Kaye5

Ha ha!

We've already searched Canadian Tire for said cheap crap to replace tools and old garden furniture... (the ones we have are of pretty dire standard).

We would want to bring bikes, though, which must also be a "flag"...

Yup, that container's getting emptier by the minute.

Kitslane

oh fab! thanks for clarifying Former Lancastrian, wonder if the GB Liner man was just being overcautious then?!

Debbieken

Well, after having about 6 companies in over several months (most from recmomendations on this site) we went with Moving Partnership. Not only were they the cheapest from London to Toronto, they were professional and the only company that sent actual packers rather than a surveyor to quote for us. They assured us we would fit into a 20 foot container (which others said we wouldn't) and we did indeed just fit. Our stuff was collected Monday and Tuesday and is already on a ship with an estimated date of arrival of around 4 weeks from now - faster than we expected. The packers that came to our house for 2 days were polite, fast, efficient and very careful. We were extremely impressed. If it is even half as smooth on the other end we will be over the moon. I can't recommend them enough

Merry

No,we also moved from rural area but no inspection. I'd be surprised if any agents here in NS had the faintest idea which areas of the UK are rural. We washed down bikes, didn't take any gardening implements but did take lots of pine and other wood items. No problem at all.

Kaye5

We're looking at them as our final quote. Was going to look at Whites also, but not sure it will get us much further. Have to stop sometime and simply make a choice.

Ooh, that's good to know!

Did they not ask if you had come from rural or urban area?

I've already blagged a loan of power washer and have Jeyes on the shopping list. I think, like you, bikes are the only outside stuff we will take.

izzi81

Lots of useful info
We've someone from Robinsons coming round tomorrow afternoon, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. Not sure they will let us self-pack so it might be a waste of time, but hopefully I'll learn stuff anyway!

We need/want to save every bit of cash we can, hence the self-pack. Neither of us should be working by that point, and we're hoping to be able to call on friends as well. If it saves £1000 I'll definitely not mind putting books in boxes etc.!

We've had a quote - by email - from the Moving Corporation, which was £3995 inc. packing. They haven't come out to look though, I'm going to be phoning them this week at some point.

I'm now pondering getting in touch with MoveCorp as well, but am now worrying my list is getting a bit long lol

Kaye5

Don't confuse "self pack" with "self load".

"self pack" might save a few hundred. "self load" means you pack AND load all the boxes and furniture into a container yourself (and unload it at the other end).

"self load" is the one that puts the savings at about £1,000 +. We were told for self load the container would also be 5ft off the ground. Didn't sound like much fun with just me (5ft 2in) and the OH. Not so bad if you have several burly helpers. For them to drop it to the ground was about £400 more and there was a time limit on loading (about half a day). So the savings with all that incorporated worked out about £1000 for us.

Ewepack do self load (there will be others but that's the one we called).

izzi81

really? I was sure I'd read of others on here who did the whole thing themselves and had a couple of days to do it.. no mention of the awkwardness of it being 5ft off the ground (I doubt anyone could pack their own container in that scenario... do you think the company said that to put you off self-loading?)

Whereabouts in the Borders are you btw? We were there this weekend on a wee holiday - Newcastleton. Lovely weather on Sunday!

Kaye5

Perhaps it depends on where you are - we are in the sticks so the theory was that we were a "special journey" and would only get the morning to load up - with the driver hanging around twiddling his thumbs I guess.

I've heard of people loading with it 5ft off the ground and those who had it lowered (though didn't save the location of the threads)! Just something you need to check with the company if you go down that route.

Oh, if I had a couple of days I'd consider it, but wasn't offered to us. You also need to have quite a bit of access for them to put the container in your driveway.

Yes, everything is expensive here - though not as bad as in the highlands and islands! You pay for being remote. We're about 6 miles south east of duns, about 20 mins inland from Berwick.

gemmab1979

Hi all sorry to interrupt I've another question which I guess I should ask shippers but god knows why, I feel cheeky asking even after shelling out a fortune but my question is, with things like toy boxes, linen baskets etc, as your paying for size and not weight are you allowed to fill then with a few things? Toys, towels bedding etc?

Kaye5

Good question, as it all has to be listed.

Would make sense to maximise space in the container, but I honestly don't know. Yes, you're paying £££s to the shipper - they can answer as many questions as you have.

Kitslane

Ive been told by 3 companies that you're fine to pack things into baskets etc so long as 2 men are able to carry it

izzi81

update so far....

Robinsons:
Had a visit from the guy from Robinsons today. Seemed very knowledgeable, friendly, experienced which was all good. Obviously keen to sell the full service, and has part-convinced my OH lol. Looks like we're definitely a sole-use 20ft container, with not that much room to spare. He's getting a quote to us in a couple of days - for the full service, and then if we decide we want a quote for self-packing then they can amend that. He seemed quite flexible on this, ie. we could pack some, they could do the furniture and so on. It's very odd, showing people round your house pointing at furniture and boxes lol.
So, pretty good we thought, though in the back of my mind is the thread on here from someone who had a really bad experience with them lol!

Moving Partnership:
Got a quote for full service door to door for £3990. Which is not bad. Spoke to Matthew on the phone today who was great, really helpful and friendly. Discussed all the various self-pack/load options and is going to give me a couple of quotes with those options.
Getting a good vibe from them so far!

Fox:
spoke to Kate on the phone, she's emailing a quote in the next few days. If we like the quote they'll get someone to come out and survey our stuff.

ewepack:
Finally got an email reply, after I sent another email asking whether they got my first one! Still waiting on a quote....

PSS:
So far I'm getting the least good vibes from PSS out of everyone I've spoken to. I've spoken to a different person each time I've phoned. I arranged a survey for this Thursday at 8.30am. I asked if they had any other options time-wise, they said no, so I took it. Then I took the day off work. Then they (someone else from the company) phoned and asked if it would be OK to come and see me on Wed at 3.30pm instead. I phoned back, spoke to someone else, and said no, I'd already arranged the time off work. So Thursday it is. That was all last week. This morning I got a message on my phone from yet another person in their office, who sounded a bit irritated, and said that they hadn't had any confirmation from me that the appointment time was suitable, and could I please get in touch. They also sent me an email saying if they didn't hear back by the end of the day they'd have to cancel the appointment. I didn't have any idea they were waiting for me to confirm. They never told me I had to, I spoke to 2 different people originally to say 8.30am on Thursday.
So I'm not very impressed so far. Lots of people, and not much organisation is the impression I'm getting!! We'll see...

Whites:
a new addition after the comments here. Have arranged a home survey for Thurs 28th...

that's it so far

__TJ__

just avoid pickfords. their professional packing was atrocious!. when my goods finally arrived ( back in uk as we shipped to vancouver, then had to go back to uk, so shipped it back again) i unpacked and re-packed every box. they used 52 boxes, i had 10 left when i had finished. they packed an awful lot of empty air and some items i told them not to pack ( in a seperate area of the room with a big sign saying please do not pack!)
they quoted me 800cuft. my worldly goods, incuding several that have been bought since the "move" are now in a 600cuft storage locker in uk waiting for me to be able to afford to ship it all back here again.

my advice when chosing a company, ask them about ivory and weapons. through my research i found you dont need a cites certificate to import ivory to canada, but if you want to ever bring it back to uk again you have to get one prior to shipping it out of the country in the first place ( imagine scenario you have a buddah carving that has been in family for years, and want to pass it on to your nephew who lives in england when you are gone, you will not be able to unless you get cites before you leave the country with your ivory. or for instance you move to canada and then move back again...)

fox told me its ok we will just put it in with other ornaments !, in fact the only two companies who knew the rules were white and gb liners.
so when we ship back again, we will be using one of them.

Beaverquest

used Whites for UK to Canada -they were top notch

unfortunately Tippet and Richardson in Calgary are clowns (in 2006 anyway)

lost container /found container (montreal dockside) - took way longer than expected

also try to charge us more when container was left at railhead for longer than the normal 48 hrs

oh the guy here was nice and friendly ; may work on the gullible type