Hello,

We are moving back to the UK from Canada. Last year I moved from Ireland to Canada and had a bad experience with the removal company - our stuff took about 3 months to arrive.

My question is this:

is it typical for a removal company to:

• not confirm availability for removal until you sign a contract. you give them a preferred date in the contract.
• not confirm groupage shipping availability until you sign a contract and until closer to the removal date.

these sound like odd ways of running a business, I wouldn't expect to sign a contract for date based delivery with no guarantee of the date.

However it may be typical for the industry.

looking forward to hearing other experiences so I can gauge the level of push back required.

thanks

Russ

your outbound experience sounds about right from other users' experience of groupage contracts. By its very nature it's more hit and miss than sole-use container shipping. The shipper may have to wait for other part-container loads to fill the container, so it'll likely sit at the departure end for a while before being shipped.

I can't offer any specific advice except to suggest that you post in the Moving Back to the UK forum, where you may find people who are in a similar situation.

thanks.

I think I am okay with the groupage part, you're in the lap of the gods.

It does seem odd to sign a contract for a removal where the date of removal is not part of that contract. I think I will state something like the contract is NULL and VOID if the removal cannot be provided within X days of the preferred removal date.

hi Russ, hopefully the below helps:

we used pickfords in the uk to groupage our goods to vancouver, it took 14w to get there from collection. in fact they arrived the day after we left to go back to uk we then had to shell out again to ship it all back again.
the return trip was about 9w as they filled the space quicker. and we didnt have to pay for storage in vancouver for the few weeks while we sorted out what we were doing.
stuff is now in storage (properly re-packed because pickfords were crap) in the uk until we get our PR as we dont want to ship it and then have to ship it back again if it all goes pear shaped. however it will be nice to be re-united with my goods again, also im back to uk in july for a week and have put aside at least two days of that to sort thru boxes ( from the numbered list) and get rid of all the things we have replaced out here. most of it tho is still coming over. in fact have chosen my hire car on the basis that it can be used for tip runs etc.
re your contract coming out we signed to say we knew they would take their time to deliver it but they would send it within 4 months regardless of the groupage etc even if it cost them more to do so ( we paid them enough already!) maybe ask them to put a clause in there about that?

I would suggest posting this in the 'moving back to the UK' forum as well as you are more likely to get relevant answers from people who have recently (or about to) move back.

I moved back a year ago and was disgusted at he cost of shipping. So I decided to sell everything. it took a few months but we did it. Took 11 suitcases back with us which was a bit interesting, and when airlines would allow 2 cases for free. I also mailed stuff back to myself in large boxes. This was a bit of a disaster though. At the 11th hour I found I couldn't insure my stuff other than for the cost of the postage (aka no insurance). Then when my stuff arrived (which was only 2 weeks or so), despite jumping through hoops declaring it as my own goods I ended up being hit with huge VAT bills. Also one box I paid over 100 quid VAT on (this is my own stuff) had been smashed beyond recognition. The box was very well taped and for that reason alone was mostly intact. However I had some well built metal items in that looked like they had been run over by a steam roller. I also had stuff nicked out of my box. And to top it off a bill from HMCE for VAT on my broken stuff. They don't even have to say what the bill is for. In the end I was way too exhausted to complain or take it further. Just glad to be back.