And as for moving - get more than one quote, and see if you can find anyone who is prepared to recommend (or not) any of the companies you think you might want to use!

Ohhyes. Yours is a cautionary tale if ever I heard one. However, the company we're getting the quote from is one who just recently moved some friends of ours who sold their house quicker than they'd expected to. The experience was ... actually problem-free, so that company is the first we're getting the quote from. And then we'll ask around some more. But, yeah -- we're trying to learn from everyone else's experience, and hopefully it won't be too much of a nightmare. *crosses fingers*