Bed didn't pass the stairs, had to be disposed of, unpacking incomplete, dirty carpet, booking delays.
I was recommended this company as the "Ferrari" of relocation services by a friend. "It's expensive," he said, "but they are perfect." A friend of his had moved home, and when her expensive sofa didn’t fit through the door or windows, the movers left it outside and simply abandoned her. As I suffer from health problems, this friend strongly recommended this company, assuring me they were extremely professional and would never let me down like that. He said the extra money was worth it to protect my health. So I went with them. They diligently packed everything from my first home. However, I later found out that they hadn’t taken any measurements of the furniture. They placed my belongings in storage (at an additional cost), and I waited in a hotel for the relocation date. When I called them days in advance, the only available date was five days after my hotel checkout and the start of my new tenancy. As a result, I spent five nights sleeping on an inflatable mattress in an empty house. I was particularly concerned about the height of the bookshelves, so a gentleman came to measure the ceiling at the new property. However, he didn’t check any other measurements. On the day of the move, it turned out the bed frame couldn’t fit through the staircase—a nightmare scenario I was specifically trying to avoid, based on my friend’s advice. The “solution” offered was either to get rid of the bed—an expensive, luxury-brand Italian bed with woodwork and storage I particularly cared for —or to remove the window frames and pass it through the bedroom window diagonally. That would have required permission from the landlord, cost several hundred pounds, and only be possible days later. All these operations (which would also need to be repeated at the end of the tenancy) led me, with great sadness, to decide to get rid of the bed. I decided to continue sleeping on the inflatable mattress and ordered a new bed online. Meanwhile, the movers were assembling the bookshelves. The idea had been for me to guide them through the unpacking, but since I was preoccupied looking for a new bed, they unpacked the books randomly—hundreds of them—which I’ll now have to rearrange myself. Additionally, without the under-bed storage, many boxes were left unpacked. So in the end, the unpacking service was at least 30% incomplete. The workers did their best, but one of them had to disassemble part of the bed upstairs just to bring it back down, and more time was lost. Ultimately, they did the essential tasks, but nothing beyond what a much cheaper company could have done. When I spoke with the company representative, she told me it was my responsibility to ensure the furniture would fit in the new home. I’m not sure that’s fair. Surely professionals who do this every day have methods and practices in place to ensure a smooth relocation—especially when it’s an expensive service? One would expect basic measurements to be taken during disassembly, and perhaps a site inspection of the new property to check feasibility. But apparently not. The representative insisted it was all my responsibility. So, this negative review is about value for money. If I pay top-tier fees and still have to throw away my valuable bed because nobody cared to measure or assess ahead of time, then I might as well have gone with an average relocation company at a much lower cost for the same results. I paid for the full unpacking service, yet my home is still full of unopened boxes—not just those related to the bed—and my hundreds of books are in disarray. Also, while working upstairs, the movers soiled the stair and upper floor carpets, as they came in with dirty shoes from outside. The carpet had been professionally cleaned just a few days before, and now it will have to be cleaned again, as the vacuum cannot remove the dirt and stains. Once more, I expected better from a premium relocation company. On a positive note, the workers and administrative staff were all kind and communicative, both live, via email and over the phone—but sadly, that’s not enough. So this review is a warning: If you hire this company, make your own inspections and don’t rely on them. Carefully consider whether it’s worth paying for the full unpacking service, and make sure to ask the workers to remove or change shoes if they’ll be working on carpeted floors. Also, pay attention they don’t scratch or chip wood when moving or trying to force furniture through narrow passages. I believe this is mainly an organizational and structural problem so I gave a positive rating to the workers who actually worked hard for long, filling their form at the end of the day, but for the company general philosophy and attitude, for the prices they ask, I have to be frank.