Pickfords

We have just had a really bad experience with Pickfords. First, they managed to cancel the pick-up and that had to be rushed on the day (they were doing the packing), putting everything in boxes at random. But most importantly, they left a bag with clothes on a warm lamp on the floor in the hall, the bag caught fire and we ended up with a burnt carpet and burnt clothes that they will not take responsibility for. They had been warned by one of our neighbors but they didn't think it was appropriate to inform us (they told us later!!), even if we kept talking about the fact that there was a burning smell around our furniture as they were moving things in.
The customer service has simply been a disgrace, we have had to wait more than a month of asking to be told that they don't care and are not going to do anything about it. I guess the problem is that they have their own insurance, so will always try not to pay. I wonder what we paid that for..
Definitively use a different company.

Service cost: £3600

Normally I don't write reviews, and when I do they are for good service or positive experiences.. unfortunately, in this case, I can not report a positive experience.
Having used Pickfords for a previous move, they were top of my list.. how wrong could I be.
Initial contact was good, with Adam Pe.. coming out to estimate and quote. Note this was moving two properties into one, and so a reasonably complex move for us, but should have been easy for them (as professionals?). Quote was provided and were-were handed across to our move manager (CharlottePu).
We had a provisional date penciled in, but as with many things the moving date changed, and as we were getting ready the quantity of contents were recycled to the charity shop resulting in a reduction of volume. So we asked for a requote!
AdamPe, visited, reviewed, and then went on holiday without providing the new quote, although he indicated that the new move date was OK.. (he obviously hasn't returned as he has not returned any of my numerous calls) strangely CharlottePu.. also went on leave. Unfortunately, there was no one within the business who could provide a quote or confirm availability of the new moving date.
After numerous calls, we failed to reach anyone who could help within the Pickfords business.
To cut a long story short, we spent the first 6 days of our European holiday trying to organize a removal company as Pickfords finally responded to us on the day we were flying and informed us that they could no longer move us on the requested date..
I don't have a problem with them being busy, I don't have a problem with them not being able to accommodate us.
However, I do find that their communication was incredibly poor, with no handover or holiday cover within the office space, and apparently, no records being kept. The overall customer service was incredibly poor, and the view of the office management was that it was very disorganized and chaotic. I would have preferred to communicate this experience directly Adam, but I'm still waiting for him to return my calls.
We did find a reliable removal company, who communicated and delivered everything we expected (and more).

Service cost: £2000

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.
P.S. The move was from Bognor to Merthyr, the drop down option on the feedback form hasn't got these towns listed.

Service cost: £2300

I have a lot of expensive paintings. The salesman who quoted for the job promised they would all be wrapped carefully in tisuse paper and cardboard and I paid for wooden crates to be made for the 2 most expensive items On his request. on unpacking I found the following problems; 1 x bust of a horse had just be thrown in a box with no proper packaging and had broken. some of the paintings had been put down the side of boxes with no protective wrapping at all (including 1 which had been separately identified on the insurance schedule) Neither of the paintings that were supposed to be in crates actually were (despite the fact I paid for them) and the frames were damaged.

Service cost: £2000

We used Pickfords to move from the UK to Qatar in 2011. Most of our UK goods were put into storage.

I have to say that their fees were very high, but we assumed that storage, for those prices, would be first class.

In August 2018 we returned to the UK. when we contacted Pickfords we were quoted an exorbitant rate from return of our goods to our old house. This was because they decided to store our goods in Tamworth withour telling us. They were also extremely inflexible about removal dates.

On the day, the biggest removal truck I have ever seen rolled up in our street. This was despite having told Pickfords in advance that we had narrow access to our property.

In addition I told Pickfords that some of the furniture was extremely heavy ironwood, and that it required four guys to remove it from the house back in 2003.

Lo and behold, only two guys appeared in this behemoth.

It was immediately apparent that the storage of our property had been haphazard at best. In effect we had been overcharged for storage during that seven year period, because the containers were not filled properly and one of them was virtually empty.

Wrapping of goods was also erratic. Various items were damaged most notably a very valuable print, worth several thousand pounds. I found it partially wrapped in a bath mat. Not surprisingly the frame was damaged.

The truck did not turn up until midday, so with a crew of only two guys (who were excellent, by the way) I had to muck in and we spent the next six hours lugging goods from the road, down a lane and into our driveway. This was a return journey of 60 metres, which I must have done 50 times, hence it was a bloody long day.

I called Swindon office and they said there was no one available and they would have to finish the move the following day. After a lot of complaining on my part, a crew was diverted from another move to help shift the heavy furniture.

It is also worth pointing out that Pickfords' insurance gives you one week to lodge any claims. This is totally unreasonable. How many people manage to unpack in a week?!

Honestly, I will never use Pickfords again. Their casual indifference to customer service is a disgrace.

Service cost: £1000