bionic-bean

Hi all,
Thought it might be useful for anybody starting to contact the shipping companies for quotes and so fort. Just detailing our experience of some of then that we contacted.
I cant give to much bias which ones to use but might give you an idea what we thought.
Here it goes. :-
Contacted 6 companies
Crown
PSS
John Mason
White and Co.
Anglo Pacific
Dorreen Bonner

As with all these companies the first phone call to book an appointment is always important.

Crown :- ,
Pros :- First point of contact on telephone was polite and efficient. Initial quotation appointment arrived several weeks later on the confirmed date and on time. Informative and not too pushy.
Cons :- Passed our telephone number onto several third part companies that then kept phoning and touting for work. This I did not like.
Quotaion was clean and consise and was about right for wath we where taking.

PSS:- ,
Pros :- None - Initial Phone call was polite and arranged for quotation date. Letter received in post detailing who and when was coming.
Day of quotation came and NOBODY turn up. No phone call , no sales person.
Wasted a full day waiting.
Cons :- Can’t be bothered to turn up , Hence 'me' the customer goes else where. Simple market trading conditions.

John Mason :- ,
Pros :- Again initial phone call was polite and helpful. Arrange date for quotation appointment. No sales person arrived when they said. We phoned to confirm if somebody was coming out and they apologized there was a mix up on appointments and would rearrange for the same day. Several hours later sales person turned up and was very apologetic and gave a believable excuse about simply forgetting to enter detailed into PDA rather than the expected - Sorry mate my dog eat my appointment book and the kids have rabies type of excuse.
Quotation arrive in post two days later and was compressive
Cons :- Apart from late, seems OK.

White and Co. ,
Pros. :- None
Cons :- Initial phone call was very poor. Waited several minutes for somebody to answer the phone and then got ' Yer, what do you want' followed by 'Hang on , ill see what I can do' after hang'in on for another minute I put the phone down. Yet another dissatisfied 'me'

Anglo Pacific ,
Pros. :- None found, Did not proceed to arrange an appointment.
Cons :- Phoned for quotation sales appointment but was unable to attend for 6 weeks. by which time it would be too late for booking.

Doreen Bonnar ,
Pro :- Telephone call was quick ,polite and efficient. Made appointment. Sales person turned up on time and on the correct day.
Cons :- Very rushed appointment, Came straight in rushed around the house and got the impression ' I’ve done this for twenty years mate and can do it with my eyes closed' . In and out of our 5 bed room pad in 20 or 25 minutes.
Quote arrived two weeks later and generally didn’t look as neat and organized as the other companies.


Conclusion
Well, there you go, my honest impression of these six, take from it what you want but It really only leaves me to decide between Crown or John Mason. Being a business boss myself with the attitude of Customer is always right and even more right when they had money to spend, doe not seem to ring true with some of the above companies.
We are at the stage today of booking one or the obove to come in and start packing with in the next week. I'll keep you posted on what happens next.
Regards
Bionic and family

Halo

Thanks for a very interesting post.

chris and farideh

Dont book with Crown, total cowboys, broke all are electrical stuff, TV,DVD, Computers, & garden furniture, BBQ, chairs.
If your are a business person, avoid them, they also lie through their teeth, for our 4 bedroom house, they said we needed 20ft container, then on the day of loading they said you needed part share container too, well they kept half our stuff in UK until last month until we paid for it, even thought it was their fault for giving us wrong quote.

winedonju

Hi,

Not that this is up to much but, we moved to Cyprus 18 months ago with a firm called Hackworthy. very very good. Looking at moving to Oz this time next year (from UK...long story, even longer journey!), and first port of call was to ring them, we are now 'up north' and said they could recommend John Mason, as they use him for shipping etc. Having not used him myself, I can't really comment too much, but from experience, always better to go on a recommendation......and he was recommended.
Hope this helps?????? And just out of curiosity, keep us posted.
Donna.

Wheeler-Jones

Hello - I am probably being very cheeky, but I notice you haven't mentioned Pickfords/Allied Pickfords in your list. I only say cheeky as I work for them, but they are a well known company in Australia, so when you are given a door to door service you know it's the same company all the way. To be honest as with all companies they do have their faults, but Australia is generally a non risk country and stuff very rarely goes wrong. If every there is a problem it's usually if contractors are used (and you can always request to have experienced crew members!) or if the volume has been increased/estimated incorrectly.

Anyhoo - it's really interesting for me to read what has been said about the other companies - it amazes me the way certain companies don't realise that the first impression for most people is the most important!

Good luck with your shipping!

Chanelle