Pickfords

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1. Worse Removal Company Ever

   Worse Removal Company Ever
   
   If I could rate lower than one star I would. The removal took place over 3 days at the end of April/start of May 2021 in Peterborough. I want to state first of all that Pickfords do not employ their own staff. They subcontract this out to other removals companies. Therefore on our removal day we got three staff from 3 different removal companies with 3 different ways of doing things. All in their 20s and no life experience with no care or attention. All of the clothes where thrown into the boxes from room regardless of what was in the room with no care. The removals manager was non existent throughout the whole process constantly passing the buck onto the removal team staff on the day. Damage was done to our American style fridge and kitchen sideboard unit which together is worth £2000. All we have been offered is £400 compensation from spending nearly £4000 on the removal itself over 3 days due to it being a large removal of a family of 7. The whole point of of removal was to help us and relieve any stress but instead Pickfords caused more stress and has been one of the worse experiences I have ever been through with any company. The stuff in my garage was thrown with no organisation, attention or care taken. Senior management do not want to no and in the end stop communicating with you. 4 Staff where disciplined but for what went wrong for us especially I had a severe back disability and I was expecting 5 star luxury service to help me and my family move. Very upsetting and Pickfords are a disgrace of a company.

2. If you want to trust someone, Don't choose Pickfords!

   OK nice guys came and worked hard and packed up my property. Nice guys came and worked hard and unpacked it at my new property.
   
   But for 6 weeks in between Pickfords were meant to store my property for me. Somewhere in that chain, I've lost at least one box.
   
   I can identify many kitchen items that I no longer have valued at at least £400.
   
   This is after paying them over £2000 for removals and storage.
   
   Pickfords investigated, couldn't find it and cited a clause in my insurance saying those items weren't covered.
   
   I packed this box and didn't take a photo so there's really nothing I can do about it.
   
   Pickfords, upon citing the clause said 'I know this may be disappointing, but sorry'.
   
   I replied saying I'm not disappointed I'm angry. I'm happy for Insurance to cover accidents but not their incompetence.
   
   Anyone, including companies, can make mistakes, but it's how they remedy them show's if they're worth dealing with.
   
   I will never deal with Pickfords again and suggest anyone else be cautious.

3. Not Happy over Inflated quote.

   I was always dubious about Pickfords, I had been told that they were expensive. But I thought I would give them a chance. I could then compare them with the other company we had a quote from. My initial concerns were justified. Their representative turned up to give our quote, we told him what we needed and showed him around the house. We have a large house but the majority of our furniture had been sold. We are moving into a 4 bed house, the furniture we have left was equivalent to this. The rep was adamant his quote would be better than the one we already had. So we are moving from North Wales to South Wales with furniture for a 4 bed house. The quote arrived over £6500. We nearly dropped through the floor. We left a review on trust pilot, obviously not happy. Pickfords responded, rang me, and tried to justify their quote. They couldn’t answer me when I pointed out that the other quote we had was £3900 less than their quote for exactly the same job.. Their price was totally over inflated.

4. Insurance.

   Quite inadequate. No telephone number or address given to contact insurance company. The contact is via a handling agent only with an e-mail address and a foreign base. One is better off buying and insurance from a separate agent. Pickford's don't take any responsibility for loss or damage but pass you off to the e-mail address of the handling agent. Proof of value for goods damaged or lost rest solely with the customer. If you are 'looking for something extra' as advertised don't go to Pickford's.

5. Overcharging for delivery from storage.

   I have used Pickfords several times over the years. While not the cheapest, the service is very good and reliable. However, on requesting to move some furniture out of storage in June, and all of 7 miles, Pickfords seem to be taking the opportunity to profit from the current situation and are charging me more than 50% what they had indicated it would cost just a few months back. This is incredibly disappointing as clearly this does not reflect the cost to them.

6. Very bad service, Better to find different company.

   I had to loose both my relocation baggage,because Pickfords.
   
   I choose pickfords for my cargo partner.
   
   I spoke to executive and choose door to door pickup and drop (United kingdom to India, Bangalore).
   
   I paid approximately 330 pounds for two boxes for transfers and I had clearly mentioned it as relocation to India and I am entitled to take 1000 pounds worth personal used items.
   
   After few days I get a call from Pickford saying that I need to pay Indian customs in Delhi which is 250 pounds. then when I checked the reason these Pickford guys has sent the items as Courier not as Relocation baggage.
   
   Because of these paper work mistake pickford screwed my baggage, and now I have two options to pay the 250 pounds and take baggage or say I don't need it.
   
   I had to say I don't need it. because everything were used clothes and books.
   
   So now I had pay Pickfords 320 pounds for no work and loose my belongings. If consulted no proper response and says as per the Indian customs I need to pay it.
   
   Not a right company to choose . And on top of that they will be having tie with up other vendors to deliver baggage . You will ending up in talking multiple vendors without any solution.
   
   Finally I have to sacrifice my baggage and money.
   
   I think I lost approximately 600 pounds ,because of lack of knowledge with these employees.

7. Fantastic company.

   I’m so thankful to have picked this company. The two guys that packed up our shipment were wonderful. But, for the lady Susie Borrajo who had to help me literally through every step of the paperwork, she has the patience of a saint. Without her help and guidance I would have thrown in the towel and just let them keep my shipment. The customs forms just kept getting sent back for more information but she didn’t let me give up. And my shipment is on its way. Thanks again for the great team that worked for and with me.

8. York to Surrey: deeply unimpressed by a Pickford's move.

   A relatively expensive moving option, which I thought would mean good service. How wrong I was!
   
   - My movers turned up at very end of allotted time window. Not a problem in itself, but ..
   - Despite my having paid for a two day move, they tried several times to persuade me to complete the move in one day (so they could go home) - they were persistent would not take my several no's for an answer. This would mean moving into flats late at night, a good way to alienate my new neighbours!
   - When they did eventually agree to come the next morning, I stressed no earlier than 9. Sure enough they turned up at 8:30, blocked the only entrance to my flats' car park and blocked someone in who was trying to go to work
   - Half my stuff was going into storage; I'd thought the 2 day move would give them time to drop this off at the storage centre (near my old address) before the 250 mile drive south. No, it was still in the van: my stuff had been driven twice the length of the country for no good reason.
   - When I later wanted to access the storage, they said they were only open 9:00 to 5:00 Monday to Friday. For the price I was paying this seemed ridiculously short, and would mean I'd need to take a full day of leave to access it.
   
   All in all, shoddy service from Pickford's. Do not use.

9. Moving from UK to USA.

   I am reviewing the pickup only, as I’ve not received my items yet.
   
   It was a very stressful time for me as I was moving on my own to the States. My furniture and personal effects have been in storage for nearly 4 months. Susana Borrajo at Pickford helped me through the process and was very understanding and professional. Booking a date to pack up and paying the invoice was easy,
   The 3 removal men arrived early on the due date and quickly, efficiently and politely packed up my belongings. It was a very wet day and they protected my carpets and wore clean shoe protectors. Their truck was very big and space on my cul de sac, where I lived, was limited but they ensured no one was blocked in.
   The glass in one of my paintings broke and they were very apologetic and advised me to speak to Pickford’s admin. Susanna said immediately it would be repaired and advised me when it was completed.
   As soon as I was ready to receive my shipment Susanna went into action and arranged for the shipment as soon as a ship was available. Given 4 stars as I’m still waiting for receipt of my items so cannot give a final evaluation.
   Overall I was impressed by the service.

10. Items Comprehensively Damaged due to Negligence.

    My wife and I recently completed a three year stint in the UK, and upon recently completing our move back to Australia, we can confidently say that our experience with Pickfords was woeful. For our move from Australia to the UK in 2016, we secured the services of ‘Allied Pickfords’. They laboured the point that they were a distinct company from Pickfords UK, and I can see now why they were at such pains to do so. As a point of direct comparison, I cannot compliment Allied Pickfords enough. From the very beginning they were professionalism itself. When the agent showed up, she walked us through the entire process. She showed us the quality of the boxes they were using, which she confidently stated could take 90kg of weight. She helped us strategise about shipping times, so that our items would be away from us for the shortest time possible. She explained carefully their policy concerning pricing. And she even gave us tips regarding the packing process, including putting signs up to help tell the packers what to pack and what to leave. And the packers were fantastic. They wrapped everything so carefully, and stacked them in the boxes so neatly, that I can honestly say that we did not have a single breakage. And not one nick on our furniture. And even when we forgot to pack a carpet, their drivers went out of their way to come and grab it. In summary, they were friendly and supportive during the whole process. In light of this experience, we had great expectations for Pickfords for our return move. But we could not have been more disappointed. The agent whom we first met was fine; friendly and competent, if unforthcoming with information. It was only because I was so familiar with the process that I gleaned different pricing arrangements. There was no discussion about the boxes, and no strategizing on shipping times. As a result, we were without our furniture for three months. But the worst experience came with the packers. They were so immediately unprofessional that, despite expecting movers at a certain time, when they arrived my immediate thought was to ask them to leave, as packers were arriving. There were no uniforms, no welcome, and no discussion regarding the process. They seemed genuinely confused that we had put up signs concerning what to pack and what not to pack. We then retreated into a room to take care of our cat, but I wish now that I had stood over them like a hawk; something I otherwise hate doing. Their work in packing our items was so sloppy. As examples, regardless of the size of various items, everything got one (and only one) sheet of paper. This was fine for cutlery, but big platters and vases were not even wholly covered. Some boxes had only one or two items in them, so that they rattled around the whole trip. There were items left all over the place that they neglected to pack, not checking the back of cupboards. Some of these I was lucky enough to catch, others we didn’t catch until later. We had to put these in our luggage, taking up precious space, living out of our luggage as we were for three months. And upon being informed of this, they merely threw these items into boxes, without wrapping them! In the end we learnt that Pickfords didn’t pack this at all, but rather sub-contracted a group called Houltons to do all of this. So when you pay for Pickfords, you don’t even get it! We were so excited when our items finally arrived, having been living out of luggage for three months. But what was an exciting day could not have been more comprehensively ruined. Practically every box that we opened had damaged items. Every single bit of furniture was scratched, and had its corners smashed in. Box after box we would pick up you could already hear the breakages. All of our wine glass sets, most of which were wedding presents, have now been torn apart, with one or two smashes on each. More of our platters and plates were smashed due to carelessness; again presents from our family and friends. But most telling of all was that there was one box with two items: a 10kg mortar and pestle, and a Royal Doulton cake stand I bought for my wife’s 21st birthday. The pestle, being small, was wrapped and wrapped in the one sheet of paper. The cake stand, not at all. Big surprise: the cake stand was smashed to pieces. How could anyone, let alone professional movers, have not foreseen that happening? We also moved a lot of books, and we should all know that with minimal care books are basically impossible to damage. It just takes a second (literally a second!) to stack them semi-carefully. Instead, it was evident that the books had just been picked up by the armful and dropped into the boxes. Some fell sideways, spine down, and so the pages were all bent back by the books piled carelessly on top. This was a reoccurring feature in dozens of these boxes. Regarding the boxes themselves, unlike the super-tough ones Allied Pickfords used, these were just your garden variety boxes, like the ones you get form the supermarket. Most of them had actually collapsed under the weight of the things piled on top of them. No wonder everything smashed and got bent and scratched. The computer and television were packed with slightly more care, being put in their own boxes. But even these boxes were not filled with any other protection. No styrofoam or anything that we got from the Australia-> UK move. It was a miracle these came in unharmed. Just a brief interlude to say that the guys from Kent, who had the job of unpacking things in Australia, could themselves not have been better. They were so friendly, so energetic, and so sympathetic for all of our breakages. They would comment when some item would come in broken or scratched, and gave us a pat on the back. Top guys all! To make everything clear: these breakages and scratched occurred, not due to things reasonably expected from an international move, which we could entirely understand. They were down to negligence. Their breaking was not merely a possibility, but an inevitability. Anyone, let alone ‘professional’ movers, could have foreseen that these things would break. They would have broken if they were being moved down the street, let alone overseas. It was a travesty. We have filed an insurance claim with Pickfords, for a very modest sum. It doesn’t even cover all of the scratches on the furniture, or the breaking up of our glass and plate sets. And it doesn’t even cover any of the pain and suffering from seeing treasured wedding and birthday gifts from friends and family being smashed. Even those books whose pages were not bent completely backwards we didn’t bother claiming. We could have claimed for so much more, but we settled on the modest sum of $2000. They are already building up to rejecting it, and giving us nothing. I do not, however, even see it relevant to go through insurance. These items were not broken due to reasonable expectations of damages associated with moving. They were not even the result of exceptional circumstances, like the whole shipping crate falling over. Instead, they were the inevitable result of out-and-out negligence in the moving process. Given all this, I cannot but recommend any other company for your international move. Anyone else would have taken more care at any point.  TLDR: Our items arrived broken due to the negligence and incompetence of the movers. They have clearly never packed for a move, domestic/international, professional/personal before.  £3000.

11. My move.

    I have just had a full packing service with two young guys from Pickfords and despite their age they were so polite, friendly and extremely hard working. They looked after my 83 year old mother very well and it was stressful. They delivered early the next day as stored the furniture overnight. Again the next day they worked really hard and got the job done very efficiently. Great service and these guys deserve a medal for all their work. I hope Pickfords appreciate them. The only problem was that I heard they had to travel back to the depot many miles away and slept in the van overnight on a freezing night and yet they still worked hard without complaint. Had I been aware they would have been offered at least a warm room to stay but I guess then there was a matter of insurance. Well done guys, very pleased and they even gave my mum a hug when they left.

12. International furniture removal.

    After comparing several quotes, I opted to use Pickford's to bring a partial load of furniture, including two rare pianos, from the south of France to Scotland. I wanted the load to leave before the Brexit cutoff of October 31st, but more importantly, one of the instruments was to feature in a concert in Edinburgh on the 22d.
    
    Let's just say that the pianos aren't going to make it in time for the concert, and at the time of writing, they are further from their destination than when they started. They ere collected on the 23d of October - but not by pick fords. In fact, Pickford's seems to act as a sort of Tinder for your precious possessions - passing the liability on to others and getting other companies to do the actual transport. I was not told this at the time of booking. The whole process has been utterly shambolic - they wanted to know how m much the pianos weigh (how do you weigh a piano ?) they didn't have the appropriate equipment and were effectively clueless on all fronts. This was a very expensive job too - Pickford's cost considerably more than their specialist competitors. I had made my parameters clear when I did the booking.
    
    I would not use them again. the communication was poor, the information was wrong or minimal, the deadlines have been missed on all fronts, and it's a total disaster. And I haven't seen if there is any damage. DO NOT USE !!

13. Redelivery out of storage.

    Everything was in perfect order after 5 months in storage. The two chaps who carried out the redelivery were v fast and efficient as well as personable and patient. They reassembled the bed, and put everything where it was convenient for us.
    
    My only quibble is that we weren't sent a msg to tell us a more specific delivery time.
    
    All in all a good service, and I would recommend Pickfords without hesitation.
    
    (I was rather surprised that the delivery van was blank ie no Pickfords logo..?

14. Took care of everything.

    Moved from a 3 bedroom house including a full loft and garage into a 4 bed. Video-based survey after which Pickfords packed it up and moved it for me. Big truck in a fairly small street, which they managed to park between two trees so everyone could still get through.
    The team was able to work unsupervised and made good use of the time I was there to ask the necessary questions. A server rack was much heavier than expected, so it couldn't be lifted on. I was notified at the time, and within the hour an additional run with a tail-lift vehicle was added for the next day.
    They introduced themselves to the new neighbours and asked permission before blocking them in for a while.
    Professional and very efficient.

15. The worst move ever.

    I have made 11 international moves, and six long-distance in-country moves. I have dealt with companies in Europe, in Africa, in India, and in the United States. My experience with Pickford's was without any question the worst ever.
    
    Administratively it was a nightmare to deal with this company. Promised shipping dates were not respected. Packing dates were changed. There was no coordination whatever between different departments, who regularly gave conflicting information. I was told with 24 hours notice that the insurance for which I had paid Pickfords would not be available, on the putative grounds that my shipment contained too many high value items.
    
    One anecdote will give the flavour of doing business with Pickfords. After many delays the goods were packed and on their way, and Pickfords sent me a written notice that my goods had safely been loaded on the ship. I heaved a great sigh of relief, and went to a ship tracking app to track the progress of the ship. To my astonishment I found they had selected a ship that was bound for European ports and would not begin to cross the Atlantic for two weeks (so much for the delivery date promises). But more jawdropping was the fact that on theday Pickfords sent me the loading confirmation THE SHIP WAS STILL AT SEA AND HAD NOT EVEN ARRIVED IN THE UK. I couldn't believe it. Obviously the goods had not been loaded, if the ship had not arrived. When I called Pickford's to inquire just how they had loaded my container on a ship which was not in port, they had no explanation, much less an apology, for what had every appearance of a downright lie.
    
    It was hard to determine whether I was dealing with incompetence or indifference. Of course the one does not preclude the other.
    
    In fairness, I have no complaint with the technical work of the packers. They were experienced and competent and while there was breakage, it was within reasonable limits for a full container shipment.
    
    Under no circumstances would I consider doing business with this firm again, nor would I recommend it to anyone.