hotpinksugar

There were a catalogue of errors but I will give you a brief idea of why you should avoid them

Crown UK.......

There insurance is crap,...you have to detail EVERYTHING.. dont assume that it will be covered....list it ALL - they are SO arrogant and unhelpful when dealing with your claim.....

We were told that we could not claim for shoes, plates, glasses etc that were lost (stolen???) or damaged...because they were NOT individually listed!!!
An expensive mexican chimanea and an antique fruit bowl, so much stuff they refused to pay out for.......there's more to the chiminea story below!!!!

FIRST SHIPMENT - Crown UK

1: Crew arrived and I was advised that all the prepacked items had to be repacked (all wrapped in 'clear' bubble wrap)...but company policy....
RESULT - sentimental, irreplaceable items damaged

2: Folded a £2000 mattress in half??? and them covered it in brown paper!
RESULT - Paper tore, mattress arrived SO filthy that it looked as if it had been dragged behind the truck NOT in it!!! and it was curly!!!

3: NOT only were the glass shelves in the fridge not removed before boxing up....the entire Fridge contents were packed too!
RESULT - 8 months in storage and the stench when we unpacked it, not to mention the live infestation was horrific!! ( I was advised that I should leave the items there Milk etc and the crew would throw it before boxing up)

We kept the fridge in our garage until the insurance claim was paid in full....long fight but the result was, this was our TRUMP card 'we still had the evidence in our garage!'.....when we threatened that they pay up or we will show customs the fridge.....yep!...they paid in full

4: Packed an expensive pair of leather shoes - one arrived with the toes curled up, the other never arrived at all??

5: A sentimental gift dissappeared!!! - probably now with the shoe???

SECOND SHIPMENT - Crown UK

Why 2 shipments you ask?....the bloody vet was just a incompetant...he injected our dog with Leptosparosis with the annual booster, AFTER I had asked him 3 times if he was absolutely SURE that this would be okay for customs......
RESULT
8 MONTHS in rented accomodation with regular blood tests until she was clear to fly!!!!

The basics we needed for the rented accomodation ie telly, bedding, etc
now needed to be shipped too.....confirmed the items to be shipped, paid in full the quoted price and booked the day before our flight which was very early in the morning!

RESULT
Received a message on the answerphone (we were away at the time, saying our goodbyes to family and friends all over the UK) to say they have amended the collection day to the following day!!!!! OMG yes!!!!! the day we fly out, only they planned to be arriving when we were on the plane!!!

....major panic now.... when we arrived at the flat to hear that message!
We rang around all the telephone numbers and guess what?.....you could not leave a message because there were NO voicemails!!!!!!!!!

First thing the next morning 5:30am we rang until we got an answer, a warehouseman answered the phone and after much deliberation with those who had originally cancelled our booking (by the way our few 'bits' were rescheduled for a full house collection.....greedy wee *hits....they already charged us nearly £4K for the first shipment) he then agreed to collect it himself with his OWN van and a couple of guys that worked with him!!!!!!!!

FIRST SHIPMENT - DELIVERED by Crown WA (Perth)
We watched the arrival of the shipment and marked off the boxes as they arrived....one mature guy and a kid!!!

Kid was a complete bafoon, so much so, that in the end I told him NOT to unpack another thing, enough was broken already!!!

Mature guy?? what did he do??.....I watched HIM drop a box marked on every side, as well as top and bottom with the word FRAGILE .....
Yes our expensive, sentimental value too (imported from mexico ourselves)
MEXICAN CHIMANEA was now rubble in the bottom of the box!!!!

They were just too quick to upack and leave that the place was a mess with NO order at all, they were trying to balance item upon item on the floor space!!!! in the end we told them to leave it and we would unpack in some ORDER....then we found all the other breakages!!!

SO, if you did read to the very end....this was just a BRIEF over-view of what happened....trust me and dont use them....

Life here is fantastic, we love it and it makes up for all the stress we went through to get here!.......

Nomore

Said it before, i will say it again....Crown are shite...

snow-white

oh dear ive just had them out for a quote it was 2000 more than bishops move ive got another quote today hopefully that will be better bit shocked though after reading this as the lady who give the quote made them seem very professional
lesley

belleandscone

Oh my god, that is awful, how can people have such little disrespect for your things, and pack a fridge with food in it . We are looking at shippers and crown are just up the road - maybe scratch them off my list.
Clairex

elfin

It must depend on the local lads who pack........Crown packed everything even a 40year old set of christmas light plus extra bulbs which are really fragile, all my jewellery, perfume and 400 CDs, total of 140 boxes plus some furniture,the guys were funny,polite and really helpful even taking down beds and other bits and bobs.

Not a single thing damaged.

The guys this end just as good even down to putting the beds back together.

Sorry you had such a bad experience, but for us it really was a great service.

Elfin xx

spottydog

I agree they were excellent for us too, our stuff arrived a lot quicker than we expected and nothing borken (not even some extremely fragile lights that the Crown packers didn't hold out much hope for).

As with insurance, I understood that that having to itemise everything was the way marine insurance worked and if it isn't listed they don't pay. I had a list about 10 pages long that I sent to my insurers. It was listed down to the level of 23 Single DVD's and 10 double DVDs plus brand and model for all electrical items and even the number of pairs of underware. This list was also very useful to identify the listed items for our insurance here as I needed to get it arranged and we had a number of items that needed to be specifically listed whereas in the UK would have been generally covered.

worzel

We had the same experience in Perth (except two useless lads to break stuff not one) but I have to say the UK end was excellent

Mctree

Guess it depends on the packers. We have used Crown four times now and never had a problem. On arrival of shipping in Australia, one of the guys unpacking the furniture was a little to happy with his knife and damaged a mirror, also one item was missing (not whole box, just one item!) which was weird.

Always found them to be professional, and extremely good. Just luck of the draw I guess.

We took insurance with Crown, they paid our claim very quickly for all damaged items, and the one missing item. Didn't list everything individually.

Big Galah

Sorry to hear this happened to you.

But, we usually only get to hear about the bad experiences. I'd imagine there are people who could tell similar stories about every moving company. This is why the polls are useful - you get a more balanced view. Small consolation to you, I realise.

Having said that, when you get several bad experiences posted about the same company you do wonder about standards. Folding a matress in half and packing a fridge with its contents still inside borders on the malicious, I would say.

It seems a couple of rogue packers can do a lot of damage to a company's reputation. While I don't want to be a snob, you have to realise that the people employed by removal companies generally come from the rougher end of town. In my experience most of them are decent and hard-working, but there are some oddballs you'd want to keep your children and valuables (and pets) away from.

The couple of times we've moved we made an effort to be nice to the guys and offer them tea and and generally not try to do anything that might piss them off - this could be where some people have a problem. I'm not saying that's what happened to you, but I get the impression the removal guys decide early on what type of people they're dealing with and behave and pack accordingly.

That's my couple o'cents' worth anyway.

You also have to remember that the company you go with (and pay) is usually not the same company that delivers and unpacks at the other end.

Good to see you're still positive after all you've been through.

Best of luck,

Big.

mandtooz

oh dear thats terrible, but i have to say crown were fantastic uk end for us, really very very good, i gave them alist of all precious fragile stuff and it was packed with such care, this included a jigsaw on card that wasnt glued!!!! and it arrived perfect..............the only thing that was broken was a mixing bowl!

seems a shame when some particular packers ruin reputations.

leigh&ivan

We went with Crown, it's in Customs at the moment, should get it (all in one piece I hope) next week! Glad we didn't bring the fridge!

Leigh

Nomore

Just had to let you all know, that the 2 men who packed our furniture and stole it the same night (Crown employees) have now been charged with theft of illegal weapons. Just had an e-mail from the police in the UK.

This all happened 9 months ago, but results at last.

It really did unsettle us coming to OZ this theiving situation, knowing some asshols had been through our stuff and took what the hell they liked!

iPom

Excellent news, Rach... or is it Paul? Good the police sorted it for you.

Why were the weapons 'illegal'?

Nomore

Illegal to them, not us. We had a licence for them. They didn't so it was illegal for them to have possession of them.
They broadcast the footage on Crimestoppers in UK, wish i was there to have seen it. But at least now they will be sent down. Unfortunatley the police still haven't traced our Fire-Arms.

iPom

Ah, ok, I'm with you.

I wonder if they ever will trace them ... Very difficult esp when they're collector's items.