disappointment with the company you used for the said service. Firstly I used the calculator to estimate how much space my furniture would take up then booked the service with full packing. When the luton van turned up it already had goods onboard. The removal men then said they had not been told that they needed to pack so after discussion it was agreed that they would repack once they reached their depot. At this point I had no choice but to agree as the new buyers were waiting to move in. The two guys then proceded to pack the van. 2.5 hours (not a long time to pack a van as they said to yourselves that they parked 200 meters away for which I was billed) later the furniture was on the van with space left. A day or two later I recived an email informing me that the goods I had had filled the van and was almost twice as much as the estimate( not true but again I had no option but to pay for more space) then I was informed that after packing, my goods filled extra containers (to which I would need to pay extra). Again no option but to accept and pay as you had my goods. After late delivery and lost goods then another late delivery of the lost goods(to which I needed to pay for someone to be there as I work abroad) the goods were delivered in damaged boxes. I arrived in France at the end of June to find that the house stank of mould and mildew. Upon opening the boxes I found most of the goods were in a very damaged condition. the boxes had at sometime gotten wet.(which I question why when I had paid for containers). So the next day I started unpacking the boxes. I was disgusted to find that 11 out of my 22 boxes(which were packed by Town and Country) had very little inside. 4 of the boxes had 2 soft toys inside each box. My leather sofa had cuts and scuffs along the seats (something sharp had been put ontop)and was covered in mildew. Upon pluging the washer drier in I found this to be broken and upon inspection by a Zanussi engineer found the wiring loom had rusted through and could not be fixed. His suggestion was that the machine had been left outside for an extended period. To finish the total of your service including costs incured was around £3500. This was a total waste of money as I threw 90% of the furniture away. I do understand that I have no come back as it was over a week until I inspected the delivery which I knew was the case which was why I did not take out the extra insurance. I feel that Town and Country engineered the extra costs by not bringing the packing boxes so the could charge extra. As you can tell by the tone of the email I would not use or recommend your service again. Further to this I would question the use of Town and country. To reiterate it's not the money that matters, more the lack of trust I placed in a national company. I do not really expect any outcome which will be a continuation of the level of service I have received so far but I do think you need to be informed. yours Mark Scott.

Service cost: £3500