CDM

My 40' container is due to arrive here in Melbourne in a few weeks and I've just received a letter from the local removal company that is handeling the final delivery. They are telling me that I am supposed to pay the AQIS fees directly to tham and that I need to pay them AU$900. Does that sound right?

I was always under the impression that I would be paying AQIS directly AND that the charge won't be known until they actually go through the shipment and decide what, if anything, needs to be destroyed or fumigated or whatever.

- CDM

EvannTel

Your understanding is the same as mine - except I paid the agent not AQIS, was around $250 for "standard" bung, erm fee for 20'. The fee is variable though as you say depending on your declaration and what they decide to investigate.

petereb

I've used 3 different removal companies in the last 8 months, both have taken every oppurtunity to "add on" fees that weren't initially quoted. They know they have you over a barrel because they have your stuff and if you don't pay them what they want they wont give you your stuff back.

nigel and wendy

i just paid 244 bucks.........pickfords 20 footer

mr mover

The removal company ,will pay AQIS fees for you then Charge you ,this is normal practice.
They will not know what AQIS chages are untill the load has been accessed.
You can contact AFRA , if they are members and find out if this normal practice . AFRA [Aust furniture movers Association] .....mm

eurosyl

I got a letter with a bill like that for my (partial) container load too. I asked the agent why the charge and how it was assessed as I understood that AQIS charges are a result of the actual inspection. They told me that the fees were for 'clearing the shipment', and it was supposed to cover any AQIS charges already (read: overcharging me). I told them I was to do clearance myself, and I avoided these cost totally. I rocked up with my bill and packing list at customs, they cleared it, gave me a stamp on the forms and told me to go over to the next desk. The AQIS officer looked at all paperwork, asked me a few questions about packing / pre-treatment and cleared it without inspection. I could then go to the quarantaine location and pick up my shipment (done that with a UTE, only partial shipment). Apparently inspection is charged at about 80-90AUD an hour if they have to go out for that.

I was however surprised by the cost in the port, they were much higher than originally quoted by the agent. And as said by petereb, they have your stuff so in the end it is paying the fee for getting it out, or being charged with a storage fee. In all.. not a good experience at all.

Cheers,
Sylvia

Kingseat

I was around $388 for my 20 foot container plus $180 for my overspill so you are probably about right with $900. This is the fee for AQIS to deal with your container. If they find anything within your container that they don't like then you should receive a telephone call from your agent in Australia saying that you can pay a further fee to either have it destroyed or treated. In my case, a rouge christmas decoration made it into the container so I paid $88 to have it destroyed. It would have been abou $150 for treatment.

CDM

I got this back from the removal company today:

With regards to AQIS, As your shipment is unpacked into our Bond depot, we book AQIS slots and they in turn invoice all charges to us, therefore we pay AQIS for inspection on shipments not the client, therefore we have to work into our cost, the AQIS officer’s time which including travelling charges, inspection time at the bond store and also the warehouseman that are AQIS certificated and are the only persons aloud to be present when the AQIS inspection is being done within the bond store, therefore the $900 charge is correct.

It sounds to me like they have wrapped up much of their own costs into the the overall AQIS charge and are charging this collectively to me. The thing is that my arrangement with my origin agent was that ALL costs were paid for up front with the sole exception of the AQIS charges - whatever they ended up being.

The way I see it is that the removal company needs to separate out their costs from the AQIS costs. I should only be paying the AQIS fees, as I've already pre-paid for everything else.

- CDM