Witham Brothers

We have never used a packing service before but could not recommend it enough. What would have taken us weeks to do around busy working life they completed in no time. Up until the day prior we could have all of our belongings out and weren't living amongst boxes! 3 men were sent on the day prior to our move and then 5 men in total on the day. The removal team were friendly and accommodating, everything went directly into the correct rooms with no hassle. We were around so anytime they were unsure about they would check to save us having to deal with it later on. On moving out not everything fitted into the lorry/van provided but they lined up for a second van and man to come and help with no stress for us.

Price was really reasonable, we would definitely recommend to friends and family.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: £2200

I had the worst experience using this company. My move was delayed which complicated things but this was no excuse for the complete disrespect that my belongings were subjected to. There was significant damage to a number of my items, which I reported and thought we had sorted things out when the company waived the extra delivery charge by way of compensation I then had difficulty opening a drawer on my antique wardrobe only to find that it had been jammed into place (why, I don't know) and the dove tail joints had been broken off altogether, the drawer was in pieces. This could not have happened without the movers knowledge. I called the company who said they would get their 'handy man' to contact me to arrange to fix it. No amount of fixing could restore my wardrobe to it's original beauty. That was 18 days ago, I have not heard a thing and have had to have the drawer repaired privately at a cost of £103-. As well as all that, I later found out that when the removal men could not gain access, they trespassed onto my property and were reported to have been behaving unprofessionally by several of my neighbours. I am very upset, many of the items that were damaged have sentimental value and were obviously not treated with any respect.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: £1044

We had several removals quotes & picked this company since
they were local & appeared very professional, they were not the cheapest nor most expensive quote. We did however, question the 3-day time they allotted for the move, (we had moved 2 years ago, the same distance & that company spent 5 days on the move), but they assured us this wouldn’t be an issue &
they were very confident with the time allotted. We were supposed to have a full pack & move service. We had a 3000 sq. ft family home plus studio & garage. We moved 6 miles away. The same company also approached the people whose house we had purchased & undertook that move. The gap between confirming the move date & the move was 10 weeks. We asked for some boxes to be delivered so we could start packing away items, it was pointed out that we had paid for a full pack service so we shouldn’t need many. However, I was
astonished to find that when I called to pay the £1.50 / box deposit, they also wanted to charge 2.5% for using a card. Petty point but my gut feeling told me to cancel & go elsewhere, unfortunately I didn’t. The way I was spoken to was also condescending & rude.

The day before the move, loading day, was the day of heavy
snow in our area. However, they arrived at 8am with a large lorry & van. 1 guy packed & 4 loaded vehicles. Both my sons helped load & myself & my wife helped pack. During the afternoon I was made aware by the guys that they had been told that on move day there would only be three of them with three vans, they thought this insufficient & suggested I take it up with their office. I called & was again spoken to like an idiot & told that they knew what they were doing & that we would be out before 1pm the next day. However, when I told her that only 1 lorry had been loaded & the van empty she was surprised. Just before 4pm the guys said they were leaving for the day. The main lorry was full but the van empty. The reason I was given for this some weeks later was that they were worried about getting home in the snow. However, as the main lorry wouldn’t start and it was blocking the drive, they just sat in their vehicles for over an hour waiting for it to be fixed.

I then sent my concerns once again by email which pointed
out that we had furniture in every room, all appliances were still in place & connected & that there was still much packing to do. I received a reply the next day saying that a boss would give me a call. (I didn’t get the call).

Move Day: 3 people & 3 vans arrived at 8.30am. Nobody packed except myself & my wife, once again my two sons had to help loading the vans, they did as much as the removal men. Everything was hastily thrown on the vans, every square inch was used including foot wells & our cars were all crammed full. Despite all our best efforts we were not able to leave until gone 2pm & then not with everything. I had already had the buyers complaining about vacant possession & had to beg them to allow for a van to come back & collect the remaining stuff, (which was left on the driveway).

There were nowhere near enough people or vehicles.

On day three we were back to 5 people but as everything was
loaded with no thought and not room by room, it was a mess. Again, all of us had to help & we ended up putting a lot of stuff in a barn as we could not place things properly.

Many emails went between us & Witham Brothers. In the end we received a posted letter with £100 in M&S vouchers as a good will gesture. This was to compensate for the man days my family had to work to get the move done. As a closing insult, it was pointed out when issuing the deposit refund for the boxes that 10 were no longer usable. Many of the boxes they sent originally were very old & only usable after I repaired them.

In the correspondence after the event I was told a few
blatant lies and their excuse related to “The Beat from The East”. However, that did not affect the number of people they supplied or the vans they didn’t have or the fact that the vans they do have don’t necessarily work. As I pointed out, they were greedy & took on too much work. Even their own staff warned me that there was insufficient staffing, a charge they deny. I am so
disgusted by the treatment we received that I am now taking action against them.

Service cost: £3300

My entire experience with Witham Brothers has been disastrous.

I paid for packing. The day before my move Withams sent 2 gentleman to pack. Both were okay, took a lot of tea breaks but okay. The first then left about 10am leaving one man to pack my house alone. Close to 4pm they realised they were not going to manage this and sent a ray of sunshine round, his name escapes me, however he was the most miserable man I have ever met. Telling me that it my completion wasn’t done on time that I would end up with all my things in storage until “we’ve got time to move it back out”. They did not complete the packing before clocking off.

On moving they the team arrived, and had a cuppa, and slowly began moving my items whilst happy (the one from yesterday) continued to pack and moan to me aboht having to do so (apparently he doesn’t even need this job) - coming up to 1pm I mentioned they weren’t anywhere near packed and we were due to be out. My good friend arrived and soon him and my partner were literally RUNNING our boxes into the van. We finally evacuated the property an HOUR after completion - please note we were only an hour behind due to my partner and friends strenuous efforts. Left to just Withams I imagine we’d still be there now.

On arrival at the new property the van began to be unloaded.. now they were clearly in a rush, keen to go home for the day. During this time, my friend and partner were, again, recruited to carry our stuff out their van!

During this shambles of a “full move” one of my TVs were broken.

I rang Helen to arrange removal of my boxes and make a claim. Helen advises this would be done in the next few days.

Fast forward 5 days. I have one day of annual leave left and ring the office chasing the collection of their boxes (and my claim). A man answered and when I asked about collections he replied “yeah at our convince” I reminded him that I had requested it nearly a week ago, and I understand within a few days to be reasonable.

He suggested I pack up all ONE HUNDRED ISH BOXES boxes into my car and bring them to him, if I’m desperate for them to go. I politely explained that I cannot do that and eventually he put me on hold and when he came back was miraculously able to do it that day!!

And to top off the rubbish we’ve put up with, today I received a declined claim on the broken TV as there is no external damage visible. They hope I understand why I paid nearly £1600 to move my own crap, be told to return the boxes myself and now pay out £900 on a new TV..

So, No, I would not recommend Withams, I can do it for you, I’ll charge half of what they do, but can’t offer insurance. Not that it matters because having it doesn’t protect you from them breaking your items anyway!

2 Weeks ago we returned our rented boxes and as of today we still haven’t received that money back either..

So for now, I’m taking my complaint to the BAR and warning future mugs not to bother.

Happy moving (use Bournes, apparently they’re good)

Emma.

Service cost: £1000

Witham brothers moved us from Hove up to a small village near Worcester. We did our own packing with heavy double walled boxes from Witham. Everything was collected on in two lorries on Tuesday by two men who were polite and chatty. They had everything loaded in around 5 hours. Everything was stored overnight at Witham Brothers secure lock up and then they delivered it on the Wednesday morning. The same two men delivered everything. It was all unloaded in around 2 hours (with no damage to anything) and they helped get everything into the right rooms. It was a very pleasant and un-stressful move and I would recommend them.

Service cost: £1980

This was a two stage move, into store and then to a new address three months later.

The experience was excellent from start to finish.

The estimator explained everything in detail including details of storage etc.

The day of the move into store went very smoothly, the team onsite were friendly and courteous and regularly kept me updated.

Booking the move out of store was easy and the team accommodated my requested dates with only a few days' notice.

Darren and Craig did the unpacking and were both brilliant. They worked late on the first day and made sure that I was completely happy before leaving on day two, nothing was too much trouble, including re-positioning items as more furniture came off the trailer.

Overall a great service!

Service cost: £3000

Sadly I only moved to the Bexhill area in March last year and my darling husband died suddenly the following month. Witham Brothers were absolutely brilliant especially bearing in mind I was flying solo and likely to be highly emotional. It was a two day experience and on the actual day of the move I cannot thank Matt, Mark, Luke and John enough. They were polite and respectful of me and my property, although with a sense of humour and no damage has been noted. Nick certainly knows how to recruit the right staff, Becca and Zoe in the office were both extremely kind to me as well. A company to be proud of. Thank you all.

Service cost: £1600