Moving Home?

pinkteapot

Freecycle - you'll be amazed at the old junk people will be happy to take off your hands for free.

If you want cash, eBay with delivery as 'buyer collection only'. Stuff like fridges and ovens probably don't go for much though.

Mulder00

Just to clarify - when I used the man with a van service, I asked for a van with two men. They did everything, including disassembling furniture and reassembling it at the other end.

TBagpuss

fridges and cookers :- you may be able to donate these if they are working. Some charities may take these either to sell of to refurb and provide to people in need - I know my local British Heart Foundation takes electrical goods - I think they act as a 'hub' as they have the facilities for testing and refurb - check your local area to see who sells second hand appliances and ask whether they accept donations.

Also contact you local council - mine will take large items - you have to pay (last time I did it, I paid £25 for them to take away a dead washing machine. I think I could have disposed of 2 other items at the same time before the price went up.

Freecycle is a good option.

Also check your local free paper want ads. There is an organisation near me which will collect 2nd hand washing machines, ovens etc - it is connected with a local womens shelter and social services.

moneyistooshorttomention

Well...one thing is Pickfords are in BAR (ie the Association removers belong to....so just in case of problems.......;)).....

A smaller firm might not be in BAR.

Though do be aware that there are removal firms out there that appear to be independent fair-size established companies and you might hire that company only to find that its a Pickfords van that turns up on your doorstep in the event (I gather Pickfords is "in partnership" with one or two other firms, but that isn't necessarily clear when booking what you might think is another firm).

Owen_Kric

Mulder00 wrote: »

Just to clarify - when I used the man with a van service, I asked for a van with two men. They did everything, including disassembling furniture and reassembling it at the other end.

That sounds like a dream come true!

Owen_Kric

TBagpuss wrote: »

...contact you local council - mine will take large items - you have to pay (last time I did it, I paid £25 for them to take away a dead washing machine.

My problem is I live on the second floor and move heavy objects at my peril, since I had a hernia op a while ago and there are problems with my back. So I cannot get this stuff to the ground floor area where the council would collect it - I need a couple of hefty 'movers' :-|

Excited13

When my grandmother moved she had loads of items she couldn't take (sofa, cooker, wardrobes etc). We found a local charity who were glad of all the items as they helped furnish houses for people in need so anything was better than nothing as they even took old mattresses and beds. Have a google and you may find something similar for your unwanted items. Good luck

paye

Excited13 wrote: »

Sounds like an experience I had with an ex. I don't mind packing and unpacking but don't expect me to lift anything! Stick with a local firm and you can be on coffee duty whilst they do the hard work.

i've hired a local firm today, they are charging £35 p/h for two men in a luton van. you should check out gumtree.

henrik1971

We got seriously stitched up and ripped off by a company in Wakefield when we moved in the summer. The main lesson we learned the expensive way was get the quotation in writing, plus all the terms and conditions and make sure the removal people know exactly how much stuff you have to move - again everything in writing.

We booked initially over the phone, and then a couple of weeks before the move we telephoned to confirm the date and gave a rough list of the furniture and boxes that we had to move.
A few days before the move, we phoned them to confirm arrival time, etc. and talk about how long they thought it might take to load etc.
To cut a long story short they backtracked on the costs they'd originally quoted - denying they'd given those prices at all. They then gave a new figure which was double the original figure. By this time it was too short notice to book someone else. On the day they turned up with a van that was far too small and would clearly need to make multiple trips. The filled the van by 12 noon but we couldn't get the keys to the new house until 2pm and so they charged us 2 hours "waiting time" at another £40/hour. This had never been mentioned, but was on the small print on the piece of paper the removal men waved in front of my face on the morning of the move itself. We ended up paying almost £800 for a move 2 miles away. Two men and a Luton for just over 8 hours.
One of the most stressful, tiring days of my life and probably ended up paying double what it should have been.

phoebe1989seb

henrik1971 wrote: »

We got seriously stitched up and ripped off by a company in Wakefield when we moved in the summer. The main lesson we learned the expensive way was get the quotation in writing, plus all the terms and conditions and make sure the removal people know exactly how much stuff you have to move - again everything in writing.

We booked initially over the phone, and then a couple of weeks before the move we telephoned to confirm the date and gave a rough list of the furniture and boxes that we had to move.
A few days before the move, we phoned them to confirm arrival time, etc. and talk about how long they thought it might take to load etc.
To cut a long story short they backtracked on the costs they'd originally quoted - denying they'd given those prices at all. They then gave a new figure which was double the original figure. By this time it was too short notice to book someone else. On the day they turned up with a van that was far too small and would clearly need to make multiple trips. The filled the van by 12 noon but we couldn't get the keys to the new house until 2pm and so they charged us 2 hours "waiting time" at another £40/hour. This had never been mentioned, but was on the small print on the piece of paper the removal men waved in front of my face on the morning of the move itself. We ended up paying almost £800 for a move 2 miles away. Two men and a Luton for just over 8 hours.
One of the most stressful, tiring days of my life and probably ended up paying double what it should have been.

I guess this is where 'you get what you pay for' with the larger, more expensive removers.......

We used Bishop's Move on our last-but-one move. It was a 150 mile move spread over five days with the contents of a fairly large (3500 sq ft) house including a hot tub and we paid just over £4000 :eek:

However, they did go to great lengths to ascertain beforehand exactly how much *stuff* we had to be moved, going round making note of everything as far as was possible.

This didn't include packing btw.....

Next move (200 miles, slightly less stuff, hot tub being moved separately) we got a smaller, independent (still BAR though) to quote and this came in at £2500.......