Please could you all give me a bit of urgent advise regarding our shipping arrangements?
Finished work on Friday, excited about our final move to Adelaide and got home to my very distraut wife telling me that the shipping agent is saying that we only have 10 cubic feet left which has thrown our whole world into chaos. Still got loads to go into container!
Background: We were told by the shipping company that a 20 foot sea container would be more than adequate for all the houshold items we intended to take, bearing in mind that we have let the house part furnished, ie: no white goods, no wardrobes, no televisions etc. The packers arrived on Thursday and began the process, whichwas to continued on Friday and Monday. We were told that the sea container would be delivered on the Tuesday and be packed on site. This is where the problems start: The packer said that they did not think the container would be able to turn into the drive so they loaded our stuff into their van to store back at the shipping yard. (a little worried about how secure the yard is, but OK)
Last thing on Friday night, my wife got a call saying we were reaching capacity and only had 10 cubic feet left, so we were to decide what we didny really need! So panic set in as you can imagine. Still have all my trade tools, beds(not mattresses) to go and final bed clothes, plates, cutlery etc.
After calming down a bit, got up on Saturday and started to think, capacity of container: 20 x 8 x 8 equals 1280 cubic feet. he packers have been using three box sizes, small for books and heavy items, medium for general stuff and taller boxes for clothes which they say will go on top of others.
Furniture items taken: two setees, (three seater and two seater) one tv stand, one tallboy chest of draws. one hi fi unit and one dressing table.

Working on the medium size box: 1.5 x 1.5 x 2 feet, equals 4.5 cubic feet.
So, 1280 divided by 4.5 equals 284 boxes. I realise that there will be wasted space, so setting aside 10 percent this leaves capacity for around about 250 boxes? Does this sound right?

My wife has signed off 92 boxes which are sitting at the yard. Irealise that the furniture items are taking up some of this space and have estimated this to be about 80 boxes equivalent space? So 250 minus 172 equals 78 boxes should still fit? So we should have about 30 percent of the container left?

Got to go down to the yard on Monday and dont Know how to handle this guy! My 17 year old son says that the office has been constantly ringing the packers on their mobiles telling them that they are needed on another job and witnessed a heated conversation about the packer not being able to take his holiday because they are too busy! The packers have been moping around in bad moods due to the pressure coming down in constant streams from their boss at the office! Whats going on?

From where we stand, the two packers have been doing an excellent job and have been helpful, quick as lightning and very thorough at all times in spite of the continued stress from their office based boss.

Please, please give me any advise that you can B.E. and the sooner the better!

It sounds very odd. They won't have underestimated the volume of you stuff.

Can you get the phone number of the managing director of the shipping company? Or phone someone at your insurers? Or contact the professional organisation http://www.bifa.org/content/home.aspx

Best of luck.

I think (and hope) that lots of people have managed with a 20 ft container, so not sure what is happening here.

Which company is it? Someone else who has used them may be able to comment better.

Best of, anyway.

Which company are you using? Sounds quite strange. We had a 20' container for our stuff. 2 and 3 seater settees, another 3 seater settee, 1 king size bed, 1 double bed and 2 single beds, kitchen table and chairs, 3 tvs, tv units, wall units (6 of them I think) camping equipment, 4 bikes, fridge and freezer, tumble dryer, all our books, dvds etc, a playroom full of toys, clothes, kitchen stuff (pots pans, crockery etc). And there was room to spare. What is in the contract you signed? If you are going on site, I would insist on seeing the container and how it is all packed in. Do you have the contact details for the specific sales person you dealt with? Can they pack the container on the road outside your house? Also, 4 days to pack up?? Ours arrived on the Monday, packed most stuff up, back on the Tuesday, finished packing (beds etc), the container arrived about 10 am and they were all done and dusted by 2pm. Just 2 of them too.

Hope you get it sorted

Than you all for your replies, we really appreciate it. Rasen 78, thanks for the detailed info, this has reassured us that something is amiss. Wish we had not agreed for them to take our stuff off site now. Sherlock Holmes, company is Britannia, Greers, the boss refered to in my posting is the 'managing director'. Lesleys, thanks for the link, my wife dealt with the managing director from the offset, all sounded great and we were told that there would be ample room. He did not visit the house but asked us for a full list of all items and how many boxes of toys, tools etc. We estimated well over the top, espacially for the garage. Estimated around 20 for garage but only had around 10. These are still to go! Dismantled beds this morning, but have been wondering why im even bothering if theres no room. (must stop being negative)

Ok guys, thanks again, well see what Monday brings!

We had something very simialar to you regarding parking but it was park further down the street, so the packers would fill their mini van up & fill the container that way.
We used crown & they told us we only needed 20ft container but, when it came to the last load of boxes they said they couldn't fit them in we didn't know at the time.
we had to fork out another £600 before they send the rest of our stuff to us.
We did argue with them but they said if you want your stuff that's what needed to be done, you guys are very lucky that you are in the country we were in Australia when they got in touch with us.

Four days to pack is ridiculous, something is definitely not being done right. We had a 40ft container and it only took 1.5 days to pack.

It is very difficult to say whether 20 ft was right for you though. We needed 40ft and we also had no white goods, no wardrobes and we only own one television. It really depends on how big your stuff is and how much you have!

Thanks again guys, will tell you what happens after tommorrws meeting with the packing boss/managing director. Will try to argue our case and see how far it gets us. We feel that we have been misadvised.

All the best, FAIRGO.

What a nightmare for you! Fingers crossed you have better luck today, it's a stressful time moving as it is without these idiots adding to it. All the best

I have Britannia coming around Tuesday morning to do an estimate!

Good luck and really hope you get everything sorted

Thanks for posting again. It's always appreciated that those who have tried to help are updated later.

I haven't heard of Britannia. I've never heard of a company not visiting to have a measure up either. I would say that they are def. in the wrong for trying to tackle it the way they have. Sorry I can't be more positive.

As I understand it bed sizes are slightly different in Australia so it may not be worth you taking the bases without the mattresses. If you do a search on bedding sizes on the site it will bring up info from previous posts.

We had a quote from Britannia. Really didn't like the fella though, quite condescending and patronising. One of the reason we didn't choose them.

I've never heard of shippers not coming out to estimate for themselves, they are generally of the opinion that home owners know nothing (in fairness, they're generally right when it comes to visualising their stuff in a container). We had a large 3 bedded house with numerous sheds and we took everything, all furniture, white goods, workshop tools etc and the shippers got it all in a 20foot reefer.

We had pss out they came out and gave us a estimate ,when they came round and packed everything I asked them how much .m3 was on the truck they said someone would be intouch to let us know and then we could pay.

We never heard from them when I phoned up to ask what was going on they said that our stuff was on the boat on its way.when I told them we had not paid panic the other end of phone,they then wanted to charge us more. Even though we actually sent less.then you get it's only a estimate .
I would be very suspicious something not right with the original post