A to B Removals

We recently used A to B Removals Aberdeen for a pack and move service from Aberdeen to the Shire. From start to finish (i.e. receiving the quote, to interim support with boxes and packing/moving day), we were really happy with our choice.

Bill and his team on the day were fantastic! Super friendly, professional and efficient. They made the process stress free (well, as much as a house move can be!).

We would not hesitate in recommending A to B Removals for a full pack and removal service. We would also use them again.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: £1880

I got a quote from A to B to move from Aberdeen to the isle of Lewis and got a very good first impression from Jim who came to the house to quote, but who unfortunately wasn’t there on move day.

The good impression didn’t last.
Firstly, the guys loading the van shouted and swore loudly which was rude and embarrassing, plus my 3 year old was always within earshot.

They had quoted my partner to move his classic car. He raised concerns about their ramps and equipment but was told it was all fine. The bottom of the car was scraping along their ramps going on.. some under-seal was scraped off but no serious damage..not a good start.

On arrival to Lewis mid afternoon next day, there were only a couple of hours of daylight left for the 2 drivers to offload the van (which had taken six hours the previous day to be loaded by 3 of them)..they made out that this was in some way our problem. I told them that they should have allocated more time to the other side of the job! They tried to re- arrange their travel details the next day as they realised they’d messed up but couldn’t get better ferry times. So they would have to finish it all that day.

Due to the rural location there wasn't much street lighting, but we got all the barn lights and 2 x outside lights on which was perfectly adequate..still they grumbled.

We thought we were doing them a favour by putting things straight into storage in barn (ie, no beds to put back together/no runs up to the loft/no need to put certain things in certain rooms!) but no, that extra 10 meters was just too much!

The drivers then made it clear they would probably be there til nearer midnight offloading since there was just the two of them. In the meantime I received a text from John requesting that he needed them away from there "as soon as".
After discussing this with my partner he called John and offered to help his drivers if he would give us some sort of discount, since we had already paid for the full removal service. John agreed to refund us £200 if he helped out. This was at approximately 4.30pm and at around 8.30pm they finished offloading.

The following day I called to confirm the refund and spoke with a lady who said she would have to run it past John before processing, but that if we didn't hear back then all was well.
When we still didn't have a refund into our account by the next day, my partner called John again, who proceeded to ask why we should be expecting £200 when he'd only helped out for an hour..
He kept trying to speak over us when spoken to and it became obvious that he had no intention of ever refunding ANYTHING.

In other words we were duped, and suffice to say we have had no refund for the 4 hours work my partner contributed (which should never have happened in the first place)

I have found John's behaviour in this matter utterly disgusting and he has proved himself and his company to be unprofessional and shady at best. I will leave what he said and threatened my partner with for his review.

We received more expensive quotes than this one and with hindsight I guess you get what you pay for. I would urge everyone to avoid dealing with this man and his company.
NB I have had to select Inverness as my destination as Lewis wasn't on the list.

Service cost: £3000

We asked a quotation for our house move from Aberdeen to Bristol in August 2017, specifying the actual move would have not taken place until late 2017-early 2018. We had used A to B in 2016 to move house within Aberdeen and we were very happy with the service received then, so we decided to book them this time around as well.

We contacted A to B in January to request confirmation of the validity of the offer, we received such confirmation (and paid the security deposit (100£) and we arranged the packing to happen on Thursday 22nd of February with delivery of our stuff on Monday 26th in Bristol. This worked pretty well for us as we could take our time to drive to Bristol with some stops to allow our 18-months-old son to travel more comfortably.

On the day of the move, I got a phone call from John saying that our stuff would have been delivered on the Tuesday instead of the Monday. This caused us quite a discomfort as by that time we had already packed our luggage and an extra day without our boxes delivered wasn’t ideal, specially with a toddler; then he asked me my debit card number and only after I gave it to him he told me the total was over 40% more than the quotation. He justified such increase with VAT (which was expressly included in the August quotation), materials, transit etc, but last time we didn’t have so many additions and the quotation has always been meant to be all inclusive. However, by that point, having already given my card number and with the personnel in the house packing, I didn’t have many alternatives, and he agreed to drop 200£ and we landed with a final amount around 27% higher than the previous quote, still quite high, specially considering I sent the copy of the quotation three weeks earlier to confirm everything was still as quoted 6 months earlier.

The packing itself was not a pleasant experience. Some of the staff was really rude, complaining very often about the amount of staff we had to pack (if we had just few boxes I wouldn’t have probably engaged a moving company…) and even commenting on our language (italian) being “funny” or even mocking at it, probably thinking we couldn’t hear. In a couple of rooms, the staff refused us to be in the room to give directions regarding which items to leave and which to pack, resulting in few Landlord’s possessions being sent to Bristol with our belongings. In the end, after six hours (and several breaks…) they made it and left.

On the Tuesday luckily the download was on time (morning) and it was pretty fast (everything was done by 11 am): this part of the service was aligned with our expectations and previous experience with A to B. Boxes were all delivered and goods were in good conditions.

After we noticed an over debit on our account, refund of the difference was given in a couple of days.

Service cost: £1800

I used A2B Removals last year for a move within Aberdeen City and they were perfectly fine. As a repeat customer I came back to them again for an outwith Aberdeen City move and it has been a very different story. I am shocked and disappointed to see how much this company has declined in terms of complete lack of customer care and extremely poor service.

They increased the original quote of £2500 to £3468 a few days before the move, as John Gray had not factored in an accurate cost of the ferry crossing (surely this would be something you’d check out before providing a quote?) and I had paid £500 deposit in good faith, leaving me in a position whereby I could not get anyone else to do the job at the last minute so had to pay them the total of the revised quote.

The worst example of A2B’s complete lack of care and inability to carry out the work competently was the fact that half my furniture including my bed and mattress was “forgotten” and I have been made to wait for over three weeks to receive my belongings at my new property. John Gray visited my property to list all items to be removed so there could be no doubts as to what size lorry was needed. For some reason a Luton van was used when the year before, and John still has details of that removal on his books, a large lorry was required to fit all the furniture. Of note, the Luton van would cost less on the ferry. I have no issue with a company wishing to make a profit which is entirely natural but that should not involve misquoting or leaving behind half the furniture presumably in an attempt to reduce their own costs both of which have happened here.

During the time I was without my furniture I had to make all contact with A2B asking for updates and obviously needing to know what was happening with my furniture. They replied to my communication intermittently and instead of sorting out their mistake immediately by bringing the “forgotten” items the following day or even within the week, I was ignored and told by office staff that they couldn’t be letting down other customers, however reading recent reviews on this page and on their Facebook page, it seems they let down many others as well so this clearly isn’t just a one off example of bad practice.

On receipt finally, there is damage to the furniture- broken side tables and a broken bed frame leg.

I would urge anyone looking to book a reliable, efficient and competent removal firm to look elsewhere as A2B Removals have been a shambles from start to finish in my recent removal.

Service cost: £3468

Had ordered and paid for a delivery from down south, gave full sizes and weights as this is a process we do on a regular basis. This company came in at the best price. Chap I spoke to John seemed very nice indeed. The order was to be picked up today. I received a call from the driver at the time the order was due to be told he was not happy as he had been sent down to pick my things up but his van would not fit my things if he was to go to the other persons pick up, couldn't give me any date in the future so left me with no choice but to fork out the extra £1000 which was double my bill! The goods had to leave the premises so I had no choice! Beware of this practice with this company! Shame because my initial thoughts on this company were very positive.

Service cost: £2300

Used this at the end offset month and was reallly surprised at the final bill. Not worth it at all for a couple of hours work. I also had a pair of rayban sunglasses which I knew for a fact were behind a solid bed. I couldn’t get to them so was looking forward the the bed being taken apart so I could get them back. Did they turn up?? No the did not... absolutely disgusted!! They are prescription by the way so no luck!!! Absolutely livid do not use this company!! Can’t be trusted!!!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: £1000