Ross Davis

Hello

Yes from our experience, interpretation of the rules does definitely vary, both in the UK and in Australia.

Our understanding is that raw cane or wicker items are not permitted into Australia. However we brought in a white painted wicker bedroom chair, having been advised prior that this would not be a problem.

We were advised that varnishing some wooden wall hangings would assist with quarantine, it was not considered essential that we did this but 'but would not do any harm'.

Any readers of this thread should budget for no less than $200 for items which quarantine picks up on, which you may have forgotten or not have known about. This is because gamma-irradiation is expensive, even for small items like our 4 x 1cm pine cones!! It also costs quite a bit if they find something which you do not consider worth paying to get it cleaned!

Despite rumours, you can bring in garden tools, garden furniture and plant pots - provided that they have been properly cleaned & disinfected, and ideally marked that this is the case. Lawn mowers are not a good idea though - we sold ours in the UK because it would have been too hard to get it sufficiently clean!

regards

yafm

Yes it definitely will pay to clean thoroughly and one of the removals said wipe it (whatever) down with Jeyes Fluid then mark it as disinfected and that should satisfy them as the smell will prove the point

Mike & karen

Hi Ross & Venessa

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with your removal company.

We have just migrated to Melbourne,Vic and we used PSS.

On Monday we took delivery of our house hold goods, every thing was as they pack it, nothing was missing and nothing broken.

They were very professional and would not hesitate to recommend them.

Mike & Karen

Macquarie

I've just found a small leaflet from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) about what you can take into Australia. It has a list of items which must be declared - this includes bamboo, cane or rattan among others. It also has a list of items which are prohibited. I'm assuming that you can take these things so long as you declare them and are prepared to pay to have them inspected and treated if necessary.

Sorry if I misled you Yvonne when I said 'removals said not to worry' I was referring to the worry of the whole move not the bit about cane and wicker. However, I too have had conflicting advice from removals about these items - no-one seems to be 100% sure either way. I think I will go with the leaflet advice and just declare anything I feel they would want to inspect and pay the costs - a few hundred dollars more won't make much difference in the big scheme of things.

Julie

Ross Davis

Thanks for the suggestions, we have emailed BBC Watchdog (for the third time) and will send a hard copy of the details in the post to them.

We have also found two internet consumer complaint sites:

http://www.clik2complaints.co.uk - these guys have put details on their web page and sent a right of reply to Avalon

https://www.consumercomplaints.org.uk - we have written to these guys and are awaiting a response

Still no further word from Avalon to-date, despite the MD's promises!!



Regards

yafm

Still no further word from Avalon to-date, despite the MD's promises!!
{QUOTE}
Keep at it
I am sure that the behaviour on the part of AVALON over the insurance claim will lose them far more custom than the original poor packing would.!

Alan Collett

Just a quick note here to say that I have been following this thread with interest.

We have also heard about problems within Avalon (I won't name my contacts from within ....) and as such we are dropping Avalon from the companies referred to on the Go Matilda website.

Good luck pursuing this matter.

Best regards.

Ross Davis

Hi Alan

Many thanks for your reply - we are very pleased that you have been following our case and very grateful for you taking the time to respond to us. It is very interesting for us to know who is reading this thread.

We were planning to advise Migration/Financial Advisers particularly in the UK, so as to get the infomation through to advisers for potential customers. Unfortunately, we are having troubles finding this information via the internet, although we will perserve!

Please can anyone reading this acknowledge that they have done so, especially if you are a Migration/Financial Adviser in Australia or the UK - Many thanks!

Also any further suggestions of avenues we can follow to help publisise our case, are really appreciated and we will be contacting those so far suggested. Many thanks to those people who have replied with these ideas.

yafm

Just a thought, how about letters to The Australian, TNT and other newspapers that advertise this company. They are all on the internet so it can be done by e-mail If only ONE of them publishes it would get some notice and snowball Keep smiling

Ross Davis

Many thanks for this - we will give this a go !

We also note this thread got somehow duplicated in the original posting - don't know how this happened !

Ross Davis

Well, its a new week - and still no word from Avalon..despite the MD's promise to come back to us.

We've written to Australian customs - using the web-site that was given on the previous posting. We let them know about the packing of food by Avalon, and await their reply..should be interesting if they pick up on it..

.. we're still following up on everyone's earlier suggestions. Any further ideas are really appreciated !

Many thanks and we'll keep you posted ..

redhead

We have been following your thread - any progress?

yafm

Very interested in results Has the mD come back to you yet?

Ross Davis

Many thanks for your interest guys - Here is an update..

.. we haven't posted onto this thread for a while as there has unfortunately been nothing new to say.

The Avalon Team Relocations/Transeuro Managing Director (Yogesh Mehta) first advised us on the 26th February that he'd reply the following week. On 14th March, he said he was 'auditing our file', and we've heard nothing since..with no further monies offered (be they the full insurance claim, let alone compensation !!)

We've been following up the suggestions people have made on this thread, and we really appreciate all the ideas that have been suggested

We have heard from AQIS this week, having followed the customs route that was suggested, but (quite interestingly), AQIS do not chase up violations of quarantine after the event - how intriguing !

We heard back from FIDI (the international industry body for relocators), and they are looking into our case.

Still no reply from BBC Watchdog, having reminded them a third time. We have been unable to find a fax number for them, and so will be posting our message through snail-mail

More news when Avalon pay us the courtesy of a reply.

Once again, any other ideas from anyone would be gratefully received. This is becoming a wearing battle - but we WILL NOT be giving up !!

yafm

Don't forget a precis of yur problem naming names to the letters page of all and any of the periodicals that have Avalon as a advertiser. TNT The Australian etc.