A quick e-mail to warn people against using Doree Bonner. We went with them for our move from Surrey, UK to Sydney, Australia thinking they were a reputable company. Our goods were delivered to us on Thursday and 20 items including 3 leather sofas and a very expensive dining table were damaged. This happened because they did not export wrap our furniture correctly. They told us that our dining table would be crated because it is made of glass and we even paid for this but they failed to do so and just bubble wrapped it! Our expensive leather sofas were stuffed in boxes and consequently are all out fo shape and damaged! There are many other items damaged too. On top of that, we found other peoples rubbish such as letters, matchboxes and medications in some of our boxes. It seems that they packed some of our goods in old boxes with other peoples junk.

When I contacted Doree Bonner about this, they accepted responsibility and said that the crew who packaged our goods had since been sacked. I paid over 4000 pounds for my shipment and when I asked to be reimbursed for some of it, they said they would only reimburse 150 pounds. I am therefore taking legal action against them.

Beware if you decide to use Doree Bonner.

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience.
Thank you for sharing this with us.
I bet you're seething!!!

you didn't happen to use your credit card for any of that, did you? if so, dtry disputing the charge.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. We have just had the guy round from Doree Bonner and he seemed very informed but I guess it is often down to the packers. How does your insurance cover work in this instance? Are you able to claim?

Many people have used them and had good experiences. A shipper packs hundreds and hundreds of containers every year and carries them all over the world. There will always be a very small minority who have a bad experience. It doesn't mean the company shouldn't be used, it means they use humans to do the work.

Yep, would agree with Moneypen.

We used them and shared a container, we only unpacked yesterday. Brought a couple of big mirrors and not one single problem.

Everything wrapped superbly and in new boxes and the lads were a good laugh as well.

Couldn't fault them.

Is it fair to the company to leave that as a thread title?

PS it was Newcastle to Perth.

Removals are a funny thing.

They are SO personal, things are always going to seem alot worse than they maybe would with any other type shipment.

I can only speak in the experience that my family has had with Doree Bonner, but it is always nice to have balance to any argument.

Their staff were always, polite, friendly, informative, courteous, both in the offices and the men that came to do the packing. The packing was very good and only one or two small pieces were damaged. The insurers, after the repair/replacement estimates etc had been provided, quickly sorted this side of things out as well.

Insurance will cover the damage to a consignment, however this was sustained, so really your claim should be directed to insurers, unless you did not insure the shipment??

you're right: is it really fair? I don't think so

I moved with Doree Bonner less than 2 years ago from Cornwall to Adelaide and they were excellent. I had some stuff I was worried that would get broken and not a single thing did. They were great, really helped me stay relaxed when everything else was getting me stressed about the move.

Shame you had trouble Vsuman but all I have to say about DB is:Top lads, top service.

I did take out marine insurance and I making a claim against it. I understand that a lot of you have had good experiences with Doree Bonner but you would only know how I feel if you were now in my situation with so many damaged items that cannot be used and going through all the stress of havng to make a claim. This is my 4th international move and I have never had a problem in the past with other removal companies.

You have insurance and while it is not ideal, you have two claims going ahead. One is insurance which, if you paid the right amount, will cover you for the damage to your goods. It is both bad luck and poor packing. The poor packing is down to the removal firm, but that's a far harder one to handle, given you'll have all the hassle of taking them to court and will have to show they packed it badly, so assume you have hundreds of photo's etc to justify this.

Likewise, they may say you were there when they packed and had no issues at the time...

Sorry to hear it was bad, but from reading it seems most shipping companies are ok and it's down to the quality of the people working for them. And that is down to luck....

Hope things get sorted...