Moving your archive from another provider is simpler than most people expect — if it's managed properly. Here's what to check in your current contract, how a transfer works, and how to keep access throughout.
Most switches come down to cost, service or control: rising prices with little transparency, slow or expensive retrievals, records handled by subcontractors, or a provider that's offshored or merged and lost the personal service. If you're paying more each year to get less, moving provider is usually simpler than people expect — the barrier is almost always the fear of disruption, not the move itself.
Before you compare prices, read the exit terms. The single biggest trap in records storage is the cost of leaving: permanent-withdrawal charges, "retrieval to release" fees levied per box, notice periods and minimum terms. A headline storage price means little if it costs thousands to get your own records back. List these charges so any comparison is like for like.
A proper provider does the heavy lifting. With us the sequence is simple:
You never go dark. Urgent files can be pulled before or during the transfer, and records become retrievable from our system — next working day or within two hours near our sites, or scanned and sent the same day — as soon as they're booked in. The move is scheduled so your teams keep working throughout.
Ask who actually handles your records (in-house or subcontracted), where they're stored and under what accreditation (look for ISO 27001), whether collection and re-indexing are included, what retrieval and urgent retrieval cost, and — crucially — what it would cost to leave them one day. Transparent answers are a good sign.
We've moved clients across from the national operators and from self-storage, since 1977, from our own accredited UK facilities with an in-house fleet and ESPO framework status. See document storage and records management for how your archive is run once it's with us.
Tell us roughly how many boxes you hold and we'll send a clear, no-obligation price — collection and transfer included.
We'll be in touch, usually the same working day. Anything urgent? Call free on 0800 281857.
No — a good provider manages the whole move for you. We collect from your current provider, re-index every box into our system, reconcile against your inventory and confirm nothing is missing, so there's no gap in access to your records at any point.
The exit terms are the big one: permanent-withdrawal or 'retrieval to leave' charges, notice periods and minimum terms. Some providers charge per box to release your own records, so factor that into any comparison before you move.
No. A managed transfer is scheduled around your retrieval needs — urgent files can be pulled before or during the move, and records are barcoded and back in our system as they arrive, so you can always get a file back.
Collections are made by our own DBS-checked staff in our own vehicles, under an ISO 27001 regime and a full chain-of-custody audit trail — never subcontracted. Your data-protection position is covered by contract before anything moves.
It depends on volume and the release terms of your current provider, but most moves are planned and completed within a few weeks. We agree a schedule up front so collections fit around your operations.