Britannia Movers International

I had a partial move from Glasgow to Rome. The movers from the Glasgow office came on the 24th of April and did a good job of packing and wrapping my belongings, which were then packed into a wooden pallet, which I was told would not be opened again until it reached Rome. A complete lie.

After two months in storage my belongings were sent to Kent at the end of June. I heard a lot about the mysterious 'Kent office' in the following couple of months, usually every time something went wrong. Adjectives I could use to describe Britannia Movers?

*DISHONEST: My belongings were unpacked and repacked. I don't know if this happened in Glasgow or Kent. When they finally arrived, I had boxes with a random mix of belongings; some clothes wrapped around my microwave, some collectable soft toys cushioning my plates etc. Weird.
*INCOMPETENT: I was given a delivery window at the end of July. According to Glasgow, the Kent office 'forgot' to put my stuff on the July truck. I was told (without apology) that I'd have to wait for the August truck. A month later. After I made a fuss I was grudgingly refunded £200, a fraction of what I spent in rearranging flights and travel as a result of Britannia's mistake.
*LAZY: My belongings finally arrived 2 months after they left Glasgow. I flew back early from a holiday to be in Rome for the new delivery date. At 6pm that day, the delivery driver called to say that he couldn't get into my street because the truck was too big, so he was taking my stuff to a warehouse on the outskirts of Rome. By now I was at breaking point. Thankfully he came after I begged, cajoled, and bribed him. Unsurprisingly, the truck was not actually too big for the street.
*EXTREMELY CARELESS: Lots of little bits of annoying damage; dent on my retro microwave, chipped plate, damaged picture frames, dirty marks on a lampshade and the mattress. I stupidly didn't take out their insurance so as far as Britannia were concerned, it wasn't their problem. I had foolishly hoped that a removal company would see it as their responsibility to move your belongings without damaging them. I was wrong.
*MORALLY BANKRUPT: In my partial move, one item was sadly 'lost'. The item? A Playstation 4. Everything else arrived, including the games for the console (which I had put in a different bag). It just so happened the one missing item was a £300 games console. What were the chances? Quite high, it seems. Make of that what you will.

Are Britannia the cheapest option? Probably. But with a £200 refund, I still paid £1300 for this farce. But if you decide to go with them, don't include anything remotely valuable in your packing (in could get 'lost'), take every form of insurance that you can possibly find, be VERY flexible regarding delivery times, don't use their 'wrapping' service (where they throw stuff in a box and hope for the best).

Or do yourself a favour, pay a bit extra and use a different company. I wish I had.

Service cost: £1500

Recently moved from a top floor flat to a house. At all stages Andy and the team were helpful and accommodating, answering any questions I had quickly. We purchased the packing service and on the day the team turned up on time and worked efficiently to pack our belongings. The team did not complain once, even though the move was from a top floor flat and the weather on the day was miserable and as they went along they even suggested items which might be useful to leave easily available. Packing was done with care and there was no damage to any belongings. Would recommend and will use again.

Service cost: £860

What a sunny day - and the weather was pretty good too! Short distance out from Glasgow to the village of Howwood, enabled by a trio of fantastic Britannia staff. Could not have been smoother, more professional or cheerier! Move included a small but monstrously heavy piano, negotiated down a very steep driveway in a meticulously controlled descent. So impressed and grateful for the whole Britannia process from initial enquiry to completed move. Many thanks from a deeply satisfied customer.

Service cost: £623

The experience with Britannia was superb. I had received a recommendation from a friend and the recommendation was well justified. The team of 3 arrived very promptly and just got on with loading. They were really courteous, friendly and helpful. At the other end we were met by another group from Britannia and, between them, were unloaded in around an hour. Again, courteous and helpful. Absolutely no damages to anything whatsoever. I thoroughly recommend looking at Britannia.

Service cost: £750

From the moment Tracy came to give me a quote I knew that this company would be the best. I was not wrong. Nothing was an inconvenience, even when we decided to place most of our belongings into storage 2 days before we moved. Even when we thought our move would be delayed!
On the actual day, the staff were helpful, friendly and cheerful. When I needed to phone I received the same efficient and upbeat response. I would recommend this company to everyone and hopefully I won't need to use them for a while! But if I do need to move again I will use Britannia..

Service cost: £1000

Organised and friendly guys made the collection on time. We were disappointed that the two long wardrobe boxes (the only boxes we asked for) were not brought to the house, meaning our clothes did not get the care they should have. Not happy with how they were transported, arrived crushed. Poor planning.
Delivery was on time but not well organised, again clothes were not looked after! Mirror frame was broken and not mentioned until we asked about it! Garden furniture was bumped and marked. Boxes and clothes were not put where we asked, as guys were clearly in a rush to get away. Overall they got the job done although not as good as we expected or hoped for.

Service cost: £1050

The two guys who carried out the move were friendly, helpful, professional and efficient. They even rigged a harness to hoist three huge bookcases from ground level up over a Paris balcony and through French windows two floors above when they could not be carried up the staircase to the new flat. They turned up bang on time and completed the 20-mile removal from Glasgow to Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire in jig time. Everything was delivered safely and in perfect condition. Not cheap, but worth the money. I'd recommend them any time. Thanks, Britannia.

Service cost: £585

Britannia Movers, is a company I have used several times in recent years and have always been extremely impressed with the service. They moved us from both NY and France to London and provided seamless service on both occasions. Both these moves were complicated & challenging and Britannia did a superb job. Our most recent move from the Cotswolds into storage has gone without a hitch. The staff on the ground are courteous, friendly and very professional, nothing is too much trouble - they excel in ensuring the customer is happy and kept informed. And the office staff are a dream to deal with too! I have absolutely NO hesitation in recommending Britannia as the mover of choice - I have used others in the past and have not been impressed.

Service cost: £3850

My homemove experience with Britannia removals was excellent and took the stress out of home moving. The move was complicated as it involved two different locations with the delivery of the furniture to all arrive from two locations on the same day! The service was so efficient with Angela at the company end handling my millions of queries so patiently and Scott and Steve doing the actual removals with such patience, calmness and a good sense of humor even when I made them move bookcases back and forth into the wrong bedrooms! I would highly recommend Britannia Removals to anyone needing a stress free home removals service.

Service cost: £1600

A catalogue of errors too long to list here that was one of the most stressful experiences of my life. I was so annoyed with this company that I wrote a blog that you can read here:http://britanniaremovals.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/do-not-use-britannia/ In short they> lied to me; manipulated increased charges; failed to provide adequate packaging materials; provided too small a container; were unprofessional; almost had to pay fines in the country of destination due to poor packing; I had to pack the container with the guys they sent; they didn't come out to check my property; truck couldn't get up drive; extra van fees; delays and general ineptitude. I took complaints to office of fair trading and international removals ombudsman. SHOCKING- don't use them!

Service cost: £3500

Our wagon arrived on time but it was a trailer and was just dropped in a residential street (which they then wanted to leave there all weekend). I was not aware that we would be sharing this trailer with someone else even thought we had paid over 7k to them for a door to door delivery, when I called them I was told this is the only way we can accommodate your date and as we needed to be out of our house I had no option but to carry on. I also discovered at that point that they had subcontracted my move to movers international (who were really good).
We had to pay over £400 for insurance which we later could not claim on as we had some scratches on our furniture and found it really difficult to get anyone out to quote for repairs here in Spain .
Not a great experience and I would not recommend them we paid top price for rubbish communication on Britannia part.

Service cost: £7020

Fabulous service! We had over a year to plan our move and the local and International team worked to meet our expectations. Clear, concise communication managed our expectations as to what would happen during pack up along with appropriate timescales. Accommodations were made to ensure that we could retain our belonging (my car) for as long as possible. There was concern regarding the volume of our goods and if they would all fit in the container. The foreman (sorry can’t recall the his name) kept us calm and worked with his crew to manage the volume - everything fitted in - much relief! My one request would be to ensure that fragile goods are well packed to avoid damage. Unfortunately due to a cyber attack (out of Britannia’s control) the ship was delayed but Peter Griffiths kept us informed and updated with revised timescales. An efficient crew in South Africa unload the container and built up any requested furniture - thanks Britannia! Very happy to recommend Britannia!

Service cost: £7500

The team from Britannia were a pleasure to deal with; professional, responsive, reliable and capable. They helped make the process of moving our belongings to Edinburgh from Sydney as easy as possible. They arranged for things to be put in store until we could get access to our property and advised us on the process to ensure that the removal truck could park outside the premises. They turned up on time, were courteous and friendly and worked hard and carefully to deliver our belongings.

Service cost: £7000

From the time of the quote given in Cape Town to Paul and his team leaving yesterday after off loading our furniture, we can only pass a massive compliment to all involved.
The packing team arrived on time and completed the task timeously so that Susan was not inconvenienced. We were kept informed of the shipping and arrival dates and a phone call last week (Alan) to check on dates for delivery (ahead of our expectation) was very welcome.
Yesterday 2 July Paul and co arrived and in hot conditions (for England) completed the off-loading and limited unpacking in an efficient and very customer friendly manner. It was a pleasure keeping them going on cups of tea and we thank you for a pleasant experience. We are still trying to find space to fit our goods but that is not your problem :)
Best wishes and thanks,
Dudley and Susan de Vaux
PS the most annoying in the filling out of the review which does not cater for South Africa. I have put Salisbury in both headings.

Service cost: £3500

I recently moved a small amount of goods from Cape Town SA to the UK. The team in SA were extremely professional & efficient - all item very well packed, including antiques, pictures in frames and other breakables. Everything was clearly labelled and documented. Britannia handled all the customs and imports & the goods arrived in excellent condition and the local staff in the UK were very friendly. I would definitely recommend & would used then again if the need arose - thanks Britannia.

Service cost: £1000

We had the services of Britannia as part of our move to uk from Australia. Britannia had the job of emptying our container and unpacking the furniture. We found the staff to be polite and friendly. The work however, I was far from happy with. They do not take care or use the correct tools to unpack ie one worker had a stanly knife blade, not in the knife. Packaging was sliced open carelessly. Our furniture has suffered many slits and deep cuts, our leather arm chair, wooden dresser and appliances. We had a small payment to repair the chair and have since discovered much more damage to our furniture. We have also had paint chunks taken out of the doors and banisters. Because of this I would honestly not recommend this company to others.

Service cost: £6000

Am still waiting for the delivery of my container even thought it arrived 3 weeks ago here in Blantyre, Malawi. Very happy to take my money but their agent on this end has no interest at all in getting my stuff delivered. I am left to my own devices to do the clearing. Think twice before using these guys!!

Totally disappointed, having to chase them from here, calling the UK is expensive. So buyer/purchaser beware!!

**Please note l could not pick Malawi as a destination point. All destinations seem to be EU specific only**.

Service cost: £6700