Before booking a man and van or removal company, most people check the reviews. It makes sense—you want to know what previous customers experienced. But how reliable are those reviews? Can you trust what you’re reading?
The honest answer is: sometimes yes, sometimes no. Online reviews are a useful tool, but they have significant limitations. Understanding both their value and their problems helps you use them more effectively.
Why Reviews Matter
Online reviews give you something that marketing can’t: the perspective of people who’ve actually used the service. A company can claim to be professional, punctual, and careful—but reviews tell you whether customers agree.
For removal services, reviews are particularly valuable because the industry has low barriers to entry. Anyone with a van can call themselves a man and van service. There are no required licences, no mandatory qualifications. Reviews help separate the professionals from the cowboys.
Reviews can reveal patterns: operators who consistently arrive late, companies that add unexpected charges, movers who handle belongings carelessly. A single complaint might be an outlier, but repeated mentions of the same issue across multiple reviews suggest a genuine problem.
The Fake Review Problem
Fake reviews are real, and they’re more common than most people realise. Some are planted by businesses to boost their own ratings; others are negative reviews placed by competitors to damage rivals.
Review platforms invest heavily in detection. Trustpilot claims to catch around 90% of fake reviews through automated systems that analyse behavioural patterns, technical data, and content. But that still leaves a significant number slipping through, and platforms handle millions of reviews monthly.
The problem has become serious enough that UK law now addresses it directly. From April 2025, it became illegal under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act to publish, commission, or facilitate fake or misleading reviews. Businesses can face enforcement action from the Competition and Markets Authority. But making something illegal doesn’t eliminate it overnight.
How Reviews Get Manipulated
Beyond outright fakes, reviews can be manipulated in subtler ways that don’t technically involve fabrication.
Selective Flagging
Businesses can flag reviews they believe violate platform guidelines. This is a legitimate mechanism for addressing genuinely problematic reviews. But some businesses flag negative reviews aggressively, knowing that even unsuccessful flags can temporarily hide reviews during investigation. Studies suggest that negative reviews get flagged far more often than positive ones.
Timing and Volume Patterns
A sudden flood of glowing reviews after a long quiet period often signals manipulation. Genuine reviews tend to accumulate steadily over time, reflecting actual customer flow. Artificial patterns—bursts of five-star reviews all within a few days—should raise questions.
What to Look For in Reviews
Specific Details
Authentic reviews typically include specific details: the reviewer’s circumstances, what they were moving, how the day went. Phrases like “moved my two-bedroom flat from Brixton to Peckham” or “they assembled our wardrobe at the new place” suggest real experiences.
Generic praise without specifics—”Great service!” “Best company ever!” “Highly recommended!”—could be genuine but provides less useful information. It’s also easier to fake.
The Negative Reviews
Every business gets occasional complaints. A complete absence of negative reviews across a significant volume should actually raise suspicion—it suggests review management rather than perfect service.
More importantly, look at what the negative reviews say and how the business responds. Complaints about communication failures or hidden charges are more concerning than complaints about traffic delays. A professional response that acknowledges issues and offers solutions suggests accountability; defensive dismissal or personal attacks suggest problems.
The Reviewer’s Profile
On platforms where you can view reviewer profiles, check their history. A reviewer who has left dozens of varied reviews over time is more credible than an account with only one review ever. Multiple reviews for completely unrelated businesses in different cities within a short period might indicate a fake account.
Verified vs Unverified
Some platforms distinguish between verified reviews (linked to a confirmed transaction) and unverified reviews (which anyone can leave). Verified reviews carry more weight, though they’re not immune to manipulation either.
Different Platforms, Different Issues
Google Reviews
Google Reviews are prominent in search results, making them highly influential. The platform has significant volume, giving you more data points. However, Google’s verification requirements are minimal—anyone with a Google account can leave a review—and their moderation has historically been slower than specialist platforms.
Trustpilot
Trustpilot is the UK’s largest dedicated review platform. They invest heavily in fraud detection and have strong anti-fake-review policies. However, businesses can claim their profiles and send review invitations to customers, which creates opportunities for selective invitation practices.
Facebook reviews are linked to real profiles, which adds some authenticity. But the platform’s review system is less developed, and recommendation algorithms can emphasise certain content over others in ways that affect what you see.
Specialist Sites
Removal-specific review sites like RemovalReviews aggregate feedback from multiple sources. They can provide useful comparison data, though they face the same challenges as other platforms regarding verification and manipulation.
Using Reviews Effectively
Check Multiple Platforms
Don’t rely on a single source. An operator with consistently good reviews across Google, Trustpilot, and Facebook is more credible than one with perfect scores on just one platform. Different platforms have different manipulation vulnerabilities; consistency across them suggests genuine quality.
Read Beyond the Stars
Star ratings give a quick impression, but the actual review text tells you much more. A four-star review that says “brilliant movers, only marking down because of traffic delays” is different from a four-star review that says “okay but charged more than quoted.”
Look for Recent Reviews
Services can change. A company with great reviews from 2022 might have different staff, different management, or different practices now. Prioritise recent feedback—ideally from the last six to twelve months.
Consider the Volume
A 4.8 rating from 500 reviews is generally more reliable than a 5.0 rating from 10 reviews. More reviews mean more data points and reduce the impact of any individual fake or unrepresentative review.
Be Sceptical of Extremes
Both glowing praise without any nuance and furious attacks without specific details should be viewed with some scepticism. Most genuine experiences fall somewhere in the middle—good overall with minor issues, or problems that were mostly resolved.
Beyond Reviews: Other Verification
Reviews are one signal, but they shouldn’t be your only check.
Companies House
For limited companies, Companies House records verify the business is registered and show how long it’s been operating. This doesn’t guarantee quality, but it confirms basic legitimacy and provides accountability.
Trade Association Membership
Membership in the British Association of Removers (BAR) means the company has been vetted against professional standards including insurance, vehicles, and service quality. Not all good operators are BAR members—it’s more common among larger companies—but membership provides additional assurance.
Direct Communication
How a company responds to your enquiry tells you something. Are they clear and professional? Do they answer questions directly? Are they willing to provide information about insurance and process? The quality of pre-booking communication often predicts the quality of service.
Word of Mouth
Personal recommendations from friends, family, or neighbours remain valuable. Someone you know telling you about their experience is inherently more trustworthy than anonymous online reviews. Local community groups often have recent recommendations for removal services.
What Reviews Can’t Tell You
Even genuine reviews have limitations. Someone else’s experience might not match yours: their move was different, their access was easier, they had different expectations. Reviews reflect individual interactions on specific days—the same company can have a great crew one day and a less capable one the next.
Reviews also can’t predict how a company will handle things going wrong. Many moves are straightforward, generating positive reviews. The real test is what happens when something breaks or delays occur—and most reviewers don’t experience these situations.
A Balanced Approach
Online reviews are useful but imperfect. Use them as one input among several, not as the sole basis for your decision.
Check reviews across multiple platforms. Read the actual text, not just the stars. Look for patterns rather than fixating on individual reviews. Supplement reviews with other verification: business registration, trade memberships, direct communication quality, and personal recommendations.
A company with consistently good reviews, professional communication, verifiable business registration, and clear answers about insurance and pricing is a safer bet than one with perfect stars but nothing else to support it.
If you’d like to try a service that welcomes questions about its process and pricing, you can get an instant quote and see exactly what your move would cost.
