Outright fraud in international removals is rarer than the internet suggests. What is common is a company that takes a deposit, subcontracts the job to whoever is cheapest, and disappears from the conversation the moment something goes wrong.
The damage is the same either way. Your goods are on a boat, the number you have stops being answered, and nobody will say who is actually holding them. Greece adds two things that make this worse: a sea leg, and often an island leg after it.
This page is about how to tell the difference before you pay anything, not after.
None of these need a solicitor and all four are free. Between them they eliminate most of the risk on an international move.
Look the company number up at Companies House, or the local equivalent. Check how long it has traded, whether accounts are filed, and whether the trading name matches the legal entity taking your money. A firm that has existed for four months and is asking for a five figure deposit is a risk regardless of how good the website looks.
FIDI FAIM, BAR Overseas, IAM, EUROMOVERS and FEDEMAC all publish member lists. Ask for the membership number and check it against the register. A logo on a website is a picture file. FIDI FAIM in particular is independently audited, which is why it is worth more than the others on a move involving customs and a sea crossing. Two others are worth asking about by name: the BAR Advanced Payment Guarantee, which protects money you pay before the move happens, and whether the firm belongs to an ombudsman scheme, which decides who arbitrates if you and the company disagree afterwards. Check what any ombudsman scheme actually covers, because several are limited to work carried out in the UK.
A video survey takes half an hour and costs nothing. A quote given without one is an estimate the company can revise on loading day, and that is the most common way a cheap price becomes an expensive one. If a firm will not survey, it is not planning to hold the price.
Cover on international shipments is usually narrower than people assume, and frequently narrower for cartons you packed yourself. Ask for the policy wording, not a summary line in the quote, and read the exclusions before the inclusions. That is where the answer is.
These are not general moving questions. Each one is specific to this route, and a firm that has actually planned a Greek move will answer all four without hesitating.
A vague answer to any of these is not necessarily dishonesty. It usually means the quote was produced from a template rather than a route. The outcome is the same.
If a move goes wrong, the difference between an argument you win and one you lose is almost always documentation you either kept or did not. None of this is onerous. It is a folder on your phone.
Itemised and dated. If a charge appears later that is not on it, this is the document that settles the question.
Numbered and signed at collection. Without it a claim for something missing has nothing to point at.
Of anything valuable, before it is wrapped, and of any damage that already exists. Take them yourself rather than relying on the crew's notes.
The full policy, not the summary line. Exclusions are where the answer lives, and they differ for cartons you packed yourself.
And the method used. Recourse depends on how you paid far more than on what the terms say about refunds.
Including the ones agreeing a change verbally and confirmed by email afterwards. Send that confirming email yourself if nobody else does.
We put your enquiry to one vetted moving company suited to your route rather than circulating it to whoever pays for leads. Companies in the AGM Group network hold accreditations including FIDI FAIM, BAR Overseas, IAM, EUROMOVERS and FEDEMAC. Which ones any given firm holds varies, and we check rather than assume. Do the same: ask the company quoting you which it holds, and for the membership number.
What that does not do is remove your own diligence. We are not party to your contract, we do not hold your money, and we do not carry your goods. The written quote you sign is between you and the mover, and the checks on this page still apply to it.
Say so plainly if a quote you have received elsewhere worries you. Being told which parts of it look wrong is worth more than another quote.
Four checks and four route questions, all free.
Look the company up on the official register, check the trading name matches the legal entity taking payment, and verify any accreditation by membership number against the published member list rather than trusting a logo. Then insist on a survey. A firm that will not survey is not planning to hold its price.
Not always, but a price well below every other quote usually means something has been left out rather than done cheaper. On a Greece move the omission is most often the island ferry leg, the packing standard, or the shuttle vehicle needed where a lorry cannot reach the door. Ask what is included line by line rather than comparing totals.
Avoid paying a large deposit by bank transfer to a company you have not verified, particularly one due long before collection. Use a payment method with some recourse where you can. Get the schedule in writing, and confirm which currency you are paying in and who carries the exchange risk.
Only if it is real. FIDI FAIM, BAR Overseas, IAM, EUROMOVERS and FEDEMAC all publish member lists, so ask for the number and check it. FIDI FAIM is independently audited, which makes it the most meaningful of them for a move involving customs and a sea crossing. A logo on a web page is just an image file.
Establish in writing who is physically holding them and at which port or depot, because on a subcontracted move that is often not the company you booked with. Keep every document, particularly the inventory and the written quote. If an accredited body is involved, its complaints route is worth using, and it is one reason accreditation is worth checking beforehand.
Yes, and we should be clear about the limits of that. Your enquiry goes to one vetted company from the AGM Group network, whose accreditations are verified rather than assumed. But we are not party to your contract, we do not hold your money and we do not carry your goods. The checks on this page still apply to whatever you sign.
Ask which Greek port the goods clear at, which Italian ferry crossing a road move uses, which sailing serves an island address, and what happens if a full-size vehicle cannot reach the door. A company that has planned your route answers all four straight away. Vagueness here is rarely dishonesty, but the outcome is the same as if it were.
Send your route, dates and rough inventory. Your enquiry goes to one vetted moving company from our network, and you are welcome to ask us which parts of any competing quote look thin.
Get your free quoteWe are a free enquiry service and a Working Member of AGM Group. Your details go to one vetted moving company from that network, chosen for your route rather than for what it pays us. We do not carry out removals ourselves, we do not hold your money, and we are not party to the contract you sign with the mover.
That last point matters. Verify the company you are about to pay, whoever introduced you to them.
Written by Darren Benjamin, Founder, International Removals Companies.