flip

All are coming in at similar prices, all have success stories from customers, haven't yet found any negatives, planning to book tomorrow so if any of you have any warnings could you pass them on please.

Thanks

bridiej

A friend of mine moved from Kent and had terrible problems with PSS that were never resolved - even now she finds things are missing!

They used subcontractors for some reason, not sure if that's just what they do for Kent but I know I wont be using them!

Hope that's some help.

AliMay

Crown were fabulous in the UK but we had a poor experience with them in OZ. Their office here wasn't a patch on the UK one- rather inefficient. Our container bizarrely ended up having a holiday in Malaysia and arrived late- but the worstthing was one of the guys that did our unpacking. I won't go into the gory details but I was left a nervous wreck after the day.

In future I would send away any crew that I was not happy with immediately- no matter how desperate I was for my stuff. Either that or call the office immedialty and get a manger round.

I think the removal cos in Perth are pretty flat out -which partly explains the inefficiency and I guess to be fair it was just one nutter that made our move a misery for me in the end. I still get mad thinking about it

Three P's

Glad you've asked this question, we've just had PSS and John Mason in for quotes (not got them back yet as only had them done yesterday and today), Crown are due at the end of the month, so I would be interested in what people have to say about them!

Jenny

asfry

Just be careful with what John Mason say about when the goods will ship out of the UK. We were promised they'd be shipped within two weeks of them taking it away from our house, we arrive in Oz 6 weeks later to find a letter with our Oz contact saying it had only just shipped, 4 weeks later than they promised. I emailed John Mason who denied ever telling us two weeks basically said we'd made it up.

Hels

We shipped out with John Masons last year and can do nothing but rave about the service we received on both ends.

We had them load us up and the day after, our house sale fell through. They were happy to store our stuff for an extra few weeks at no cost as we didnt know at the time if we would stay till the house sold or leave and sell the house from Australia.

When we finally decided to leave on the original date and advised JM, they were fantastic and rushed our stuff onto the ship that was leaving that same week. We had no hold ups this end at all and in all, our stuff was in great condition when it arrived.

I would recommend John Mason, based on our experience.

Hels

abergas

Can only rave about John Mason, we had no trouble both sides. Also when they were packing in the UK, we had phone calls from the office both days to make sure we were happy with the service and everything was going ok, plus when they delivered here. 10/10 for us!l

Flying Banana

Ditto here, I had huge problems with my house sale which fell through twice and even the final sale dragged on so we didn't exchange contracts till five days before the move. JM were great, you get one point of contact at their office the whole way through so there is no scrabbling for files if you have to ring up, and as above they phoned several times during the move to check it was all going to plan.

I got quotes from Doree Bonner (always seemed too busy on the phone to offer a decent service), Allied Pickfords (Aussie end are supposed to be good but know of half a dozen horror stories in the UK both domestic and international removals) and Anglo Pacific (took five weeks to return quote and didn't like their salesman/estimator).

I was a bit nervous when the packing crew turned up as they were three youngish guys who looked like they should have been at school but they were great, friendly, polite and very efficient. Give them some tea and bacon sarnies and they were more than happy.

As it was getting near xmas the ships were busy and they actually managed to get my container on a ship two weeks earlier (didn't help as customs/quarantine here were closed over xmas) and kept me informed the whole way through.

At this end they used a company called Kent International who were just as good, one point of contact, lots of updates/info and their delivery and unpacking crew were great. Very pleasant and relaxed and didn't leave till I was happy with everything.

There were a couple of minor breakages, a couple of pictures' glass cracked, and two or three minor kitchen items broken, however I took digital photos of all breakages as I unpacked and the claim was settled in full within a week with no problems (they did mention I should have noted on the delivery docket that I was unpacking the majority of boxes and contents had not been checked but it didn't cause any problems).

JayDeee

Crown were all round pretty bad for me, the estimate guy over estimated buy a lot, funny how they will charge you for extra but wont give money back when you come well under.

it was well over 6 weeks late and when i complained I was told that I was never guaranteed 12 weeks, this again is crap as I had it in writing from one of there UK office girls.

Perth office were great, the lady there realy pushed it through when the container arrived and from the ship ariving (24th December) it was here and delivered in Geraldton which is 5 hrs north of perth within 2 weeks.

The guys who delivered told me off as they didn't know I was in a 2 story building, this was aranged in the UK and I had told the lady in Perth so they were fully aware, they also didn't unpack any of my stuff just dumped it at the top of the stairs.

Saying that a lot of people have had great experiences so they cant be that bad.

Kala

The Thorpes

Hi

We used PSS and they were brilliant. Not only very reasonable but we didn't have a single problem or a single thing broken. A lot of the companies (I think Crown is an exception) seem to use sub-contractors. The guys that did our packing from PSS said they also did work for John Mason. It was a boiling hot day when they came to pack up our house and they couldn't have worked harder or longer. It all arrived when they said it would and we couldn't fault the company they sub-contract to this end either (Kent Removals). I know quite a few people here who have had problems with Pickfords and you do hear some horror stories so I suppose to some degree its pot luck.

Good luck with whoever you choose!

Sam

G

Wol

We used Crown because they do the whole thing from one end to the other.

The Crown estimator in the UK was the only one of three who said we would definitely get everything into a 20' container - the others all estimated a couple of hundred ft2 more - and she was right! Just.

The UK office was fine but the packers changed halfway through and we had a couple of students doing day 2. Also the promised mirror boxes didn't materialise so we had to have them back on the Saturday to finish - would have been great if we'd left the move until the day we went!

The Sydney end was a different story: it was impossible to rely on them getting back to us, and we had to have the majority of the stuff in store for 6 months. Their warehouse is very modern and efficient, but we still have silverfish in our things now!

The two guys who delivered were the size of trucks, chucked the stuff into the house and disappeared. They said they didn't do the unpacking and like a fool I didn't check the contract, which said they did. So we unpacked ourselves over the next week.

There was quite a bit of damage: we have just settled the insurance claim which worked out at over $4000: they were efficient at accepting that at least. Took ages trying to find equivalents and quotes, plus trips to Sydney and Canberra.

Finally, they charged us for the full 6 months storage insurance at $399pm plus GST, where the contract stated that 60 days was included. The Sydney office said that only applied while the things were pre-AQIS, which I accepted. Only after all the damage was found did I email London, who got on to Sydney and I have just got a cheque for $800-odd refund for overcharged insurance.

Overall I was not impressed and would not use them again

JayDeee

Another point on Crown is that although they say they dont sub contractors, they do. the people who delivered this end had another delivery on the semi trailer from a completely different company and although they were wearing Crown uniform they told me outright that I would be charged for them having to deliver to the 1st floor, when I was told that I wasn;t paying another cent they said well our company will be charging Crown so it is up to them whether they charge you.

Kala

Barron

We have been in Brissie nearly 10 months and used PSS they were briliiant on both sides.The container could not get down our road in the UK so they had to load into lorries and fill the container on a field.They were brill...

Best of Luck

Sally

flip

Thanks all - just booked with John Mason who were already my favourites - they've one of the best prices, have been very helpful and suggested a fast ship so we don't have to do furnished then move to unfurnished. We also have a fixed date for the sailing.

3 weeks to go .. a 40 foot container to get ready for. How many hours sleep do we need each night?

Thanks for everyones advice.

Carolyn

Three P's

Can I be cheeky and ask what you were quoted for insurance and did you get them to reduce their overall shipping price? We were quoted at the time 3% and just wondering if they budge at all on that.

Good Luck with the move.

Jenny