Moving across the UK - reliable removal company needed!

[youngblowfish]

We are moving from London to Manchester in March and will need a helping hand, as I will be around about 34 weeks pregnant. Having never used a removal company before, I was wondering whether anyone has any tips/experiences to share? I am after either strong recommendations or bad experiences, as I would be keen to avoid anyone too awful. Sounds obvious, but I really want the move to go as smoothly as possible, as we will have plenty of other things to worry about :). So far I received a few quotes ranging between £500 - £1000.

Also, do you think it would be worthwhile paying extra for someone to pack everything for us? We live in a one bedroom flat and, although I feel that we would be able to manage packing ourselves, will paying somebody else to do it make things easier? Or would it be more convenient for us in the long run if we packed everything ourselves?

TIA!

We moved from London to the north west with Pickfords. If you get a quote from them you can haggle them down quite a lot without any trouble - they said, 'here is our quote, let us know what you think' and we just said 'oooh bit steep' and they knocked £100 off it right away. We could probably have got it down a bit more but couldn't be arsed haggling. Think we paid about £700 but moved on a Tuesday as that is their quietest (and therefore cheapest) day.

We packed ourselves, but some friends of ours paid for their packing service and were pleased with it.if you don't go for their packing service they drop off boxes, tape and packing paper for you so you don't have to buy that stuff. They collect them from the house you move to when you've unpacked. You don't need to pack stuff that's hanging in the wardrobe, they just lift it into a cardboard wardrobe thingy on the hangers. They will wrap furniture for you, such as sofas, dining table, TV etc.

We have moved a lot both within UK and overseas and always use Pickfords.

Also we always get them to pack/unpack - it doesn't add an awful lot more to the price and is worth soooo much more

I've used express removals twice (once from London to Scotland and once within Scotland) and had good experiences both times. No breakages.

And yes yes yes pay for packing if you can possibly afford to. It is soooo worth the money. But be warned that they do it Ninja-quick, so make sure you remove anything you don't want them to pack, or you'll end up unpacking half eaten tins of baked beans (really). They also supply all the boxes, cardboard wardrobes and so on to pack the stuff in, and collect them after you unpack, as part of the deal.

Thanks emsyj, that is really helpful! Just came back from moneysavingexpert, where people mostly post horror stories about their possessions being thrown around by illiterate movers who turn up late .

I will definitely check out Pickfords.

midnightexpress, that is hilarious! I am seriously thinking of bribing my sister into de-cluttering the entire flat before the movers start packing as I don't want to drag all of our junk from one place to another, but sadly lack the self-discipline to do it myself, nesting instinct notwithstanding .

I am really glad most of you seem to suggest that getting everything packed and unpacked is a good idea. I am usually in favour of somebody else doing the hard work :), especially if they do not do too much damage in the process.

Have you checked that firms from Manchester aren't cheaper? Also if you can do it mid-week, not Friday is often cheaper.

I've used Pickfords once, always worth phoning as the price varies depending on how busy they are/think they will be. So don't expect the same company to always be the cheapest/most expensive.

Definetly get them to pack, it takes a fraction of the time, and the insurance is better.

Six Keys (offices around London, friends and I have used Acton and other branches).
Couldn't have been lovelier or more efficient.

We got them to pack all the fragile stuff as then if it broke their insurance covered it; we packed most other stuff. They provided boxes of varying sizes, dropped more off a few days before the move, and then checked the day before that they had enough guys lined up.

Pickfords quoted a lot more, I think. They also lost my granny's cooker but that was 20 years ago...

GET THEM TO PACK!! AND DEFINATLEY DECLUTTER!!

We moved from Glagow to Edinburgh recently (so shorter distance). But we had a 3 bed house and cellar and filled a removal truck. It cost £1200 including packing with a local firm that had branch in both cities. The packing was just brilliant - it was only an extra £200 and was money well spent.

We moved a few days after Christmas and it was not at all stressful. We spent one day before they came having a good clear out (about 15 bin bags of junk!) and a whole car load for the charity shop. The packers came the next day and I had to do nothing. They were finished by 1pm the next day and we were off! Sat and watched tv and drank tea and did very very little while they were there. It allowed me to got to tip/ charity / sort out other stuff.

They basically go through the room and sweep everything into boxes. It would take you much longer as you would be looking at all your stuff and trying to organise your boxes i.e. all your photos in one box

Would never move again without packers - it is a bargain!

BTW, given the sluggish state of the housing market, I think it's probably worth trying to beat down the quotes a bit. Play them against each other a little, once you have a couple that you are happy with.

Good point about the packers speed.

The day before the packers arrive pack a bag for 3 days as if your going away for the weekend. Also pack another big bag/box with stuff you might need quickly - kettle, tea bags, coffee, biscuits, mobile phone charger, laptop, ipod charger, paperwork for old/new house, remote contols etc. The things you use daily and need to get to quickly.

It means you are not in a rush at the other end and have to look through 10 boxes that say living room for the remote control for the tv (like I had to!!)

We were fast enough and they packed my glasses which I had left in the living room! Found them eventually all wrapped up in paper in the drawer of the sideboard!

I am so glad I asked for advice here, I am amazed at how helpful I am finding it already! Thank you! All of the sudden, I am not dreading the move half as much as I was this morning.

Very good point about the removal companies relying on the state of the housing market - so far all the small ones really wanted our business and had plenty of dates available. I might encourage DH to haggle.

Must remember to keep my hospital bag out of the packers' reach :).

My other top tip is to arrange for a supermarket delivery to your new address on the evening of your arrival. It means you don't need to stress about all that (and you will of course have followed upthehill's advice and packed an 'essentials' box too.

It can be stress-free, or at least not too stressful. I spent our last packing day at the beach eating ice-cream with the DC while DP hovered over the packers.

Good luck!

Have a look in the Manchester forum - there is a whole thread of people relocating from London to Manchester (BBC). Some of them might have useful recommendations.

I have just recently used a company called Greenwoods Removal and Storage who agreed to carry out all my packing and move me to an address 5 minutes away within one day. In the end they could only give me 3 men and one of them went off sick after half a day. Later, I found that he had no experience of packing and worked on bodies at Greenwoods Funerals. The move took three days and they left us without any bedding for the first night. A lot of the packing was mis-labelled and I had wash clothes which were packed with make-up. I would suggest only go with recommended companies.