Pickfords – Crap Removal Company
Pickfords – A Crap Removal Company
Halloween – the day of the long awaited office move….
Having endured the nuisance of packing up a few bits and bobs the previous day and unplugging various cables and computer bits whilst suffering the allergic reaction to the dust disturbed after many months of dodging the cleaner’s tools the office move was on course for Halloween – Friday 31st October. Pickfords, the removal company selected for this important task, had left instruction about packing and labelling the cases to facilitate an efficient office move which was assumed to be done during the evening in order for crates and equipment to be in position the next day for connection and continuing work – however this was not the case.
Removal Company Arrives Late
The day begins with the surprising realisation that not only had nothing been moved since close of business the previous day but the Pickfords “Crap Removal” team turned up sometime after 9am – over an hour late.
Close inspection of the Pickfords removal van failed to reveal a new strap line - “Why arrive early when you can still get paid for a crap removal job by turning up when you feel like it?”
Crap removal company Pickfords were amongst several removal companies who have been assisted to stop them from going under during the current housing downturn.
You’d have thought that some degree of pride in the service they provide would be in order instead of the classic British workman attitude.The office manager was sure that every effort would be made to “crack on” and get the new office up and running as quickly as possible. How very wrong…
Slowly Slowly that’s the Pickfords Removal Way
Unaware they were in earshot, following a request that they prioritise certain items for immediate and urgent removal one of the Pickfords gang was observed shaking his head and telling his team “That’s not how it works, she’ll have to learn…” followed by the mob agreeing and trying to out do each other with promises of just how awkward they could be.
First in the door was the Boardroom table and chairs, Plastic plants, framed pictures, stationery supplies, nine water bottle refills but no water cooler. Clearly this removal company were “on side” as they watched all the staff standing around desks with no chairs or computers to sit and work at.
Following a full hour for lunch the Pickfords team re-appeared and the first glimpse of essential equipment was seen. We’re still unsure if the sight of a pc unit and two monitors precariously balance on an office chair being wheeled across the space was a hilarious wind up to reinforce the gaffers exclamation that they were “fully trained professionals” and knew what they were doing. Someone remembered the instructions we received that computers should be left on the desk for proper specialist packing and transportation during removal.
It seems they fair just as badly in domestic home moves although it is possible that the favourable reviews of Pickfords removals “it took three men to remove my drawers” are actually contributed by
In conclusion it was agreed that the whole exercise was a shoddy job. heaven knows what the cost was – the office manager keeps such things close to the chest – and it would ahve been illuminating to see the responses on Pickfords customer feed back questionnaire – which had conveniently been deleted…
In my opinion – Pickfords failed to impress and deserve the award of CRAP REMOVAL COMPANY.
I am so glad I found your blog! I also HATE pickfords. When we moved house from an island onto the mainland, the company lost 2 of our boxes, which held all of my dad´s old sporting medals and antique car collection AND my mum´s wedding dress!!! I agree that they should have taken them in the car with them, but they had enough to dea with with us! The boxes were never recovered….. no idea how they could have gone missing!!
DEFINATELY not using PICKFORDS again. Lesley
It is very hard to find a reliable mover these days. When we moved our office we pack everything electric, computers, tvs etc and move them ourselfs. Then we leave the crap lazy slobs of movers to move all the stuff like plastic plants and file cabinets.
There is a middle way.Use a man and van service and insist on helping load and unload.You will find that anyone who takes a pride in their job does not want to be shown up by the client.Plus its always nice to get repeat work.
They were over priced and useless when they did my move. Quite how Pickfords call themselves carefull i don’t know, all our gear arrived smashed and their so called customer services took 2 weeks to even reply to my complaint. Do yourself a favour and steer well clear of Pickfords Removals – they’re CRAP!
Thanks for this article. A friend of mine told me about Pickfords – the crap removal company. Good thing I decided to research it a bit on the net.. I think I’ll pass on their services
I had to move a few months ago, I didn’t use Pickfords Removals, however I did end up with a torn leather sofa, its probably best to hire a van yourself and have a few mates help out.
I’m glad I found your post and blog because surely I will not be letting my husband call that crap removal company to help us at all with our move now. Thanks so much for helping me save my energy and time now!
I have to agree , Pickfords are a bit overpriced , it would have been ok for me if they offered good service along with that rather high price tag.
Unfortunately their service was really crappy , that’s the last time I avail Pickfords removals
just a thought but next time hire a Luton van, for most full house moves two trips in one of them (though make sure you get one with a tail lift to make loading easier) will get all your stuff shifted, plus you can take more care of packing everything, so more chance of it getting there in one peace.
I should always use larger Removals Companies for small moves, as yes, they run up and down the country all the time, and can put one item on the end of someone else’s move, and you may not even have to wait that long, if they have a load going in a few days! Pickfords is part of Allied Pickfords, though ‘Allied’ is an International part of it. Pickfords (UK) staff attend many training courses,….. I loved your op!
I will not be letting my friend call that crap removal company Pickfords to help us at all with our move now. Thanks so much for helping me save my time!
i wish i’d seen this before my move with Pickfords!! they’ve trashed half my bedroom furniture, computer desk, tv stand and shelves. not to mention my under 2 month old very expensive tv!! my fridge and they being funny buggers about that. the brand new flat carpet. couldn’t even be bothered to but my matress in a protector like they said they would or my pc in a box either!! can’t believe how much money was spent on such crap service!!!
Use pickfords recently amazing service didnt have to do a thing. Much better than using a man in the van and worrying if you will ever see your goods again. Well worth paying a bit extra to bit true professionals to do the job. For those who have been put off I would at least give them call and let them come round to quote.
There are good branches of Pickfords and not so good ones. Your geographical location often determines the level of service received from them. I used to work for them so I know. Most removers take a pride in their job and do their utmost to help the customer but some customers do make the day harder than others, i.e not being ready on the day and expecting the mover to help with the packing even when they have not quoted to do so. The idea of using a hire van and a few mates always appeals to the first time mover but I rarely hear anyone say that they will do it a second time. Also, if doing a self drive move, you inevitably end uphaving to do 2 or more journeys. You can’t gain access to your new home until midday, so can’t empty your old home and hence keep the new occupant’s movers waiting around until the house is clear. Who pays for the remover’s wasted time? – the owner of the removal company! A decent removal company will give good value for money and it is worth checking them out and asking for references. Pickfords have many branches so of course many people do have bad experiences but I’ll bet they have a lot of happy customers also! As for the person bad mouthing Pickfords at the beginning of this thread, perhaps if you had been ready for the move, things would have gone a lot smoother. As for making life difficult, in order to accommodate items on a furniture van, they have to be loaded in a certain order, so if some items do not immediately appear on delivery, it is not out of spite but more often than not, out of necessity.
i used pickfords once and ended with huge bill and damaged tv cabinet. last week we get small company the removals to move my sister 2 bed house and they were great and much cheaper. i wish i read your posts before:(((
@ Peter James – Fair points well recieved however my experience of Pickfords removals was enought o drive me to publish this post. We had prepared for the move the previous day – so we were ready for the move – Pickfords arrived late and the move did not require a van so the choice of what to take first was entirely free.
We are about to move again and after our dreadful experience with Pickfords in Cambridge on our last move I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.
How does a company with such an appalling track
record stay in business.
I am amazed at the comments i have read above, no doubt all comments are genuine, if not a bit inflated perhaps. I have used Pickfords all over the uk on a commercial and domestic basis and have always been more than pleased in every aspect of the process. It is very easy to read these comments and be put off, however Pickfords move thousands of people every month and i am sure only the rare few that go wrong are obviously going to have a moan like the above. Bigger picture everyone!!!
How I hate moving. It seems to never go over as smoothly as you hope, even when you take the time to pack early and label things. You really think that Pickfords are crap don’t you? Hopefully you won’t have to do it again for a while
I’ve just moved from Glasgow down to Manchester with Pickfords and can’t praise them enough. I was highly stressed before the move (the usual my husband left me to do it all!) but Pickfords did everything I asked AND more. I’ve already written a letter of thanks to the local team and also to their MD. People nowadays always look to post the negaitives when there are still companies out there that do a damn good job!
I wished I had found this site earlier!!!
Here’s what happened:
We had moved from AUstralia to the Uk a few years ago with Allied Pickfords. It went okay, so we selected Pickfords for our removal back home, even though they were slightly more expensive than others.
Packers arrived late and kept on wandering off for breaks: 2 1/2 hours of breaks on a 7 1/2 working day. Team leader spent another 2 hours or so texting!
Packing was done without any care or thinking- fragile items practically thrown into boxes, no consideration to space (we pay by volume!).
Boxes thrown into a great big heap onto the truck!
Packers too lazy to inspect items closely at beginning. When everything was packed, team leader showved packing list into our face, claimed to be in a hurry and urged us to sign quickly – when we noticed that he had marked everything that is valuable as ‘marked & scratched’!!! Most of the items he hadn’t even seen. All items were absolutely as new, without a single scratch!!!
So we refused to sign and got them to rub the comments out. After lengthy negotiations with head office they did.
Packers told us that they are always instructed by head office to mark all wooden and valuable items as marked & scratched!!!!
This is fraudulent!!!!!!!
Now we got a mail from head office telling us that they were going to unpack and rewrap all those items to check – did that without us present!
I see a lawsuit against Pickfords on the horizon.
@Petra – crikey let us know how the legal proceedings go.
A crap removal company is a great idea. People have way too much crap. They need to get rid of it and move on with their much neater lives!
I’ve worked for Pickfords for about 18 years & the main reason for any damages or poor workmanship is down to using ‘Casual’ labour.
The amount of times the customer has been told that we use fully trained staff etc…Absolute crap!
The only one with experience on the job is the driver & he is as happy as you are to be seen with this rabble.
They can’t be bothered to do anything, want to be home by 4pm & are just a total embarrassment to the company.
All the drivers have brought this up at every meeting & told, basically, tough.
Next time you move, have a quiet word with the porters & ask them how long they’ve been doing this job for. The answer you’ll get is about an hour!
Good luck.
It’s interesting that the big boys like Pickfords can be awful too! I started my man and van business in Plymouth a few months ago, against the best advice of many and having read lots of information (not surprisingly from other removalcompanies) about there being too many cowboys out there. One has to wonder how these big boys can charge the money they do and yet invest nothing in their personnel. I think that is probably more criminal than the small one man band just trying to scratch a living!
I used to work for pickfords and i can honestly say…..DONT USE THEM….
They use full time drivers,but part time offsiders….from who knows where….
the office staff have never actually done removals,so havnt a clue what they are talking about……..
My advice…..use a middle of the road company and local…..
I operate a very reliable and above all professional removal company. We operate as a removal brokers so can cover the whole of the UK. We have had dealings with Pickford’s in the past, our customer was satisfied, they did pay more for the service – we could have got a company of comparable quality at a lower rate, the customer was happy to pay for Pickfords. “We have only used them once. We would use them again”. It is unfair to judge a company who has been operating for over 300 years on 26 reviews.
If anyone would like to discuss their removal needs with me then please visit our website, or give us a call. Mention discount coupon code Pastymuncher and we will not place your move with Pickfords!!
As an ex soldier i can say that pickfords
are the worse company out there
they moved my family on a number of occasions not our decision,
Try RTS removals for youre next relocation they are medium size company based in surrey who have moved a number of my friends of mine nothing but praise. By the way i dont work for RTS Removals.
October of last year i lost a number of things. from this firm.If anyone has seen a bright red Morrison 30 inch cylinder mower please get in touch.
I used Pickfords twice and im really happy from them. They were fast and organized, all tvs have been wraped even my leather sofa and armchair. I had a brilliant team which dealt with all my requests without any problems.
Remember – if you want a job to be done without any prblems you have to keep an eye on them and if any probs you just have to tell them and they will deal with it. Be form and dont be scared to tell what you think about bad service you’ve got. Spelling mistakes – sorry.
I disagree, I have used Pickford to use my business and home several times ( yes I’m often on the run) , they are freindly, professional and quick I would highly recommend the North Central office – Pickfords rock.
Pickfords actually listened to what I needed. they packed all my stuff with care,nothing was broken and I came from the USA. they handled all the import paperwork so nothing was held up in customers.. Great Job Pickfords
glients of mine used them to store their stuff when we turn up there to collect it they seem not to know where was the stufff (hey here’s a few more ffffffffffffs) so i agree the Pickfords are crap
Running a removal company is very difficult as you only get one chance to impress your customer.
But I also believe that all drivers should remain professional at all time and at all cost as you do not want unhappy customers.
I totally agree with Peter James and as removers we have our great and not so great days but our customers should remain our main and only priority.
Utter Crap. Driver was the laziest sod ever, and porters were shifty and rude Romanians with a chip on there shoulder. We had damages due to the careless handling and some Blu Ray discs strangely go astray. PLEASE AVOID ! I am not surprised they keep going into administration and being bought by random firms.
I “work” for this great company and if half you dim wits took time to see the pressure the guys are under to move your fat lazy arse from one place to another you would see they do the best they can for the time limits set by the ones above.
John – thanks for your contribution – I now see better how Pickfords employees are driven to berating paying customers and think that blaming “the ones above” justifies their arrogant slap dash and down right crap removal work. After all removal work is just moving stuff – keep the faith and may your hands never be empty.
Thanks feedback really useful – I was just about to book Pickfords for my move out of London. Instead I will book an alternative removal company. And that’s based on giving them the benefit of assuming John from PR was a hoax – as no one who speaks about their customers like that could possibly be employed by any company
Pickfords moved my family several yrs ago 2 newcastle, they were ok apart from their breaks and the price was scandalous, 780+ for a 3 bedroom house move, no wardrobes etc, I moved from my family home and used a local company scottwells i think, they charged me £140 for my contents which was roughly a large 2 bedroom flat..they were friendly and very effecient, and not 1 break in 5 hrs.. use a local company with goods in transit insurance or a man and van and dont be afraid to keep them right..
try A luckes and son in Swindon they were great to us on our move nothing too much trouble and hard working all we had to do was keep them toped up with tea (simplez) family run with there name on the truck
So glad to have found this website as we are moving house soon. Any comments on removal firms such as Crsipin, Rogers and Coles?
If the company is proud to put real names on its vans – Crispin Rogers Cole – and you don’t think they’re trying a cunning double entendre – get a quote
Pickfords – just moved a two-bed flat to a house, a grand total of perhaps 70 miles. Chose them on a friend’s recommendation.
The estimator was woefully wrong: suggested it would take half a day, but actually it took one and a half.
Plants – said they’d take them; then when they arrived said they couldn’t. Long and repeated ‘phone calls to head office and much stress later, they took them (one pot smashed).
Wrapping and packing staff were charming and hard working. The real problems appeared on delivery, three days later (stuff in storage meanwhile).
When it arrived, our furniture included the following:
one piano – wrecked;
one polished oak bed headboard – heavily gouged and scratched;
one polished teak dining table – scratched and gouged on sides and top;
one varnished wood wardrobe – liberally scratched;
one antique chest of drawers – battered, with veneer patches of wood veneer bashed off.
So far, Pickfords’ response to our complaints (we were insured) has been to say that we’re unlikely to get any compensation, that anything that was marked already won’t count, and that we can’t prove our piano was in working order when we moved (so they won’t compensate us). And when we’ve asked them how, in the light of all this, they claim to be the best they just say “We are”.
I’ve have some truly ghastly moving experiences – both DIY and with cowboys, but I can honestly say Pickfords have been by far the worst, by some margin.
Hey, I feel I’ve found a new home! check out my recent pickfords disaster.
http://quietriots.com/issues/214-not-getting-what-you-paid-for/organisations/1872-pickfords
please join up and help me get something done
Have just had the horror of a pickfords
move [hoults]
I had one item that was particularly precious to me, stressed its importance from the first contact. I paid £80 for insurance. They came and packed all my “fragile” things, glass, pictures, a collection of Studio Pottery including the piece that was totally unique, when we reached my new house I asked for the box that contained my collection…
Really sorry to have stopped half way through I was very upset indeed.
I asked for the box containing the candlesticks which were 24 inches tall and therefore particularly vulnerable ,so that I could check that they were safe. I wanted to make sure while the team from Pickfords were still in the house. They promise in their publicity that their “expert packers” will use a range of materials to safeguard your fragile possessions!! When I opened the cardboard box all it contained were three small soft cushions and my beautiful candlesticks were just wrapped in paper with no support at all. I knew when I reached into the box to lift them out that one was broken in two. I showed the “team” what had happened and added a note to the document that they asked me to sign to the effect that been a breakage. I paid over £1000 for this move which included £80 for “in transit” insurance!!!
I obtained a quote from the potter to replace them,emailed it to the local Lincoln branch to be told by the manager that
He was very rude and so was his Area manager when I asked to speak to his superior. When I asked what was meant by “in transit” he told me that was in case there was an accident involving their vehicle and my goods were damaged as a result. They have just flatly refused to accept any responsibility whatsoever and have told me that I should have let the “team” unpack every thing onto a “flat surface” before they left.
The only flat surface left at that time was the floor in between the piles of boxes.
I booked with Pickfords as I thought they were an old established company with a reliable reputation, how wrong I was and only wish that seen this blog first. I shall make sure that I shall use every opportunity to tell as many people as possible how they charge you for insurance that they have no intention of paying out on, they do not take care of your treasured possessions and their management are rude, uncooperative and dreadfully letting down the polite, charming and professional staff who came to see me when I first booked the company.
Pickfords moved my family to Saudi a few years ago and were a nightmare from start to finish. I have moved overseas several times due to my job in the oil industry and have used Simply Ship on the last two occasions (there and back a year later) and they were fantastic. My sister also used a company called Caledonian Moving & Storage to move from Glasgow to London and was very impressed.
i used to be a removal man for about 13 years for a few companys, it is true they use a lot of agency guys and only the drivers seem to be full time staff. i enjoyed my removal career and would class myself as one of the better removal men out there. my advice would be to find a small local, family run bussiness as they usually run on recomendations and can’t risk doing shoddy jobs. if your in south east england may i suggest TURNERS REMOVALS or D.DURRANT REMOVALS they are quite literaly the best i have seen, and i would recomend these guys personaly. sorry for you guys who had a bad removal with pickfords but they are not all bad i have personaly worked with some verry good pickfords staff and they have been let down by agency staff. P.S make the guys plenty of tea and they will work hard for you.
Why would you expect a company to pay for something that they had not broken ?
I worked for Pickfords for 35 years and they do use agency men who are 2 bob but on the otherhand don’t tar them all with the same brush. Sure, if somebody has a bad move, they want revenge and want to get it off their chest and you’ll hear about it. You won’t hear about the good moves though. You can do 5 jobs a week for months on end and not hear a dicky bird then with the law of averages something goes wrong and you soon hear. I’ve had casuals out with me and within 5 mins you know what to expect and you kick them into touch. On the otherhand I’ve worked with blokes for 20 -25 years who are superb. Remember, good and bad in all.
The old saying – you get what you pay for – just does not ring true for Pickfords. Bad service and high prices. You would expect a company this size would be good. We hear all these types of complaints for other companies all the time. We strive to ensure that we don’t make the same mistakes.
Never never never again.
We have noted all of the comments posted onto this website. Pickfords manages thousands of moves within the UK and overseas each year and we welcome the opportunity to discuss our customers’ experiences.
Pickfords is part of the British Association of Removals. Members of the British Association of Removers must meet strict standards to maintain their membership. Pickfords and the British Association of Removers liaise closely with the Office of Fair Trading to ensure trading terms and conditions meet current statutory requirements and that consumers’ interests are taken into account
Customer service is our highest priority, if you have a comment or would like to speak directly to a senior manager at Pickfords about your experience of our services, please contact our Customer Services Manager by emailing customer.services@pickfords.com, we welcome the opportunity to speak to you.
Man, i hope they learned something from it. But anyway, every issue has both sides right? We just heard the two sides so it’s up to the reader’s and to everybody what they think about the article.
@Anne – as i said to my bank manager – it’s all about balance
After reading these all I glad that I just received a phone call from Pickfords informing me that they can’t move me at the end of this week after all. Despite being quoted for last October, booked last December and initially ordered for last week – but our sale got bumped a week – so I went in with the paperwork and said – I’d like to book it and pay – they said, no need, just ring us when you know the date. So I did today – only to be told that between last Thursday and today they’ve booked themselves full and ‘tough’ and that it was my fault for not booking and paying last week. But you told me last week not to book it… erm… so even if they don’t move you, looks like they are crap.
When living in London you have so many more options then simply choosing Pickfors, why not look around for a smaller removals compnay next time. Thanks for the article btw
My husband works for Allied Pickfords and is nothing but a complete professional.He takes massive pride in representing the company he works for and has done for many years.All his time and energy are put into every single job he does and they are all done with pride,i can only assume that none of you have ever had the pleasure of my husband doing your removals!
There are so many options when it comes to moving gear these days.
Pickfords are so big, it just tends to become just like the major Satellite player. Some parts of the company are excellent and actually give a stuff and some pocket just do it because they have to.
Like anything else, take time to do your homework, if you have the time of course!!
Happy moving all.
Lot of big removals companys are crap, Why is this! They pay shit wages, and they employee monkeys to do the job, this is mainely agency staff, they might turn up in a pretty lorry, but there work will be crap and they charge you the earth.
The person that started this thread seems a little unhinged from reality.
She admits that her office was far from being ready for the move. They had taken responsibility for packing but had not done it. As a result they made the removal mens job even harder from the start. By not preparing the move properly she and her firm had broken the agreement upon which Pickfords had quoted. In any other industry the contractor would say “sorry – you’ve broken the deal we can’t do the work because you’re not ready”. However, in general, removal people battle through and get the job done.
She claims picfords were late at turning up as they arrived at 9am. Well in my experience (which is vast in this industry), removals begin between 8.30am and 9am – as a rule at least. In any case, it’s not as if you were even ready for them!
The writter of this thread suggests that the removal crew were being difficult on purpose to annoy their client. This is the craziest thing i’ve heard for a while. Removals is hard work, it’s even harder if you create extra work by taking out items in a certain order which you think may upset your client. Believe me, the removal men wouldn’t create any extra work for themselves and they certainly wouldn’t want to upset their client if it was at all possible to avoid. The truck needs to be packed in a certain order to make it safe and it comes out of the truck as it comes. You didn’t get the chairs when you wanted them – my heart bleeds but hey, you’re moving!!! You need to expect some inconveinence don’t you?
The writter of this thread seems to have no respect for others. She seems not to realise the simple life fact that you get the best from others when you treat them with respect. She seems to believe that she knows better than the removal crew who were there doing a hard job which she and her team had made that bit harder by not being ready and a bit harder again by being patronising. If you were one of the crew can you imagine how hard it would be not to tell her what you think of her!! My hat goes off to them for biting their tounge.
I would be prepared to accept that Pickfords are not the best. I’m sure they have problems like every business. But I do not think that the original writter of this thread has any credibility at all. She appears to me to be self important and lacking in social skills and self awareness. My tip for her would be to take some responsibility, stop looking to blame others and show respect to your fellow person (especially if you want their best efforts).