White and Company

We had several issues with this company:

1. On delivery they were quite happy to leave a sofa in the hallway rather than put it in the lounge despite seeing my wife is heavily pregnant and my mother a pensioner (and I was not there)
2. They broke a dining chair leg and then glued it together and the. His the chair in the garage behind boxes knowing it would take weeks for us to find. We tries to claims and they simply refused saying we'd left it too long (less than 2 weeks).
3. They broke a marble chess board and the several pieces by putting lots of weight on their containers. Given the refusal to deal honestly with the chair we haven't bothered claiming for this.

These guys ruined the move for us and I wish we'd never had anything to do with them. They've cost us literally over a thousand pounds in damages. Use anyone else but them.

Service cost: £2000

I'm shocked reading through other reviews for White & Co. My employer has used them to relocate me around the UK a couple of times, 10 years apart. My experience has been that these were the most professional, honest and caring company I've come across. The removers were always prompt and courteous, worked extremely hard and communicated throughout. The first time involved holding my stuff in storage for 6 months, there was never any problem retrieving anything at short notice. I've never had anything damaged or lost. Unpacking and re-assembling furniture was superb. I couldn't recommend this company highly enough.

Service cost: £4000

This company marks the boxes from a preliminary glance but under the covers, we found unprofessional service, broken promises, reneging on commitments. The company quoted us then tried to get a higher fee. They didn't give us the proper forms resultig in lost time and energy. The estimation was completely off. Poor does not begin to cover it. Highly UNrecommended and I suggest you search farther afield. If you cannot trust the company's words, there is no way you want to trust your worldly goods with them.

Service cost: £2300

As with previous comments, it is true that no one calls you back! Damage to several sentimental items such as framed pictures, canvases, furniture and new bbq. Because it has taken us over 7 days to bring the damage to their attention in writing they’ve told us to go away and claim on our own insurance. Brilliant. Admission of fault seems irrelevant. We downsized with lots of furniture put into a garage. Starting new jobs and relocating children to another county hardly gives you time (or room) to check everything in 7 days!
Would not recommend White & Co. We are especially disappointed as we noted things like the bbq were not packaged before being loaded on to the van. I expressly offered them bubble wrap for the bbq as I was worried about damage. “It’ll be fine” they said. Except, it wasn’t. Furniture damage has the same type of dents on all of it and picture frames clearly dropped as corners smashed off. Nice guys but that doesn’t go far when they damage your stuff and don’t compensate you. Poor after care.

Service cost: £2500

My Mother-in-law booked this company for a move from Winchester to Devon. She phoned multiple times to keep them up to date with roughly when she would be moving, and they assured her there was no problem and they would be able to cover her move. When she phoned to tell them the specific date they were rude and unhelpful, and told her there was no way she could be fitted in on that day. My Mother-in-law is nearly 80 and lives alone, so this was horrifying for her. Fortunately, her estate agent was able to find another company for her.
Conclusion - don't touch this company with a barge pole as they won't think twice about letting you down - not even an apology.

Service cost: £1000

I was quoted by their sales person that my home removal job would take 3 days.
They moved us in less than 2 days time.
I have asked back for some sort of refund as the company saved on petrol and labour and use of their vehicles so it is only fair and reasonable that there should be some sort of refund.
The guys who moved us worked hard and consistent.
They did however dent our fridge quite badly with a 10” dent but since I did not take insurance I could not claim anything
I would not recommend this company as it is not an honourable company.

Service cost: £2222

Pros: Removal men worked extremely hard and were very polite and helpful. Cons: Initial visit by moving consultant gave the impression of a very professional company with fully trained staff who would provide floor coverings etc. On the first day (packing a 7 bedroom house) one man turned up who worked well and hard but was called away for 3 hours to help a colleague who was also on his own. Hence packing slipped into day 2.  We believe only 2 men would have turned up on day 2 if we hadn't rung and intervened - to move a large house and very heavy piano. In the end it was the foreman and two lovely but very young and inexperienced helpers. They did an amazing job considering how much work there was for 3 men BUT it seems White & Co. overstretch their staff and take on too many jobs for the manpower available. Floor coverings were not offered until we asked and I feel the younger staff should have arrived trained - rather than learning on the job. I chose this company because it is a member of trade organistation but I probably would have had just as good service with a cheaper local company.  Also when I sent in a detailed client comment form no-one bothered to get back to me to talk about the points raised.  Lack of customer care..

Service cost: £1859

I am astonished by the negative reviews below. We started with a domestic move from London to the White & Co storage (including antiques, paintings, crystal, silver, china and linen), where it all spent five years in storage in the UK, then our container was shipped to the U.S. and eventually to Florida, all handled by White & Co. The packing in London was so careful and meticulous (with loads of paper and padding, which was one reason all went so well), when it all arrived in Florida five years later, not one piece was broken; antiques and paintings were perfect, silver wasn't even tarnished, and - unbelievably - linens still looked and smelled freshly washed and ironed. Everyone, from salesman to packers to office staff, was pleasant, competent, honest, did exactly as they said they would, charged exactly what they had said they would, and were terrific to work with. I was able to track the ship across the Atlantic, then the transfer from port (Savannah) to truck and finally the ground transportation leg to me. I've since recommended White & Co to friends (one of whom moved half a household from London to Burgundy, another half a household to South Carolina; the other of whom moved everything to Mexico) and both were as delighted as I. I continue to strongly recommend White & Co, and would use them again in a heartbeat. Btw, the form on this website did not allow me to accurately give the destination of our move, which as is obvious in this account was from the UK to the U.S., not UK to Geneva.

Service cost: £10000

We used this company last year to move us from London to Lincolnshire. I did most of the packing myself. When the packers turned up they looked quite smart, were polite and got on with the job. Then one of them dropped our DVD player just outside the front door. Not even a suggestion of an apology came forth. I didn't make an issue of it as I just wanted to get on with things.
All our belongings were packed into six giant crates on the lorry and headed off for storage.
After three months it was time for them to deliver. Did it come in the crates on the nice big lorry? No. It did not. One small white and co lorry and one unmarked white lorry. I had a look inside and it was as if everything had been thrown in. They said they'd had to unpack the crates because they wouldn't fit onto these smaller vehicles. No one mentioned this when I was arranging delivery so I am doubtful about the validity of the statement. Judging by the dirty state some of my stuff was in I believe they were unpacked at the depot a long time before delivery.
The three guys who delivered were not the clean tidy people who came to collect. They were unkempt and looked unprofessional. Then they began the unload. Handles broken off sideboard, one mattress obviously had been folded because it has a dent in it, and another one black and wet because they dropped it in a puddle on the road. Why didn't they use some sort of protector? Lots of little nightly things like that.
When it came for them to leave, I was asked to sign a portion of the invoice that said I had checked everything and it was ok. But I hadn't, so I refused to sign. The chap said it doesn't matter because no one reads that bit, but it does have to be signed. What the hell? I scribbled through the statement and wrote "all items unchecked " and then signed. He didn't like that. Sighed, tutted, rolled eyes, became a bit unfriendly. I just wanted them out at this point.
When it came to having the boxes collected, which I was told by the original assessor would be within a week, it became clear that this was going to be a big problem. We moved into a small bungalow with no outside storage, so all these flattened boxes didn't take long to fill up this small space. I was told it could be weeks or months before they had a lorry in this area. After many phone calls, I reminded them they had charged me a pretty penny to store my stuff and now I was expected to store their empty boxes for free, they were in breach of contract as I was promised within a week, and I would have to leave an honest and frank review of their service everywhere I could.
They came for the boxes two days later. And incidentally, the bloke who picked them up seemed a bit sarky as well.
Had I read these reviews before engaging this company I would have gone elsewhere, or kicked my boxes, furniture and mattresses up the motorway myself.

Service cost: £6000

We relocated from Durban, South Africa to London, UK. iMove in South Africa nominated White & Co as their local clearing agent and delivery service. I was rather concerned when I read all the negative reviews on this site. We are happy to say that our experience was completely different. Excellent communication, fantastic service from the office and warehouse staff. The delivery guys were amazing, nothing was too much trouble for them. One small item was broken which was immediately pointed out to us. It is just a small lamp stand which can very easily be repaired at a negligible cost. We have no hesitation in recommending White & Co as your removal experts.

Service cost: £4120

This is actually one of the worst movers I have dealt with so far. I have done 4 moves in the last 10 years and some of them was inter-continent. The move with “White and Company” was less that a mile and it was very bad experience.

Pros:
- they came on time.
Cons:
- expensive but not value for money.
- they tend to catch you with the fine print details. Be careful.
- they trick you with the scope details. They say they will left items but when it comes to fitting them they say it is not written. Then show you a text highlighted in marker that confirms that.
- they refer to Health & Safety policy restriction only when delivering the job. While during negoatiations they never mention what they will not do due to this policy. Trust me, there is a lot they will not do.
- they promised to call after one week to fix the issues. They never call or follow up.

In other words, you pay for a premium service but you get the usual traditional service that can cost you with someone else £500 cheaper. So don’t waste your time and money with them.

BTW, they don’t deserve any star, but a sad face.

Service cost: £1800

We told them to carefully packed the Hermes plates. The man proudly said "I have done this for 40 years". When our things arrived, its in pieces. Not only the plate, but they manage to lost one of the box, one ladder and my gym equipment is broken. I really urge others who read this to avoid White and Company at all cost.
When they give quote, they are the cheapest. But in moving, cheap does not mean good. Besides the truck arrived with goods belonging to other families, So everything are mixed, they actually have no idea which items belong to who. Complete useless company. The movers concern is they have to get to their next destination as soon as possible.

Service cost: £8000

Unfortunately I had a bad experience with White and Company. In the end I cancelled my pick up for a part load with them having had to wait for over 2 months (whilst paying for storage). They kept changing the date for the pick up without informing me, and in the end I lost faith in them, as it seemed as if they would never actually come (after 4 changes of date, the last of which I wasn't informed about, so I had assumed that my stuff had been picked up and was on it´s way).  Their response when I cancelled my order was defensive, so I really wouldn't recommend this company which lacks organization, profesionalism and courtesy. .

Service cost: £500

I am absolutely disgusted at the treatment that I have received from this company. I shipped my goods from Sydney back to London via Kent in Australia and they hired this company to do the UK side of the shipping. Their administrator actually hung up on me when I asked for a delivery date and she said I would have to pay extra for a private delivery (even when I had already paid for door to door private??) or wait until they have a pick up to do in London in the future! I have also been told that now I have to apply for a parking permit which is an additional 10 days delay. Horrible customer service. I had to speak to a branch manager to try to sort it out. Let's see how it arrives, in what condition and when? I would NOT recommend them.

Service cost: £4700

My mum recently passed away and I entrusted White & Co to ship some of her treasured possessions to my home in Australia. I packaged them in the UK in a box I collected from White and Co before I left to fly back to Aus. After not hearing anything for a while, I enquired and was told they could not find the box. Then it suddenly reappeared and was delivered to me a few months later.

It had been repackaged and put into 2 boxes. Neither were done up. Some of my Mums items had vanished. Some were broken and an original box for a very old dinner service had been ripped up and used as packers.

They had no right to touch any of those items and repack them. This was done in the UK before it left for Australia. They didn’t seem to care. The items they broke, lost, damaged were irreplaceable. They were my Mums.

Do not entrust your precious, irreplaceable items with them- they don’t care!

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $500

This unethical company with no legal right or even a signature, arranged for their agents to enter my property abroad to take all of my lawfully owned possessions.

Yes, you read that right no signature just someone with no authority told them to do it. After depriving me of all of my possessions, they refused to tell me where they had taken them and pathetically claimed that someone told them to do it. Their complaints process is a cover-up.

Whites, do not like to be told the truth, let's look at the undisputed facts:

You say the government told you to do it. They cannot authorise you to take my goods without my permission as it's against the law.

So you seem to be not telling the truth.

Did the Gov own my goods? No

Did you have the homeowner's permission? No

Did you have a signature? No

Did you have a signature from my employee? No

Did you take the homeowner's possessions without the owner's permission? Yes

Did you know the homeowner was threatened to sign Customs forms? Yes

Did you refuse to tell the homeowner where you were keeping his possessions? Yes

Did the local removal firm tell you this was theft in their emails? (that I have a copy of) Yes

Whites ineptly says this is not theft, let’s let other reviewers decide.

Whites sent people into my house without permission or legal authority and took all of my possessions.

What would you call it? Stealthy removals? The Gov website on the Theft Act 1968 says the following:

A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and “thief” and “steal” shall be construed accordingly.

I tried to speak to your department to discuss it, but you just blame everyone else you’re meant to be a removal company and follow the law. you did not.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: £1000

This may be a lengthy review but please read it.

Paid White and Company to move our belongings from our existing house into their storage facility and then onto our new house a few weeks later. Also paid them a further £390 for their insurance to cover both our moves and also for the storage period.

We decided to pack and box our own possessions given that the reviews of White and Co’s packing service had not been particularly complimentary; small items were carefully wrapped and placed using bubble wrap in storage boxes that White and Co provided and larger items of furniture were protected in multi-layer bubble wrap and then covered with a layer of thick packing grade cardboard and duct tape.

Upon delivery of our belongings we discovered that ten items, primarily furniture, but also including an expensive Bose hi-fi speaker which appeared to have been dropped, had been damaged.

After numerous chasing emails to them and finally after waiting nearly three months, we were informed that due to the fact that we had carried out our own packing, our belongings, albeit with the exception of a couple of items that White and Co themselves had placed within plastic bags, we were not actually insured against damage!

They referred us to their small print contained within a page of thirty four specific insurance clauses which were sent to us as part of sixteen pages of contradictory contract documentation and which stated that our belongings were only actually insured if one of their vehicles was involved in an accident or overturned!!!

White and Co had therefore taken our £390 knowing full well that our entire possessions were never actually covered for such things as basic damage, theft, flood, fire etc (ie all of the risks that one might want to actually insure against), at any time during our moves or whilst in storage.

We therefore took them to court for breach of contract and their failure to meet their contractual obligations as a ‘supposed’ professional removals company and to use care and diligence to carefully move and store our belongings. Unfortunately, although we were successful with our claim, after taking into account court fees, our settlement only covered a fraction of the replacement cost of the damaged items!

The basis of White and Company’s defence in court was effectively that the items that were damaged were done so prior to our wrapping / packing and we had covered up this damage in order to claim against their insurance! They also ridiculously stated that we should have photographed every item prior to packing in order to prove that nothing was damaged beforehand!!

The moral of the story. Firstly, based upon our experience we would suggest employing someone else; any company that can manage to damage ten items clearly can’t be that diligent or professional! Secondly, if despite this review you really do feel the need to use this company, irrespective of whether they pack your belongings or you pack yourself, make sure that you have agreed the condition of everything with them before anything is covered up. Finally, if you do decide to pack yourself, their insurance is pretty much worthless, so use an independent company to ensure adequate cover.

Would just conclude by saying that even after the settlement, the manager from White and Co who attended court could not even bring himself to offer any semblance of an apology, but chose instead to major upon how much time he had lost and how far he’d had to travel to attend court! Perhaps his company should have provided a better service in the first place!

Make up your own mind, but you have been warned!!!

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: £3892

W e received bad service.expensive costs.lots of damage,bad after care.a totally uncaring company.they did the opposite to what they had promised making a stressfull time moreso.we had lots of dirty hand prints on our 2 bed bases and mattresses.also damage occured on t.v stand and garden furniture.nothing was acknowledged.the company did send an unqualified ex-employee to try and remove the marks by using a scrubbing brush,mousse and steamer.but made the marks worse and declared he had never dealt with beds before.he did note all markings were due to the removers black finger marks but told the manger,rob that the marks were insignificant.

Service cost: £514