Removal company - any advice or recommendations

property.advert

I'm going to be moving in the next month or so and want to get someone to do the moving for me. However, I could do with some pointers and recommendations if you have any.

Moving from north London to Surrey, no furniture except for a small table and chairs, some small appliances, books, electronics, kitchen goods and clothes etc.

Don't really want some guy who normally shifts smelly rubbish to help out on his day off but I don't need 5* international removers either. Something in between.

Recommendations would be great.

clutton_2

local removers often have a number of different sized vans... i would contact a couple and get quotes... let them pack for you as they wont insure your stuff against breakages if you dont.. in any case its great just to be able to stand around and point whilsts sayng "please put that there.... oh no wait a minute i've changed my mind!"

pimento

Not sure where in north London you are but Crispins in Hoxton have moved us twice and were very reasonable both times.

Little_bit_dizzy

When we last moved I contacted 3 or 4 companies to get an idea of costs, but I only called companies which advertise with a landline number - someone I know had a bad experience with a 'bloke called John' (mobile number only).

Guess what... he was untracable and so was her furniture :mad:

DizzyDasher

Last time we moved we used a company called Ants Removals - with a few offices in North and North West London. They were really great - quick, friendly, no damage! - we only wish we'd asked them to pack too, as from the way they dealt with wrapping up our pictures they obviously would have been much better (and much much quicker) at it than we were. We had quite a bit of furniture (we're renting around half furnished) so a largeish truck, but I think they do smaller moves too - worth contacting them to check. I'm new so not allowed to post a link but if you Google Ants Removals you'll find them!

Probably just about to use them again, but they only came to quote this morning so can't give you an idea on price (probably not that relevant anyway as the jobs sound a bit different - ours is larger but local!)

Now I just have to figure out what I can chuck out before I go...

property.advert

Cheers for the replies, I'll follow up the ones mentioned.

As for it going missing, I'll have to travel in the van as I've no transport !

Got one quote today at £55 an hour for 2 men (they would do 1 man at £45 an hour). They estimate 90 minutes for the drive (I think 2 hours as 70 miles) and obviously some time at either end. They also want an hour extra as outside the M25.

All in for 3 hours would be £165 + £55 plus VAT which works out at £258.51. Extra time at 30 minute intervals. This is from http://www.handymoves.co.uk/contact_us.html

Just got another one in whilst writing this from a company in the destination town, http://www.removalsfarnham.co.uk/ who have quoted a flat fee of £300.

Not too much in it really and I know that no-one is going to do it for a tenner !

dacouch

My mate has just moved from Farnham to North London, he had fairly basic stuff with not much furniture and paid £210 all in and jumped a lift with the removal man.

Make sure whoever you use don't leave London after about 3pm as otherwise they will get caught in traffic around Guildford and Farnham, the drive is between 90 mins and 2 hours

Farnham is a nice area, you'll like it, a lot quieter than North London though.

My mate used movemequick 07010047162 another I've used is Rocketvan http://www.rocketvan.co.uk/

dacouch

I knew I had seen a post about handymoves on mse, the poster was not a happy bunny https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/34421123#Comment_34421123

property.advert

Just read your link thanks.

Though their attitude seems to stink over that one, why on earth would you pay up front ? Still, definitely worth considering this previous complaint.

I emailed through their site and was called about 10 minutes later. Had a good discussion on the phone and a guy called Jamie emailed a quotation and their t+c a few minutes later. I thought that was pretty impressive customer service but I haven't actually seen them perform in action. It needs consideration for sure. Thanks again.

Vampgirl

When we moved a couple of years ago we used this company: http://www.theshifters.co.uk and they were absolutely fantastic - we only had a small amount of things and were moving a short distance so went for the hourly rate. I did wonder if going for an hourly rate would mean that they took their time (to get extra fees) but they didn't - they were done inside 2 hours. Can't fault their service at all: friendly staff, careful with our large awkward items and reliable: we moved when there was a foot of snow on the ground and they even called us the day before to confirm that they'd still be coming just in case we were wondering if they'd be cancelling or not. I would definately use them again but sadly they have now moved to north London so we probably won't be able to (gutted!)

dacouch

By the sounds of it, they tried to move the piano at the end of the day, did not have enough staff so promised they would come back with more staff later but then collected the payment and did not come back. For the customer that would be a night mare as they would have to get the piano out of their old home