Hi All,
I'm a wannabe 'surviver' and my OH and myself are working on plans to relocate from the north of the UK to SW France. Part of that planning does, of course, involve budgeting for moving our belongings. Does anyone with practical experience of a UK to France move have any recommendations for a UK-based removals firm? Positive testimonials that give us some confidence would be most welcome :-)
Thanks
John
We use a company called Compass www.removalstofrance.co.uk very good service they was not the cheapest but was excellent service start to finish
Hello,
Could you post the website for the Anglo French Removals, as there are two companies withe the same name :(
I am looking for movers for smaller job.
Thank you
Well I honestly hope they do better for you than they did for us,the guys on the ground were excellent but those selling and booking were terrible the most unhelpful bunch od wa****s ever promised what we wanted to hear and then failed miserably.good luck I really hope you get better service than we did
Hi John,
I have shippers coming to my home in North Yorkshire tomorrow, to take my belongings to southern France. I had quotes from six companies and MOVECORP have come out the best. Will let you know how it went after arriving in France. Fingers crossed.
Barbara
Dear All,
thanks to everyone who has both posted here and direct messaged me on this topic. Your replies have all been very helpful and I've got some useful suggestions that I can now follow up….
… Like most people planning this kind of relocation, I expect I'll have other questions that people here might be able to advise upon so I'll start another thread (or three) at some point.
with thanks and best wishes,
John
We used Clockwork removals in Sheffield for a part-load. Their service was excellent. We had a bit of a trouble with confirming dates for our things to arrive as we used an agency who I wouldn't recommend. I'd happily use Clockwork again though and go direct this time.
Hello, I have moved furniture from UK to our home in SW France( Agen) and then my daughter moved back to UK so we have done both ways, using Graham Rose both times. I would have no hesitation in recommending him. His rig doesn't look anything like Pickfords, he has an old Iveco Luton van with and equally large trailer, I think 40 cu metres is his max load but that was a full house load for us. Graham is polite, punctual and reliable (after all he is from West Yorkshire) and he is up and down to France all the time.
His rates are very reasonable and negotiable. Some quotes we got were laughable at ÂŁ6 and we paid less than a quarter of that. We have no esxpensive antiques or irreplacable items and it worked well for us, we would use him again if we ever needed to. If you are flexible with dates so much the better.
If interested, contact Graham on oiron.express@yahoo.com. He has a house in Oiron and he stayed for a while when moving us to allow us time to get down there, Graham does not use motorway toll roads to keep the cost down!
Colin Granville
82360 Lamagistere
We used http://www.moveitchannelmoving.com for a large removal to the SW and found them to be very helpful and good value. The chap to talk to is Berin (assuming he's still there). The removals were quite complicated, involving three different drop-off points - two in London and one in France - and everything worked well.
I would plump for George White. He has a very good reputation and will do part loads.
Thanks for that - and the invoice details. This is all excellent background.
Did he get a slap? I expect I would have :-)
Wonderful discussion thanks to all contributors.
We moved 12 years ago a matter of 14 miles, largish house & garden to similar. Decided on DIY optionn with help of good daughter & son in law. We started about 7.30 am and finished about 24 hours later absolutely exhausted.
I was mid 50's and used to physical work & a good packer. !2 years on age is taking it's toll and I'd be lynched by the family if I even thought about it.
We will use a contractor, I've made several enquiries for budget prices but had little back. Just 1 quote for man & large van @ ÂŁ1300, the one man would require help with loading/unloading and as we've a lot of stuff we're considering 2 men with 2 vans which the company based in Liverpool can provide. That was the only response fro Anyvan who advertise on many of the propert sites.
We had Pickfords move our offices about 5 years ago and it was a fiasco so I wouldn't dare try them, I hope for others that we were unlucky and I'm please Kate faired well with them.
Brittania haven't as yet responded and they have a depot in our village.
John,
You have some good recomendations here - always helpful because you hear some nightmare stories.
Moving yourself would be so tiring & stressful - I did it once in UK between houses 7 vowed never again!
We have moved here in SW France using a local Pickfords trained man called Ian Graham - he can also arrange moves from UK to France through his contacts.
His email address is mercurymoves@hotmail.co.uk
Hi All,
blimey, thanks for all the varied and helpful responses. It's great that folks are so willing to share and advise - and very much appreciated.
John
What I can say is DO NOT use “Movecorp” they really let us down terribly broke a fair few bits of our new furniture and arrived over 2 days late costing me a fortune in cancelled flights and rebooking as I had to go back to uk to pick up my wife
A French friend who recently moved from France to Aberdeen swears by Britannia Movers international. He said they were efficient and affordable. For my impending move to France, I've decided on Clark and Rose, who have a large operation with storage (which I'll need for a few months) in Aberdeen. I'm doubt they're the cheapest on the market but they have a good reputation up here. It will just be a part load and the company will have lots of flexibility on the delivery date, so this should cut down the cost. One problem I discovered with doing it myself or using a "man with a van" is insurance while it's in storage (unless it's a recognised storage company) and in transit. No one was prepared to cover my stuff. I'm sure the insurance fee will turn out to be money down the drain but it's surprising how much your odds and ends would cost to replace. It's all about peace of mind. I also don't think it would be cost-effective for me to take a van from the north-east of Scotland to Charente, although it's probably a different story if you're farther south.
Hello John, I moved from SW France to Cumbria and then when I came to my senses I moved back again! Each time I used Smart Moves, they are based in Lytham St Anns Lancashire. smartmovers@hotmail.co.uk Stephen is a no frills outfit so don't expect a Pickfords type outfit with guys all dressed up in a uniform. Providing one can fit in with Stephen's arrangements (he is frequently down this way) he will offer a good price and in my experience was certainly at least €1000 less than any of the well known firms.
Hope this helps
Chris
When we moved to Tarn et Garonne SW France nearly 4 years ago we carried out extensive research regarding removals and found a comapny called ET Brokers based at Rocqacor here in France. They deal with full and part loads to and from France. They provided us with a number of quotes from professional removal companies and we were very happy with the service. It might be worth giving them a go to see what they come up with. www.etbrokers-removals.com/‎
John
We used a company called David Dale, based ion Boroughbridge, N Yorkshire. They're very good, in fact they moved us twice - once for outr 'holiday home' move and then for ouir 'final leap into the unknown' move. It's a family business, very competitive (and no, I don't get a commission!)