I recently moved to spain and used a well known british removal company. This company sold me the option of export wrapp my things and they would take particular care of our belongings, especially furniture. Looking after the customer was their strength

In reality what happened was that they damaged furniture and they way we were treated by them was awfull. In one converstaion when i took them to task at their warehouse in spain, they stated they had staked my belongings incorrectly and would repack them (A little late i thought after 4 weeks in storage and a valuable chest was stood on its side). Packing materials were inadequate or damaged from staff clearly stacking to heavy items on delicate wrapping(Also not to spec in the order). One member of staff had stated that they packed my belongings in this way as they had to make a profit.

I took this up with a director of the company who just stated , claim on your insurance we have done what we promissed. What he failed to see was how you feel when someone treats your property wrongly especially when you pay almost £3000 for them to do it and they justify it by telling you they need to make a profit. After reading his email it was obvious why their company operate in this fashion. The directors mantra is make money and don't care for the customers.

Issues we had were.
Inadequate wrapping (called export wrap)
Damaged furniture from staff stacking boxs incorrectly , not transit.
On the day of removal , ordered crates not available and nobody knew where they were.
In adequate number of staff sent to load and pack
Ran out of packing materials and had to transport items to a warehouse to pack and then they used a paper bag.
Instructions for items stacking ignored lost and not communicated to depot in spain.
Depot in spain (English staff) not willing to retrieve items from crates even though this was promissed in sale.

I will post the email from the director in good time. (SNIP)

Please do not post the email from the director
I have had to remove the name I'm afraid

You seem to be trawling all the forums especially to put this up :-)

If anyone wants to know who the companies are email me. Chekmate. Ones based in guildford(think chess) and one in alicante(Think bow )

Its a shame when a forum allows only recommendations . If the truth is hidden or withheld then whats the purpose of a forum.

As i stated before. I want future expats to know what i expereinced from one of the largest removal companies in the UK. I will post on evry forum i can find of relevance to expats. Any suggestions let me know

Hi, I don't know if you can read PMs yet but i've sent one. if not, just make a few more posts.

I think your post was edited because of legal implications and not as you suggest Its a shame when a forum allows only recommendations . If the truth is hidden or withheld then whats the purpose of a forum. As I have already suggested to you (on another board) why not write to the managing directors of these companies and inform them of what and where you posted on these forums

hi , the reason i am posting is that i have already written to the owners /directors and MD , hence the reponse from the directors.


The forums are a good medium to share experience and valuable information to others. My intention is to warn others.

the suggestion was to show them what you have done as a direct result of their treatment of your belongings.... if you don't tell them, how will they know?

But what you are doing is writing a removals company off for your one bad experience.

I know who you are talking about and I have seen people say what a good experience they have had with them. They are an established company. It is a serious shame that you had a bad experience, but people do have bad experiences with companies unfortunately, but it doesnt mean they should be subjected to trial by internet without right of reply. Plus, shaming them on a forum can lead to legal repercussions for the site owners

Freedom of speach is a great thing. If the director had been reasonable then we would not be here now.

I have a lot of sympathy with the OP. Yes, people do tend to "write off" companies due to a single bad experience. But then again, each of us moves to Spain (or employs a removals company) so infrequently, that we often only have one experience to relate. So I think it's reasonable, given the circumstances - plus the OP is severely limited by what websites will allow - even though what is said is true, supported by evidence and as a consequence isn't libellous.
When I was looking to move a lot of stuff out, I contacted a lot of removers. All their quotes seemed totally outrageous. When I asked about special treatment for transporting telescopes, all of them said they'd only do it "at the owners risk" - which tells you a lot about the confidence they have in their ability to do a careful, professional job. In the end I decided not to trust any of they and moved the delicate stuff myself. However, I've heard so many stories (on astronomy forums) about stuff getting bounced around by well-known firms, that sadly, I can't say I'm surprised.
My advice: Sue! if it's less than 3-grand and the agreement was made in Britian and they have offices over here the small claims court should deal with it at very little cost.

Hi, I'm moving from Tarragona to Lincolnshire before the 27th August and need about 15 boxes transported and a bicycle, does anyone know of a man with a van in the salou area or alicante area?? The moval comapanies are soooooooo expensive they want to charge 500 pounds for 15 boxes... THANKS!

I think I will just rent a 7.5 tonne truck and drive down myself... doesn't sound too good

Well we had an atrocious removal company, again one of the big ones with a depot in Gibraltar, and they lost boxes of items, broke stuff, didn´t tell us that they wouldn´t finish packing until after 6 pm that night when we had new people moving into our house at midday as we had sold which ended up us having to pay our buyer´s removals money as they were sitting outside our house for six hours, plus not unpacking the Spanish end just dumping everything into the one room and saying they had another job to get to. I did everything possible to get compensation, writing to Directors, Managers everyone I could think of - zilch. So yes I can understand the original poster.

One of the things you pay for with a removal company is the fact that your goods are INSURED while they have them, a 'man with a van' is likely to be working illegally and have no insurance for your goods so be very careful.