Removal companies charges

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My brother has been given quotes to move from West Midlands to Lincolnshire. Cheapest was £5,000. So he has rented 2 storage units and been taking stuff up in his van over the last 2 months.

Chestnut

In 2018 we used a local company from Devon to the Midlands. It was a 2 day trip (packing on completion date and delivery the following morning) which allowed time to prepare the new place. They charged £1,554 and were absolutely brilliant. I would imagine £2,000 would be acceptable now. Any more is probably too much.

This involved a fair bit of stuff and it was taken down from the 2nd and 3rd floors by stairs. On arrival up more stairs to the 1st floor.

In 2018 we used a local company from Devon to the Midlands. It was a 2 day trip (packing on completion date and delivery the following morning) which allowed time to prepare the new place. They charged £1,554 and were absolutely brilliant. I would imagine £2,000 would be acceptable now. Any more is probably too much.

One of the first questions I was asked when removals surveyors asked for details, was is this ground floor/if floors above is there a lift, as it seems this bumps up the quote considerably.
Many hands make light work also - we have found 3 men to be the optimum number especially when we were younger moving from a toughnorthern town, one stayed with the lorry - good luck anyone moving, here’s hoping you will be happy in your new home ? ?

moving 10 miles we had 5 quotes which varied widely, all way above our fiscal expectations. plumped for a local firm in the town we moved to, the only gentleman who was on time, clean, smart, greeted us by name and put us at ease, sending a written quotation. We were astonished at the fly-by-night manner displayed by a couple of firms.
Moving is stressful enough
Pickfords are wonderful for a full house move as were Bishops Move
however we were drastically downsizing and could not justify either size of lorry or expense.
My late husband was quite forensic in his questioning which I believe paid off.
We also provided a fish and chip shop supper for three movers, and a tip each we were so pleased.
Now I am hoping to move again so read this with interest, thanks

Another one reported

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Tomfromsurrey we moved from Dunfermline to the Highlands - 152 miles. 4 bed house downsizing to 3 bed bungalow. Cost around £2k which included 3 days storage. We used Flemings in Rosyth who were absolutely brilliant, no issues from start to finish. We packed boxes and dismantled beds etc ourselves but they packed glassware and kitchen stuff.

Hi, I am new to this site.
We are moving home from St Andrews in Scotland to Trowbridge area in Wiltshire, which is 450 miles. It’s a 4 bedroom house with garage tools bothe ends. We have had 3 quotes around £6000 ! Has anyone had experience of moving that distance and the cost and who carried out the removals

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There are dirty black marks not diary.

Here is a warning to anyone considering using Pickfords don't especially if you need your household put in storage for a while. Knowing that I need something's doing before I could move into my bungalow Pickfords put all my things into storage for 2 weeks. It was all delivered yesterday. I had phone the day before to make sure that they put down covering and wore plastic over shoes as I had new carpets . I had drawn a plan of where I wanted my furniture placing. They put down 2 narrow mats and didn't wear the over shoes. Nor did they put my furniture were I wanted it. They didn't even put my bed or table back together. They just put the furniture and boxes where they wanted. I was so upset over the whole affair
I phoned Pickfords to complain . My mattress had been put into a thin plastic cover which had ripped and a 9" black dirty mark on the side. . Thre are diary black marks on my 2 day old carpet. My daughter and son in law went over last night and put both the table and bed together. But found the central bar of the bed is missing. I shared that bed with my late husband. Today I have found my dressing table mirror and stand is also missing and 3 boxes are broken 2 of which they hid in the garage. This is not the service you expect of a company of this size.
I was going to move into my bungalow tomorrow but can't use the bed.

Following on from a post of a distraught GNetter on a different thread, I too would like to say DON'T consider Pickfords Removals. Whether we were both just unlucky I'm not sure, but two disappointed people in one month must be an indication of their poor service.

If the area you are moving to is less dear in general, look at their local moving companies. We moved from Oxfordshire to Kent, and moving companies from the town in Kent quoted us on average 50% less than the Oxfordshire companies.

•franbern*, just a thought. I wonder if restricted access/lift/stairs to a flat may make a difference to the cost? Unless ground floor of course. Wishing you a smooth transition when the time comes.

When we moved the company offered separate extra insurance. On checking our contents insurance we realised we were covered for removals as long as the company was on the official removals industry register (it was) so we did not have to buy extra insurance. Check your contents insurance - you might be covered.

Do make sure the company has good insurance for your goods.

I know Britannia is an association of several companies so my experience may not be relevant. They were the worst company of all the ones we have ever used. I could go on and on about them but they were really dreadful. Previously we have only used local independents and never had a complaint, nothing ever got broken and nothing was ever lost. Britannia did all those things to us and even wrote to us at the wrong address. Only had good things to say about all our other moves.

I know what you mean, when we are in our French home (we will be on Monday, yippee). It is the quiet that we most appreciate. Unfortunately we are too far from the road for a Google Street view picture.

That's why our quote was relatively cheap, Monica. The other quotes, from local french companies were 2-3K dearer.
They had a huge lorry plus an equally huge trailer, enough for 3 loads.
I was worried because they completely blocked the lane in front of our house for 2 days, but the tractors etc found other routes.
The whole thing was a nightmare, must have added years to my age. This was our house, I still miss the peace:
www.google.com/maps/place/32300+Aujan-Mourn%C3%A8de,+France/@43.3758323,0.4978016,3a,75y,310.03h,91.64t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1so_p6FEx05bTmt7gcJ--z4Q!2e0!3e11!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x12a9a441563f4511:0xed325358d160119b!8m2!3d43.381602!4d0.502269

I think a lot of the difference can be whether the removal company can find a return load.

If the van can return with a load of furniture from someone moving in the opposite direction the cost of the return journey is the other clients. If the van is returning empty, you have to pay for the return journey.

My quotes last year for a local move with a full van and packing were generally around £1600. I took insurance and the proposed exchange and completion dates moved several times. It was pot luck that they were available on the day we were finally due to move.
Please read the small print. My move did not complete on the day due to banking problems so I had to pay the full amount again for them to store over the weekend and deliver and unpack on Monday. Being homelesss for three days and all your worldly goods on a lorry somewhere is the worst of the stressful buying and selling process!

My mother-in-law had a better quotes from reputable companies in the place she was going to than the ones from similar companies in the area she was moving from.
She chose a family business with good insurance and firmed up just a few days ahead of the move.
Pickfords was the most expensive by some way. She had everything packed for her. It was a 2 day job.