Just thought I would give you a removal company to not use- either for UK moves and especially not UK to US moves. After the very bad experience I had, I feel I need to warn others. The company in question is 'The Removal Group'. They are based out of Sutton Coldfield (nr Birmingham). They advertise on their website that they do UK moves, office moves and international removals. I didn't realize it at the time, but they actually act as a 'go between' to co-ordinate any moves- they do not actually move anything themselves.
To make a long story short, due to their very slow payment to the forwarding company (and that was only after I contacted BIFA (British International Freight Association), we are just now receiving our shipment which was picked up in the UK on 28/7/05. We emigrated back to Nevada in August. Along the way, I was told by Removal Group that our stuff had left before we had, and as late as early September, was told that the shipment was in the Port of Miami on its way to Long Beach. The truth was....it was still in the warehouse in England awaiting payment before shipping! On top of that, we were told we had insurance for the shipment and up until we left the UK, I was pestering them almost daily for a copy of the policy, etc. I have since been told by the company that actually did the move that in fact, we don't have insurance whatsoever.
I should have known something was amiss early on, but I had already paid upfront for the removal so just pestered them for information, etc, along the way and ultimately dealt directly with the forwarding company (FWW Shipping in the UK and Marlog Cargo in the US).
The Removal Group has now been reported to the Trading Standards, BIFA and also BBC's Watchdog program. As of yet, no response has been received by any of the above groups.
So be forewarned!!! Keep your fingers crossed the delivery on Tuesday is intact and all pieces are accounted for. Ours was part of a groupage container and can only hope that everything is there!
