cybie

Had a quote off both companies which were only a couple of hundred quid difference. They both seem to offer the same service so I was wondering if anybody has had any bad experiences with either mover which will decide which shipper we should use.

Dougie

no personnel experience but have a look at a few of these me ald china plate......

click me

and me

don't forget to click me

me last

HTH


Dougie

LouiseR

My my you're keeping yourself busy! Thank you for info I was pondering the same question as the OP!

Wendy66

We had narrowed it down to Doree Bonner and Britania, both moved to same price after we held out then Britania came up with more free storage so we went with them.............. few days after Dorree came back with more LOL

Both had previously said they couldn't move on price altogether Dorree came down £500 to get the business before the storage offer. So hold out if you have time

homewardbound

I used JM and was very happy, negotiated free storage with them, they were great.

bobbyftm

Doree Bonner for us.........perfectionists both sides of the pond in our opinion

ozzieclare2b

john masona for us, they were excellent both ends

Sparky wife

We used Doree Bonner and they were fine for us. There was a delay though on our second part container, it took ages to arrive (second came into Adelaide whereas the first came into Perth).

Labrador

DON"T USE DOREE BONNER! We used them to come to the Gold Coast. The packers were subcontractors, which DB said they NEVER used hence the price difference between them and other companies. The container took longer than the 12 weeks max they had stated and when it arrived our plasma tv was nowhere insight. We had a box on the inventory named TV box but it turned out that was just remote controls etc. After investigation, it seemed our TV was never numbered as it left our property and was sat 'lost' in the warehouse. This took a further 3 months to arrive with no compensation. The stuff that did arrive was packed so badly that lots of it was broken e.g. our Jasper Conran crystal champagne flutes which were wedding gifts were packed side-by-side in a piece of tissue paper. DB didn't want to discuss the fact that they used subcontractors and said things break when you move them to the other side of the world. The only thing they wanted to say was that as we didn't take insurance through them they had nothing more to do with it. Thankfully our insurance company were a lot more helpful, and paid for everything. In our experience I wouldn't pay the extra to use them, and I most certainly wouldn't recommend them although I'm sure other people have had better luck than us.....
Good luck with the move. The crazy stress will soon be over.....

Sparky wife

That is a horrible thing to happen, and it does happen. So glad your insurance company were more helpful. When we looked into shippers, DB were middle of the road (could have got it cheaper again). We weren't desperate for our second lot of belongings, so weren't too bothered but it was Grace that where we had the issue this end (should have clarified that).

We had one guy come and pack for us and fair play, he did a good job. In-fact we thought he was being a bit too generous on the packing, everything was wrapped extremely well!!!

mo33

John Mason without a doubt!

hereshoping

We used Doree Bonner and have to say their packers were very professional and we were very impressed with their service in the UK. The stuff arrived pretty much when we were told it would (a couple of weeks delay due to an issue at Singapore docks but were were kept informed and it was actually good for us as were still in temp accommodation so it saved us on storage.

Grace (their Oz partners) were less good. The bulk of the stuff was delivered well and on time- but there was no sign of two items we'd paid to have irradiated. I called up and got a very apologetic guy who said they were still in the warehouse (3 weeks after we'd paid for the treatment) and hadn't been treated, but would be sent straight away and would be with us within the week. A week came and went with no items, I called back and got a told they would investigate and call me back. No call back came.

I waited a few days tried again and talked to the manager who said it was he would investigate, go to the treatment plant and pick them up and promised faithfully to call back first thing in the morning- guess what, no call came.

I called yet again talked to the head honcho- by this time v.v. p***ed and found out that our items couldn't have been in the warehouse when we were told they were, that we should have been told at the start that these items could be delayed as the treatment people can be slow (we weren't told any such thing) and that we wouldn't get a saturday delivery (like we had paid for for the rest of our stuff) as no-one was in the area. And at this point they still couldn't tell us where our possessions were. As I'm sure you can guess at this point I went nuclear pointed out all the lies I'd been told, the omissions of fact and the number of times I'd been told they would call me back and didn't. He backtracked at this point, called back within half an hour saying they had our items, and they would be delivered that saturday... which they were...3 hours later than agreed.

So to summarise Doree Bonner are fine, but unfortunately they work with Grace in Oz who are one of the worst companies I've had the misfortune to have dealings with.

moneypenny20

Another vote for John Mason. All removalists will have a percentage of customers who are very unhappy with the service. You have to go with your gut reaction as much as taking recommendations.

BATS666

We used DB. Service can depend on which depot you use. We chose them as we wanted to be present when they moved stuff from the removals lorry into the container (lack of access meant container couldn't be loaded on site). Their depot was near Bath and we were in Bristol.
Only possible sub-contractors were at the depot loading the container (Polish?). At our home they were long standing employees, as we were assured when we booked them.
Packing was very rushed....stuff got loaded that shouldnt have -we should have prepared better !! Personally I wasnt happy with the protection of breakables....no bubble wrap (I provided my own!) and no polystyrene peanuts (arrived on 2nd day only). With valuable breakable I insisted on supervising packing myself, otherwise they would have been badly packed (IMO). That aside, for "rushed" read professional.....these guys clearly knew what they were doing, I just worried about the quality of their packing. Maybe that's just me being protective about my antiques.
The container arrived in Freo on time (22nd Dec) and we are now awaiting delivery after Customs & AQIS clearance. Will let you know how Grace, Perth fair....and how well DB's packing actually faired too !! Time will tell if I was being over-sensitive !!

Laights

We used John Masons this year, our stuff arrived about 4 weeks ago, we are still unpacking boxes.

Not very happy, we think that most of the items were broken here in Melbourne as we had watched them load the container in the UK. Our pine dresser has been damaged, my washing machine has been very badly dented, hubbys rotavator was turned upside down and all the engine oil came out. The kitchen table has been dented in 4 places, cut glass broken, table saw badly dented occasional table leg broken off, plasma TV was supposed to be crated which we had paid extra for and came off just wrapped and we are still checking, I dread to think what we are going to find next.

We have already contacted our insurers they have told us to empty all the boxes and then we have got to send a letter to John Masons holding them liable for all damages. The pain in the ass is that we have an excess of £644.

Lisa