Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

Most short term accomodation places do free pickup from the airport here in Melbourne. The 40 - 50 min trip allows time too offload enough info to get people started.

Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

Can we have the web link to the company offering this service please. Cheeky Bar Stewards:ohmy:

Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

Definitely not worth the money!

My employer arranged one for me and husband as part of our relocation to Oz.
Once we had been here a month, I realised she had shown us about 3 sq kms of Melbourne suburbs- all seemed to be where her sister/cousin/aunt/dog lived. We had no idea so thought we had seen countless areas.

Complete and utter waste of space. Our requests to live in an area with easy access to restaurants and bars and the city saw us in the middle of Melbourne's only dry suburb, amidst all the best private schools.


Alternatively tell your hubby to take a taxi for a couple of hours- would cost no more than 200 bucks.

Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

I initially thought about using a relocation company. Personally I would rather we did everything ourselves.

Stuff that might seem time consuming could well aid us on our learning curve of the system once we are in Oz.

It is probably a godsend for some, but for us, the money would be better spent on other things.

Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

I think it depends what sort of relocation services are on offer. If you're landing in a country/state that you have never been to before and where you have no family or friends, certain things would be great, like accommodation, a hire car, someone to meet you at the airport. These sorts of things would be worth paying for. Exploring is best done as a family. Getting lost is optional.......

Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

My cousin used a relocation agent when she moved to Sydney from Singapore in August...

but they did absolutely everything for her...

packed up and shipped her stuff from her apartment in Singapore,
Organised her flights
Met her at the airport and took her to the accomodation.
found her a short term let...1 month's accomodation
Arranged viewings for a more permanent home, based on her requirements and showed her the city during the 3 days they did the viewings.
Arranged for her to visit local car dealerships based on her car needs
Arranged the deliver of all her household contents to her new permanent home, helped with insurances of car and home, and arranged her TFN and medicare registration.

Admittedly this was a corporate relocation, I have no idea what all this cost, but the only thing she had to pay for was the car and the deposit on the new apartment!

Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

Sounds like a right royal rip orf to me m'lud!!!

Save your money - get loads of advice from BE - ask questions, do searches. Compile a list of must do's and must see's. Buy yerself a refedex (a-z) and get out there and do it yourself!

All the info you need is out there for free - you certainly do not need to pay $1200 for it!

As for naming the company, I personally would. Give others the heads up to avoid them!

Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

Some good reports here... but are people genuinely not willing to name the companies involved? After all, it does look like there are some relocation agents that do a good job, but without knowing names (whether for good or bad), it's impossible to make a judgement.

As someone pointed out on another thread: you can do a lot of what a relocation agent would do using the Internet... but that becomes impossible when you see a number of reports (again, good or bad) which don't name the company. I can't see anything in the site rules that would prevent this; surely it's one of the good points of BE? There are many, many threads naming and praising/shaming migration agents and shipping companies.

Also: it looks like there are multiple levels of service. Certainly I have no time for or interest in a one-day orientation service; I'm happy to do that myself. But I might well be interested in a more comprehensive package that includes decent help with property rental or negotiation with schools. So it seems to me that when judging relocation services in general, one needs to bear in mind how the price matches what they do, and not condemn the whole industry on the basis that one particular agency is overpricing one particular service :)

Cheers
Ben

Re: RELOCATION PEOPLE - WORTH THE MONEY?
 

Easy tiger!!!

I used a relocation agency!!! Firstly, it was a mobility service provided by my company as part of my package so no expense to myself. Secondly it did offer a tour of the areas but it was in conjunction with home viewings, far easier than trying to do that on a bus and not knowing the area, and as you probably know home viewings have set windows of viewing so an independent relocation agent can get you viewings outside of those times which is excellent. My wife had 3 days with an agent viewing the eastern Beaches, Manly and Balmain (all Sydney for those not familiar) and it was such a helpful experience. Thirdly, blonde trophy wife is such a ignorant statement from what seems a very jealous point of view. My wife is neither blonde, trophy or stupid but is alone during the day with our 3 yr old son in a new country with no transport and has never been away from the rest of her immediate family before in her life, ANY assistance or friendly advice /help offered by my company was and is gratefully received.
I personally would not pay $1200 for one days tour but the service offered by my company was an excellent one, the relocation company also assisted in sorting out and checking my lease and set up the utilities. And, the biggie, it was free!!