W. H. Cox & Son (Removals & Storage) Ltd

Initial experience of quotation and helpfulness dealing with the office was very good. On the day, the removals guys did a pretty good job, however, the mishandled our dressing table and dropped it - causing it to be damaged beyond repair. To be fair the guys were honest enough to admit and accept liability and even reported it back to the office before telling us what they had done. They said it will be fine - as the insurance will cover it. However, once we got a price to replace the said dressing table (£1578) and submitted the claim to their insurance company (Removals Claims Services based in Leatherhead) this proved not to be the case. The insurer offered us to settle at £250 - as they said the insurance only covered what the second hand price of the article would have been prior to damage (apparently written in the small print!). We are unable to repair the item or to replace it as we are left short to the tune of over £1300. So, please be aware of the insurance policy coverage provided because if anything is damaged then it will be very difficult to get the full money back. It wouldn't have been an issue for a small low-value item - but this item cost nearly as much as the total removal cost!

Several good reviews on this company ('WHC') This will not be an addition to the list.

i) I should have heard alarm bells from the start. My first conversation with WHC consisted mainly of the woman in the office dictating to me what I could and couldn't do in a highly negative manner not designed to promote good PR.

ii) Eventually we visited the office and sat there and watched whilst they diarised a date for collection of our goods. Some time later when, we 'phoned about something else, we discovered that they had
cancelled it without prior reference to us on the basis they 'hadn't heard from us'. Too idle to pick up the 'phone and enquire why they 'hadn't heard from us' presumably.

iii) As a result we had to have the majority collected one day and the remainder on Completion Day, 2 days later. It was fortuitous that the goods were going in to store otherwise chaos could have ensued.
The one good aspect of this whole debacle was the men who came to collect the goods-they were polite, helpful, efficient, apart from one to whom I had to lend tools to dismantle a bed, and cheerful.

iv) Some months later the day arrived for delivery of our goods to our new home some 70 miles away and this is where the trouble started.

At 10.00 two vans arrived plus two men, the third having gone off sick apparently, who proceeded to offload our goods at lightning speed,
actually running around like men possessed, despite the fact this was their only job of the day.

Result???

a) piece of decorative gilding knocked off an antique mirror. They didn't bother to bring it to our attention but just dropped the piece in a pine box containing tools. Had I have not needed one of the tools the following day the broken piece could have lain undiscovered for weeks thus negating my ability to make an insurance claim.

b) piece of cornicing knocked off a wooden wall unit. Again not mentioned and discovered much later stuffed in one of the drawers in the unit

c) 2 slats ripped off a wooden garden bench which had been renovated only months before.




d) last, but most serious, the head knocked off an antique
marble statue. This could not be 'forgotten' as I watched the operative unloading it and heard the thud as he dropped it.

Ah! I hear you say, no problem it was all insured and WHC sorted it all out for you.

Wrong!! It IS insured but WHC just email you a claim form and you have to do all the work making the claim and negotiating with the insurance company, something they don't tell you. When I queried this with WHC they stated that as the goods are not theirs and they do not know their value they are not able to send details of them to the insurance company. I pointed out that such information would be readily available from me but to date have not received any reaction so the point obviously escapes them. It didn't help the situation when the last piece of correspondence from WHC stopped just short of accusing me of fabricating the whole affair and stated also '.. our crews are professional Removal men, so they endeavour to complete each removal job in a professional and careful manner' a statement not supported by the facts in this case.

Now, some 9 weeks later I have received agreement for two of the damaged items to be repaired, no thanks to WHC and due solely to a lot of work by me, so to put it in a nutshell, if they damage your goods they wash their hands of the whole affair and leave you to sort it out.
I shudder to think what you would experience if the insurance did not cover your repair costs and you had to resort to claiming on WHC for the difference.

All in all an unfortunate experience with the one good aspect wholly negated by the remainder. Moving house is stressful enough without a removal firm making it worse

Make up your own mind of course.