Your input needed on Removers!!
 

I think many of us would like the forum's collective opinions of the merits of various removal companies.

I propose setting up a poll and asking all those who have made the move to indicate whether the company they used was satisfactory or unsatisfactory overall.

The trouble with doing it the usual way is that most of us only have experience of one company, and a poll will often not mention that one.

So, to try and get a representative cross-section of removers, could all of you who have moved to Oz just send me a PM - just say which you used. I will then be able to set up a poll which might be of help to those of us still to move!

Ill try and get it on the forum by the weekend.

great idea as we are just getting all the quotes in at the momet!

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

I'm seriously concidering ding it myself followng on from Sandra and Larrissa's posts but still concerned so great idea

Kala

Don't touch ***** ********!!:scared: :scared:
Some people have done OK with them, but someone has had some Redneck Neanderthals round from them to do the packing, and I wouldn't touch 'em with a very very long barge pole.
Rog, also, as you are in Sussex, DO NOT USE the local Hove company ALS World Movers on Knoll Estate - bunch of crooked idiots.......:confused:

C'mon folks - I need more input from those of you who've actually used removers, in order to set up a poll that is relevant.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

Excess Baggage.

Yep, Excess Baggage were good, shipped a couple of last minute boxes with them by air. Dropped off at LHR, turned up on time, no hassle.
If they are as good with larger consignments you'd have no concerns.

we used crown removals and they were great from start to finish, highly recommened

cats

Ive just cancelled Anglo Pathetci...they were supposed to be coming round 2 give me a quote....but due to everyones posts I decided not to bother!

I used Voovit.com
5 out of 5 boxes damaged. Fork lift driver said mine were some of the better condition Voovit boxes he had seen and showed me the Voovit section of the warehouse. Plies of clothes and smashed up CD's and personal items were all over the floor. Needless to say avoid them unless you are shipping worthless items!

a friend of mine recently recommended robinsons very highly.

We used Allied Pickfords, are stuff is in transit as we speak, although we are in the Uk until 7th Sept, they have (so far) been brilliant, on time, in fact early, polite, and efficient, i would highly reccommend them!
rach x

Loose used Seven Seas to ship his lonely 5 boxes....we'll have to wait and see if they're any good for small consignments!

My stuff is still in transit but Crown have been very good so far - and I booked at fairly short notice.

Elaine M;)

Hi Rog

Got 9 quotes while in uk very large variation in rpice assistance and knowledge not to mention 'guesswork' of the space needed.
Accepted PSS who use Kents this side Both excellent cannot fault them for their knowledge and assistance.
Only problem we had was with the monies getting to the correct office as there was a hiccup on the on line banking. This was sorted out however and no more p[roblems - it may have been 50% our problem as we had moved from our uk base before we finalised the insurance list.

Recommend them any time.:D Yvonne

We used Doree Bonner Intl. Not the cheapest quote, but highly recommended by friends. 40 ft container, a few broken pieces of glassware/picture glass which I consider acceptable. However not much care taken with low value items. Most lampshades crushed, lots of toy boxes bent, kids pics screwed in a ball, etc. Worst was my matress, folded in half for 3 months "it will be fine mate" which now has a big ridge in the middle. Like every mover I have ever used the packers/unpackers (Grace this end) treat the client as an annoying nag, and ignore everything you say because they know better. It was agreed by estimator and packers that nothing would be marked PBO (& therefore uninsured), but at least 8 boxes were - too lazy to repack them. Several boxes were labelled Jones not James and the numbering/labelling was very inacurate. This is particularly annoying as DBI stress their 'premium' service. I would not recommend them unless you are able watch them pack every box!
Thanks for the opportunity to have my rant

This will bump the thread back to the top.

I have a list of almost 15 removers, and the no. of answers a poll will allow is 15. So I will actually post two polls - each with the same list of removers but one for "satisfactory" and one for "Unsatisfactory"

Hopefully we'll get some feedback?

We used Robinsons, as did some friends of ours, and they were dreadful. Poorly packed tables, sofas and pictures were damaged. The muppets they use this end had to be chased every step of the way AND it took 4 months to get my claim settled!

Complete shower don't touch 'em

Having read ythese posts I am even more thankful we used PSS. The men in uk were excellent and did everything we asked and a bit more None of our boxes were pabelled PBO and they even marked them with the contents that I told them ie Food dried pasta and etc tea and Coffee. A couple of the boxes were checked by customs as they were food but we were ok. The boys this end were fantastic and so speedy. They would not let me give thnem refreshments as they had brought their own and would drink on the run. We had one breakage a ceramic flower pot which was my fault as I had put two in together and they had been packed that way. Although australaia is not a 'tipping' community I was so pleased with them that I did tip them an d they were amazed. highly recommended:D

We used Robinsons and have no complaints, seemed very thorough,
I dont know if this sort of post will help to choose a company I think the "blindfold and pin" method might be better,
use it a lot myself.

Your input needed on Removers!!
 

Hiya

As we speak our worldly goods are in transit with Allied Pickfords. The guys that came were great, very professional and excellent knowledge of the job ect. It was just a shame the office side of things were a bit of of a let down. All in all so far so good. We will wait and see what the ozzie side of Pickfords is like. I would recommend them highly and would use them again without hesitation. They were not the cheapest but we found the service they offered to be the best.
Hope this helps you make your descion.

Vickeyvixen

we r in the proccess of usin Allied Pickfords....they have been superb so far...and we are just waiting on our goods to be delivered............hopefully befor Gryffs the witch.......lol u know me loves ya babes.....will keepu all posted on the final outcome :)

WE HAVE CLEARED CUSTOMS AND QUARENTINE SO NOW AWAITING DELIVERY OF ME STUFF WILL LET U ALL KNOW:D

We used Bickfords out of Gloucester. Very professional, gave a door to door price. Watched them pack and everything was well padded.

Then it went through Customs in Oz. The packages were opened and repacked at random. Here is the rub. The removers at this end were not under our control. Items were jumbled up and repacked in different boxes, there was no way to check for missing items on delivery.

We are only now realising the stuff that is missing. The answer probably is to attend the customs inspection, not a total answer but might reduce risk.

Whether losses were due to carelessness or theft we cannot tell. this repacking at random would make claims under insurance very difficult.

Thanks - I will keep the two polls active for a while.

Might be worth checking who did the repacking. Everything unpacked by Customs and AQIS should be repacked by them. My only damamged items were in boves repacked by AQIS, and the guys who delivered them apologised. They said they don't get access until everything is repacked, and AQIS are supposed to repack in the original boxes - so they should check one box at a time.

Problem is you only do this once in a lifetime (I hope) and like installing a boiler, you make all the mistakes the first time and then every body else is able to learn from your mistakes. Ah well thats life I suppose.

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

Hi Rog

Did you do this poll? If so, could you point me to it? Reading through the threads it seems Crown gets good feedback. Allied Pickfords is mixed as is Robinsons with PSS good too.

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

There were two -

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=245663

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=245664

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

Thanks very much for that; very helpful. We used Ansett Wridgways when we moved back from Oz and they were good. Unfortunately, Ansett went into administration some years back but it seems Wridgways are still around - www.wridgways.com.au. I think they used Crown at this end.

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

We are expecting to get our stuff cleared later this week (Crown). Most of it's going back into store but we have arranged to pick up some 11 or 12 boxes (Important things like golf clubs!).

Will report on the condition etc.

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

JUst gonna put in my 2 pence worth on this thread..

I also chose crown due to the good reports they get on this forum, my stuff was collected on the 13th Novemebr from Crawley west sussex, I am in Australia and have been fro over a month now and my stuff is still in London. Not expected to arrive in Perth until 23rd Dec so I'd say I am looking at the end of Jan for delivery. so what was promised to be 6-12 weeks is now looking more like 15-16 weeks, I was very impressed until I found this out and will let you know the outcome of my complaint.

Good luck to al of you moving
Kala

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

great Idea especially as we have to pick one soon.

Cheers
Brian & Elaine

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

Cant find the edit button anymore, too much time off this forum I meant to say the 13th September as the date my stuff was collected.

I am in the process of making my fealings made clear to Crown, hopefully as they have such a good write up on this forum I will be able to continue this trait. Mistakes can be made, it is unfortunate that the mistake has been made on me, but in my oppinion it is only an acceptable mistake if the complaint is dealt with in an appropriate mannor.

Hopefully I can get back to you all with some good news. No point being a great company if you cant admit and take the apprpriate action when you do cock up eh?

Cheers
Kala

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

My twelve cases from Crown arrived "home" OK: they (Crown) were most efficient in isolating them after AQIS clearance and allowed us to pick them up from their modern storage facility.

A couple of china ornamental birds broken in these 12 boxes: not unexpected since they were very delicate. The other 184 boxes will have to wait until we have a home (no quotes!)

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

We used John Masons.....They were fantastic the UK end as the day they were at the house packing the boxes was the day we found out our house sale fell through. For a while we thought we would have to wait until the house sold and we told them this and there was no word on storage charges or anything like that.

When we eventually decided to go on our original date, we just called them and they worked really hard to get our boxes on the very next ship leaving.

Our things left the UK on the 9th of September. We left the UK on the 14th September. Our ship arrived on the 12th of October and we had our things delivered on the 27th October.

Of our 15 or so boxes, only 3 of them were opened this end for checking and the only breakages we had was the glass on one picture frame.

We couldnt be happier with the service we received. John Masons used Kent this end and they were really good as well.

The 15 boxes we had only cost us just a little under £400!!

Hels

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

Allied Pickfords are great in the UK - unfortunately the only part that is great is their salesman and the people who do the packing - once they have your stuff - the service goes downhill - they have lost 3 of our cartons, damaged the fridge,tv and broken a lamp

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

Similar experience with Allied Pickfords - broken and lost things, and very disappointed with the service at this end.

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

We used John MAsons twice. 253 boxes by sea and 15 boxes by air. They were very good both times.

Sea shipment took 3 days to pack, delivered by Kent International here. We had a few broken plates, a dented microwave and a small painting went missing - somewhere in AQIS unpacking and repacking we think. We put in an insurance claim (lots of photos) and were paid the full claim (£700) immediately. The problems were nothing to do with John Mason, they get our full recommendation.

The airfreight arrived unscathed. Only problem there was AQIS holding my teddy bear to ransom until he was fumigated for a payment of $100. He is old and has some straw stuffing, though I can't really imagine he's too much of a threat to the Australian environment.

AQIS also steam-cleaned 9 pairs of shoes in the main shipment at $22 per pair. We think it makes them feel better if they charge you for at least one thing in every shipment, just to make it all worthwhile - all that box opening and repacking.

John Masons get our vote. Pickfords do seem to get more bad reviews than anyone else.

Good luck

Lesley

Re: Your input needed on Removers!!
 

Hi
Have already had a good old rant on a few posts with my views on shippers. We used JOHN MASON to ship from the UK in Aug 2003 and would never use again. We accept that a few things will break...thats part and parcel of a UK to Aus shipment unfortunately...what we don't accept is the things that were badly packed that I put on the post entitled something like Shipping Companies. One item I didn't metion that was again of sentimental value is that I had a plastic box in our second bedroom were I had put all our ornaments...it was packed by wrapping two sheets of paper around it!!! Not one ornament was packed individually...one that was badly broken was the ornament I was given by my parents when I gradusted from Uni (the last present I was given by them prior to their divorce) Sentimental value again...
Having unpacked everything now - if it wasn't so serious this would be a joke!!! They ignore e-mails and letters of complaint.
PLEASE DON'T USE THEM
Take it from me John Mason shut off all responsibility once our container drove away. This company define the word unprofessional. We chose this company after recommendations on this site but I cannot sit by and hear others recommend them after our experience...if you survived John Mason I am pleased for you but we didn't. Be warned and if you are about to get quotes, please ignore them.
If you want to know more then please pm me...I am happy to give you more info. We all know that things will get broken as I said thats life/sods law/etc but when it is down to shoddy packing....followed by ignoring e-mails and letters...well???
Best wishes
Susan