Global Moving Services

Truly terrible experience with GMS, who not only damaged our personal goods (including several pieces of art), and did not communicate delivery timelines at all (I was chasing for weeks before a team showed up entirely unannounced at our door on the day we were due to catch a flight), but most worryingly they also charged an extra £1,350 for completely unexplained 'charges' and refused to refund this. They claimed this was for over volume, and yet we were given absolutely no prewarning about this and were left trapped between a 'choice' of paying to collect the goods from the warehouse, or paying extra to have them delivered. It has been incredibly stressful and disappointing and I just wish we had chosen another delivery company. I have never worked with a company where the level of communication is so bed. I would warn anyone to avoid working with this team at all costs.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Flat Service cost: £3500

GMS Global moving services disaster GMS
My wife and I used GMS to move us from the UK to Thailand. They are totally un professional and not trustworthy. We were told that our TV’s would be packed in protective cases and I had to give them the dimensions of each TV they were not packed in cases just wrapped in bubble wrap, as a result our 50” HD smart TV had the screen smashed this was done ether during packing or unloading they offered me £40.00. all our clothes were just thrown into cardboard boxes not folded or hung my suits are so creased I do not know if I will be able to put them on again, our Crombie’s and my wife’s full-length leather coat have been hanging for two months and they still look terrible. They no longer answer my emails!
I would advise anybody who in considering using GMS to think again
Graham Kane
GMS Global moving disaster.

Service cost: £4790

We booked a partial load from London to the South of Spain. Initial communication and quoting of the job was good, however after receiving an estimated time of arrival of between 10am and 12.

At 1230 we called to ask what was happening and was told there was a delay at an earlier pick up but they would arrive between 1300 and 1500. At 1700 we finally got a call to tell us that the drivers where out of time and would not arrive till 0800 the following day.

When it came to delivery in Spain the communications failure started again. GMS stated between 0800 and 1000 but St Georges who do all the actual work rang shortly after to say that they would not be with us till the afternoon.

The service from St Georges was polite and efficient and we accept the delays happen but GMS at no point managed to give us the communication and service we expected.

When asked about why we had been bumped without notice we where informed by GMS that we should have paid for a full load and then they would have been able to guarantee the delivery and pick up slots..

I future I would cut out the middle man and go to St Georges.

Service cost: £1000

I have dealt with a dozen moving companies so far and GMS is the worst by a fair margin (full container France-USA). The salesperson I dealt with forgot to follow up on my import docs (despite my calls/emails) so they left my furniture rot in their warehouse for weeks. Rather than acknowledge their mistake and at least apologize, the customer support manager sent me a copy of their T&C alongside a pompous email stating that I have no recourse. Cynical, unprofessional, careless and pedantic beyond belief.

Service cost: £10500

This is only a partial review, because this company was - understandably - so busy that they were full on the dates I needed, so I had to look elsewhere. But before that Martin at GMS had taken the trouble to phone me in Norway and alert me to the need to apply for Transfer of Residence and acquire the all important Unique Reference Number before doing anything else. He warned me that August is peak season and explained how international removals works. All in all, he provided me with invaluable help way beyond the call of duty in a situation that I found stressful and bewildering. It was with great reluctance that I looked elsewhere because GMS was simply too popular in the week I needed.

Service cost: £1992

On the UK side I was rather impressed with Steve's selling their services, and Martin's operational oversight. However, when 20'container arrived at destination, and at least 3 cartons were found to be missing, GMS dismissed immediately the possibility that the loss/misplacement of cartons may have taken place at the holding warehouse in UK.

Yes, there was a number of weeks that passed from the shipping of the 20' container from said warehouse, but even the one carton they knew was not loaded was not communicated. And that is my biggest complaint, the followup to many emails and phone calls was poor at best, and when it did occur insulted my intelligence, even suggesting the goods were left at house in UK and that I should check this, even though I was now in the US.

I've been involved with international cargo for over 30 years and never have I encountered a group of staff that would not consider they may have been in the wrong, including Richard who was as far up the chain I got. At that point it was clear there was no point in discussing with them any further and I settled with the insurance carrier for 100GBP.

The value of the loss was marginal, however having paid GMS over 7,000 GBP I expected to be treated as a valued customer and this did not happen! I can already imagine the GMS response, "Blah, blah, blah".

There are plenty of removal companies in the UK, use a different one, I regret not doing so myself.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: £7000