J A Steel & Son - Do Not Use!! (Removal Services in general)

Member Name: Tr aceyPringle

Product:	Removal Services in general
Date:	05/10/07 (440 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Friendly, helpful office staff

Disadvantages: Damage everything, pile on extra charges, packing very bad

Oh dear. It all seemed fine at first. The man who came to our house to give an estimate was nice, the woman on the phone was very nice and helpful, the removal men were nice and polite (if a little slow). BUT...

We used the packing service as we naively assumed they'd do a better job than we would - wrong! Their 'packing' consisted of using our clothing (including new suede trousers) to wrap round lamps, putting unsealed bottles of mouthwash in with clothes (of course they leaked), and a coal scuttle complete with coal dust in with a baby's high chair and clothing - which we couldn't get clean afterwards.

Seeing them putting a mirror into the lorry with not even a blanket round it I asked weren't they going to bubble wrap it - the answer was "Trust me". It arrived in 2 pieces.

During the move they broke or damaged almost everything we owned (about the only things that weren't broken were the light fittings that I'd packed!). We claimed on their insurance for most of it - which was paid, then quickly followed by Steel's bill for their extra costs (see below) which was suspiciously just slightly more than our insurance amount.

They turned up 5 hours late at the destination, and in a lorry that was far too big to get down the drive. We had told them (alas not in writing, so couldn't prove it) the max size that would fit, but the message wasn't passed on; so they had to come back the next day with a small lorry to transfer everything - hence we had to spend a night in the new house with no furniture at all. And for this they of course charged us a massive extra fee. We disputed it, it went to B.A.R. who, as always I suspect, found in favour of their member. Mr Steel jr was rude and unpleasant to deal with, obviously determined to get his extra money regardless.

I'd rather carry everything on my back than use Steels again.

Summary: They seem nice at first, but don't be fooled. Avoid them!!