desperatehousewife

We've got a few different shipping companies coming round next week to give us quotes so I'll be able to find out the definitive answer then.

In the meantime though can anyone let me know what the usual payment terms would be, for example would the whole lot need to be paid in advance, or is it part payment on departure, part on arrival?

Any advice from those of you with past experience would be great.

Lindsay x

Iwannabethere

Ours was payable in full a week before packers started. John Masons.

desperatehousewife

Thanks for that, I was hoping we could spread the cost a bit

Although at least if it was all up front it'd be one less payment to worry about on arrival

Lindsay x

kirstyp

Hi Lindsay,

Most removal companies will take payment in advance, normally in clear funds at least 7 days before the collection date.

Just a note given the current economic climate, it might be a good idea to ask if your mover is a member of the BAR Overseas Moving group as they sign up to the IMMI financial bonding scheme that provides an Advance Payment Guarantee - this means even if your mover ceases to trade after you have made payment your service will still be carried out by another BAR member therefore your payment is protected.

The only fee that is not always pre-paid would be customs duties and inspection fees, so make sure to ask what is and what isnt included.

Hope that helps!

Kirsty

desperatehousewife

Thanks Kirsty

Great advice, especially regarding the bonding scheme

Lindsay x

saxtonj

HI, we have had three round, PSS, Anglo Pacific and Crown. All require £250 deposit on Booking then the balance when they have packed. It's not until they have actually packed and itemised everything that they get an accurate volume and can calculate the full bill. It's only an estimate in cu feet when they give initial quotes. I'm finding they do charge slightly differently per cu feet and for the storage in UK and AUS. The insurance rates are slightly diff too, 2.5%, 2.8% and 3%.

Anyone any advice re shipping, insurance, storage etc?

Thanks

slipshot

We went with PSS in Jan and had 6 quotes all in all. Narrowed it to 2, then one made an error and came back a lot more. So went with PSS. We agreed we would pay them £250 deposit and then we did not pay the full invoice until 2 weeks after they packed (we paid it from Aus at that time). We had an invoice sent prior to leaviing that had some additional charges on - I phoned and said we agreed a price and while I accpet fuel can chnage, other costs were in there I did not want and we agreed to cancel them.

Plus, insurance. Negotiate. And you'll win - we agreed that we'd do 2.8% with PSS if it was less than £40,000 of value and 2.5% if more. We knew it would be about this, so we worked it out properly at about £38,000, so bumped it to 40k and got the 2.5%.

Our container left on 11 Jan, missed the connection by hours in Singapore and arrived in Melbourne last night (hooray!). Now just hope customs are not busy and feeling nice!

Have an empty rental waiting to be filled, kids dying to wear something different and us wating to leave MIL to her peace!

desperatehousewife

So worth negotiating both on payment terms and insurance

Great, fingers crossed its through customs in no time

Lindsay x

slipshot

Defo worth negotiating on both the costs and the insurance. We did with both, and basically got about £600 knocked off the cost to bring it in line with what we wanted. This was down to about 6k on a 40ft container, sole use, to Melb.

As for insurance, they'll all tell you the benefits, but the key thing for us was that the marine insurance would not cover the packing or unpacking (amazingly), thus if anything happened you would not be covered. But get them to bring down the percentage or work on something to your advantage, depending on the amount of stuff you have. We moved a large 5 deb detached house so had a lot.

desperatehousewife

We're looking at moving about the same, I'll definatly haggle once i get the quotes in

if you don't ask.......................

Lindsay x

krunchynutt

Ours landed australia day at st patricks docks, cleared customs last friday.....just to give you an idea... hope this helps

MillsyandtheTroop

We used John Masons and didn't have to pay 'till after we moved out - not even a deposit!! As we were using proceeds from the sale of the house to pay for the shipping, they accepted a letter from our solicitor stating that once the sale was complete, there was enough funds to cover their bill. Best check with each company what they offer. The ball is firmly in your court as they are after your business after all...

slipshot

Blimey - that was long then. However, I have no idea where you are or where St Patricks docks are so I imagine that makes a difference depending on workload and everything. I suspect it will be 1-2 weeks as that's what is has been in the past but who knows - customs are their own law!