Rice,
I would definitely stay away from Robinson's! I had selected them because I heard good things about them on this site and another but we had the exact opposite experience.
The two guys that came to pack were terribly slow (so bad that I had to leave the house because I couldn't watch them, my husband stayed). It took them over four hours to pack a dining room table and chairs, mattress, head/foot board, rails, some clothes, books and CDs. The one guy couldn't even spell so my husband had to help him write the items on the inventory list. When I returned to the house, I noticed that they hadn't finished packing the small closet downstairs so I had to donate all of our winter coats to the Salvation Army (couldn't fit them in our luggage). They also forgot to pack two cabinets of cookware in the kitchen so I had to throw it all away. It took 87 days for our stuff to arrive in the US (east coast). The worst part was that they forgot to include our bed rails in the shipment (they never made it out of the UK) so basically our bed can't be used because the rails bits are missing. Needless to say I was furious!!!
Luckily we had insurance on certain items so I filled out a claim and sent it to them in early January. I included the receipt for the original cost of the bed and information on the replacement cost over here. I also send a letter to management explaining the entire nightmare but never received a response....unbelievable! (Also, one of my jewelry boxes (not insured) never made it over and that was noted in the letter to management).
Regarding the claim for the bed, Robinson's stated in an email that they were able to process the claim on behalf of the insurance company and today I receive an email stating that they can purchase another bed in the UK from the retailer and ship it over and that we would probably receive it in mid April. I told them that they have to be kidding, I am not waiting that long nor will I take off a day of work to wait for delivery. I stated that we bought insurance to protect against loss (their negligence) and that I want the cost that I stated in my replacement estimate (printed out of similar bed in the US, equivalent to the UK price) put directly into my bank account. I am waiting for their response.
I know others have had a decent experience with them....but our bad experiences take the cake!
One other note - it cost over 3,000 pounds to ship our little bit of stuff. Shop around! In hindsight I wouldn't have brought anything back but personal effects since things are so much cheaper over here, it wasn't worth the cost to ship back the bed and our dinning room table and chairs. We brought them back because we like them but it definitely wasn't worth it, cost wise.
I would suggest going onto
diveintoamerica.com for suggestions.
Best wishes on your move back!
