Damaged £700 office chair then ghosted me for months
I had used All Star Removals for my previous move and had no problem. Great customer service, and everything was moved without issue. I had no problem recommending them to friends and using them again.
This time around was different. A few weeks before the move, a man came round to look at the amount of things I needed to move and figured they would need one van. A few days before the move, once I had packed everything up, I realised I had far more boxes than anticipated and rang All Star to let them know. I was reassured me it would be fine and that they would bring another van just in case, but that this would cost more. I had no problem paying more for an additional van. They also assured me my possessions were insured up to the value of £20,000.
Before the move, I received an invoice from a company called A to B Removals rather than All Star. I was confused and was told A to B was the same team, just another company they owned. I was assured it would be the exact same service, with the exact same protections and liability. I was happy with that and paid the A to B invoice. The same team turned up in All Star clothing, so as far as I was concerned it was the same company.
The day of the move came, and the removals men started moving my stuff into the van. The first red flag was that it was raining, and they left my £700 Herman Miller office chair outside in the open. There was also no one outside near my things when I looked out of my window. I lived in a third floor flat with a view of the car park. I pointed this out to the removals men, and they reassured me it would be okay.
To save on costs and people, they decided to fit everything into one van. In doing so, they pushed my office chair up against the door, which damaged it cosmetically and now it has a gaping hole in the arm which will cost over £110 to fix. I found this once everything arrived.
The handling at the other end wasn't much better. As I don't drive, I coordinated from my flat and my mother was coordinating and telling them where things should go on the other end, but two of the three men largely ignored her. Boxes clearly labelled fragile, containing ceramics and plates, were carried on their sides and stacked at odd angles in a way that put them at real risk. I ended up spending hours that same night carefully reorganising everything myself. One of the three men was good and did try to listen, but the other two were careless and, frankly, rude.
As soon as I realised about the chair, I emailed All Star and they apologised, admitting in writing that they had damaged it, and saying they would start the process of sorting it out. I was happy with this. Mistakes happen, and as long as it got fixed, I was willing to wait. They initially said they would definitely sort it, but then backed down, seemingly over the cost.
Around the same time, they asked if their team had left a toolbox at my old flat, as some screws and fittings for my sofa feet were apparently inside it. I had already moved counties, from West Lancashire to Yorkshire, but told them I'd check when I next visited to hand back my keys as I still had some cleaning to do to get my deposit back. When I did, I found the toolbox untouched in the communal area by the lifts, exactly where they'd left it after bringing it down from the flat. I let them know, left it somewhere safe, and gave them the door code to collect it. They did.
That's when communication went silent. Once they had what they needed, the calls stopped being answered and the emails stopped being read, even with delivery and read receipts on. Ringing from a different number I hadn't used before would get picked up immediately, which made it hard not to feel like I was being deliberately avoided. I went to Citizens Advice for support and sent multiple follow-up emails, but I didn't receive any replies.
The chair was a gift from my late father. It's not just about the money. This process was made unnecessarily stressful and what upsets me most is being ignored after being told repeatedly that it would be fixed.
I would not recommend All Star Removals or A to B Removals to anyone. They can be fine when everything goes smoothly, but if anything gets damaged, be prepared to be ghosted.
