newlife_downunder

We are eventually putting our UK property on the market, so need to start organising shipping our personal possessions.
The only thing is I am reading so many stories of different shipping companies that it is blowing my mind
We are based in Southampton so if anyone has the name of the best international removals to use then please let me know. I know at the end of the day it's only "stuff" but some is sentimental.

Also whats the score with shipping mountain bikes and camping equipment (tents etc) our tent cost quite a lot of hard earned cash and it seems a shame to get rid and it is like brand new, so am I guessing as long as you clean it with jeyes fluid and it is free from dirt etc they'll allow it in?

Thanks in advance I know all these answers are on here somewhere, but I only have access to internet at work LOL

Sally Simpson

Yes plenty of previous threads on the subject so if you do search, use the advanced search facility to narrow it down.
Essentially, take everything & clean it all well.
Get multiple quotes from the companies & pick their brains whilst they are in your house to do the estimate.
Crown, John Masons, Doree Bonner are all popular.
Check out the agent that they will use Aus side also & check carefully what the price includes.
Usually cheaper to arrange insurance independently. Try Letton Percival for this.

Good luck & hope this helps as a starter!

Tubbs2Oz

Hi there,

We're just over in Fordingbridge. We're using Brittania, although Doree Bonner come highly recommended and will try to match other quotes, they also would have given us 4 weeks free storage in Oz - time got too tight for us and we'd already accepted.

Camping stuff and bikes are fine, but you have to clean them really well. We still need to do our tents. We were told that if they're really clean and smell of dettol (not sure we're going to dettol the tents!) then they should be fine. At the end of the day it's all a gamble, the worst that "should" happen is that you get charged a cleaning fee if they're not happy.

Good luck. We have to get ours clean and dry by next Wed!!!

tawkins1

We are using Crown We had them booked for tomorrow but after a call from our solicitor on Friday our buyers buyer is having problems with their mortgage offer & can't sign this week Therefore Crown has re booked us for 7th Sept when hopefully everything is sorted & transfered the deposit over too so we have lost nothing
Crown where the ONLY company who quoted us for EVERYTHING from packing to unpacking (except if customs find anything they want to destroy!) Seem very proffessional & you use them both ends.... quoted £3585 for 20ft sole use container to Perth

tawkins1

There is a chance we may be using John Masons now as Crown are fully booked up & cannot accommodate the dates we need. Its not Crowns fault tho our buyers buyers have really been messing us about.... Crown will not be charging us anything to cancel our original agreement either. John Mason haven't quoted us for all the customs charges etc but they were only £3130.. We liked both companies but thought Crown had the edge over everyone else.. Ah well never mind i'm sure John Masons will do a gr8 job

Katz

Hi Tawkins1.

could you please let me know your volume in cft or cbm as stated on your quote?

Thank you and good luck!

tawkins1

900cbft

tawkins1

Oh happy days Crown can accommodate us for the dates we want! Coming next Wednesday now & our container will arrive in Oz on 19th Oct, we arrive the 21st!!!!

clairey b

Hi there

We used John Masons, and i have to say they have been absolutely brilliant. Our stuff took exactly 4 weeks to arrive here, and within a week it had arrived at Wridgeways (their agent here) depot, and got through customs and quarrantine, they then delivered the day we wanted-fantastic service!!

We found Wridgeways brilliant, and the guys who delivered and unpacked for us were fab!! and even had a courtesy call few days later-can't ask for more!

Hope this helps!

Claire

hanwilt

We are using John Masons too and I am really impressed so far. They came today and took all our stuff and I really liked the guys who came felt safe with them and they were very patient with me.

Our bloke in Liverpool is also patient and helpful answering all queries with an immediate phone call.

Obviously we have a few weeks to go for things to happen to our belongings but it is all clearly labelled and so we shall wait and see.

I am now excited that things are happening the label 'WILTSHIRE Sydney' on our boxes was the most real thing about this whole process.

asher

please be aware if using letton percival for insurance that the small print says they won't cover you during storage
It is also easier to get small stuff sorted using the companies own insurance

we used letton percival as it's way cheaper but looked on it as a gamble that the worst would happen at sea

ice mocha

hey wow!! so what are you doing between next week and october when you fly???

tawkins1

Moving in with my mum & dad. They are emigrating too but they haven't sold their house yet. We'll just get over there & get ourselves sorted for when they arrive. They too wanna live in Ellenbrook so they wont be too far behind us

ice mocha

wooooooooooooo lucky you!!!

what area will you be moving to then..?

mcmorrow1

We used John Masons about 4 years ago,couldn,t fault them at all and were quite competetive on price.