logan

Just a quickie for all those, at the point of trying to choose a removal company. We had a few quotes and Crown and Pickfords weren't that different. We went with Crown and our stuff arrived on Wednesday.

I have to say the every member of staff I've come in contact with has been exceptionally helpful. The Edinburgh (Livingstone) office were great and the three guys who packed were all lovely too. We had a top floor, one bedroom flat (but had enough in it to furnish a two bedroom place!), and it took 1 1/2 days to pack. It was therefore a shared container so we needed to wait for them to fill it with other clients belongings before they shipped it.

This probably was the only hardship, as it left us on the 6th Jan but didn't leave country till beginning of Feb. You can track it on internet which was a small bonus. Once it arrived the staff at the Brisbane office were great, and very understanding at our desperation to get our stuff back.

It was delivered to us by two great guys, who were on time and a great help. Nothing was broken, only a sleeve of an armchair slightly dirty. Only thing is, I can't find the weighing part of my kitchen scales??? Very bizarre as I have the dish that sits on top. Nor the computer mouse pad? Trying to work out if we're missing a box, but can't think of anything else.... Haven't emptied all boxes completely so sure it'll turn up.

So for service and attitude and for us price, we recommend Crown 100%.
Happy packing Logan

SuperSeagulls

Great, thanks for letting us know. I will get a quote from them before I move in Q1 2006.

SS

chr1sarter

Thanks for the heads up. We have Crown coming around next week for a quote, and their professionalism so far in ringing me back and arranging appointment was excellent. Eagle Removers didnt even bother.

scissors

Thanks logon thats good to know,we ve got crown coming out to give us a valuation next friday

tracey

paulb

We had Crown round yesterday, the wfe says Andrew healey was very nice and helpful. Even brought a toy each for the kids. Quote to follow in the post.

Stormz

Eagle didn`t even bother ringing you back???

gajjitt

Thanks for that peace of mind Logan, as Crown are coming to ship our stuff on Tuesday. Phew! Nice to know we are dealing with professionals. Thanks to all you guys on here for recommending them.

Good luck with your shipping and emigration all you guys.

Take care Paul

carlos1340

Crown relocated us from the UK to Brisbane and were really good. The only problem we had was a two week delay because our container had been unloaded at Hong Kong and then they couldn't find another boat for two weeks?!!! Therefore, note that the boat it sails on is not necesarily the one it arrives on!! We did complain to Crown, but they said it was out of their hands as it was a shipping issue! We only had to spend 2 weeks on an air bed, no real hardship

Just watch out when the boys unpack, it is so easy for them to miss bits and throw still wrapped up stuff in the unwrapped empty boxes!!

logan

Yeh, we were worried about that, so we just asked them to unpack the sofas, beds etc and take away the excess packing. We unpacked all the boxes ourselves. We're keeping a lot of the boxes flatpacked down for when we move into our own place......eventually!!

I'm still not knocking Crown, cos I know mistakes occur, but not only is one half of the scales missing, but I had hundreds of photos (we took negatives in suitcase in case this happened) loose in envelopes and we can't find them. We've contacted them and they're looking into it.

anya4oz

I'm really pleased that things worked out well for you with Crown - and wish you all the best for your exciting new life!

We used Crown when we emigrated last year (from SE UK) and had a string of problems from start to finish, which were hugely stressful. We decided on them because so many people had recommended them here, although (even after haggling the price) they were slightly more expensive than the other quotes we got. The initial salesman was great, very professional and personable, but things went downhill after we'd signed on the dotted line. Their UK admin staff were frankly, a nightmare to deal with; our 'move co-ordinator' kept 'forgetting' to do important things, with the result that I kept having to chase to remind/ask; also this person had no idea about critical issues such as Aus customs rules about what we could/couldn't ship. The packing team were OK & very friendly but a bit slapdash about a few things that seemed obvious to us. We moved in the UK summer when they use a lot of 'temps' to do the packing (which resulted in a quite few muddles/misunderstandings between the team).

Overall I'd only rate them 5/10 (and their score is only that high because the Aus Admin team were helpful, which balanced out all the other aggro).

To those waiting to book shippers: I'm not necessarily saying don't go with Crown, but just be aware that the quality of your shipping experience depends on the individuals who get assigned to look after you, rather than the company itself. It's quite possible that some of their offices are excellent, as the OP reports - but you cannot assume this will be the case for all of them.

Anya.

Wol

I won't say too much at present because we are still chasing the insurance with Crown (26 or thereabouts breakages) and are not getting any help at all from them. Impossible to get hold of anyone effective in Sydney and never get called back. Will post when and if we get resolved...

chr1sarter

Strormz,
No they did'nt bother. I originally sent them a email for them to call me to arrange a date for them to visit and evaluate what im taking. They sent me a email back asking me to fill out a form with all the stiff i was taking and then they would give me a quote. i wrote back, and informed them that the original email requested them to call me, and would not fill out their form, until they called me. That was the last i heard. Very un-proffessional. If they cant be bothered to call you, what chance do you have if things go wrong to get in contact with them.

chris