Aperture

Has anyone ever used the Excess Baggage Company (http://www.excess-baggage.com/) to ship boxes from the UK to Canada? We have about seven boxes of stuff to send--some fragile and/or valuable--and want to make sure we'd be sending it with a careful, reputable company.

Any feedback (or alternative recommendations) would be much appreciated!

AlexInBC

Took ages, but all arrived intact (in February, when we shipped the stuff in early Nov!) We sent some fragile items (antique mirrors, Edinburgh Crystal glasses, etc.) and all was fine on arrival, but then we did go crazy with the bubblewrap when we packed everything...

jeff2679

We used them as well, Service was good. However make sure the fragile stuff are labelled and packaged properly.

Aperture

AlexInBC, that's a bit worrying. Were you sending it somewhere particularly remote or did you select a slower shipping option? We were quoted 7-14 business days to get it to Toronto.

jeff2679, good to know. We'll definitely be labelling the fragile boxes. One of the boxes will contain my desktop computer, so I'm really nervous!

AlexInBC

You know, I'm not sure whether we chose a slow shipping option? I might have done, if it was offered and was cheaper, but it was certainly nothing to do with us being in a remote location, as the huge majority of that time was waiting for it to leave the UK in the first place. Once it entered Canada it got to us surprisingly quickly considering how remote we are!

Edit to add: Just had a look at their website and yes, we chose the surface option, not air, so obviously going to be much slower (and far cheaper!) but, like I said, it wasn't slow once it left... I think the excessive delay was basically them waiting until the had a full container-load of stuff to ship, and November isn't a popular time to move to Canada!

Aperture

AlexInBC, ah, good, at least that makes sense! Thanks for the update.

spud62

We used excess baggage & a lot of our stuff was broken.I wrapped everything carefully,but when the boxes arrived they were not in good condition,even one of my stainless steel pans had a big dent in it,a lot of the things had sentimental value & couldn`t be replaced.

Paul_Shepherd

Yes I used them, they were by far the most competitivly priced, it took at while but then I was told about that anyway as I sent all my boxes by sea and not by air. The boxes were a bit travel weary when they arrived, but were all intact, altho there is a box of glasses I still have not opened (even after being here over a year) just not in a postion to unpack that yet.

Everything else seemed ok tho, and breakable stuff ( ihave unpacked) was intact.

Paul

snowshoveller

i have used then twice (to canada and back from canada) both times they were great, on the way out I had to deliver the boxes to heathrow as we booked it last minute. all the stuff arrived a week after we did, only one item broken, probably due to my packing.

on the way back they picked up a day late, which was a bit of a pain, but the boxes got back to the UK before I did, as we took a trip on the way back.

I wouldnt hestiate to use them when we return to canada.