We’re moving house soon (end of Sept.) within France (from Hérault (34) to Lot et Garonne (47) about 300 km.
Does anyone have any recommendations for Removal Agents ?
We’re not looking for anything special/fancy, we’ll do our own packing, so just want a ‘muscle and transport’ service. We’ve already discovered “The Gentlemen” (we’ll be asking them for a quote) and AnyVan.com, but the online estimate for the latter is not much use as we don’t really have a standard set-up. I’m an engineer/mechanic/DIYer with a largish garage, and have lots tools, materials, 4 workbenches, scaffold tower, ladders, shelve units etc. That I want to take with me. So the agent will have to come and visit to provide an accurate quote.
It would also be useful if the agent has someone who speaks some English. We get by alright ‘in-person’ in French, but still find complex telephone calls a bit difficult.
Thanks
We used the local firm franchised to the Gentleman who were cheaper than another local firm. Previously we had used AnyVan, but seriously not impressed so wouldn’t use them for anything other than a small job.
The Gentleman were great. First a WhatsApp video walk through to do the estimate as we were at long way from anywhere and then a detailed quote with options.
We did most of our packing - I think the eco option. But beware you must be ready for them at the precise date and hour. And have everything very clearly labelled as to where it goes the other end. They were so fast! 3 huge bearded and tattooed muscle men and 1 dapper skinny one who was responsible for fitting things in to lorry which was a work of art. They were hysterical and really good humoured.
Anything you don’t want loaded must be securely locked away. We had left a pile to go to recyclerie and dechetterie which vanished into depths of lorry.
And we had a large barn full of stuff including workbenches and tons of gardening stuff.
And endless biscuits, coffee and beer.
Never want to do that again. Our move was 750km within France, and we had to race the removal lorry as they drove many more hours than we were prepared to do so arrived just minutes before them.
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Thanks Jane, and for a very quick reply !
We’ve sent off devi requests to 5, including The Gentlemen (they do sound good), we’ll see what they come back with. Interesting with that whatsapp walk through !
I’ve since discovered that The Gentlemen have a small depot in the next village from us, so maybe they’ll visit anyway.
Do you happen to know if they can do over-night storage (possibly 2) ? as we plan to move out of our current house the day before completion day if possible, to allow us enough time at the Notaire, and time to drive over to the new place. Not looking forward to that part 
Yes, They packed us up on a Friday and the wagon (a double remorque I think they are called) went into their store over the weekend for no extra charge. But for various reasons we had to hold it back another day which I think cost us €150 extra. We then had to get there before them as otherwise paying €€ extra for 4 men and two wagons to hang around, and we made it with about 15 mins to spare.
We have had more relaxing journeys.
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We used a company called T R E démenagement to move from Herault to Charente. We were moving the contents of a 3 bedroom house and garage. It cost 5,000 Euros. They provided a very good service on the whole. Our only complaint was that when the boss wasn’t supervising they were a little careless packing furniture with the result we got the odd chip off painted wood. Nevertheless I would still recommend them for doing exactly what we wanted, loading 2 vans, driving them up to Charente, waiting 1 night and delivering unloading at our new home. This was 3 years ago. Hope this helps.
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Thanks Redmondj,
Not found TRE yet, maybe they’re not trading now. But I now have quote visits on the way from 3 or 4 others.
There seems to be quite a few smaller firms that trade under franchise to larger companies, which makes it confusing when they get in touch, as they contact you with a different name to the one you originally asked for a devi.
What I do find a bit crazy, is those that provide an instant quote based purely on the number of rooms or m² size of the house without visiting. What happens when they turn up with one van, and find they need 2 ? - No use for us, as I have more in the garage than in the house !
All such fun though 
Les Gentlemen are coming here to quote next week. Seem to be efficient so far.
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