Best Shipping company?
Oct 27th 2010, 7:00 pm
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 169
Best Shipping company?
Can anyone advise on good reliable shipping companies??
Oct 27th 2010, 7:08 pm
#2
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Joined: Dec 2008
Location: VAN VAN COUVER COUVER!!!!
Posts: 498
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.
they took over twice as long to deliver as quoted and tried to charge us for almost double the actual volume of our consignment.
Oct 27th 2010, 7:19 pm
#4
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Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 169
Re: Best Shipping company?
great thank you
Oct 27th 2010, 8:03 pm
#5
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Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Okotoks, Alberta
Posts: 106
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.
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.
Oct 28th 2010, 12:10 am
#6
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Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Cochrane, Alberta
Posts: 868
Re: Best Shipping company?
We used White & Co. Their rates were very competitive and we were very pleased with the whole service. 
Oct 28th 2010, 3:36 am
#7
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Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Richmond, BC
Posts: 191
Re: Best Shipping company?
We used GB Liners and I highly recommend them... smoothly handled on both sides of the ocean! 
Oct 28th 2010, 1:22 pm
#9
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Joined: Apr 2009
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 19,879
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.
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.
Last edited by Siouxie; Oct 28th 2010 at 1:24 pm.
Oct 29th 2010, 2:20 am
#10
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 251
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.
Excellent service and the cheapest for us BY FAR! Local company in Canada were excellent.....nothing but good things to say about both.
Oct 29th 2010, 3:02 am
#11
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Joined: Dec 2008
Location: Cochrane, Alberta
Posts: 602
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
Poppit
Oct 29th 2010, 11:41 am
#12
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 2,159
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.
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.
Oct 29th 2010, 4:31 pm
#13
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,554
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.
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.
Oct 30th 2010, 4:29 am
#14
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 30
Re: Best Shipping company?
gb liners was good for us.
Oct 30th 2010, 5:55 am
#15
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 74
Re: Best Shipping company?
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.
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.