John Mason International Movers

Reviews

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1. J

   James M.

   Source: RemovalReviews · New York, NY to London, UK

   24 Jun 20251-bedroomPaid $2,000

   Atrocious

   We booked our move from US to UK through Schumacher Logistics, who subsequently used John Mason for the UK end. What a mistake. Delivery was supposed to be included, but seeing as the parking was 3 doors down, they charged a £200 'long carry' fee. Took months to get an actual delivery booked in and now I'm sitting here, 4.5hrs after they were meant to arrive waiting. Took the morning off work and no sign or communication. Dreading what state the contents will be in when they arrive. Do yourself a favour

2. M

   Mrs F.

   Source: RemovalReviews · Worcester, UK

   11 Feb 20253-bedroomPaid £4,000

   Poor communication

   Our experience with this shipping company was extremely disappointing. Communication from Gill was poor throughout the process. The initial quotes were promising—exactly what you’d expect when they’re trying to win your business. But from that point, everything went downhill. Gill failed to inform the moving team that we were shipping a mattress and bikes, so they arrived without the necessary packing materials and had to improvise. Several items were also left behind, forcing them to start a new box with just two or three items—at our expense. We shipped our belongings in early August, with all quotes and worst-case scenarios indicating arrival by early December (accounting for quarantine and delivery). However, by early September, we had received no updates and had to chase for information. We were then assured our shipment would be on a boat the next day. We tracked this vessel throughout September and October, only to realize it never left China for Australia. When we followed up, we were shocked to learn that our belongings were still sitting in a warehouse in Liverpool—two months after we were told they had shipped! There had been no communication to inform us of this massive delay. While we eventually received some compensation, every response to our complaints made it seem like we were being unreasonable for expecting timely updates. If delays are so “normal,” why weren’t we informed? And why were sales representatives so confident that December was the worst-case scenario? To cap things off Gill did not pass on our updated address to the Australia removal company or the fact we had already paid the AQIS fee. DO NOT prepay the AQIS fee with John Mason, they charged us 305 pounds ($603 AUD), when the true charge was $385. Our shipment finally arrived at the end of January 2025—nearly six months after we last saw our belongings. This level of service is unacceptable, and I would absolutely not recommend this company to anyone.

3. J

   Jazz A.

   Source: RemovalReviews · Slough, UK to Santa Clara, CA

   29 Oct 20232-bedroomPaid $1,908

   Such an unpleasant experience

   I will not recommend John Mason International movers. My experience with them was they estimated a larger volume (approx. 189 cu. Ft and an amount of £ 2,371) for collection after the survey of the house and moveable items that they performed and quoted an amount based on the volume that they estimated. However, I did inform them that we are planning to discard certain items and would expect a volume lesser than what they have estimated in their quote and hence, I do not budget to pay the amount that they have quoted (£ 2,371). There are certain things about which you won’t be informed in advance and most likely you won’t be until the day of collection of your goods. One of them is that they do not have a flat rate of per cubic feet for the volume of goods that you will be shipping. They mentioned to us that our price will move commensurate with the volume, but not at a set amount (in theory this gives them the flexibility to charge whichever is the higher i.e., the amount that they quoted or the volume as per their quotation). They will then give you some examples of what the price per cu.ft is going to be and you will keep wondering what is quote meant for and you will be confused as to what should you budget for as they will try to keep things uncertain. To us they gave an estimate of what the price per cu.ft is going to be if they collect 100 cu.ft and what is the price going to be if they collect 150 cu.ft. We estimated that for us the price would be somewhat £ 12.54 cu ft based on what they mentioned for 100 cu.ft in their email. However, for us later it would turn out to be something different than we estimated or budgeted for. If you are not sure about the volume that you would be shipping, then be prepared to get charged as per the volume or amount that they have quoted even though on the day of collection your volume turns out to be less than the volume that they had estimated. Right before the collection of goods they send a revised quote citing increase in shipping cost which they say is not under their control. What can a customer do when the vendor at last minute sends a revised quote? We had very few days left before our move, and it wasn’t feasible for us to find another vendor. Hence, we continued with the collection of our items by John Mason. On the day of collection the volume that they collected was 112 cu.Ft - the actual volume. However, John Masson in one their email confirmed that if the volume decreased, they would decrease the price commensurately. However, when they send the final invoice there wasn’t any major reduction and then started a lengthy back and forth emails with them. At this time there is hardly any options left with the customer as you would be abroad and then you would be reminded in a negative way that if you don’t pay up, you would be charged for storage of goods due to non-payment, or your goods would be discarded. John Mason in their email cited that they arranged for labor and material for collection of 189 Cu.Ft even though they were informed in advance that we were anticipating a lesser volume. Because there weren’t any options other than paying, we ended up paying them £ 17.94 Cu ft (£ 1,908) which was much higher than the price that they had mentioned in the email for 100 CuFt of freight. So, our recommendation is that be very firm and sure with the volume that you are shipping and make the vendor stick to their quote as they would try to wiggle around the volume and the quoted amount.

   Response from John Mason International Movers

   Firstly thank you for taking the time to write a review and we appreciate all feedback. Having reviewed your file, we can see that your removal was in October 2022. We pride ourselves on being clear and upfront with all our Customers throughout and having reviewed your file can see that this was the case with your removal. We can see that you were originally quoted on 189cft back in August 22, after the pre-move survey. Your final volume was indeed 110cft. Therefore, your final invoice reflected this and was actually over £600 less than the amount quoted. We explained from the very start that we were unable to give you a price per cft, and explained in detail that the final amount payable would be based on the final volume packed. Regarding your mention of the increased freight costs, this was widely publicised and affected every shipment at that time. Please see the below link for further information, which you were given at the time. https://www.johnmason.com/british-association-of-removers-august-2022-update-state-of-global-shipping-market/ At no point did any of our employees threaten to destroy your effects. In fact you yourself were very rude to one of our employees on the phone, for which you did later apologise. We did inform you that your effects would not be shipped until payment was received in full, which is standard practice, and it is clearly stated in our terms and conditions that payment is required after collection, otherwise your effects maybe placed in store. In fact we packed your effects on the 3rd October and did not receive payment from you until the 7th November, however we did not charge you any storage during this 1 month period. We are truly disappointed when a client is not 100% satisfied with their overall experience, however we feel we have acted in all good faith throughout and fulfilled our contract with you

4. J

   James I.

   Source: RemovalReviews · Tonbridge, UK

   13 Oct 20233-bedroomPaid £12,000

   Awful experince

   Moved from HK to UK and John Mason were the UK agent. As soon as the shipment arrived in UK they demanded a "fuel surchage" to release and deliver. Several requests to explain how they arrived at 120 gbp were unanswered. The team that delivered the shipment were helpful but the office admin was poor. Several items arrived damaged between HK and UK

5. B

   Brad M.

   Source: RemovalReviews · Sydney, NSW

   8 Nov 20214+ bedroomPaid £6,000

   Awful, awful, awful - John Mason are dreadful

   Used these guys as my move company subcontracted them to pack up my UK house. Worst packing (if u can call it that) ever. Low standards, disorganised, and failed on almost every front. Communication was bad, damage to the house and my stuff was extensive, even broke my toilet! Couldn’t get a straight answer and caught them in various lies. Appalling - do not use or be prepared to regret it!

6. B

   Brianna G.

   Source: RemovalReviews

   26 May 2020StudioPaid $5,000

   TERRIBLE company to use.

   My belongings have not been delivered after 9 months. When trying to work with the company they are horrendously impractical. They will give you a date they will move and expect you to be ready at the drop of a hat. Upon requesting multiple date options so we could settle on a time, they refused. They will not work with the customer. They will not compromise. Do NOT use them!!

7. A

   Ashley G.

   Source: RemovalReviews · Telford, UK to Bari

   18 Dec 2019Paid £8,000

   Abysmal service slopey shoulder syndrome.

   My suggestion to anyone intending to move abroad. Don't use John Mason International. The estimator can't estimate cost us another £1800 for spilt load which has still not been sent 25th will be a month. This I am told is a common occurrence with them. Their partners in Cyprus Columbia Worldwide movers are probably the biggest bullshitters I have come across they just make it up to suite, change the boat docking days, the delivery days and the customs clearance all because they can't be bothered to deliver as agreed. And all you get from both not my problem, you sleep on the floor merry Christmas. Keep in mind if we couldn't take delivery we would be paying storage fees. Absolutely abysmal bunch of useless arrogant never use them again.

8. L

   Lorna

   Source: RemovalReviews · Glasgow, UK

   4 Dec 2018Paid £2,590

   Avoid This Company.

   Moved from Sydney to Glasgow. Just unpacked 2 boxes of smashed crockery that’s been in my family for years. Because I didn’t unpack everything on day of delivery (impossible task, took 2 whole days) I’m now left with a room full of boxes and packaging which the company don’t care to remove. Certainly no accomodating customer service now that it’s delivered, just a ‘don’t care’ No. Really irresponsible policy of recycling. Find another company, there are better out there.

9. M

   Mark W.

   Source: RemovalReviews · Bristol, UK

   15 Oct 2018Paid £3,000

   Beware.

   OK, so all was ok until we recently got our property delivered from Cornwall (uk), to Adelaide, South Australia. This just gets worse and worse as we unpack, so here goes: 1) Danish, 50s dining table, smashed to pieces. 2) All My partners cutlery, inherited from her grandmother.. GONE. 3) My John Severson watercolour, bought for me as a gift and now approximately with £1500.. GONE 3) A stamp album given to me by my father and collected by his father, worth maybe £2000.. GONE. Surprising that these were our most valuable things we owned. So this got me thinking as all the boxes listed in the UK, arrived this end. How did this happen? When the guys come to pack your stuff, out is IMPOSSIBLE to stand over them for hours, checking a) that pack the stuff, b) load the packed box and finally, c) it goes on the trick and/or remains on the truck. All I know is they had our stuff. And now we don't. I'm currently putting together a report for the UK police and will be ensuring these guys are thoroughly investigated. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE BEWARE. WE ARE DISTRAUGHT AT THIS LOSS. Of course John Mason might not be responsible for the actions of these guys, and I'll update IF they either return or recover our goods, or compensate us completely. UNTIL THEN, DO NOT USE IF YOU HAVE VALUABLES.

   Response from John Mason International Movers

   Thank you Mark for taking the time to share your experience. We take the allegation of theft very seriously and have launched a full investigation. I see from your file that this was collected from a container at a 3rd party storage depot.The crew packed everything they were shown and our out turn report shows that everything packed was unpacked the other end. There was no mention prior to this complaint about a stamp collection or the cutlery being shipped- neither were listed in the list provided by you or on the insurance form again completed by you. Should you have mentioned the stamp collection we would have advised not to ship this via sea, due to the damage that can be caused. Your Move Manager will continue to liaise with you and the insurance company to help resolve this and will continue to investigate this.

10. R

    Ruth R.

    Source: RemovalReviews · Preston, UK to Vienna

    13 Mar 2018Paid £1,675

    Appalling service.

    JM Movers "handled" a move from Preston to Abu Dhabi for us - we used another company as an intermediary. Our stuff arrived in AD airport on Sunday - we expected it to arrive at our house sometime on Monday or at least to get a phone call giving us an update - no - I contacted our own agent who contacted them. No progress on Tuesday morning either, eventually received an email from the agent here who informed us we had to submit a passport (we had already supplied JM Movers with a scan of the passport) and were required to pay an additional charge of £107, we had not been informed of this by JM Movers. I have attempted to make a complaint but they have pushed it back to the agent we originally used - a company who have completed three excellent moves to France for us and with whom I have no complaint. They have threatened to take down any bad reviews I post on social media - I guess they have something to hide. Avoid them, there are far better companies out there (this website does not allow me to post the correct delivery location).

    Response from John Mason International Movers

    I can see you booked your move through Movers International of Preston (nothing to do with John Mason). They then contracted John Mason to deliver on your items. I have no idea of the promises or services that Movers International of Preston sold you. Your goods arrived late on Sunday 11th March so a time frame of one working day is normal for the shipment to be processed and our agent to contact you to arrange customs clearance.As you sent books - each of the books needed to be examined for which you were changed for. These charges for Customs examination fees and Local Government Taxes and Duties at Destination were clearly excluded from our quote provided to Movers International of Preston. Any issues you have with the service delivery are with Movers international of Preston as this is who you booked your move through not John Mason. John Mason carried out the service instructed to by Movers international of Preston. We could not have done anything more to help you direct.