FiP

Have been reading the horror stories on the Forum about international removal companies shipping to Australia, we are emmigrating to Adelaide in Jan 2007 and shipping our house contents, does anyone have any good experiences with removal companies or any reccommendations??
Was considering using Pickfords as they have their own staff in Australia and do not use agents.

nick72

We used Alpha International... SUPERB

http://www.ai-uk.co.uk

Mention NEWWEB or BRITISH EXPATS to get a discount

Nick

toon williams

We cant decide to go for John Mason or Doree Bonner, both have come highly recommended to us by people that have used them before!! We to are heading to Adelaide!!

Melchels

We used PSS and could not fault them, helpful and good value.

JPD

I work for Allied, so i guess i'm bias but the only way to guarentee a door to door quality service is through Allied. Other companies have to sub contract at the destination which is always a gamble.

Good Luck with your move.

northerner

JOHN MASONS!!!!


Disclaimer: Our stuff hasn't actually arrived yet - only went off last week - but price/service/packing all spot on so far...

Graham

loopyloo2

g'day

we used allied pickfords, couldnt fault the service in the uk and then in oz, they timed it that we received our shipment 1 day after we moved into our rental, very good, very professional.

they also come back to pick up any rubbish and empty boxes which i thought was good

louise

p.s. very competative with other companies too!!

lebikebleu

SIster in law chose to use Allied Pickfords to move from Wakefield to Sydney for that very reason. Said she ended up with the collection being done by only one Pickfords staff and two from an agency who were on their first days work. Delivery in Sydney was carried out by a sub-contractor! Wasn't as what she expected, all arrived OK though!

Jonahs_mummy

Its the same with Crown Relocations. Great service - would rec'd.

Claire

fraser

We used them as well and I'd like to kill them

flip

John Masons were fine.

scallyuk

We did it ourselves. Saved almost a grand and a half (GBP) and did the quarantine check without getting a box opened.

Quarantine guy was originally from Portsmouth, He admitted that they can be very picky so recommends it's better to be at the check yourself. That way you can answer any questions before the boxes need to get opened.

His list of concerns were those Big african statues, - don't bring em.
Guns, the hassle is more than it's worth. If you need a gun that badly qualify in OZ for a licence and buy one there.

Any wooden furniture you can't quote an internationally known supplier of.

We took a load of stuff and he didn't even look at it once I said where it came from- IKEA. Apparently their stuff is treated to an international standard so the quarantine guys aren't worried about it.

Make your packing list as detailed as possible. If it's vague they will open a couple "just to see" sand if they find anything they have almost unlimited powers to charge you for cleaning , irradiation, They will also charge for locksmiths if you have padlocked anything and don't supply the key immediately.

Neil

h1tvd

Sorry for seeming stupid BUT how do you DIY?

scallyuk

We got a load of professional quotes to see how much space we woudl need. - 20ft/40ft container etc.

Found a shipping company who would provide a container at our door for us to pack ourselves, we used Rjj freight, quote £1300 London/Brisbane for a 20ft container.

We boxed/packed all our stuff ourselves. Sourced boxes from Freecycle and bought some bubble wrap from Makro. Wrote very detailed packing list
Box 1 50 DVD's, Box 2 5 glass ornaments etc.

Container arrived and we loaded everything and secured it with towrope. The driver helped us to secure but not load.

Sent paperwork off to Shippers. Were provided with details of Ship and departure date along with local contact for customs clearance.

You can do customs clearance yourself but it involves finding the equivalent of a bonded warehouse and a company to transfer the container from Docks to warehouse , unloading for customs/quarantine, meeting customs & Quarantine and then arrangin for goods to be trucked to your new house.

We got a local agent to handle the customs clearance though we had to fill in an unaccompanied personal effects form stating what we had and where it was from and going to. I met the quarantine guy he inspected our packing list and stamped our paperwork with ok to ship . Whole thing took 15 mins.

We could have saved more if we had done the customs thing ourselves but it was too much hassle as our stuff arrived 10 days early . Apparently the container from the uK made good time and arrived in Singapore a couple of days early which meant it caught an earlier ship from there to Brisbane.

If you need details of shipping co and Customs agent for Brisbane PM me.

Neil

FiP

Thanks to everyone for their advice / experiences. I now have a list of potential companies for quotes which is great. However, we will certainly also investigate a 'diy' move, seems so much cheaper.