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01/09/2007, 12:22 lees Joined on 01/09/2007 Posts 1 Removal companies Hello Can anyone recomend a good removal company, we are due to move from yorkshire to the deux-sevres in the next 4-6weeks. Any advice is very much appriciated.    Report

01/09/2007, 13:10 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 2,048 Re: Removal companies Good luck with your move.  I can advise on which company to AVOID but it is unlikely that you will be using them as they are mainly based in the south west. Read the terms & conditions extra carefully.....just in case they are crafty b*****s like ours!    Report

01/09/2007, 13:22 spg Joined on 23/08/2004 Southern Morbihan 56 Posts 1,049 Re: Removal companies  lees wrote: Can anyone recomend a good removal company ... I've sent you an email regarding a company we used. Sue Computing - it's another world    Report

10/10/2007, 12:01 foxy lady Joined on 30/09/2007 lot et garonne, dept 47 Posts 32 Re: Removal companies  lees wrote: Hello I am new to this site and would be grateful if anyone can anyone recomend a good and reasonably priced removal company. We are due to move from Amersham in Bucks to the Lot and Garonne area early next year.  We have had a quote from Sterling and they seem to be terribly expensive.   Any suggestions would be much appreciated.   Anyone living in the Montpezat d'agenais area?????   Foxy Lady    Report

10/10/2007, 13:56 Quillan Joined on 23/08/2004 Forum Moderator Posts 3,577 Re: Removal companies Because of the limited time you have to instigate a claim should something get damaged we used a company that offered 'marine' insurance. This gave us 8 weeks from the arrival date to make a claim. It was a few hundred quid more but it meant we could unpack at a leisurely pace. To be honest if I ever did it again I would flog everything and only bring personal stuff because by the time we paid for the removals (we are right down south, about 12 hours drive from Calais) it would have been cheaper. http://www.chambresdhote.com    Report

13/11/2007, 10:44 PETER HELOIR Joined on 13/11/2007 Posts 7 Re: Removal companies Hi there. My first post but this is a topic that really gets me going, though it may be too late for you! We moved down over two years and for the first part I hired a van.........never again! Last year when we finally moved out (Just South of Agen) we got a whole range of quotes and just could not believe the diference sin price! Some companies wanted a fortune. Eventually we asked around like you (we did not know about forums then!) and were told of a company called ET.  They are not removers but brokers and they found us a really nice French chap who was operating from the UK. Sure we had to pay but it actually worked out cheaper than the year before when I had moved the first half of our load down!! The problem seems to be that all the removal companies tell lies just to get your business and as you never see them again they get away with it. We found that this company were good because they had so many companies on the books that they knew the real story!! Mind you i still think that they all charge too much for waht should be a cheap exercise but I suppose the ferries and fuel charges (not to mention wages and VAT ect) all do add up!! All the best Peter    Report

13/11/2007, 16:58 pimpernel Joined on 09/11/2007 Posts 41 Re: Removal companies I bought my own 26 foot box van. Loaded it carefully at my leisure. Surprising what you can fit into a 26'x8'x8' space with a bit of creative packing. Sent everything I couldn't fit in or didn't want to the local auction house. And transported myself. I was able to unpack at my leisure and when totally finished drove the van back to the UK and sold it. This is where I get smug. I sold it for a lot more than I paid for it and it covered the ferry and insurance costs too. I was able to fit almost the entire contents of a three bedroom house in ,not counting the kitchen.But even if I had had to make two trips it would still have been cheaper than removal companies.Heck, even if I'd scrapped the van in France it would probably still have been cheaper I realise that this is not an option for everyone but providing you're reasonably strong it is an option worth considering    Report

13/11/2007, 17:23 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 2,048 Re: Removal companies  PETER HELOIR wrote: Hi there. My first post but this is a topic that really gets me going, though it may be too late for you! We moved down over two years and for the first part I hired a van.........never again! Last year when we finally moved out (Just South of Agen) we got a whole range of quotes and just could not believe the diference sin price! Some companies wanted a fortune. Eventually we asked around like you (we did not know about forums then!) and were told of a company called ET.  They are not removers but brokers and they found us a really nice French chap who was operating from the UK. Sure we had to pay but it actually worked out cheaper than the year before when I had moved the first half of our load down!! The problem seems to be that all the removal companies tell lies just to get your business and as you never see them again they get away with it. We found that this company were good because they had so many companies on the books that they knew the real story!! Mind you i still think that they all charge too much for waht should be a cheap exercise but I suppose the ferries and fuel charges (not to mention wages and VAT ect) all do add up!! All the best Peter Peter We also used ET Brokers after reading about them in the Sunday Times and after someone posted on this very forum about how good they were. The Brokers were great, it was the removal company that was a disaster.  We chose the cheap option whereby they'd deliver when they were near our area.  That was OK as we had bought our French house and we wanted to decorate and it wasn't that important to have our furniture immediately. The removals people DIDN'T come on the day they said they would (and we were sitting outside on our forecourt in Wales with loads of stuff we had moved outside in order to help them).  They came the following day with only ONE man because the other one was taken ill.  I had to call the company HQ for them to find another person. Then, when it was time to deliver to us in France, they said they couldn't do it for 6 weeks from our request. OK, we didn't pay full tariff and we expected to be out by perhaps 10 days to a fortnight, but SIX weeks?  Even then, we thought, OK, we'll finish the decorating and live rough for a few more weeks.  But then, THEY WANTED TO CHARGE US STORAGE FOR THE SIX WEEKS THAT THEY COULDN'T DELIVER!  In other words, not only were we inconvenienced, but we had to pay for the privilege. We had no phone in France and we used our UK mobiles to ring the company, ET brokers, etc. (I won't even go into how much money we spent just ringing round).  I can only assume that the Brokers contacted the company in the end because our furniture did get delivered "only" a fortnight late and no more mention was made of paying for extra storage. So, what I'm saying is, the Brokers did their job and earned their modest fee but the Removal Company should be stopped by somebody from trading IMHO. If anybody out there wants to know WHICH removal company it was, please email or pm and I shall be more than willing to supply you with their name!    Report

14/11/2007, 9:16 PETER HELOIR Joined on 13/11/2007 Posts 7 Re: Removal companies Hi Sweet As I said this is one of my pet hates!!!" src="/cs/images/emotions/angry.gif"> The reason we moved ourselves (the first half) was just because I wanted to avoid the sort of problem you encountered. In the end when we used ET we were happy" src="/cs/images/emotions/smile.gif"> with the small company they found us and also somewhat relieved that they were there to assist us as well. From what you say it seems that ET actually rescued the situation for you. What would have happened if you had contracted the same company directly. Here I am not asking for the name of the company because I believe that given half a chance they will all behave in a similar fashion. First they hook you with promises then let you down and there is nothing you can do about it!! The companies know you will not use them again (highly unlikely if you are in France) and so the phrase "Customer Service" vanishes from the lexicon!! In our case ET found us a very small french family firm (I think theyt only have one lorry !) Remi and  the guys were great " src="/cs/images/emotions/smile.gif">and everythging went exactly to plan. I think that the smaller the firm the better the service, which is exactly what the Broker told us. ( A very nice lady as I recall!!). Yes we did have a glass top of a coffee table broken, but aside from that it was a great experience! Perhaps the bigger companies should remember their roots!!!! The do it yourself option is always available but after my last time (and with advancing years) I will leave that to my children!" src="/cs/images/emotions/cool.gif"> Best regards   ps I just found the faces!!!!!      Report

14/11/2007, 22:37 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 2,048 Re: Removal companies To Garden Girl who pm'd me about this.  I have sent you a pm back which I hope you have received.  Not really sure whether these pm's get to their destination as I get confused by the number of times the messages are read. All the best    Report

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France Forum » Moving » Making the Move... » Removal companies

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