Kaye5

We were warned about the possibility of a rise if departure was after March. I think he said the shipping lines (or something) re-assess their charges in March so the quote could change.

Siouxie

What you probably don't realise is that Miss Clinique has vast Canadian experience in the shipping of goods, it was her job, and she was offering extremely helpful advice.

She was actually trying to make you aware of the possible pitfalls and outcome when CBSA sees that you are shipping horse equipment and outdoor goods.



Oh well.

lindamchugh

Hi did you fit all of your furniture (beds, wardrobes etc) in a 20ft container? Seems too small ? We also have a 4 bed house and doubt would get it all in a 20ft? What was the total price you paid ? Thanks so much

rpurdie

Also, i'd be interested to hear thoughts on smaller scale shipping (i.e a few suitcase-sized containers) and who to check out?

izzi81

phew this is a long process! Had hopefully the last company out visiting us today (although I have just remembered another I was going to contact lol). Most are very similar, in what they do (or say they do) there's not much to choose between. There has been quite a difference in prices so far, though I'm not going to go into specifics quite yet!

Hopefully we'll be able to choose in the next week or 2, and then that will be something crossed off the list

Re. how much you can fit into a container, we stay in a small 2 bedroom flat, just 2 of us, although we have quite a lot of stuff (books, crafting stuff!). Every estimator who has come out has said we'll need a 20ft container and we'll not have much room to spare. So I doubt you'd fit a 4 bed house into a 20ft container.... (someone may prove me wrong though, it really does depend what is in the house lol).

lindamchugh

Thanks it is hard to visualise a 20ft container and I suppose you have to be ruthless and only take absolute necesseties , I have a gazillion photo albums mind you that will probably need a container to themselves !

fizzyo2

Just a quick update from us..
Our 20ft container arrived at our house on Tuesday. It took 4 weeks 1 day from Liverpool to Guelph Ontario. The Whites packers had done a fab job! We have found everything undamaged (except a child's snow dome) We had a 4 bed house- lots of kids toys, a piano and got it all in

I had read some scary things about Tippets but the three unpackers we had were lovely. They unloaded quickly and carefully, then started to unpack the boxes so I wouldn't be left with all the packaging. They also made up some of the flat pack furniture/screwed legs back on chairs and sofas/moved some furniture that was in the house that was in the wrong room that my husband and I couldn't move by ourselves

Good luck with all your moves-If you are happy with your packers (whoever you go for) it really can be a painless process

Kaye5

We've a 4 bed house and there are 5 of us - booking a 20ft container.

Not taking any white goods or small electricals. Most of our furniture flat packs with the exception of 3 sofas and 2 dressers. We also have a lot of books, but have got rid of a lot too. No garden stuff either, although we have 5 bikes and 2 hockey bags!

Working on the basis of packing what we really want to go and holding back the bits of tat that we would happily just leave behind. Not that bothered if some old stuff doesn't go. If you are more bothered about taking all your stuff, I wouldn't risk it this way. Might be a bit stressful on the day deciding what to take and what to leave. A 40ft container isn't that much more (think £6k-ish rather than £4.5k).

Sugaree

I want to add my bit. Here is a detailed break down of what it's like to get packed up by the wrong sort of company:
DO NOT USE ANGLO-PACIFIC

We spent some time researching but they were the only ones who came back consistently, they seemed organized and professional.
Since we agreed to use them, it's been a nightmare.
First question you'll ask - how much? 4,800 GBP to Hamilton, Ontario

We are totally inexperienced with shipping and only plan to do this once, and they took advantage of this. We asked for the soonest date, and were delighted when they said they could do it right away.
What they didn't say was that by agreeing to go so soon we were locking ourselves into a deal with them, as their own T&C state that if you change your mind or try to alter the date in any way 10 days or less before the day, you are liable for the full cost of the removal. Even if your deposit is not paid. Just by ticking a teeny box.
We did try to get out of it - saying we'd had another quote back that was so much less (like, 900 less!), we were suspicious of their rates and i got a short, sharp email from some manager reminding me of the T&Cs i'd agreed to - *before* the deposit was paid. We signed the form 5 days before the removal, at their insistence - with no mention of any inability to postpone or cancel.

They claimed they sent us all this in paper, and while they did send a huge pack of paperwork, we also spoke to them everyday about this; we were supposed to have a "dedicated removals co-ordinator", and she was suppoesd to look after us. They at no point said "Hey, people, just so you know, if you book us so soon to your leaving date, you can't change your schedule" - we felt that, as experienced movers, they could have had the courtesy to point that out. It was all happening so fast that when we read the T&C's, it turns out we had read the Code of Conduct for the packing association, which was the digital link they sent us.

They did a full survey, then offered us a quote. We accepted, and they came back a few days later to say that shipping rates were going up March 1st (the day after our removal) and so the price was going up 200 quid. We had no choice but to accept it based on their own T&C! They said these rates were out of their control, and wouldn't honour the original quote.

They then packed - the packers were nice, but dim - and these guys took everything, even stuff not on our list. So we get an email saying the load is bigger and we owe them more money! When i told them we had a list, and had expressly instructed them not to pack electrics etc., I got another email back saying "we sent you some stickers to put on stuff not to be packed, along with instructions for packing day". So, despite specific instruction to our 'removal co-ordinator' and the surveyor that nothing electric was to come, nor 'this' or 'that', they took it all anyway and now i am responsible for disposing of electrics here, as well as the furniture we can't use. There was no personal communication, just their expectation that we knew all this stuff. No "ok, so we are coming tomorrow, have you put the stickers we sent you on things you don't want packed?" - i mean, i never saw any stickers!

They are purposely opaque, impersonal, misleading, unprofessional and unapologetic. And also the most expensive. Their so-called-personal service is a sham.

We have learned our lesson the hard way. We made some mistakes of our own, sure, but we trusted them to guide us through this and they were not up to the task. AVOID ANGLO-PACIFIC at all costs.

lindamchugh

Hi thanks for the heads up on this. Funnily enough our quote was £4900 ! How co-incidental. I think we will just try and sell stuff and do away with all that hassle. We are lucky in that we will stay with relatives to begin with so don't need furniture for arriving but the whole thing is so complex !

Former Lancastrian

Ever thought of getting them transferred over to a cd or put on a computer hard drive?

spiffington

Sorry this is a bit late but I just wanted to say for goodness' sake don't use GB liners if you are relocating from Scotland.

We moved from Edinburgh to North Vancouver in May last year and their service was absolutely shocking.

It cost us a fortune at the outset and they didn't tell us we HAD to pay their marine insurance or our stuff wouldn't be shipped until all of our goods had been packed up and taken away. This insurance cost us an extra £1300 (so it cost us about £4000 to ship half of the contents of a 1 bedroom flat).

We packed up our own stuff but they provided the boxes and they didn't provide nearly enough so we had to constantly chase them for more, finally resorting to picking them up ourselves because they never answer the phone or emails.

They didn't tell us how to fill out any of the paperwork despite us asking for help several times and it was actually the guys that came to take our boxes away that helped us out with it in the end.

They told us it would take 4 - 6 weeks for our stuff to arrive and it took 13 weeks. 13 weeks of living out of 2 suitcases worth of stuff is not fun! Then when it did arrive stuff was broken.

The worst thing of all was they offered no apology or explanation for the delay.

Horrific service. Avoid at all costs.

chiefmissile

We are going with Whites & Co, used them before a couple of times, once to the middle east and back. They have quoted us for a 20ft container £5050 full pack and un pack at the other end. We think this is pretty good considering its going all the way from ONT to MB by road, this was the cheapest quote by far.

Regards

Andrew

izzi81

the first hand experiences are really useful, thanks!

So far our shortlist seems to consist of The Moving Partnership, PSS, Whites and Britannia. Just waiting for final quote from Britannia before deciding.

The other option is Ewepack, which would be self load/pack/unpack/unload but I might be getting cold feet about that idea lol.

Kaye5

Interesting. We are at the moment deciding between GB Liners, PSS and Moving Partnership. Who was the move actually with for GB Liners (we've been speaking with McKendricks in Aberdeen, which now strikes me as odd seeing as Edinburgh must be their nearest branch)?

GB Liners have generally had very good reviews on the forum, as have Moving Partnership. PSS less so, but some have had good experience.

All three are in the same ballpark price wise, so GB Liners in our case aren't quoting a fortune compared with anyone else.

The trouble with this removals business is that there is always someone who has had a bad experience with every remover. At this rate, we won't be able to pick anyone!