pennycat

Having sat through at least 1 hour of google & yell.com searches I pulled of 10 telephone numbers for removalists. I only want 4 estimators but had to open up search again as 7 of the 10 are to busy to come & see me!! They all suggest this is removals harvest time as house market only lively in summer, and that makes me little concerned. Am I just little fish in big pond? Has anyone else found this frustrating situation that removalists seem to be the ones suggesting times for there convenience not mine?

bridiej

I contacted about six companies, one replied straight away and came over to do the estimate, two contacted me by phone / email to give an estimate based on the first guys quote.

That was about two weeks ago that I contacted them.

Today we had another one finally managed to pick up the phone and get in contact!

Seems they can pick and choose...

Centurion

Sadly it is that time of year according to our removal company. Apparantly everyone wants to move in these few months. The joys of a seasonal industry apparantly. You're not alone - deep breaths are required.

One thing about emigrating that I have found - it teaches patience. Alternatively it weeds out the gene pool by removing those with high blood pressure

Best of luck with those quotes.

pennycat

Thanks BridieJ. I also found companies had 2 or 3 different adverts, so at one stage I almost had the same chap coming on same day for supposedly 2 companies? My boss is recomending Brittania but they simply won't come around. Even when I said they are strongly recomended they have left me with a "we will call you if we have someone in your area!" I am in West London not outer hebredies. They said though that I could phone them with another companies quote basis and they would quote. No way. They come here themselves or they lose. Did you feel the same way with the ones that said the same to you?

kevingallen

Bump!!

coxfamuk

Sometimes I think going with local companies is better than national ones. I phoned 6 companies yesterday, 3 local, 3 national. The three local ones all gave me a time there and then and one of the nationals also gave me a time (John Mason's - thanks Bridie!), but the other two (PSS and Worldwide (also known as 1st Call)) said they would phone me back - I am still waiting. I know that there is an element of risk going with local companies, but I feel that sometimes they provide an even better service than the nationals, because you are no longer just a number, but a valued customer. We are lucky in that we live near portsmouth, so we have a range of international shippers to choose from because of the proximity to the harbour.

Good luck with it all, though.

Sarah

Pollyana

I wouldn't say that all local companies are the same, as I am sure they are not, but BE CAREFUL!
I went with a local firm recommended by a colleague, because I got personalised service, they delivered boxes to me, we exchanged emails on first name terms, and I went down to the warehouse to look round - treated very pleasantly. In fact I would have recommended them to anyone, until.....
-they sent an old guy and his daughter in a tatty transit van to collect my stuff "Sorry our regular van is in London with a load already" I did more moving than the daughter did, and they dropped one box from the top of the stairs to the bottom "oops, never mind"
- stuff collected Oct 15th, and was promised to be in Tilbury for shipping within 4 days.....October 30th, day before I flew out "its all in the warehouse here still as our regular van is in London with a load already......"
-Stuff finally sent to Tilbury mid November - at which point they admitted they had lost the Customs forms, so I had to send new ones from Aus.
-promised all along that they would tell me which ship/importer etc - but with only a two man band, as it turned out, they lost all the faxes, and told me the wrong ship (twice) and the wrong importer.
-Worst of all, they finally admitted that small firms like themselves do not do the actual shipping - the usually sub-contract that to one of the Big Boys - in my case, ***** ******** - who proved to be just as bad as the original firm.
The final bill had to be paid of course before the importers released the goods - I was surprised to see an extra £60 for re-labelling of the boxes (all packed myself) as they were labelled as I had been told.........when the boxes were delivered, hmmm, looks like my original labels to me.

Sorry to go on like this, but shipping is important, and I guess we all want to support local companies.If you use a local one, check who actually ships the container, check who imports it, and if you have any doubts, pull out of the deal.

Anyone starting to think now about shipping should also remember that Christmas is not really far off, and Australian ports close. The backlog builds up, Customs are inundated in the New Year....My stuff arrived on Boxing Day, and was released by Customs in mid February - no reason except for a backlog.(thats the one thing I can't blame ALS of Hove, or ***** ******** for!)

Aus4us

Sounds like a nightmare with customs!!!

We were hopeing to ship our container in Nov, Looks like we will be caught up in the backlog!!!! At least we know!!! We can try to be prepared and allow extra transit time!!!

kevingallen

I have heard that providing you have your own use conatiner, then 8 weeks including customs is reasonable. If you have shared use then this is when you have to pick the main ones otherwise your goods wait for ever in the UK. I have also been told to never choose a company that encourages to the port, as regular overseas shippers will have there own office or at least a close partner who will provide better rates to them as they are trading customers (ie. Aus to Uk customers given back). Door to Door therefore.

coxfamuk

Point taken and thanks, I will definitely be on the lookout. At the moment our favourites are John Masons, simply because they have already provided us with so much information, but until we get the quotes in, it is going to be difficult to say who we will go with.

Sarah

pennycat

This is all interesting, we never really considered a local firm, I guess we looked at ours from TNT mag, and searching google for intl movers. Yellow pages I see has a lot of local movers & actually one two streets down from me that I didnt even know was there! I have heard also that you must take door to door to Australia, because for overseas removalists they will get cheaper rates, so effectively you dont have the hassle of the customs and it costs you no more. It would be intersting to know cox family how the prices compared, between major & minor movers. Would you let us know on this post & I will let you know the results of the 4 we have planned over the next 4 days.