Agarwal packers and movers -- a nightmare!!!

Agarwal packers and movers -- a nightmare!!!
By: lko2uk | Aug 08, 2007 01:50 PM



Pros:
Nothing
Cons:
Everything


I used their services to move from Lucknow to the UK simply because there were very few alternatives in Lucknow and everybody told me that Agarwal are the best. I don’t know how they have managed
to create this hype around themselves. They were my worst nightmare come true. They did not want to come over to my house to give a quote and gave me a quote on the phone but couldn’t explain the break-up which I had to get by calling up their Delhi number. On D-day they failed to turn up at the agreed 12 noon. Since I had to vacate my house at 5 pm, I kept on calling them and each time they lied saying that the men are on the way and their vehicle must have broken down. Finally at 6 pm a band of boys arrived.

Now these were some sub-contractors (and not Agarwal’s employees) who couldn’t even speak hindi (they were south indian boys) and communicated to us mostly in sign language. They ’said’ that they were instructed to come only a few minutes back as they were packing elsewhere till then! Finally these amateurs got down to the job and soon started arguing and fighting among themselves as there was no leader among them to give instructions! They started dumping glass cutlery into their boxes till we requested them to atleast wrap the stuff in newspapers (forget bubble wrap) which we had to then provide. Then they made a farce about counting each item for packing as per their rules.

They wanted to count each book they packed but it emerged (and I am not making this up I swear) that they could not count beyond ten or fifteen. Being an academician, I obvioiusly had more than ten books to pack, so we had to do the counting for them and since things were getting slowed down, we did most of the packing as well (while at the same time appealing to them to stop fighting with each other)!! They then wrote down the number of items on each box and made me seal and sign (wow!). Finally they finished late in the evening and my employers were kind enough to let me have the house till then. While leaving they asked me to sign on a bill stating that so much kilograms of stuff is being moved, based on which I would have to pay.

When I asked how did they arrive at the weight as they did not have any weighing machine, they said (I swear again that this is true!) they can make out the weight by lifting the stuff with their hands!!! I refused to buy that argument and called up their Delhi office and agreed with them to weigh the goods at their Gurgaon godown myself before paying. Off I went to Gurgaon to get the stuff weighed and finally I left for UK praying that the stuff reaches me. After 2 weeks (since I paid for the stuff to be flown to UK) it arrived where it was simply dumped at my building entrance and I had to carry it upstairs by myself. Forget the stuff that was broken and lost (other reviewers have already written about that) I found that they had redistributed all my stuff into smaller boxes on their own (including the books) which means that all the tall talk of counting the number of items (wasting hours in the process) had been a farce! In sum, after this entire experience, my advise is please stay away from this so-called best packers in India.

Wiser after this, my wife (who joined me a bit later from a different location) employed some smaller and cheaper company during her move and it was much smoother. I don’t want to mention the name of this nicer company as it would appear as a promotion in their favour and against Agarwal. But trust me if you can -- stay away from this company. Don’t say later that you weren’t warned!!!



akoonamatata Star Writer said:
Aug 08, 2007 02:20 PM

It was a great review. I could almost visualise the same as I am one who is going to sail the same boat soon, from Gurgaon fortunately. Thanks for the timely review.


Chintu25 Star Writer said:
Aug 08, 2007 02:48 PM

Seems you had a pathetic time with them...however i had a very good experience with them...it seems that as far shifting is concerned its all dependent on our luck....
anwarkhan said:
Aug 08, 2007 07:05 PM

Well nicely written about the experience you faced.

I think it is all luck. I had shifted from Pune to Bangalore using Packers XYZ, and i just was impressed. The packers did a terrific job.
So, when moving back from Bangalore to Pune, I opted for the same packers XYZ, and i was so shocked at the way they did the job... a total nightmare... So, i concluded that all packers are similar... and it is our luck that makes it good or bad...

lko2uk said:
Aug 08, 2007 08:15 PM

Thanks folks for reading my review and commenting. You are right -- it does depend on luck as the kind of staff and sub-contractors employed by a company varies from location to location. In case of Agarwal, their Delhi head office is as inefficient as the local henchmen, leaving you at your wit’s end! Anyway, thanks to websites like mouthshut, we can share our experiences and in this way hopefully we the consumers can force companies to clean up their acts.
TKMCE said:
Aug 09, 2007 04:47 PM

I have used them three times and all three times were faultless. But then I guess it all depends on how good or bad their local offices are . In my cases all moves were within south India- but having dealt with the guys in all four southern states I dont have anything to complain about any one of them.

amitg.lko said:
Sep 19, 2007 11:54 PM

kindly tell me about a good and one who charge reasonable fair amount to shift my santro car from lucknow to chennai..at amitg.lko@gmail.com
sat_san said:
Oct 17, 2007 11:58 AM

I tell you real experience , I got Transfer from Delhi to Mumbai in the month of Jan 2005 They all did the work very professionally and all my stuff reach to Mumbai in scheduled time and without any damage.

Really Agarwal Packer & Movers have done the marvelous job me, I recommend them to you all.

Regards

Sanjeev T