Pickfords Removals www.pickfords.co.uk

Pickfords were booked and paid for and didn't turn up to my move. Can you imagine the problems and expense this has caused me? My house buyer turns up with their stuff and I'm still here. People are sobbing, it's so stressful. Pickfords have NOBODY answering any phones, or emails, or twitter, or instagram. Voicemails full...

The stress they have caused is unbelievable.

After deciding to pay a premium for the Pickfords service rather than a local operator, the sales pitch was slick with detailed promises of service levels. The post sales pitch and agreement signing was also slick but the service levels slip drastically when it comes to the packing and move day. The moving team are hit and miss, some are exceptionally co-operative and assist/fulfil their role, others were only keen on moaning and demanding endless tea. The move sequence was not as promised, double handling and access issues despite their own assurances that this would not accrue. Specific agreements to dismantle, move, store and rebuild gym equipment has not materialised. In fact, most of the kit was dragged across gravel driveways causing cosmetic and operational damage to several pieces of kit inclusive of a Peloton tread. At move in time, several impacts / damage to door frames and alike were caused. I can understand that accidents happen, but this was careless and negligent issues, not accidental. It is a conscious decision to drag kit across gravel driveways - this is not an accidental decision. Furthermore, I am sure that the kit that the move teams are provided with could have avoided such a "drag" but no, they chose to drag and damage with little regard to what happened. As a result, 3 months on and I am still awaiting the rebuild of the gym kit and also the settlement of the damaged items and damage to the (brand new) house.

Pickfords are very quick to take your money (and a lot of it!), promise you all sorts but then do not deliver.

The Customer Service is shocking. I contacted my ‘dedicated’ move manager with a time sensitive query and they said they would check and call me back. They never did and it took repeated calls over the next 48 hours to get an answer. I submitted a complaint with numerous issues and the Group Manager said he would conduct a full review and respond accordingly. I did not hear within the 8 weeks specified so had to chase a response and was then sent an email that was all of 2 sentences long that did not even acknowledge, let alone answer or apologise for the majority of issues I raised.

Pickfords quoted almost double the other firms but due to availability issues and the assurance that they had the resources to do the move as we wanted, we went with them. Big mistake.

Day 1 of a 4 Day move and I was expecting a team of 6 for a full days packing. I received 2 people for just over 4 hours who then lied and left saying they had used all the boxes they had brought (there were 30+ unused in the house) Pickfords refuted they had said there would be 6 and said they had provided enough resources to complete the move by the end of Day 4. The leaving early and lying about it, not acknowledged.

I had specified I wanted the house clear by the end of Day 2 so it could be cleaned and that the sale would complete by 10am on Day 3. The agent quoting had said that this would be possible and the morning of Day 3 would be spent packing the garage and garden. The afternoon of Day 3 would begin unpacking at the new property which would then continue on Day 4. This did not happen and Pickfords did not finish packing until after 17:30 on Day 3. Unpacking did not begin until Day 4. This meant I had to rearrange cleaners and arrange an extra night’s accommodation and care for my elderly mother. Not acknowledged.

Fortunately the new occupants of my house were not waiting to move in on Day 3. The owners of the new property I was moving into also used Pickfords and they were not finished packing by completion of my purchase at 12:30 on Day 3. Not acknowledged.

To be fair, some of the packing was very good, a lot of it was not. Belongings were stuffed in to boxes with little or no packing resulting in damage and the contents spilling out inside. Boxes were not labelled properly and contents were sometimes random and so items were difficult to find. Items of sentimental value that cannot be replaced were destroyed. There was also Pickfords rubbish packed in the boxes. Not acknowledged. I found empty rolls of tape, biscuit wrappers and even an empty milk carton.

Because of the poor start on Day 1 it felt like the move was rushed to be completed by the end of Day 4 and the quality of the move suffered. Not acknowledged.

You only get 7 days to unpack everything, check it and then compile and submit in writing a claim. This was not long enough and Pickfords refused to extend the time. Not acknowledged. This meant I discovered missing and damaged items that I was not able to claim for.

Pickfords did pay some compensation but this was well below what I expected or deserved.

A very poor experience and I will never use Pickfords again.

My son and daughter in law emigrated to Australia march 2022. Used Pickford's and the two guys who came to pick up the furniture and other items seemed pretty good. When one said we will have to pack it all at the depot as we have to do another job. So they put everything in the van and off they went. My daughter in law had previously packed glasses and breakables items in newspaper. Thinking Pickford's would pack professionally. They went off to Australia march 15th knowing the shipping of their goods would be about 8/12 wks before it got to Australia. Well it finally got their after 3 months after being to Australia twice then to another country before they actually received to shipment. When it did get delivered the glasses were broken STILL wrapped in newspaper. Two TVs had broken screens.

My son had his 3 ton trolley jack sent in the shipment but this had been swapped for an old rusty jack nothing as strong. This obviously was swapped at the Pickford depot. This is outrageous customer care. My son took insurance cover but Pickford's passed the buck and still not had any money for the items that were damaged and really the jack was stolen. Although was swapped. Pickford's are not trustworthy in my opinion.

That’s 5 (or 6) starts for the team and 1 star for Pickfords themselves.

We had a complex move, 300 miles away and paid extra for them to finish packing up the day before we completed and deliver pm the next day. All went to plan with fantastic packing up, and incredible loading of the van (sorry can’t remember his name). A further local crew came to our new house to help unload. We’ve nothing but praise for these guys, unlike Pickfords itself.

Issue 1 – on the day they were packing up the van, the Pickfords supervisor (I think) took away any unused boxes. He had kept back c10 for last minute things and was then unable to wrap and box up a few remaining items, including an antique light fitting which had to travel loose wrapped in a blanket. Through no fault of his, one of the glass shades fell off and smashed on a tile floor in our new house. Its proving very difficult to replace – and the only breakage which could easily have been avoided if it was as well packed as everything else had been.

Issue 2 – we unpacked some boxes as they were being delivered but emailed our move manager the next day to say the bulk of them were ready for collection. This is clearly set out as a service as part of the price. We reminded and reminded for weeks, every time being told someone would be in touch. You can imagine how much space 50+ sodden boxes and wrapping papers takes up. We finally gave up and got rid of them ourselves – on the same day they were supposedly trying to contact us to come to collect. Really…after 6 weeks of nothing?

So my advice is make sure you get the A team (from Kent) but either get Pickfords to hold back some payment so you can get rid of the boxes yourself, or have the date for their collection booked in when you book your moving date.

We engaged Pickford's to move our house contents from the UK to the US. The price was high, but they came recommended, so we bit the bullet. Initially, all was well. Goods were collected by an excellent team, and our contact was quick to reply. However, once our goods were with Pickford's (and we had paid) suddenly most of our requests for updates went unanswered. This would not have been an issue except that we had not provided a specific customs form, without which (unbeknownst to us) nothing would move. Pickford's failed to mention this in several emails they actually deigned to respond to, and so our stuff sat in a warehouse for 2 whole months before someone more competent was put on our account who immediately informed us of the missing form. When our goods were finally delivered, 6 months after they were collected (estimate was 3-4 months), we duly complained, only to be told that it was simply our fault for not providing everything needed for a highly complex international house move, without being reminded by the company of supposed 'experts' we had hired for exactly that purpose. Do not use these muppets. 1 star is 2 stars too many.

We have entrusted Pickfords , the removal company , to pack our items in April 2021 and to store them in their warehouse during the renovation works Before our move we have asked to provide a crate to pack a very fragile antique vitrine. On the day of the move the crate has never materialise On the day of the move the crate has never materialised. We kept our belongings at Pickfords's storage for 13 months In June 2021 Pickfords has moved our belongings back to our renovated house. During the move the delivery of our grand piano turned out to be a total disaster: the unprofessionalism of the team, the non -existant communication between the team and their managers had resulted in a very bad damage to the piano. Very alarming that the the vital set of the screws , bolts and other important details to re-assemble the pino gone missing and was lost. the managerial team was late with apologies and very indifferent to this situation. No one in this company is taking the responsibility for this disaster. We can not use the piano and we were offered £40 to replace those lost items. the whole experience with Pickfords turned out to be a very unpleasant and stressful despite their promise of the opposite

I question Pickfords company ability to deal with specialised items. I would think trice before to move with them the antiques or musical instruments

their approach with us was !00% unprofessional and with zero for customer care

The disaster started with the assessor, who clearly decided he could economise on my move by providing only 3 men rather than the usual 5 that all other companies had provided in the past. On packing day, by early afternoon, it was clear that the 3 were not going to cope alone and another 2 arrived after completing a job elsewhere. At the end of the day, I said goodbye to the 5, expecting to see them the next day for the move into my new home, but was told only 2 of them would be there, one gpfrom the morning, and one from the later two arrivals. A new man joined them on the second day, so only one person who knew exactly where everything should go was there for the move into the new house.

The result was that several items were missing (one, an expensive Victorian Soton planter that I’d carefully posted out to the team the first morning) was left behind in my old garden. A lagprge number of items were damaged or broken. Much of the packing was done atrociously, and as the days go by (it’s now 5 weeks since my move) I’m still discovering missing and damaged items.

Pickfords charged twice as much as the next BAR recommended company, and are by far the worst removal company I have ever used. In fact in 6 house moves, this was the only one where I’ve had anything damaged, and only inone other did I have anything missing (one small radio). The only positive (for which the sine star is awarded) is that the men themselves were really nice.

I will never ever use Pickfords again and strongly ad I’ve others to steer very clear of them.

The removal men turned up at 9.30 a.m. as promised, then proceeded to have a cigarette break before starting.

This turned out to be a theme throughout the day.

The removal team were not given all the details of the move by the man that came out and quoted us.

When the man came out to take our requirements, we told him we wanted two wardrobes dismantling and putting together at the destination. This was news to the removal men.

The men started to get concerned that all of our furniture wouldn't fit on the two lorries that turned up, so a third was requested and turned up.

Even though at this time there was 6 men on site, the job wasn't completed until 5.45 p.m. Didn't seem to be much urgency.

When the three lorries went back to their depot, the load was squeezed onto two lorries.

The next day at our new home the men there didn't know how to

assemble our wardrobes, the man that took them apart wasn't included on this trip! We had some 60 boxes to unpack, and unfortunately a week before the move and two weeks after, I was ill so couldn't help my wife unpack.

After 3 weeks she realised that we had some items missing.

We contacted the company to report this and was told to list them with valuations, which we did.

The claim was turned down as we were outside the 7 day window that you have to report any shortages.

I don't think that there are many people, let alone pensioners like us, that can unpack and check everything in just 7 days.

It seems very sharp practice that the customer has to pay insurance against the company's faults, yet when you try to claim, they won't pay out for THEIR mistakes.

So all in all, we are very disappointed in the not cheap service that we paid for. Would not recommend.

Cost of removal, £2,300+.

I have had my storage returned , not wrapped or protected while in storage and in transit , estimated damage from water , breakages and moth infestation £20,000 , complained and am being given the run around , no offer of compensation , so many limits and exclusions re the insurance I have paid for , not insured for , Damp , Infestation , non wrapped soft furnishings .

DO NOT USE !!!!!!!!