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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Experiences of having a removal company pack for you?

36 replies

Fiddledee · 15/10/2010 19:09

Was it a godsend? The idea of packing on my own a large house with 2 kids makes me panic.

I have heard stories that basically they just pack it up all with scant regard of what they are packing together and so you have a bigger job to sort it all out at the other end?

Poor kids (both pre-schoolers) have had to endure me decluttering to sell the house, visiting houses to buy, visiting new schools/pre-schools I don't really want them to watch me pack for a couple of weeks.

Is it worth it? Or should I just get them to pack the china and glass?

OP posts:

phipps · 15/10/2010 19:11

Yes it was. We paid about £750 9 years ago and they were great. They packed everything, moved their lorry when I needed to go out in an emergency, put up with the neighbours being stupid and put everything where we wanted it. Only complaint was they taped up a gift box so when we took the tape off it pulled the cover off but that didn't matter in the great scheme of things.

Scarabeetle · 15/10/2010 19:13

It's really worth it. Do it. Better still - get them to unpack it all at the other end too.

KERALA1 · 15/10/2010 19:14

Best £1k we ever spent. They packed and unpacked. Two hefty men were dripping with sweat and exhausted by the end of it it would have finished DH and I off had we even attempted to do it ourselves.

phipps · 15/10/2010 19:15

They do unpack, it is part of the fee!

pagwatch · 15/10/2010 19:16

fan- bloody-tastic

The first morningthey arrived my DD was rushed into hospital with suspected menegitis. She was in intensive care for three days. I came home to a new house, an undrstandably stressed out DH but a decent order to the move and no dramas/breakages.

I would do it again every time

scurryfunge · 15/10/2010 19:19

We used a company for our last move. Definitely worth it....I gave them the keys and everything was packed beautifully. We only had to worry about pets which they would not transport and also gas cylinders from the BBQ and any fuel.

They place your belongings in whatever room you tell them too and will rebuild stuff if you have paid for it. It took two days and we just booked ourselves into a hotel down the road for the night and left them to it. It cost about £3000 but totally worth it.

GrungeBlobofEctoplasm · 15/10/2010 19:31

Worth absolutely every penny

Rapid packing and proper packing. Even if I'd had the time and energy I'd have never done it that well

Original poster

Fiddledee · 15/10/2010 20:53

ok you have persuaded me its worth it although I don't want them to umpack - is that weird?

OP posts:

scurryfunge · 15/10/2010 20:56

Not weird....I had them unpack the larger furniture but I wanted time to decide on the smaller stuff....we had downsized and a lot of our stuff had to go elsewhere.

SparkyMalarky · 15/10/2010 21:01

They've never unpacked for us - big furniture all put in the right places, and boxes put in the right room, and then we've unpacked over a few days - but being able to live in your house pretty much as normal until the move is fabulous!

champagnesupernova · 15/10/2010 21:02

Pag- how awful.
NB if you have any chance - make sure they label things REALLY well - e.g. not just Kitchen but Kitchen, saucepans, from tall cupboard.
Esp if you're going to unpack yourself - you may not get round to doing EVERYTHING at once and wanna hold on to some of the boxes for a bit.
Good luck with the move

PortoFangO · 15/10/2010 21:08

It was LOVELY - I packed my own pants though. The only problems: we were moving abroad and told they would not carry cleaning products. So I left mine in the cupboard under the sink, for post packing cleaning of house. Then I left them to it and went to friends for coffee.

I came back to find that not only had they packed up the lot, but they had also packed the hoover! Bearing in mind that I was leaving the house still on the market for sale, I had a little meltdown and made them go back in the lorry and find it all. How to make packers very happy - not....

So go for it, but give them specific instructions! They had some very juicy gossip about removals done for the rich and famous though. Definitely worth the price of the chocolate biscuits supplied....

HerGHOULPoirot · 15/10/2010 21:13

Do it, do it, do it! We did it 3 years ago and it was the best money we ever spent. The took down all the furniture and put it back together again in the rooms we wanted it. You don't even have to take sheets off the bed, your ready made bed just 'appears' in your new bedroom. We were completely unpacked and had a house party less than 24 hours after moving in.

Top tip - make them take the teapot. We thought we would take it ourselves and it was the only thing that broke!!!!

ps we used Pickfords...

taintedpaint · 15/10/2010 21:14

My own experience with them is great, much like most people on this thread. Get a recommendation of a specific company though, my mum used one and some valuable items went mysteriously missing. We couldn't prove it was the company that took them, but we knew it anyway.

CMOTdibbler · 15/10/2010 21:16

Totally fantastic - have done it twice, and they were fab.

Put anything you don't want packed in the car, else they will pack it !

chipmonkey · 15/10/2010 21:37

Totally great! Except......

On my Hen Night, my friends gave me a book called "Erotic Sex Positions" complete with pictures. We put it high up at the top of one of the wardrobes.

Shortly after, as a wedding present, we were given two holy statues of Jesus and Mary. Dh and I being unreligious, these also went to the top of the wardrobe.

So we are moving house, I hear the removal guys having a right old laugh in our bedroom but think nothing of it. Till I open the box at the other end and find Jesus and Mary carefully packed along with Erotic Sex Positions.

wasabipeanut · 15/10/2010 21:41

Bloody brilliant. They didn't break a single thing, everything was beautifully and efficiently packed and placed in the correct room in the new house.

Best money we spent.

But yes, I did do my own knicker drawer.

roxyhouse · 15/10/2010 22:41

Fantastic. We used Pickfords and they were brilliant and very competitively priced. Everything packed into labelled boxes and taken to the correct room, no breakages, clothes on special hanging rails etc. We didn't get them to unpack, but they came and collected all the used packaging.

Mairi261 · 15/10/2010 22:51

Would highly recommend getting packers - we did it when we just had our older son (he was about 9 months old), we were both working and so even getting house sold and finding one to buy was enough extra work, never mind packing ourselves.

We had one day where the packers just got stuck in by themselves (we went to work!), then on moving day they spent the morning packing. The only items they didn't insure were framed pictures (all ours were either photo frames which we just moved ourselves, or cheap prints which we didn't particularly care about) - in the end nothing got broken, as everything remotely fragile was well wrapped in paper packaging/bubblewrap.

Only slight problem was they underestimated the amount of stuff we had (4 bedroom flat, lots of stuff in cupboards and under beds) so we were a bit late moving out on the actual moving day. It wasn't an issue as our buyer was overseas. But maybe make sure they do a proper, thorough assessment of how much stuff you have so they allow enough time to wrap and pack it.

It was a real removal (he ha) of stress for us so I couldn't recommend it enough!!!!

Good luck with your move.

Maisiethemorningsidecat · 15/10/2010 22:55

Best £200 we ever spent. They asked us to pack our personal stuff, which was fine by me as they weren't getting near my knicker drawer. They packed and labelled everything else by room, there were no breakages and it was all done in a day. Utterly brilliant.

spiralqueen · 17/10/2010 00:05

Like everyone else I would thoroughly recommend it. 3 points though:

Be prepared to feel uncomfortable in the build up about not having done any packing - it seems really wrong even when you know they are just going to come in and do it all Like champagne* if they are not going to unpack it make sure the labelling is detailed. They use an unbelievable amount of wrapping so it fills up far more boxes than you expect - particularly for kitchen stuff. I found antique weighing scales, weights and wine glasses in one box, all beautifully packed and nothing broken but not things I would have expected to find together.
Keep the tea/coffee and biscuits coming and let them use your loo. They will be appreciative and will probably transport stuff that they technically shouldn't You wouldn't believe how few people actually treat them like human beings, especially as they will be in your house quite some time to get the packing done. Our guys told us that it was common to have to ask for a glass of water and not to be allowed to use the loo

frostyfingers · 18/10/2010 15:26

We had packers too and they were fab - our move required mega lorry, plus 1 small and took 3 days.

They were clean, quick, polite and drank a lot of tea! They put things in the right place at the new house, and asked if they weren't sure. They also emptied the attic in the new house of the crud and took it all downstairs and outside which was above and beyond the call of duty.

I would never move house again without using a packer - it's stressful enough without having to pack as well!

Islandlady · 18/10/2010 20:03

We had brilliant packers.

We moved from London to the Isle of Wight and we got an Island company to do the moving for us

HOWEVER, by the time we all got to the Island it was getting dark, so they asked if they could just leave the bed, the tele and a sofa and come back next day - it was in Feb so it was very cold, we forgot to ask them to unpack the box with the bedding in.

It was bleddy freezing, we didnt know how to turn the radiators on, the gas fire didnt work, we had no blankets or Duvets, we spent the night sleeping on the mattress in our coats - but at least we didnt miss Corrie

rebl · 20/10/2010 18:42

The packers was the definatly the best money we ever spent. I was laid up very ill in bed on the day before and day of the move and they just packed around me and kicked me out of bed at the last minute and got my bed straight up at the new house. It was quite frankly the only way we actually managed to get everything moved and I would have paid them double tbh!!

oldenoughtowearpurple · 20/10/2010 18:53

What can I add? Don't hesitate, go for it.

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