lookingtogo

Hi,

Have been talking to shipping companies recently. One which gets a good wrap came round and said a few things which I wanted to run by you folk.

One of them is this - contents should be a 20 foot container but he wouldn't know until it went into the container in the UK and by then we should give them a list of 'dump' items. I said what would that mean? He said those ones would then have to go groupage. Is that normal?

When I asked again, he then said that actually they could decide on the day ie when they picked it up.

He was going to tell us to dump at the container loading time - is that normal?

Also when I asked about storage in Canada (I know forum folk who had their stuff stored on the other side by this company) the rep said his company wanted nothing to do with the Canadian storage side of things, and he wouldn't deal with that.

There were a few other things but based on the good opinions I have previously read about them on here ...

Thoughts?

lookingtogo

A couple of threads said that their mattresses got stained and soaked on the way to Canada.

Did anyone who used door to door service pack their mattresses, furniture etc in addition to the standard packaging provided by shipping companies?

Eg additional bubble wrap or plastic wrap etc
Extra padding on wooden furniture etc

I also heard that there is a high chance of condensation/mould in books or photos - should we add silica gels?

etc Just sounds pretty bad and don't fancy having to claim on insurance.

Any experience/tips would be fabulous.

lookingtogo

How much is this usually, and are any companies better than others? I know with travel insurance some of the cheaper ones have terrible fine print clauses.

Also, how do you prepare the manifesto - is it just general eg. books x 200 = value $2000?

Thanks.

Siouxie

I merged your three threads as they are on the same subject.

fabretti18

We used Anglo-Pacific door to door from Central Scotland to Wetaskiwin Alberta and had no problems whatsoever as they had wrapped and packed everything meticulously.
So we had no need to worry.

Whatever company you use it's important to find out exactly how they intend to do your move and if they are good then your mind should be at rest.



It's also worth mentioning that they only do international moves so their boxes are that little bit stronger and some items were "double" boxed

Tirytory

Ours should get here soon so I will be able to comment and touch wood.

Marine insurance should cover mold/damp damage though. We went for separate insurance from the removal company, much more competitive. It sounds a big worrying if the removal company don't want to be involved in storage on the Canadian side. Our removal company showed no such problem with that, although we're not storing so..

yogiBC

i used Brittania appleyeard from yorkshire,,they have a sister company in vancouver... john the owner came out personally and chatted to us ,,,we arranged for them to pack everything and transport ,,,,, they where very good ,,,packing was excellent ,,,nothing damaged at all ,,,he knew exactly what size container to order and they make a very good inventory for customs.
on arrival of the conatainer i went to sign the paperwork for the custom release,,,
it was then delivered by brittania appleyeards sister company ,,they emptied the container into the house and put everything where we wanted it..removed all wrapped and took it away.

lookingtogo

Stellar advice. I am talking now to them as the initial advice rang some alarm bells but it's getting better & will update at the end of this how it all goes.

This company gets good reviews on BE and have also spoken with some expats who utilised their services in detail, so I am positive about them generally. Still in the process though and will decide & also update as we go along.

lookingtogo

Thx Tirytory, yes not sure why I was told that. A friend got a few weeks complimentary, but we were told no.

Hope your shipment arrives safe and sound. What insurance co did you use and are the insurance forms different from ship manifestos?

lookingtogo

Sounds like a good co and experience

lookingtogo

Thx Siouxie

Tirytory

Letton Percival, I hated doing the insurance forms, long procrastination over it. We didn't do anything with ship manifestos, but Removal company sorted paperwork when they packed everything up. There are a few threads on marine insurance that I read through. They'll prob come up on a google search too.

We had four free weeks storage on the uk side which we used. None on the Canadian side.

Miss Clinique

Speak with other companies, I seriously would not book a move with a company that cannot estimate your move acurately.

izzi81

I don't know what company you're thinking of using (I don't see any reason why you couldn't give their name? Lots of discussions on particular moving companies on here) but if that's the sort of estimate you got there's no way I'd use me - I'm with Miss Clinique on this one!

We got estimates from about 7 companies (I like researching lol) and all those who came to estimate were able to give a precise estimate, and were happy to discuss storage options in Canada if we needed them. A company that can't estimate and won't remotely help with the question of arrival storage? I'd be looking elsewhere...

We used The Moving Partnership and had a very smooth shipping experience

Maplease

We used PSS and got stung because of their inaccurate estimator. I would be very wary of anyone who is so non-specific. It was bad enough for us when we thought we'd gone with a company who knew how many items would fit in a box. Be really careful with your lists and estimates. Try and nail it down as much as you can.

Good luck,