In my years of running ECT Moving Group I saw dozens and dozens of removal companies come and go. Most of those companies that didn’t make it did and ended up shutting their doors did the exact things I’m going to tell you about below that you should look out for.
In fact when I retired I simply closed down my own removals business. I didn’t sell it off or let it get acquired. As I know there are lots of good moving companies out there in the UK but in my local area no one was up to par and I didn’t want the brand I spend half a lifetime building damaged.
So how do you use the internet to find a good moving company?
1. Start with Googling for Moving Companies in Your City
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with so many options for moving companies and their being so many steps to actually moving homes. So the best way to start is to just Googling the city you are in plus ‘removals company’ or ‘removals’. You don’t need to get overwhelmed. Find a few companies to start looking into by using this method. Look at the websites of the companies that come up and find a company that would suit your needs.
As not all companies will be suitable. Some moving companies only do man and a van services. Some companies offer everything and some do a mix. You’ll also be able to find out if the company you are look at covers the area you are looking at moving to if you poke around o their site. This is a fast way to narrow down a few choices and make a short list.
This also removes companies that don’t have a website. We are in 2018 now. If you run a business and don’t have a website then something is be hidden in my opinion. Find a couple of removal companies you want to go with and just keep them in mind.
We will use this house moving and removal services company – We Move and Clean as an example. So lets move on to step #2.
2. Read Online Reviews
The second step you should take when it comes to assessing a removalist is to read their reviews. There are many places online that you can go to read review of a company as long as they have their profile setup:
- Checkatrade
- Google My Business
- Yelp
- Yell
- Glass Door
- Trustpilot
- Bark
- Bidvine
This is just a small sample of review sites. By far the biggest ‘go to’ sites in the UK and specifically for moving businesses are Google My Business and Checkatrade. If you look at the bigger picture there are hundreds of sites that you can leave reviews on and even some just more moving like RemovalReviews.co.uk and MyMovingReviews.com.
Just Google the companies name you are looking for and tag ‘reviews’ on to the end. For example if the company you were looking at was We Move and Clean then you’d Google ‘We Move and Clean reviews’.
That way you should get all the sites coming up and their Google My Business showing up. See what I mean with the image on the left. If you don’t find their Google My Business their search out the business name and address in Google Maps and it should come up.
So what now? Well, get reading!
The reality is that most people are at least 10x to 20x more likely to leave a good review than a positive one. It’s an unfortunate part of human nature.
So if you come across a company like say We Move and Clean and you see they have closing in on 200 reviews on Checkatrade, almost 100 on Facebook and 30 on Yell. And all those ratings are very close to perfect scores in 5/5 or 10/10 then you know you have a winner. You know that company is doing a very good job with providing their service.
But don’t just look at the number of reviews and the star rating. Actually look through the reviews. Look for recent reviews. Look at what people commented on, did they do a short move, a long move, did they mention how their property was treated, what service the got and so on.
Reviews are a true way to gauge how a company treats its customers and also how their treat themselves. As how one runs a business is also how one runs their own life in my honest opinion.
3. Check Social Media
In 2018 and beyond a company should have a presence with social media. Go to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and any other social media platform you like and see if you can find the moving company you are looking to hire.
Any good company will have a presence even if they are not very active. It’s at least a peace of mind factor. If I’m going to be frank I won’t actually use a business if they are not on Facebook. I use Facebook daily and it’s a part of my life.
If a business is not on Facebook then at least check YouTube. From example this We Move and Clean video on YouTube explains their removals service. Not only is this a good sign that you are dealing with a reputable business but in this case you’re learning more about what the business does and it can give you move confidence to pull the trigger.
Here is the same video mentioned above if you don’t want to leave our site.
4. Get a Quote
The next step is to get a quote and ask for an in home estimate or it can also be called a site visit.
The last thing you want to do is ask for a moving quote over the phone in a 30 second phone call. This is the fastest way to get the wrong quote and end up with a quote that is double once the move starts as you didn’t let the moving company know about a lot of things that would be chargeable.
Once you have your estimate. Get it in writing. In paper or at least an email copy and make sure the words of words to the nature of ‘quote is final’ is present. If you don’t see that ask for a new quote that mentions the quote is final and there will be no more charges.
This is very important as lots of moving companies add on extra charges and you never find out until it’s to late! Don’t fall victim to this foul play!
That wraps it up. If you follow these steps you should be able to easily find a good moving company online.
I’m the owner of ECT Moving & Cleaning News. I started the site after running my cleaning and moving companies for just over three decades so I can still stay involved in the industry but not actively me moving and cleaning!