Don't Be Tempted - You Get What You Pay For

Anyvan puts you in touch with van owners/"Man with a Van" traders who may be honest, careful professionals, or may be untrustworthy, reckless charlatans. It seems to me to be entirely pot luck. If you fancy your chances go ahead.

Their process of "accreditation" is flawed and there are serious loopholes in the way that the site operates. AnyVan take money as a cut of transactions without even lifting a finger. They simply provide apparatus for these "deals" and contracts between individuals and traders/movers to go ahead.

There's no additional security to this system than simply answering an advert in a newspaper or placing an ad on Gumtree. All reputations seem to be based on a particularly spurious "feedback" system, in which someone moving their entire home to another town is given equal weight to someone who just needs something moved up the road. Just because someone has positive feedback is meaningless in the long run as it's not calibrated to the kind of job you're actually advertising and need doing.

A cautionary tale:

I booked a job with one "company" via AnyVan, and despite repeated attempts to contact them, the day before they were due to arrive and move me and my belongings they finally responded with a cancellation.

They then arranged for the job to be effectively sub-contracted to another AnyVan user for a comparative price. This turned out to be extremely problematic, not least because any opportunity for feedback (the only thing you can do to warn others of a mover's poor service) was taken out of my hands. Note that there's ostensibly nothing to stop anyone doing this on AnyVan.

I couldn't afford to argue or take issue with this so close to the date of moving - this was less than 24 hours beforehand, and I needed to be out of the property.

This cancellation happened despite the move being scheduled for over a month. Note that you have no form of redress or compensation for cancellation - all you can do is leave "negative feedback" and ask for your initial deposit to be returned.

The replacement mover provided not only refused to assist with putting items in various rooms (instead just leaving it inside the door for my partner to deal with), they also broke a door and damaged property, something which was only discovered some time later.

They then refused to produce insurance documentation after I pointed out damage after the move had taken place, stating that "it was no longer any of their business" and that I had raised this too late (3 weeks after the move, promptly upon discovery of the damage - anyone who has moved house knows it takes a fair while to unpack everything). Legally, the position of the movers is nonsense under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, but you can't force them do anything, you don't get to see any certification on accepting the job and AnyVan themselves certainly won't get involved, despite the fact they allow these companies to include claims about "Goods in Transit Insurance" on their website.

Now, I am left less than a month later with damaged belongings and an outright refusal from the mover to pay for the repair.
They insisted that the moment I paid them, their liability ended, which is ridiculous. My only recourse is to take this matter to the small claims court, which could take many months, and incurs a fee of its own.

Anyvan themselves are not interested when things go wrong - they simply act as agents to put you in touch with movers and take a cut of the transaction via PayPal.
If the movers are unreliable or careless, you're left trying to chase them for money or compensation. Most of them insist on cash payments (I have no idea how tax is therefore paid on these jobs either incidentally), and few are trained in any recognisable way past being physically able to lift things.

It might seem a great way to move house cheaply, but the stress and expense incurred by using this service actually came to more than simply hiring a professional removal company to do things, or just hiring a van and doing it yourself.

They may very well be useful for simple, self-contained jobs like moving limited numbers of items from one location to the other or acting as couriers, but I am completely unable to recommend Anyvan as a company anyone should do business with at all for removals. Avoid, literally at all costs.

Rápido, fácil y buen servicio.

Me recomendaron Anyvan para realizar unas pequeñas mudanzas dentro de mi ciudad, Barcelona. Fue muy fácil publicar el servicio que necesitava y muy simple. Al rato ya habia recibido varios presupuestos y pude compararlos. El profesional encargado de transportarlo todo genial, lo trato todo muy bien y llegó todo sin ningún problema ni roturas ni nada. Me he ahorrado dinero y he quedado muy satisfecha!

Fácil de contratar y muy barato

Llevaba como una semana intentando buscar el precio más bajo posible para mudarme des de Cuenca hasta Madrid. Un conocido mío me recomendó a Anyvan para hacer la mudanza y miré la web y me registré. La verdad es que me ofrecían precios más baratos que cualquier otra empresa de mudanzas así que me decanté por Anyvan. Para mi experiencia fue un muy buen servicio y a un muy buen precio, sin duda lo recomiendo a cualquier persona que necesite hacer unas mudanzas baratas o cualquier otro tipo de transporte.

dreadful

Hello i am a removal company that's been in business for 7 years i have a horror story about anyvan the site is full of uninsured not crb check witch is a legal requirement i have removed myself after 1 week on site because of bullying if you outbid companies they message you with threats and anyvan just ignore you reports also the companies booster the price once you accepted there bid.i won't have my company associated with this so called site just sticking to facebook online from now on thank you for reading my review

James Gore found this review useful

A really good service.

I found the booking process easy and had several quotes within a short amount of time (about 15 minutes). I liked the fact that the quote was insured and recommended by Anyvan. I accepted Steven Deane's quote (chili1)and he did an amazing job. Picked up and delivered to us in a day - a round trip of 280 miles. His communication was great and organised the pick up himself. The item was well protected with bubble wrap. I accidentally paid him too much and he returned the money - I would never have known - rare honesty in these days.

Don't use the book it now system...you lose all control of the job,

Tried the 'book it now' system thinking it would speed things up.
Job got accepted straight away but courier made no contact with me - I had to chase him. Waited until 01.00 for evening delivery (after6pm) and he just didn't turn up. He Wouldn't answer phone or text that night. Next day he claims by text that van broke down and phone battery dead...... And will deliver ASAP.
But has still not arranged the delivery day or time with me and will not answer phone....aaaagh!!,,,

Won't refund my deposit!

Posted a job but them removed as job was filled elsewhere, but they refuse to refund my deposit!

Great website and especially customer services!

We used Anyvan to move house and were really impressed by the the prices that came in for our removal. We had lots of questions so called the company and they were really happy to help and they explained how the service worked. Really pleased and will defintely use again. Thank you

Fantastic, Perfect and ideal! I will recommend this company without any hesitation!

To be honest with you I had been quoted exorbitant prices by other independent removal companies for some furniture items I wanted delivered from a shop to my home.I then stumbled into Anyvan.Com on line. To be honest at first I thought the company was dodge (forgive me ....I have since learnt not to judge the book by its cover)
Can you imagine the price I finally paid was cut down to one third of the amount I was going to pay. The website is user friendly and safe. The guy who helped me was so gentle, professional and friendly. He was very punctual to the collecting point. He helped me with my items right to my flat which is on 2nd floor and there is no lift in my block! I really recommend this company to anyone. Thumbs up to Anyvan.

OK for some

I recently asked for a quote for transporting a canoe from Hampshire to Kent & offered what I thought was a more than resonable amount for the delivery. Not so according to most of the van drivers/owners. To be fair if it was the ONLY thing they were moving on the day then it couldn't possibly be economical, just as a posting a single letter to scotland would actually cost a few hundred quid if you had to drive it up in a van. So be aware, this seems to be a site with many "man with a van" listings, not a comparison site of mainstream courier services.

Use With Care

A very bad moving experience, broken items, abusive workers - not really the fault of ANYVAN - but it was with a company regsitered with them and it was with ANYVAN where I found them.

Just be careful and try if you can check out as much about the company you're considering.

Personally would never use this way of finding a removal company again.

NB - At the time - Novemeber 2011, ANYVAN removed my comments from there own site

Items just dumped with out giving due care or attention.

Treasured lamp from Barcalona - broken by removal men

Karen Lyons and James Gore found this review useful