Maggiemoo

Hi there,

We have had 3 quotes from PSS/Anglo Pacific/John Masons. All are roughly the same, all reps were pleasant so we are now in a dilemma as to which one to use.

Does anyone have any comments to make about their experiences, good or bad, with any of these companies. I have read back through the many threads on this but just getting more confused so am looking for recent experiences.

Thanks for your help.

ice mocha

ooooooooooo
they're all quite good as far as i've read... sorry no personal experience to share yet

but maybe if you tell us where you are based??

Maggiemoo

Based in Bermondsey, SE London.

slipshot

We are with PSS. Have you negotiated yet? Get them down and knock about £500 off or more. That's what we did or give them a price to meet?

So far PSS did good packing and nice people to deal with.

However, the ONLY think that matters is that the container arrives at our house and everything is in one piece - and we'll know that either this Friday or next Tuesday. So far so good but I'd swap nice people for undamaged goods any day...

CDM

I've not used any of these before but to help you decide, you might consider asking [all of them] the following questions - and I'd push them hard to provide written answers:

- Despite the guarantees you are offering, what recompense will you pay if you are late collecting on this end or late delivering on the other?

- How many people will you provide to do the packing (assuming they are doing the packing for you) and what recompense will you offer if this turns out not to be the case on the day?

- Who is the contact person if I have problems on the day of packing and can you guarantee that person will be available to address any concerns?

- When we get to the other end, who will be the contact person if things should go wrong or if I need to talk to someone? Will your local office there be able to deal with anything that crops up and not direct me back to the UK office?

- Will you guarantee that there will be no further costs and that you will cover any costs (of any sort) if they should arrise?

- Can you provide specific details on exactly how I will need to make an insurance claim? Can I do this to the local office at the destination without having to deal with the UK (remember you will be in a different time zone)?

PLay them all off each other to get the best deal you can get. If company A tells you they are the cheapest for £X, tell this to companies B & C and see if they can beat that price. Repeat this process until you arrive at the cheapest price.

At the end of the day, this is a business and you are buying a service from them. Despite the 'niceness' of the reps, you should try to treat this as a business transaction. They are not there to be your friend. They are there to make money from you. It may sound heartless but this is exactly how they see things from their end - again, despite how nice they are to you. Get EVERYTHING in writing up front and leave NOTHING to chance or good will. Don't EVER rely on anything they tell you verbally. If there should be problems (and let's hope not), it will all come down to what's in WRITING and NOT what's been SAID.

Also, remember that despite assurances of how professional their packers are and how they are a respected company, etc., etc., etc., it will very much be down to the luck of the draw as to who you get show up at your house on the day. You might have no problems at all or you might get packers that are 'not as carefull' with your possessions as you are. Watch them likes hawks, take phots of everything and even wander around with a video camera. If or no other reason, it will be a nice little memento of the whole esperience for you ... but it doesn't hurt to have 'evidence' either!

Good luck either way! I hope it all goes well for you :-)

- CDM

oldandbold

We used john mason derbyshire to darwin in december.
Packers arrived when they should, everything very well packed.Container arrived when it should.On unpacking all I could find was a missing stand for a model and to be fair it was probably tucked in with a multitude of wrapping paper and was missed and slight damage to one of my sons aircraft models (although the way he moaned about it you wouldnt think so.) Otherwise everything was great.
Customs did inspect a few of the boxes, mostly predictable stuff-wooden items,bike , washing machine - make sure they are clean and any wooden stuff sealed (varnish or paint or pva) and this might save any problems with customs this side.
Also make sure the customs paperwork that shipper prepares is accurate-we nearly got caught out as they had called an electric tower fan an air conditioning unit and customs wanted to know if it had been decontaminated!Needless to say customs did inspect that box.
Overall happy with the service just a bit pricey getting a container to darwin!

K14

We used John Mason's last October. They were fine. The packers in the UK were great - very professional and quick and everything arrived ok. They kept us informed when there was a change with the ship. We had a contact in their Liverpool office who seemed to know everything and was great. I think Tony Riozzo did our quote and gave us loads of useful tips on how to save space and pack things so we could get more in.

They weren't the cheapest but weren't the most expensive either.

At this end they used Kents who were fine. My sister had Grace deliver the Oz end and they were fine too.

Tooterelli

Perhaps you could find out who they will use at the other end (ie in Australia). We had a good service from the UK however at this end it was horrible and very stressful. Jetta Express !!!

They never returned calls, they promised to turn up (and failed) and then the day when they were en route to deliver they informed me that their delivery man would not deliver to the flat but only to the reception!! WTF we have paid for house to house delivery! (There is a lift from reception to our flat). I was on my own as Mr Tooterelli was in another State. Our building manager, of course, said that it wasn't permitted to leave boxes in reception (and had never heard anything like it before).

Anyway...the delivery driver flatly refused, saying it was due to security issues. I advised Jetta Express that I would sign a disclaimer - but still no luck.

Ended up 3 days later (and tears of frustration and anger) with Jetta Express havng to hire another courier company to deliver to us.

I made other enquiries with official sources at Brisbane Int Airport and was told that Jetta have had issues with service.

All this of course cost more and caused a great deal of stress and inconvenience.

homewardbound

i had john masons and Chess delivered this end.

JM were great... Chess were good, friendly guys (miserable bastards in the office though) and quick but not a patch JM

helsbells79

We used John Masons...the UK side was great....Gill in the office was very helpful...and the packers were really efficient.

Not yet had container delivered...just waiting for it to be released by AQIS...and have to agree that although Chess (in Sydney) seem ok...their office staff are not particularly friendly!!

One tip would be to check what you have to pay at this end...as John Masons didn't point out that we would have to pay chess the quarantine charge.

H x

pompeyblonde

John Masons in the UK, Wridgways here, all very good! Im using wridgways for my move to Sydney too.

di90

defo play them off against each other especially with the state of the economy, they all want your business. I did and got 200 pounds off plus 4 weeks free storage which i used and negotiated insurance down to 2.5%.

have fun haggling!

hunt66

We used John Masons uk & Wridgeways in Oz. JM were very good in UK but their insurance company they recommend are not, our f/freezer got dented on one of the doors and they offered us £50 because it's only cosmetic! Also Wridgeways tried to charge extra storage at the docks because they couldn't pick it up in the alloted time.

Maggiemoo

Thanks Guy's, all your comments are really helpful. Most seem to rate JM but funnily enough they would have been one of the first I had discounted, was erring more on the side of PSS; their quotation seem much more comprehensive and they can also offer a Reefer container (sole use) for only £185 more than the others. It is all so confusing!!! Will definitely try to negotiate/haggle with them all and see how I go.

I wish this was all over and done with and we were already there settling in to our new lives!!??

James_SC

Our stuff has arrived today, yippee!!!!!!!

9 weeks door to door, using White and Co. No real dramas, a few minor breakages, but the boys in the UK and here in Sydney were superb.

Def time to negotiate hard....fuel costs are dropping, times are tough, so make them work....I would knock 15% of the lowest quote and put that to your preferred company....they can only say no!

Best of luck.

J