Ramshaw Removals, County Durham - www.ramshawtransport.com

Based on my personal experience with Ramshaw Removals, if you’re looking for a removal company and considering Swan Removals, please take the time to read this. It could save you a lot of heartache.

It would appear that the former director of Ramshaw Removals & Storage (Ramshaw Transport) is involved in the operation of Swan Removals. Ramshaw Removals is now in liquidation, Ramshaw Transport has been dissolved.

I am appealing for anyone who has had the misfortune to encounter bad customer service from any of these companies, to contact me. Hopefully together we might raise awareness and save a few people from the distress that has been caused to those people posting on sites like this.

Please contact me if you wish to have your comments put forward to Trading Standards and other organisations.

Equally as important, to those of you considering using Swan Removals please think again. 

We used Ramshaw for removal, storage & delivery of our belongings while we were in between properties and by god do I wish I had never came across this company!!

The removal from old property went fine. Reasonably priced too with the promise of sofa covers, fridge protectior and mattress covers.

We requested for our stuff to be released from storage and I informed them another small local removal company would be collecting our belongings as the price they quoted me was too much and I could have it delivered at half the price. I was told that under no circumstances would another company be allowed to enter their yard and I would have to pay them to unload my stuff into the other company’s van, they came back with a more reasonable price to deliver it so I decided to go with Ramshaw.

Our belongings were due to be delivered on Tuesday 18/06 to our new home. On the Thursday before while browsing social media I read that there had been a fire at a local removal and transport company, reading further I discovered it was Ramshaw! As you could imagine this sent me into total panic as everything we owned was in storage there. On the Friday around lunchtime I decided to drive to the yard as I a had no other way of contacting them and we had no email or phone call to inform us of the fire. I understand that they would have been unable to enter the office but what I don’t believe is that the director does not have access to work emails on any other device.

I spoke to a police officer who pointed out where the company owners were standing. When I approached a lady (the director of the company ) and a man who I assumed was maybe go owner I was immediately under attack from her! After managing to have a half civil conversation with her I was then assured that no matter what my stuff was fine as the fire did not enter the warehouse and regardless of anything it would be delivered on Tuesday as agreed. I asked that would would contact me again no later than Monday to confirm this.

Monday arrived & no contact, I rang and spoke to the person I dealt with to told me that the fork lift driver was on his way and they would go and check my belongings as soon as the fork lift driver arrived and would call me back.

3 hours passed and no phone call so I called back again, I was told they were still waiting for the fork lift driver! I asked if they would just give me a call by 4pm and let me know wether my belongings were damaged and if they will be delivered on the agreed date.

Around 3pm that day I recieved a call from the person I dealt with to inform me that he still did not know if they were damaged or not and that they would not be delivered on Tuesday! At this point I was furious, why had our and anyone else’s belongings not been checked to assess any damage? He asked if I would like to speak to his manager and I said yes.

This is the point when I got to speak to the delightful director again!! I have never known such a foul mouthed unprofessional person. I was told to F - off numerous times and was told that I would not be getting anything out of that unit wether it belonged to me or not! Then she hung up. My sister was with me at the time of the phone call and after seeing me so upset she rang back but she refused to speak to her.

I called my boyfriend and asked him to deal with it as I no longer wanted any contact or speak to them!

He then called up and was told to “go F himself by the same woman, remember this is the director of the company! He requested recordings of the phone calls between ourselves and Ramshaw to which he was rufused!

Days passed and we had no way of contacting the company as they closed down while the premises were investigated.

Thursday we received a phone call from a man, he apologised and said that he could now arrange delivery of our stuff. We had two options we could have it on that Saturday if we paid double the agreed price or if we wanted to pay the agreed price we would have to wait until the end of the following week!

Bearing in mind, we have a 2 year old, a new house and no furniture we had no choice but to agree to pay the extra to have the stuff delivered ASAP.

Once the wagon arrived with our stuff I was relieved to learn that there was no fire or smoke damage, but not very happy at the fact there were NO sofa cover, NO fridge protection & NO matteress cover. Instead the sofa was filthy, the fridge is dented, the side board has a scuff mark that wasn’t there before and watching the removal men unload it I realised by the way they just threw it around this company really didn’t care about their customers AT ALL.

PLEASE AVOID USING RAMSHAW TRANSPORT AT ALL COSTS! Please pay a little more for a professional company as it is really not worth the stress.

Ramshaws Transport Co Durham, booked this company to carry out a removal for me on 15th March 2017.

They damaged my furniture.The Removal people on the day of removal demanded EXTRA PAYMENTS to remove my white goods,they had me over a barrel and I had to pay the people extra money, in cash !

I complained to the company they requested that my complaints be put into writing - this I did - THEY NEVER RESPONDED. I telephoned them, I e-mailed them I sent them more letters they just ignored me.

I contacted their trade organisation B.A.R., of which they were a member, they took the case up. Ramshaws just ignored all their letters and telephone calls.

I went to the Property Ombudsman Service - I was awarded a judgement against Ramshaws. THEY STILL WILL NOT PAY ME WHAT I WAS AWARDED FOR BAD SERVICE AND DAMAGE.

I am now about to take out a COUNTY COURT SUMMONS AGAINST RAMSHAWS.

Therefore I say use at your peril

Very disappointing. Not offered carpet protection of any description. Removal men trampled mud through carpets. Didn't seem to care when I complained. Ramshaws refused to pay 20 for carpet cleaning stuff for me to clean it. Said it was tough and I should have taken out 'carpet protection' which I wasn't offered. This ruined my day.

Then an antique chair was broken. Pictures and signed docs from ramshaw staff.... Now they don't answer my calls and have not replied to emails.

Do not use.

Having agreed the quotation and date from this company we thought everything was on track until we tried nearer the date to get a more accurate delivery time. We could not contact the person I dealt with, the staff apparently could not contact him either and we were left at very short notice to try an find an alternative supplier. They were not the cheapest. I would advise to avoid them at all cost because they were not reliable in our case.

What an absolute disgrace this so called company is the manager is a nasty disgusting peace of work all the reviews are right DO NOT USE THIS BADLY RAN COMPANY I'm devastated I've had to give one star that's too good for them and I say them but I've never actually met any members of staff that work there only the manager and he is a disgusting peace of work and I hope he gets what's coming to him.

Not the cheapest but they had a nice website and the person who came round was very professional.

The problems occurred on the day of removal, we were moving 120 miles with our goods due for a storage unit until our new house is complete. therefore we need them to arrive on time, before the storage unit closed and in order to ensure everything was okay with our temporary accommodation. It was of paramount importance to me that everything went smoothly and without stress for my partner as after nearly 60 years she was moving from her home village and leaving her family behind to start a new life.

The arrival time was between 09:00 - 09:30, by 09:45 there was no sign of the vehicle so I gave the office a call and they said they would investigate. 10 minutes later the removal crew phoned to say they would not be there until 11:00 hrs as they had needed to off-load the vehicle due to the previous crew not emptying it. When they did arrive the crew were very good (although no covers were put over the carpets)but due to the late arrival and the need to be at the storage unit I needed to help them load. In the end they just made it before the storage unit closed and apart from having to reorganise my day as I had lost the best part of 2hrs the move went okay.

The issues and reason for 2 stars are the poor response and customer service I have received since complaining about the late arrival and the inconvenience and stress that it caused on the day. I was referred to the T&C's which state they cannot be responsible for traffic etc. I did respond saying that I fully understood that, having worked in the logistics industry for nearly 40 years but that was not the reason I was given which was clearly a management issue if the vehicle had not been off-loaded by a previous crew. Four weeks since my last email and no reply hence my rant on here, I would not recommend them based on my experience.

NOT TO BE TRUSTED! We were given a quote so we decided to use them. On the day, the guys didnt turn up until almost 11am!! We have a 4 bed house to clear and knew it would take many hours to complete. Previous companies were with us at 8am. The guys then told us that they were told they only had a small job to do and turned up with only 2 luton vans. From previous experience we know it takes 4 to move all our things. Upon calling the boss, he was very rude, un caring and basically said they.d quoted wrong. He wanted another £300 or would pull his men off the job there and then!!! Unbelievable! Apparantely this happens often according to his men. They were actually very nice and they felt quite sorry for us, obviously feeling very aukward. We were left no choice but to pay on the day. Awful experience which added to of course a very stressful day. Be Warned!!

Initially seemed professional, spoke to the office. Quote wasn't the cheapest but we were short of time and to begin with, they seemed agreeable. In short:

1. They were late arriving, then took thier lunch break.

2. The elder of the two lads was rude and aggressive

3. On arrival at our new home, despite being an expensive job anyway, the driver demanded more money that had to be paid in cash immediately or he would take our belongings away.

4. They did not wrap our belongings, resulting in dirt and damage from thier van

5. When we attempted to speak to the manager, he put the phone down on us.

This company will agree a price and charge upfront then change the terms and blackmail you.

The worst company I have ever dealt with. Do not use.

Came out and offered the whole world at a cheaper rate than anybody else, which seemed great initially...

But within a couple of months I fully regretted using this company and had many months of utter stress about my stuff afterwards. I will list the numerous issues below.

1. Was told my furniture would be stored locally and could be accessed any day as long as 24 hours notice was provided. Turns out it was stored in bishop Auckland over an hours drive away and could not contact anyone for weeks on end, and then was told I had to fit around they're schedule which was highly inflexible.

2. Was told for six months that I would be receiving a contract in the post or by email and never did. Found this highly suspicious and realized soon that most of what was promised was an utter lie, and the reason they wouldn't provide a contract is because nothing they offered was actually given.

3. Was told that throughout my 12 months contract all my stuff had full insurance on and would be safe at all times. However some weeks after accessing my storage the first time I was informed that this had voided my protection and as such it was my responsibility to make sure it was safe going forward.

When I raised the fact that this had not been mentioned until after I had been through my stuff; the owner threatened me, was extremely aggressive and told me I had 24 hours to pay off the entire contract as he would be dumping my stuff the next morning.

He then proceeded to make personal threats and act in a way that can only be summarized as thuggish and beyond unprofessional.

4. Tried to arrange setting up a standing order on several occasions, was told that it was unnecessary as he didn't care when we paid as long as it was all paid by end of contract. Even gave an example of another woman who hadn't paid him for a year and said he was fine about it because "i have her stuff anyway..." He then twisted this at a later date to say that he did not have to keep our stuff any longer than he wanted to as we had not honored the agreed payment plan.

5. His conduct was only pleasant when he was getting his way, the rest of the time he was a dominant bully who dictated what he wanted and when.

I must say however that both the delivery drivers who collected our stuff and the ones who dropped it off were great lads. Really friendly, really hard working and really canny so this in no way reflects on them.

to summarize, the only part of our agreement he actually stuck to was collecting my stuff and taking it away. IT wasn't accessible at all, wasn't stored locally, and wasn't protected. His conduct was only nice when it suited him, the rest of the time he was more like an aggressive school bully than he was a professional business owner.

I WOULD NOT USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN IF I WAS GIVEN STORAGE FOR FREE! NOT WORTH THE HASSLE AND NOT WORTH HAVING TO DEAL WITH THE OWNER!

one word summary - AVOID!