International Movers and storage costs
Sep 23rd 2015, 12:59 pm
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: UK at present
Posts: 248
International Movers and storage costs
As planned, we hopped the ditch from NZ to Sydney so we could do a stint in Aussie for 2-3 years, while we consider where to settle long term.
Anyway, I'll get to the actual point. We used to Crown for our move, and the service we received was so sub-standard compared to our previous 3 moves, and when we escalated, our complaints were ignored, so we'll never use them again. With that in mind, can anyone recommend any other intenational movers in Australia/Sydney, and a ball-park figure of how much it costs to send a 20ft container to either the UK or Canada, probably Toronto. We used John Masons when we left the UK over 8 years ago and their service was excellent but I've got no idea who they partner with here.
Also, does anyone have any experience with having their goods in long term storage with shippers for 12 months +? We've considering moving into a furnished apartment closer to the CBD, and I'm just trying to find out whether it would be cheaper to have most of our worldly goods stored in the UK or Aussie. I have no idea which option would be cheaper and whether there are plus or minus points about storing things in each respective country.
Anyway, I'll get to the actual point. We used to Crown for our move, and the service we received was so sub-standard compared to our previous 3 moves, and when we escalated, our complaints were ignored, so we'll never use them again. With that in mind, can anyone recommend any other intenational movers in Australia/Sydney, and a ball-park figure of how much it costs to send a 20ft container to either the UK or Canada, probably Toronto. We used John Masons when we left the UK over 8 years ago and their service was excellent but I've got no idea who they partner with here.
Also, does anyone have any experience with having their goods in long term storage with shippers for 12 months +? We've considering moving into a furnished apartment closer to the CBD, and I'm just trying to find out whether it would be cheaper to have most of our worldly goods stored in the UK or Aussie. I have no idea which option would be cheaper and whether there are plus or minus points about storing things in each respective country.
Oct 13th 2015, 11:07 am
#2
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: UK at present
Posts: 248
Re: International Movers and storage costs
Anyone?
Oct 18th 2015, 12:27 pm
#3
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 157
Re: International Movers and storage costs
Hi,
Not sure if this will help but we used John Masons for our move back to the UK from Perth though not Sydney, like you we had used them originally.
It cost £4875 to send a 20ft container plus insurance costs, you pay in Stirling. Their partner in Australia was Wridgeways, had no complaints other than the cost!
We had been warned that a lot of the cost is Australian labour rates.
We head back to Perth in 3 weeks and the same shipment going back to Australia is £3075!!! Huge difference.
Good luck
Not sure if this will help but we used John Masons for our move back to the UK from Perth though not Sydney, like you we had used them originally.
It cost £4875 to send a 20ft container plus insurance costs, you pay in Stirling. Their partner in Australia was Wridgeways, had no complaints other than the cost!
We had been warned that a lot of the cost is Australian labour rates.
We head back to Perth in 3 weeks and the same shipment going back to Australia is £3075!!! Huge difference.
Good luck
As planned, we hopped the ditch from NZ to Sydney so we could do a stint in Aussie for 2-3 years, while we consider where to settle long term.
Anyway, I'll get to the actual point. We used to Crown for our move, and the service we received was so sub-standard compared to our previous 3 moves, and when we escalated, our complaints were ignored, so we'll never use them again. With that in mind, can anyone recommend any other intenational movers in Australia/Sydney, and a ball-park figure of how much it costs to send a 20ft container to either the UK or Canada, probably Toronto. We used John Masons when we left the UK over 8 years ago and their service was excellent but I've got no idea who they partner with here.
Also, does anyone have any experience with having their goods in long term storage with shippers for 12 months +? We've considering moving into a furnished apartment closer to the CBD, and I'm just trying to find out whether it would be cheaper to have most of our worldly goods stored in the UK or Aussie. I have no idea which option would be cheaper and whether there are plus or minus points about storing things in each respective country.
Anyway, I'll get to the actual point. We used to Crown for our move, and the service we received was so sub-standard compared to our previous 3 moves, and when we escalated, our complaints were ignored, so we'll never use them again. With that in mind, can anyone recommend any other intenational movers in Australia/Sydney, and a ball-park figure of how much it costs to send a 20ft container to either the UK or Canada, probably Toronto. We used John Masons when we left the UK over 8 years ago and their service was excellent but I've got no idea who they partner with here.
Also, does anyone have any experience with having their goods in long term storage with shippers for 12 months +? We've considering moving into a furnished apartment closer to the CBD, and I'm just trying to find out whether it would be cheaper to have most of our worldly goods stored in the UK or Aussie. I have no idea which option would be cheaper and whether there are plus or minus points about storing things in each respective country.
Oct 28th 2015, 5:24 pm
#4
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 17
Re: International Movers and storage costs
This isn't going to help much, but we used John Masons from UK to Aus - and they were excellent. Excellent, excellent, excellent!
We recently moved from Aus to USA and used Chess (aussie end) - we had a nightmare! Just don't use them. They didn't use any hanging rail boxes (even though we paid for them) and shoved expensive suits and coats into boxes - with - wait for it - a BBQ fish grill. In with suits - seriously! Heaps of stuff broken/smashed from careless packing. My son had glider planes which don't fit into standard sized book boxes. Their solution - snap a wing and slot it in. The planes were about 20 cm larger than the diagonal on the box - so this wasn't an accident, they just couldn't be bothered to look for a larger box. I have spent weeks sorting through stuff because they just tipped our carefully packed and sorted Lego, Mechano, Loom Bands, Hema Beads, you name it - loose into boxes of board games and other toys and then boxed up the empty plastic tubs. Crazy.
We never ever received a courtesy phone call at the US end and were left not knowing where our stuff was etc etc. When we asked Chess at the Aussie end they were defensive and aggressive - it was not their concern - even though it was their sub contractor and our contract was with Chess. We then got a flurry of emails on 16th September saying our container had been flagged/was with customs/should be out soon/hurray was out - should be able to pick up today/ and finally - sorry we will need to pay for overnight storage because they couldn't pick it up in time. Emails all in one day.
They refused to give paperwork to corroborate this and said paperwork didn't exist. We phone customs and port authority. Eventually got paperwork (which did exist). Paper work said with was flagged several days prior and was in fact released from customs the day before any of the emails were even sent out.
We were also told in an email that we didn't need to pay the additional storage costs prior to the container being delivered to our house - because we were disputing the storage costs. This was confirmed in a conversation to the manager over our move at Chess. 4pm on the day before the move we had an email from Schumacher's saying that they wouldn't deliver our goods until payment was received. Hubby had to run out of a meeting and find a branch of Wells Fargo to pay in person so that it would show up before 5pm. If we wanted our stuff.
Just insane.
We said we should be compensated for inconvenience and costs. They refused. So we invoiced them for our time and costs (unpacking thousands of bits of lego etc).
They offered $500 but asked us to sign a waver promising not to write any negative reviews about Chess. We haven't taken the money because we would've paid more than $500 dollars to not have undergone the hideous experience that was moving with Chess. And don't want other people to suffer.
We moved with John Mason before and oh my - you don't realise excellent service until you have truly shocking service. Please, please - don't risk Chess in Australia or Schumacher in the US. Aggresive, defensive (they never saw why we had a problem) and totally unprofessional.
So, this doesn't help who to go with - but is a red flag as to who to avoid (if that's any help).
We recently moved from Aus to USA and used Chess (aussie end) - we had a nightmare! Just don't use them. They didn't use any hanging rail boxes (even though we paid for them) and shoved expensive suits and coats into boxes - with - wait for it - a BBQ fish grill. In with suits - seriously! Heaps of stuff broken/smashed from careless packing. My son had glider planes which don't fit into standard sized book boxes. Their solution - snap a wing and slot it in. The planes were about 20 cm larger than the diagonal on the box - so this wasn't an accident, they just couldn't be bothered to look for a larger box. I have spent weeks sorting through stuff because they just tipped our carefully packed and sorted Lego, Mechano, Loom Bands, Hema Beads, you name it - loose into boxes of board games and other toys and then boxed up the empty plastic tubs. Crazy.
We never ever received a courtesy phone call at the US end and were left not knowing where our stuff was etc etc. When we asked Chess at the Aussie end they were defensive and aggressive - it was not their concern - even though it was their sub contractor and our contract was with Chess. We then got a flurry of emails on 16th September saying our container had been flagged/was with customs/should be out soon/hurray was out - should be able to pick up today/ and finally - sorry we will need to pay for overnight storage because they couldn't pick it up in time. Emails all in one day.
They refused to give paperwork to corroborate this and said paperwork didn't exist. We phone customs and port authority. Eventually got paperwork (which did exist). Paper work said with was flagged several days prior and was in fact released from customs the day before any of the emails were even sent out.
We were also told in an email that we didn't need to pay the additional storage costs prior to the container being delivered to our house - because we were disputing the storage costs. This was confirmed in a conversation to the manager over our move at Chess. 4pm on the day before the move we had an email from Schumacher's saying that they wouldn't deliver our goods until payment was received. Hubby had to run out of a meeting and find a branch of Wells Fargo to pay in person so that it would show up before 5pm. If we wanted our stuff.
Just insane.
We said we should be compensated for inconvenience and costs. They refused. So we invoiced them for our time and costs (unpacking thousands of bits of lego etc).
They offered $500 but asked us to sign a waver promising not to write any negative reviews about Chess. We haven't taken the money because we would've paid more than $500 dollars to not have undergone the hideous experience that was moving with Chess. And don't want other people to suffer.
We moved with John Mason before and oh my - you don't realise excellent service until you have truly shocking service. Please, please - don't risk Chess in Australia or Schumacher in the US. Aggresive, defensive (they never saw why we had a problem) and totally unprofessional.
So, this doesn't help who to go with - but is a red flag as to who to avoid (if that's any help).
