Best Shipping company?
 

Can anyone advise on good reliable shipping companies??

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

i can warn against a very poor one: Simpsons UK

they took over twice as long to deliver as quoted and tried to charge us for almost double the actual volume of our consignment.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

GB Liners did an excellent job for me: http://www.gbliners.com/

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

great thank you

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We were looking at shipping companies as well and our research on here seemed to suggest PSS as the best choice, but ultimately it will depend how much stuff you have etc.

We are going to get quotes from 4 or 5 and see what turns up. There seem to be a few to avoid, one of which has been mentioned above.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We used White & Co. Their rates were very competitive and we were very pleased with the whole service. :)

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We used GB Liners and I highly recommend them... smoothly handled on both sides of the ocean! :thumbsup:

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

EVL were the cheapest and best for me, they used Atlantic & Pacific shipping
$8000inc tax for a full door to door service pack dismantle etc and un pack 2-weeks shipping...excellent

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

My son used PSS - whilst the UK end were reasonably good, the Canadian Agents are not.

PSS collected his shipment on 31st August, then it sat in England until the 28th September.

The container arrived in Toronto, a week later he still hadn't heard from the agents. He called them and they said they would get back to him within a couple of days, another week went past and he called them again - 5 times before he actually got to speak to the person necessary (everytime he tried he was passed on to the wrong person). She said she would try and find out where his shipment was but needed to talk to various departments to ascertain it's whereabouts. Despite promising to call him back, nobody did.

He finally got an email 2 days ago saying he had to go to Customs (which we knew) and enclosing the paperwork. We went there yesterday - took about 5 minutes to get the stamp on the paperwork.

Time from pick-up to dispatch onto ship, 28 days.
Time for travel between UK and Canada, 10 days
Time from container entry into Canada to customs clearance - 20 days.
Total time - 60 days (they are supposed to be delivering in a couple of days).

Total cost, £1200 plus £400 insurance - £1600

He now wishes he had used Air Transat Air Cargo for his complete shipment!

He airfreighted 130kg when he flew in, which cost £150 - the price goes down for each 30kg you send and the total shipment (around 1000kg including that airfreighted already) would have cost in the region of £800-900. Insurance on Air Cargo is 1% as opposed to the 4-5% he paid for the sea-cargo. He would have saved more than £800 if he had airfreighted the whole lot. (I wish I hadn't told him to send it by sea!)

Additionally, his shipment would have been available to him 3 hours after he landed.

If you don't have a major amount of items to send (he had 58 packages including 2 couches that broke down to 6 pieces and a chest) then I would suggest contacting Air Transat Cargo and getting a quote.


:)

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We used www.excessbaggage.com

Excellent service and the cheapest for us BY FAR! Local company in Canada were excellent.....nothing but good things to say about both.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We used Robinsons International, provided a first class service and cheaper than PSS. Our furniture arrived last month - agents in Calgary (Williams Moving International) provided excellent service. We have been extremely happy with the overall service provided.

Poppit

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Who was the delivery agent in Canada?

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Where are you based?

I know a good family run one in Hampshire did great job for us and excellent price no frills though very well packed. Not one item damaged or broken at this end on delivery.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

gb liners was good for us.

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I used Robinsons to move to Calgary, and to put it as politely as forum rules will allow, they sucked big time.

First, they loaded the original quotation after collection of my goods on the pretext of an increase in "shipping costs" (I would caution everyone using international shippers to watch out for this particular scam). Then, due to a delay in my immigration being processed, I got hammered for additional storage costs and marine insurance premiums (the latter in particular being extortionate).

It got worse. Upon delivery, I discovered a significant amount of damage to my goods. The movers at Calgary (AMJ Campbell - they were great) were clearly very embarrassed to unwrap my belongings and find the amount of damage that they did. The AMJ Campbell guy said it was some of the worst packing at the UK end he had ever seen, and that this was the direct cause of the damage that occurred. Thinking back, when my stuff was packed, only two packers turned up from Robinsons (there should have been three) and one of these was a casual whom they had drafted in at short notice due to staff shortages. No coincidence then that most of the boxes containing damaged items bore his initials. Suffice to say that a big insurance claim has gone in, but this will in no way compensate for the trauma of the damage that was caused, something I could well do without given the usual stresses of moving to a new country and which sadly ruined the experience of moving to my new home.

I appreciate that there will be some on here that have had a great experience with Robinsons, and think they are wonderful. However, I can only pass on my own experience, and based on this my honest advice would be to avoid Robinsons like the plague.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Hi
We're only in Sussex so might be interested in the company you used, what was there name? Thanks :teeth_smile:

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Hi
We went with The Moving Partnership (Tracey 01379 851075...mention me if you call please) and they were very good....very fast delivery into Montreal from Uk. We did it for 5333 pounds for a 40' container with full export pack and unpack.

We had some problems when it arrived here as the Agent in Canada then passed it to another company who did not manage to contact me until the container had been sitting on a truck bed for a whopping 21 days. Incurring thousands of $'s in charges.....so I got onto Tracey at The Moving Partnership and she immediately sorted everything out.

They paid for its release and then will reclaim the money off the Agent who did not have the sense to go back to who had given him the job...preferring to try searching my obsolete account on Facebook, so as I had changed e-mail addresses...facebook was not given my new one, so I did not get the message. When he eventually made contact...he said that his next course of action was to drive down from Toronto to Windsor to try and find me....absolutely crazy.

The upshot of this for me was a delay I needed so it did not have to go into storage until my rental was available.


This was not The Moving Partnership's fault and the way they handled it was superb. I believe it is a measure of a company, how they handle any problems...and they were superb.

They can give really good deals as they are able to search the whole market for shipping companies. What a lot of people don't realise is that some of the bigger companies are affiliated to certain shipping lines...who do not offer good prices...so they are unable or unwilling to trim costs.

Good luck with your move
Stef

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

I agree with Lins,

We used the moving partnership, through Tracey. The move was handled very professionally.

We had Thomas Casserleys, Britannia removals on the UK side, who did an amazing job.
We had AMJ Campbell from Edmonton on this side, who once again did a fantastic job.

From leaving our house in the UK, to arriving at our house in Edmonton was 4 weeks. No damage found as of yet.

We paid £4100 for a sole use 20` container.

Nige

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

I strongly advise against using PSS. Terrible packing by the UK team, who funnily enough disliked our criticism of their methods. It has caused much distress now that our goods have arrived and been unpacked. The Canadian agents and delivery guys however, were excellent and polite.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We are using GB Liners too, so far so good! We also liked them because they are local to us in Cheltenham, and we like the idea that there is a local office so we can go and see them in person if we want.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Does anyone have any good things to say about PSS? We've just signed the paperwork and the cheque for the deposit is in the post. Should I be cancelling it? They were as competitive as anyone else and actually slightly overestimated the volume of or stuff to give us a bit of leeway....

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Hi
Based on what everyone has said, I would cancel and go with someone else, tell them why you are cancelling and they may just 'up their game' in future. We went for an independant company who was able to undercut everone else massively and because they are independant....they are not affiliated to just certain shipping companies....like a lot of the bigger players are.

Ask yourself....based on what has been said here....would you now feel confident that your stuff is in the right hands....why add the constant worry to your list of concerns. We used The moving Partnership.....

Moving Partnership Limited
0845 0037335
++ 44 1379 851075
[email protected]
www.movingpartnership.co.uk

They will tell you the companies they are using for your move....in our case it was Hamiltons of East Anglia this side and Atlantic and Pacific delivered. We were able to have a look at the companies before they shipped...just to reassure ourselves of their credentials. The most important thing in the move, is how it is packed in the first place. We had NO breakages. If you get a quote say I sent you...good bonhomie and all that.:thumbsup:

They cost us £5333 for a full export pack in 40' container....others were quoting between 7k and 12k.
Good luck with whatever decision you make and with your move
Stef

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

hi
we have just moved to lethbridge alberta from NE England. We used EVL Shipping and they were fantastic. We did DIY shipping which cut the costs in half. We had sole use of a 40ft container door to door which only took 4 weeks and cost us 2800 (pounds). We would advise them to anyone and it does not matter where in the UK you live, they will come to you wherever you are :D

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We also used EVL, they were the most competitive, have a good reputation on here and had a container going 10 days after we spoke to them. That was a whirlwind time as we had 3 days to get everything ready and they came and packed on the 4th. We were only shipping 160 - 180 cu ft in groupage though and the price quoted for 160 was £1020 for self pack and £1075 for export pack with materials.

Interestingly, the consensus seems to be that if you choose export pack and have the shipping company do it, there is less hassle at the destination in getting it released from customs. Worth every penny for us but in hindsight, the materials would have cost more than EVL charged us so we were on a winner there.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

What a really helpful post, thank you so much OP for starting it! My eyes start rolling gently around in my head when I think about shipping, but eventually they will stop and I WILL tackle the problem!

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We used Robinsons and were very happy with them. Thier quote didn't look the most competitive at first, but when you factor in the insurance cost (frankly ludicrous with some companies), they came our very well.

Crew in the UK were fantastic and in NS were fine. They were confident about us bringing a couple of fragile items (no real value, just sentimental) that we were just going to leave behind rather than get them mangled. They arrived in the same condition as they left. Amazing

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We also used Robinsons (fantastic crew) and great this side too. They were super efficient (one less thing to worry about). Worth every penny in my opinion. :thumbsup:

Poppit.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Did they provide the packing materials? Did you have to wrap up furniture, i.e. sideboards, book cases etc, yourself? Did the price include insurance?

Thanks

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

They did for us and they did all the packing. I watched them and they did a good job of it too; I'm thinking of getting them in to do my Christmas presents. :rofl:

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

You can choose which you would like them to do. We packed our own in the UK (which cuts the cost dramatically) We went to a local international removals company and bought packaging i.e. mattress covers,boxes, cardboard wardrobes and bubble wrap. With the sideboards, bookcases, dining room table etc we covered in old blankets and quilts. We prefered to do the UK end ourselves 1)to half the costs and 2) so that we knew it was packed and protected to our liking. If anything was damaged it was our fault. The most important thing is to do your inventory. I did a detailed inventory for myself i.e. numbered every box and listed exactly what was in it so that at this end I only unpacked the boxes we needed urgently. Worked like a dream and not a thing was broken. We also did the inventory for customs which you need and take 3 copies. I can give you advise on this list if you need it.
The guys who brought the goods at this end were fantastic, they unloaded the truck (in 10" of snow and also never stopped snowing) brought the whole lot in and put it exactly where we wanted it. No complaints whatsoever. :D
Our trip to customs went very smoothly, guided by the company this end, we were in and out within ten minutes (all down to the itemized inventory which we did).
All in all, worth every penny :thumbsup:

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Hello, I'm brand new to the forum but saw this thread and had a question of my own to ask...

We are considering shipping/removal companies for our move to BC (which is imminent!), however our intention is not to take any of our furniture, whatsoever.

Basically what we are taking is our PC, a fair amount of clothing, memorabilia and of course the children's toys ... it is a lot more than we could take on the flight of course, but far less I imagine than is typical with people taking couches and beds and so on.

Is sea-shipping going to be economical for this? We've ruled out Air Transat Cargo, purely because in addition to transporting everything to the airport we will need to collect it also. Plus we will be some distance from the nearest airport that Transat serve (Vancouver).

I guess my question is this: has anyone else been in a similar position, and what was the most economical way forward for you?

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Hi

If you have too much for excess baggage, I would look into getting some quotes for groupage from some international removal companies. Groupage is when your stuff gets loaded onto a container which you share with others going to the same destination. It takes a bit longer to get to you as sometimes it can take a while for the company to fill a container, but will be a lot cheaper than a sole use container for smaller volumes.
Hope this helps
We used The Moving Partnership [email protected], please mention our referral if you decide to contact them.
Good luck with your move over....exciting times
lol
Stef

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

The best bit of advice I can give you is to ship as much as possible. The houses here are generally much bigger than in the UK and furniture tends to be more expensive. We brought all our furniture but left the entire contents of the kitchen, with hindsight I would have brought all the kitchen crockery, cutlery, glasses and pots and pans. It is amazing how much it costs to replace all the kitchen essentials.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

I second that Rich 07 ...we brought everything other than electrical goods and so glad we did. Most things that we would of had to replace i.e. beds, furniture, pots, pans, towels, bedding, everything and anything that you would use, bring it if you can. I have found that they are very expensive to replace especially beds and bedding. For what it costs you to ship a 40ft container DIY if you can, you could never replace everything for this amount. EVL shipping are amazing and the best price you will find. I have spoken to people here in canada since we arrived and the ones who didnt ship all their stuff here really regret it.
Good luck :)

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

We took the same stuff as you guys and we found www.excess-baggage.com to be the best price, door to door - all we had to do was go to our local customs office, declare our stuff and speak to the delivery guys who followed us home with our stuff...........Was so straight forward it was great!

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Careful with EVL. :sneaky: I am currently in dispute with them over several issues that I don't want to post here until after our contract with them is concluded as I still want to give them the opportunity to make me a happy customer.

Just be careful. My experience with them so far is far from satisfactory. If I am left with issues, I will post in full on here with supporting evidence and EVL are aware of this. :fingerscrossed:

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

I would say that you should communicate with at least 4 companies in the UK, even if you only end up taking quotes from a couple of them. We went with shipit.co.uk which did a pretty amazing job on short notice getting our stuff out of the UK. We did have some issues in BC but that was really our fault due to not thinking things through. Since we had the stuff already in storage in the UK, and did not have a BC address to ship to, we said that we didn't really need a "door-to-door" quote.

The end result was that the Canadian company handling the shipment expected us to arrange to pick up the container and unload ourselves. Then we found that in Vancouver, a rather smaller city than London, it was not so easy to find moving companies and especially not with container experience. In fact, many of them had their own mini-containerised system that they used for the mostly domestic removals market. So we ended up paying a bit more for the Canadian shipping agent to get the container hauled to a storage place, and supply a crew for unloading. In the end it all worked out beautifully.

What I wished I had known from the start, is that most UK overseas removals companies, are NOT overseas removals companies. They are middlemen that project manage a move, dealing with moving companies, container hauling companies, shipping lines, train lines, etc. I would imagine that they have preferred partners, but there will always be enough chaos in the system, that the team which moves you, maybe has a 50% chance of being identical in all parts to the team which moved me.

That said, unless you have 4 fit and energetic people to load an unload a 20 foot container in 3 hours, don't dream of DIY on that part. The crews which we had both in the UK and in Vancouver were well aware of the standard 3 hour time window, and knew that the drivers would reappear promptly and want to haul the load away asap. In other words, the moving crews have less control over timing than a normal removals company would have.

And surprisingly, the biggest delay for us was the train from Montreal to Vancouver. Although both CP Rail and CN claim the standard time is 6 days, CP Rail managed to stretch ours out by another 4 days, and there was a 3 day delay in loading the train in Montreal because the Canada Border Services Agency didn't have a correct bill of lading. Seems that the UK agent for the shipping line made a typo and two numbers of items did not agree. They have to release it in Montreal to allow it to clear customs in Vancouver.

Due to this number issue we learned that shipit.co.uk had to ship the container with a UK shipping agent who represented the shipping line which took the box from Liverpool to Vancouver. Not sure who arranged the transhipment onto rail in Montreal but there certainly was also a Canadian shipping agent. Then at both ends, there were container haulers, and a moving crew of three guys. In the UK, they came from Hull to Essex to load us up. Not to mention lots of paperwork including documentation to clear customs in the UK to allow the container to leave the country. And also, the company who supplied the container which, of course, was rented by us for the duration.

Now I understand why there are no overseas removals companies who are far and away better than the rest. The whole process is so complex with so many 3rd parties that it tends to mix some bad with the good, no matter what.

By the way, the day before the container arrived in Vancouver, I went downtown to customs, showed them the documents which the Canadian shipping agent had supplied me as PDF, and which I had printed, and after 10 minutes of showing ID and answering a few questions, they stamped everything and faxed a copy to CP Rail in Pitt Meadows to release the container. I had no documents stamped on arrival at the airport; they just gave me a document with a phone number and strict instructions not to make an appointment until the shipment had arrived.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Thanks for the replies, rich07 and JasonnJane especially.

Our thinking as you guys probably figured out was to take pretty much the minimum and buy new stuff over there; what you have said is giving us some food for thought.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

Goodluck with the move - only advice I can give, is bring your furniture with you. Furniture is very expensive here, including beds.

Poppit.

Re: Best Shipping company?
 

From what I've researched and others have posted, with the right transformers, a lot of electrical goods will work too.