This company in Bristol are such a bunch of crooks - Let me explain from the beginning.
I initially asked them to quote me on moving the contents of a flat and one car internationally.
The quote came back at around £3000 which seemed okay and we went ahead.
We gave them the exact dimensions of every item that we owned and they said they would collect it on a certain day. On the day they arrived rather late and started packing our stuff into their truck quite quickly.
I had already pre-packed all our small items into cardboard boxes and had them neatly stacked in one room. When they took the furniture away they never covered it or protected it in any way - so we asked why this was and they said - don't worry we will wrap it safely when we get to the warehouse. Well they are professionals right? So let them do their job.. I thought...
After loading up the truck it turned out they couldn't fit everything in and had to get a second truck to move the remainder. They then promptly billed us for the second truck by saying it was our fault because we hadn't told them about two small items that was the size of a small tea chest so we had to pay for the entire truck which was taking the other half of our stuff anyway.
Bad luck - I thought at this stage... Next they wanted to charge a fortune to collect the car and I said I would rather deliver it myself. So I did - A long drive to Bristol and I parked the car outside their offices. This was almost a week after they collected the furniture.
They said the shipment was ready to go and all they had to do was load the car into the container.
At this point they insisted on spot payment but suddenly the bill was about £8500 which was almost triple the original quote! I said this is mad and they said if I cancel the shipment they would bill me the costs of about £2000 for the return my goods. So they broke down the costs and said it was about £800 for the extra truck as a special discount just for me and about £4000 for insurance - I was shocked as they didn't even mention that insurance was additional.
After much arguing and about two hours later I was forced to pay nearly £6000 for the move.
As I was leaving I walked through the warehouse and saw my goods lying all over the place upside down and everyone walking all over my dining room suite and other items. Before I could say anything someone chased me out and told me I wasn't allowed in the warehouse.
Still in shock I went home thinking well if anything is damaged I'll claim from insurance.
Two weeks went by and I called them to find out how far my shipment was and they said it had not arrived on the other side yet. Okay I knew it was going to be at least three weeks anyway so all is well.. Until I got a tracking activation from my car.. which said it was still parked at the harbour in Bristol. Shocked I called them up and they had to admit they hadn't even been loaded in the container yet! I was really annoyed as we had been sleeping on the floor all this time and this was not professional.
Anyway from the cars tracking device the shipment actually left about four weeks late and then took another three weeks to arrive... So nearly two months plus the rest. How annoying.
On the day the shipment arrived at port customs called me in to open the container in person.
I broke the containers official transport seal myself and guess what..
They had not even tied the car down in the container or secured it in by any means. Nor had they put a separator between the car and the goods. I was shocked again. Somehow the car was in one piece and the customs person said if there had been rough sea the car would be smashed.
The next thing I noticed is how rusted the car was.. and this was a two year old car. They had promised to cover the car and make sure this didn't happen but they didn't do that either. Also when they left at the harbour for at least three weeks - I guess that didn't help either.
I was hopping mad.. but there was more..
When I finally emptied the container of my goods almost every single piece of furniture had been damaged in one way or another. There were plenty of scratches and gouges in the table tops, broken legs, foot prints under my tables, dirty hand marks on chairs, broken cupboards, missing screws and much just so much negligence.
Some boxes with items in had also been dropped and damaged which was just a perfect ending. I called them to complain and they put me in touch with the insurance company who then promptly sent an man around to come and assess the damage.
Well with a fortune in insurance I guess ill get my money back.. but that didn't pan out either. The insurance company said they would only pay for cheap repair work to get the items into fair condition and for example a £500 table which needed replacing they paid me out about £25 so it could be repaired. Basically for about £12000 worth of damage I got about £400 in the end because there was a £500 excess to be paid. I had no idea the insurance was such a scam too.
Turns out that first move charge a fortune for insurance and pocket about 50% of the money themselves and pay next to nothing to the insurance companies. Which just goes to show you what sharks they really are..
Anyway I hope nobody else has had such a bad experience.
On another page I found this:
"Please do not use this company. They will ignore you once they have your money. They say weekly shipments and 2 weeks on the water, well 2 months later and we are still waiting for our furniture to arrive. We used this co. even though they were not the cheapest as we liked the idea of a quick shipment time. They do not reply to your emails. We paid extra for off loading into our home but this doesn't seem to have been arranged and we are advised our pallets will be left on the kerbside. Before we confirmed with 1st move and we were in the quote stage they replied immediatly and were really helpful so please don't be fooled by this"
Below are the company details:
Haydn Jones ( Sales Department )
haydn@shipit.co.uk
Joanna Gwinnell ( Freight Coordinator )
joanna@shipit.co.uk
Tessa Beeching ( Shipping desk )
tessa@shipit.co.uk
Roy Hayball ( Car/Boat Shipping Desk )
roy@shipit.co.uk
Andrew Denyard ( Car Shipping Desk)
andrew@shipit.co.uk
Nikki Kenny (Car Shipping Desk)
nikki@shipit.co.uk
Jim Limerick ( Website / Webmaster )
jim@shipit.co.uk
Steve Ford ( Website / Webmaster )
steve@shipit.co.uk
Jo Myhill ( Accounts Department )
jo@shipit.co.uk
Josie Palmer ( Recruitment )
josie@shipit.co.uk
1st Move International Removals Limited.
International House.
Unit 5B Worthy Road.
Chittening Industrial Estate.
Avonmouth. Bristol.
UK. BS11 0YB
Tel: Bristol UK +44 (0)117 9828123
Fax: Bristol UK + 44 (0)117 9822229
Does anyone else have a nightmare to share? Click comment below...
Update:
1st Move is now claiming this is a fake review damaging their reputation.
Well this review is not fake or untrue by any means. Many other people have had issues with this company.
The USA is a free country with freedom of speech so you cannot threaten legal action for the truth.
I am not a competing company I am an individual and I am protected by the 1st amendment.
Next time you hurt one of your clients you should be more careful as they could tell the world.
For the record here is a quote on bloggers legal rights:
You will find that there are several rights that you have as a blogger. It is important that you make yourself aware of these rights. As a blogger, you are protected by the 1st Amendment.
ONE. One of the very important blogger’s rights that you are entitled to is the right to your Freedom of Speech.
TWO. Another one of your blogger’s rights is that you have the right to be anonymous. Your blogger’s rights gives you the permission to refrain from listing your name, and exactly stating who you are on your blog site.
THREE. What you must also know about your blogger’s rights is that you have the right to take the conversation beyond your blog website.
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