Santa Fe Relocation Reviews 2,882

SantaFe Belgium and their partner in Australia were very helpful and efficient. Communication was very good. Packing and delivery teams were great. Belongings were handled with care.
Port delays in Singapore however were frustrating.

one star for friendliness.

- no thinking with the customer
- unclear pricing policies
- feels very much like being squeezed like a lemon because of the circumstances
- absolutely a disaster in communication (eg. no communication within SF, EVERY email was URGENT, previous mails from our side seemed not have been read,... on Monday "we have taken already more than 30cube", on Tuesday "we have 5cube left", ...I can go on here...)
- I feel I needed to do their work
- house was left dirty and damaged
- stress level increased by every communication on side of SF (vs. taking it down)
...
and my goods haven't even arrived yet...

I would NOT recommend your service.

In more than 30 years of moving around the world and within the UK this UK move was the worst experience I have ever had, by some distance.

Despite having more than 250 boxes/items of furniture, the crew turned up in an (unbranded) white van with just 3 people (displaying no company ID), none of whom seemed to have much moving experience or the skills/strength required. On day one their entire moving equipment consisted of one old wheeled platform about 2ft square and one trolly with broken handles, the kind you see in garden centres. No safety equipment at all. Although I alerted the company to this immediately and sent photos and emails, on day two they brought literally no moving or safety equipment with a worse team (just two people to move items).

On both days the crew seemed to have no idea how to unload or carry items - e.g. picking up an antique dropleaf table upside down by the legs so that the leaves opened up and hit the ground (yes, the leg fell off too). More than 15 items of antique furniture (some around 200 years old) have been damaged, some severely. The crew was late both days - no apologies - and grumbled pretty much non-stop, when they wern't on their mobiles.

Items were not signed off on the inventory as they were unloaded. I queried this with the crew at the time and they insisted it wasn't necessary (it was, when we came to the insurance claim).

For this 4th class service Santa Fe charged more than £2000.

Santa Fe's justification for why their team was so inadequate was 'it's a very busy time of year'...well you didn't mention that in advance or propose an alternative date, although I had said I was flexible.

Then it came to the insurance claim. I was told they would help me find a qualified restorer - this came to nothing. Then they (and their insurer, WK Webster) rejected the qualified restorer I found, demanding (that is the correct term) to use their own, unqualified person. In all it took more than six months to agree a settlement. Only after I had signed their deal did they tell me their terms of business were up to 6 weeks to pay. Bad enough, but it actually took more than 8 weeks and the threat of imminent legal a ction to get the money.

So, unless you enjoy a stressful, drawn out, expensive move, and talking to lawyers, you should probably avoid.

And...since the delivery fiasco I have used a few man-and-van operations (via AnyVan.com) for other jobs, all of which have been more competent, better equiped and more professional (and a lot cheaper and less stressful).

.

Very great experiences and doing very well great job.

I initially had a difficult experience with one advisor. After escalating the issue and requesting help, I was assigned a very competent advisor who managed every step of the expatriation process exceptionally well. Beyond just completing the necessary tasks, she genuinely took care of my family and ensured that everything was handled properly at every stage. I felt that she truly cared about each person she was responsible for, which is very important to me—especially when you're about to make such a major life change.

Everything was in place, cartooned, and was delivered in a short amount of time

Unfortunately, I was only able to ship a small portion of the household furniture.
The staff were wrapping almost everything without disassembling it, which resulted in a large amount of space.
For example, the children's dresser, chairs, and tables were all fully wrapped, even though I told the staff member he could disassemble them, making the space smaller.
The amount I paid was supposed to ship my entire household furniture, not just the children's rooms, a dining table, two refrigerators, and some kitchen utensils.
I was unable to bring the master bedroom, living room sofas, and other essential items.
One of the refrigerators even had a large crack upon arrival.
The washing machine was not reassembled, which caused a malfunction. It is currently undergoing maintenance.
Unfortunately, a very bad experience.

Very well organised... Enough and professional man power to handle my furniture for moving.. Everything went smoothly from collecting to packaging to loading.

Excellent coordination of our UK departure packing and moving. The moving crew were professional and efficient.

Good level of communication. The whole process was well explained. Santa Fe Poland, was part of complex relocation from Melbourne to Krakow. The final leg of delivery process in Poland was handled by Santa Fe and all went well, including customs clearance and delivery of 20ft container. The local crew they used to unpack the container was on time and handled things with care. Special thanks to Kasia, who was very helpful, and has been in touch with me at all the time during this lengthy four months sea voyage.

I contracted Santa Fe to do my move from Vienna to the Philippines. The packing was eventful, complete with a rude foreman who did not even initially acknowledge my instructions. It ended with a number of fragile things being mishandled. Frantic phone calls to the agent handling my account left me even more distraught because my things were not packed as agreed upon. They assured me whatever damage, if any, would be covered by insurance.

As I was worried about the manner of packing and handling, the agent promised to send me photos of the fragile items that will be repacked in their storage. I never got the photos despite follow-ups.

Fast forward to delivery of the shipment. The crew in the Philippines was lovely. Friendly and respectful, unlike the Vienna team. The team leader was thorough and meticulously wrote down every item that was broken and / or damaged.

I am now in the process of filing my insurance claim with Santa Fe. And it is again a pain. We knew that things will be damaged by the way the packers handled my items. This was documented, with pictures of the (mis)handling submitted. But they are only currently offering me approximately 1/4 of the amount I need to have the items they destroyed during the packing/shipment repaired. The Santa Fe insurance agent even told me the amout is what it is because I did not submit an itemize list of items to be insured when I applied for the insurance. Of course, I did. It was part of the insurance application. I sent them a copy of my insurance application with the itemized list (when in theory it should have been part of their files).

It makes me angry that I paid for insurance coverage, then I have to argue with them or be at their mercy to give me just compensation, and at the same time work on having to replace the items they ruined myself. Honestly, it feels like a scam.

My international relocation happened at a particularly challenging time and the level of assistance, understanding and support I received from SanteFe Relocations has exceeded their service promise and my expectations.
I want to especially commend Sanja Davidson for leading the initial connection and working with an outstanding group of people in Judith Scorer, Maryna Swart and most notably the packing crew led by Matteo (London) for such an easy and stress-free experience - their attention to detail, even with the most mundane of matters including their preparation and solutions-oriented approach, made the experience thus far, seamless and pleasant.
My heartfelt thanks to each of them and wishing them continued success.

I have moved many times around the world. Moving is stressful and when a moving company delivers service so well that you have no stress about the shipment of your belongings, that is truly valuable service. From answering any and all questions, to the packing and removal of your things, to keeping you updated about shipment arrival in the new location and finally, helping you unpack that little bit of familiar in a new place. Santa Fe really made this move easy and I am very thankful for that.

Most things were fine with the collection, shipment and delivery of the items and the Santa Fe contacts were helpful.

However, before delivery to the destination address, I was told an additional payment had to be made for demurrage at the customs and for duty. I made the payment immediately and asked by email what items had been charged duty but I never received a reply which was disappointing.

On delivery, one glassware item was broken. Perhaps at the origin, it could have been packed with better protection and in the middle of the box instead of at the bottom. I submitted a claim, however, 45 days after being informed that the claim had been approved, I'm still waiting for the payment.

I commissioned a door-to-door full-service move from Shanghai to Paris in March. After the shipment arrived in Le Havre, the custom clearance was inexplicably delayed for several weeks. Santa Fe’s service provider(s) withheld the bill of lading due to claims of unpaid overdues — a fact that was never communicated to me. Instead, I was repeatedly told - by all employees involved in my project - that the delay was caused by uncontrollable factors including inefficiencies in French customs; however, they kept writing me emails everyday to let me know that despite their efforts it was impossible to provide a clear time line for clearance!

After a long and frustrating personal investigation, I discovered the real reason for the delay. Had I not uncovered the truth, they would have been prepared to make me pay port demurrage fees for a delay they caused! I had to change my plan for moving-in and incur unexpected and significant expenses in addition to significant amount of time spent in sorting out the issue.

Extremely bad experience!!!

I have moved to different countries a few times now. This has been by far the worst company I have dealt with. DO NOT USE THEM!
Premium charges for using their boxes. When the shipment arrive after a long delay, the boxes they provided were ripped and falling apart. Items were missing. Clothes were covered in dirt, items were broken (some of them not replaceable)
The insurance process is a joke. Rude and kept changing stories up on me as to why they can’t cover an item on the claim. After 3months of going back and forth I gave up and they Approved 1/4th of the claim I made. I had to spend more money to get equipment checked out. And the claim for that was declined.
Had paid for packing services as well. The packer did such a shit job, we ended up having to pay for extra boxes. When I brought it up to the agents. They said they would investigate and after a day responded that the packer packet everything properly. ( nothing was folded and placed properly!) things were just dumped. Pictures and proof were shown. But I was shrugged off.

Absolutely assholes working there! When they tell you when listing items you don’t need to be specific…….. don’t trust them! Make sure each an every thing is mentioned.

PS- since I can’t reply to you after your respose, I am editing it here!
When I mentioned gaming consoles….. that includes the power cables and controllers. Even a brain dead idiot would know that. Now SINCE the team I was in touch with at the start told me I need not mention the specifics of each item that I pack. They should have also said that incase something gets lost… it will not be covered.
Soo the power cables and controllers of the gaming consoles were declined.
The chargers for my RC car that went missing as well was declined.
So please spare me the bullshit corporate jargon! I have enough experience dealing with insurance companies for my work and can tell how unethical you guys are!
Btw the premium I paid for the moving boxes from you guys turned out to be a complete waste as well as your packing services. Funny how you guys keep missing out on those details! But hey that’s how you crooks operate right?!?

As the previous comment I stand with him as the worst shipping company ever. I got my things picked up on the 10 Feb 2025 from France, Reims and as expected till today no idea where is the container where are my things constantly being told end of the month and that’s been for the past 3 months. Had another container shipped out of London to Bahrain and arrived within the 35 day period and yet this company zero communication and no idea what so ever about the shipment or willingness to send me the tracking of the ship so might as well say my things got stolen.

The Santa Fe of the past is most definitely not the current broken version. We paid USD$22k to get a 20ft container from Qatar to Turks and Caicos. It left in January and still hasn't arrived. Santa Fe keeps advising the shipment will be here in a matter of days only to find that it hasn't even left port to get here. So comforting when your life's collection of personal gear is somewhere and with a not small amount of luck may get here one day still functioning.

Useless start to finish. Avoid at all costs. I will update if my stuff ever comes.

My immigration process was overall a positive experience, even though it was quite lengthy — a delay that was entirely due to the Italian government’s processing times and not the fault of the agency. Despite this, the entire process was handled smoothly and with great professionalism.

My company worked with Santa Fe Relocation, and I have to admit I was a bit sceptical at first since I was not familiar with how the process would unfold. However, those concerns quickly disappeared thanks to Roberto Russo, the lawyer assigned to my case. His clear and detailed explanations made everything easy to understand from the very beginning.

Roberto truly lived up to expectations — it’s fair to call him the "Immigration King." He was incredibly patient, always available, and made sure I felt supported at every step. His professionalism and dedication turned what could have been a stressful experience into a manageable and even reassuring one.

I’m very satisfied with the service I received and would confidently recommend both Santa Fe Relocation and Roberto Russo to anyone navigating the Italian immigration process.

Fast and caring service. Good lead of team both in Brussels and Estonian side. Flexible and careful management of furniture and apartment interior.