Re: our shipping company search
 

Ok, I couldn't stand the stress... Called MP.

To cut a long story short, there shouldn't be an increase to my price due to changes in costs from the shipping line as we've already signed the paperwork. Obviously if they turn up and I have a grand piano in my attic that I forgot to mention, for example, there will be an additional cost.

As each of us seems to be at different stages in the process of being quoted/accepting etc seems best to get it from the horse's mouth.

Re: our shipping company search
 

Good news, and one less stress. :thumbup:

Re: our shipping company search
 

That's good news Kaye5 :) Hope it all goes smoothly for you. I'm now thinking I'm going to go with Fox/Brytor as they're the only ones that have been consistent.

Re: our shipping company search
 

Ha ha, yes - I'm now on to obtaining letters from insurance companies. I'm not even going to tell people how that is going, but let's put it this way, it SHOULD be simple. :frown:

Re: our shipping company search
 

Thanks! Same to you, hope it all goes well going forwards.

Re: our shipping company search
 

Has anyone tried "Ewepack" for a quote, or better still used their service?

I have rang them three times and left a message (turns out its some sort of call handling/forwarding service that they use and it seems you cant speak with them directly - only via this service - very frustrating) and sent a couple of emails explaining that I would like a shipping quote - ZERO response......?

From what I can tell we have around 500 cubic feet of goods (roughly half a 20ft steel container) and have had some wide ranging quotes (between high £2Ks to £7Ks) - does this sound normal?

Its a minefield! Turns out the lowest quote doesnt include shipping from the destination railhead to my new house or customs clearance - I have to organise these parts myself, I think the next highest quote does include these services

Sometimes I wonder if its even worth the hassle/expense - £3-4k would buy a fair bit of replacement kit and I could sell what I have here - anyone else feel like this?

Re: our shipping company search
 

Ewepack - I do recall seeing that name on here previously but that doesn't sound good that you can't actually talk to someone. We've got 850 cubic feet but all our quotes were within £150 of each other around £5k but that includes everything door to door (edinburgh to kelowna) - £7k? seems outrageously expensive!!

I considered whether to sell up and buy over there but it's much more economical for us personally to take it with us, despite the hassles with removal companies.

Re: our shipping company search
 

Ive just left another message and sent another email to Ewepack - I dont hold out much hope and judging by the service so far I dont know if they`d make it to the shortlist anyway - what if something goes wrong? How would you contact them?

My second cheapest quote is the one I`m leaning towards currently - seemed switched on and the quote was reasonable (~£3700)

I`ve had a couple of daft quotes (£7Kish) - my gut feeling is that I will probably bite the bullet and ship my gear over but sometimes I very much wonder if thats the best plan of action

Re: our shipping company search
 

We spoke to Ewepack, but it was months ago (Steve). Gave price and details over the phone. Good value if you have a team of burly guys to assist - sounded like too much stress for us (family with kids). You get the container delivered and have about 3 hours or so to load it - then they take it away. There is no help from the driver (he is there just to drive). So you have to make sure you are really prepared and ready to load (we never are). They also said it would be about 5ft off the ground (we were quoted about another £350 to lower it to ground level). You provide your own packaging, so again, that's another cost to factor in. I think we worked out we would save around £1000 all things taken into account - say £500 each end.

For a 20ft container, recent quotes seem to be around the £4k to £5k mark, depending on where you are going from and to.

No idea about groupage costs, except cheaper - but takes longer. (Not sure if you have been quoted groupage or are taking a sole container.)

Re: our shipping company search
 

Sorry to change tack slightly but is anyone else planning on storing in the UK before shipping? We are going with White & Co (£4600 for a 20ft to Calgary) but as we have furnished temp accommodation when we arrive and are then planning on buying rather than renting, we thought we would store for 6-8 weeks then ship. I just spoke to White & Co today and what is putting me off is the fact that all our goods will be laoded onto a truck in our driveway, then into a wooden crate for storage, then onto a container... Sounds like a recipe for disaster (and lost furniture!) I would prefer it if it was sealed in front of me. The only other option is to store in Calgary but have heard it's pretty expensive. Has anyone had experience of this? We're awaiting a storage quote.

Thanks!

Re: our shipping company search
 

Hi Jane,

We went to the Middle East in 2008 using Whites. We left some stuff in storage with them (In wooden crates/Warehouse) and everything was fine on our return 3 years later. In addition we left all our stuff that was going in storage for a couple of months before shipping, all arrived safely.

Due to our past experiences with Whites, we will be storing all our personnel effects here in the UK, until we have our PR & purchased a house.

I see that you got a good price for a 20ft going to Calgary, was your quote before the 1st march price rise? They have quoted us £5050 to Manitoba.

Regards

Andrew

Re: our shipping company search
 

Thanks Andrew, no we only got a quote a couple of weeks ago. I was suprised by the price to be honest, as MP quoted £5200 and GB Liners a massive £6200!! I hope there is not some massive error!!

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Whites seem to be doing well with their pricing at the moment, they are the cheapest for us (40' Manchester to Calgary in August). They told me yesterday there would be no change in price for us, even though we were quoted in February.
Jane - regarding storing belongings with Whites, sometimes you just have to trust them as professionals and they know what they're doing, I'm sure they can safely move things from truck to storage box to container.

Re: our shipping company search
 

we also got a quote from Ewepack. They didn't respond to my email so I have to phone up, and it turned out they had transcribed my email wrong so had sent out a quote that I hadn't received. The guy I spoke to was very friendly and helpful, and answered all my questions. The quote we got was *very* reasonable, and we did think about it, but in the end decided it was too much hassle to pack it all ourselves. I'm sure we could have... and part of me would have liked to (!)... but to save yet more stress we decided against it. They gave us 2 quotes, one was £2400ish and the other was £2900ish - the latter was the price if they left the container with us overnight, the former if the container stayed on the back of the truck and we packed it in 3hrs. lol. Never going to happen! Those quotes included getting it from the port in NS to our house, but we'd have to unload and unpack as well.

It really depends how much stuff you have, how easy it is to pack and whether you can get some friends round to help!

Re: our shipping company search
 

Hmmm, it seems Ewepack are competitive price wise if a little hard to get in touch with

They finally emailed me back, and their tone almost suggested that I was hassling them, it also included a link to a local removals specialist! Hardly the best way to drum up work......

They also said that theyre waiting on prices so we`ll here what they are before looking deeper

Even if the price is favourable I refuse to proceed unless I have spoken to someone who can clarify any question marks I may have and feel comfortable with

Strangely their service would suit us quite well as we dont have a lot of stuff and most of it would be easy packed and loaded into a container