SUMMARY:
If you’re movingwithin Delhi then Indian Relocation is a good choice-they offer good value and responsive staff. If you’re moving across metros(or worse, to a small town) then do not touch Indian Relocation under any circumstances! They have extremely poor-quality partners that they have no control over, but they won’t tell you this until things go wrong. The end result: broken commitments, severely damaged goods, staff without accountability and sincere apologies but not much else-at best symbolic compensation of Rs.2, 000.
SOME DETAILS OF MY EXPERIENCES WITH INDIAN RELOCATION:
In the last 2 years, I have used Indian Relocation(IR) for 3 assignments:
• Shifting household goods within New Delhi.
• Shifting household goods from Delhi to Himachal Pradesh.
• Shifting household goods from Delhi to Goa.
In my experience, IR did a good job in helping me shift within Delhi/NCR, and a nightmarish job of transferring goods across state borders to Himachal and Goa. My contact person at Indian Relocation, Mr Sukhbir, was responsive to the best of his ability throughout-but was powerless in the face of larger organizational issues such as extremely poor processes and accountability from the people who were actually transporting and handling the cargo.
To cut a long story short, here is quick summary of problems and damage, and the response from Indian Relocation:
• Hugely delayed delivery of my car, with numerous broken commitments. When the car was finally delivered, it had an astonishing 310 kilometres extra on the odometer(I had been told there would be some running as the car was taken to Manesar from my house in South Delhi etc, but 310km is quite a trip)(OUTCOME: The inconvenience of not having a vehicle+ the additional inconvenience of not making alternative arrangements since I was constantly told that the car would be delivered soon)
• Irreparable damage to a Samsung microwave(OUTCOME: I bought a replacement @ Rs.13, 800. The technician told me the old microwave had definitely been dropped along the way)
• Extensive damage to a Panasonic fridge, including severe denting and the slicing through of a pipe carrying the cooling gas. The technician tells me the fridge was probably dropped, and was definitely manhandled(OUTCOME: It is currently at the service centre, costs unknown as yet, but meanwhile I am without my fridge.and it is now 27 days since I moved into my new house)
• Broken wine glasses, ceramic bowls, painting glass fronts, furniture etc.(OUTCOME: I’ll have to replace the wine glasses etc at some point, and repair the paintings. My work desk is now unsteady because the bottom of one leg has been broken, and my chest of drawers is chipped down the length of one side. Plus there was the effort of cleaning up broken glass in the middle of everything else when I unpacked the glasses)
• Misdirected boxes, with several boxes that were supposed to go to my mother’s house landing up in my house in Goa instead
• And last but not least.HUGELY delayed delivery with repeatedly postponed dates that were not communicated to me until the committed date passed yet again and I followed up yet again(the initial commitment was 7-8 days; final delivery took place after NINETEEN days! That means 11 unplanned days of having to recycle my one suitcase of clothes and managing without furniture)
In sum.use Indian Relocation for Delhi-to-Delhi transfers without hesitation. For anything else, use a different company! Do not be persuaded by the apparent professionalism of their sales staff or the competitiveness of their quotes. Indian Relocation uses a network of partner organizations(as do many vendors I’m sure), but they have zero control over the people who actually transport and handle your cargo. Once your goods are packed and dispatched, you will.
• Find that many of your things, including high-value appliances, are damaged or unusable at the other end. You may also find like I did that some of your office clothes have been packed in the same box as a jhadoo, pocha and bottle of Harpic-and that the Harpic bottle has leaked during the journey
• Not be given timely and accurate information on when to expect delivery
• Keep waiting as the nth commitment of "definitely tomorrow" passes without any sign of a truck
• Discover that your contact at Indian Relocation is as helpless as you are because he has no control over-and very limited access to-the people actually handling your goods. In the end he may just give you the phone number that he’s been given, and both of you can dial it alternately(if you get through first you can update him instead of the other way around)
I hope you find this review useful. Instead of using Indian Relocation, consider using a more reliable vendor with good reviews OR consider selling most of your household goods and buying afresh in your new location.