We have just moved to Canada, we had our stuff shipped in a 20ft shipping container using The Moving Partnership to arrange this. We have moved to Sylvan Lake, approx 2 hrs north of Calgary.

When we were looking at quotes, we decided to go with the 20ft sole use container as we have quite a bit of stuff and we didn't want it getting mixed with others (groupage) with the potential for stuff getting missing.

The container was sealed outside our house in England with a security seal. We were told that we would open at the other end at our place in Canada. The only other people who could break that seal and go in the container would be Customs if they chose to check our container.

Our container cleared Customs in Calgary fine, and Tippet Richardson (Calgary) would be taking the container to our house.

On the morning of delivery we got a call from Tippet Richardson - they had technical issues and would be running late. They arrived about two hours late, and all our stuff had been removed from the container and decanted into a van. It was the day after Canada Day, and they had had lots of staff call in sick. The boss had to accompany them as there we not enough staff.

We asked where was our shipping container and why had they broken into it? They said that they were not allowed to take a container chassis more than 50km away from the terminal. As we had packed our stuff with heavy at the bottom and light at the top, things were muddled up and crates had been crushed, resulting in breakages. We had fortunately packed things very well, but it was clear from damage to the packaging that things had been dragged with the usual care that movers take. Also, they had kept our tie-downs and ratchets, even though they knew it was a self pack and they belonged to us.

We were really apoplectic at this. We wouldn't have paid extra for sole use of the container if it was not possible to do the whole journey, we would just have gone groupage and saved money.

We have been told that it is very wrong (don't know about illegal) to break the security seal on a shipping container. They didn't tell us they needed to do this when we went to the Tippet Richardson office in advance of the delivery, or that they would need to decant our belongings into a van.

We are currently pursuing The Moving Partnership for this, who are refusing any liability as they say they never said that they could get the unopened security sealed container to Sylvan Lake.

Surely if you hire a 20ft sole use container that is security sealed, you can expect it to remain intact, and if this is not possible to be told that?

It sounds like your issue is with the Moving Partnership and it will be interesting to see how that works out.

As long as it wasnt a seal put on by Customs then its not a CBSA matter.
If the container was released by Customs for delivery then its not a CBSA matter.
If thats not the case then you could be looking at being forced to move to Regina and expected to drink Tim Hortons coffee for a minimum period of 2 years. There is no good behaviour clause exempting this sentence not to be carried out in full.

same story for us, same two company's too! Broken and stolen goods! we eventually got a tiny recompense from our insurance company but nowhere near enough to replace the stuff we lost!
Its a horrible feeling, you trust people and they kick you somewhere unpleasant eh?

Slightly differenct circumstances for us, because our container WAS opened by Customs.

But Tippett Richardson had to unload eveything from the container, then they loaded in back into a truck for delivery to our house. All bar one box, I believe any other damage was caused by TR employees - scratches, dinks, etc. And then we had to pay for the pleasure because the poor boys had had such a long day!

If CBSA have cause to open a container and they (CBSA) put a new seal on, surely they do that for a good and (maybe) legal reason?
If not, what is the point of CBSA adding a seal at all, if it can be broken by the deliver company whenever they choose?

I watched our 20ft container seal go on in Portugal before it left. CBSA in Vancouver cut that seal for a soil inspection (Jeep inside) and put the bits of the original seal back in the container. CBSA (I assume) then added a new seal to the outer doors. It was intact on delivery at out house in Sooke.

If the truth be known, I wouldn't have been able to tell if it was a customs seal added in Vancouver or a seal added few minutes down the road by the driver!

I'd maybe take legal advise as clearly someone cut the seal if all your gear turned up in truck/van! That would be a hard one to disprove.

It doesn't appear that either 'The Moving Partnership' or 'Tippets' are members of any removal or shipping associations, which would be a red flag for me.

As you contracted with The Moving Partnership, your complaint should be directed to them - they subcontracted the job to Tippets. I don't believe Tippets were being honest when they say they were not allowed to transport your container, more likely they don't have the ability to!

If it were me, I would ask Tippets to put in writing the reasons that they transferred your shipment to a van; photograph and list all damage to both packing cases, boxes and the items themselves and then write a formal letter of complaint to The Moving Partnership stating that you expect reimbursement for any replacement costs over and above the amount you can receive on the insurance.

Perhaps Miss Clinique can offer some advice?

Hi,

Thanks everyone - Miss Clinique has offered some expert advice via PM. We did take this up with The Moving Partnership, they have essentially said that they never said they could arrange to get the shipping container door to door. They did however, say they could do this for us verbally, but we have no written proof unfortunately as this was over the phone.

At the end of the day, for future people moving to Canada, this thread can at least warn them that you cannot get an end to end secure move arranged with The Moving Partnership/Tippet Richardson, and if you have fragile or sensitive things, look elsewhere for a better company. We were lucky to have packed our stuff very well (we were thinking of going groupage originally and began packing extra well for this), wrapping furniture in carpet off-cuts etc., which minimized the breakages from Tippet Richardson, though a lot of our packaging had been damaged from the dragging etc. I have one large piece of furniture which had been dragged so bad the carpet and pallet wrap had sort of melted -dread to think how ruined it would have been without the carpet layer!

That may be Tippet's issue but, if I were Tippet's I would tell the OP that I was not going to put anything in writing as I have no contract with them. The OP's redress is against the Moving Partnership for breach of contract or Tippet and the Moving Partnership in negligence. The OP will, of course, have to prove that they, the OP, did not commit contributory negligence by failing to pack their items appropriately.

I wish them every success.

I think Tippets (if indeed it was Tippets - we were with MP) cut the seal on our 20ft container outside our door (delivery address).

Wouldn't swear to it in court (fortunately for us it wasn't an issue, so it's not fresh in my memory), but we did have a conversation about it as they opened it (ie, "did you watch the seal being put on back in the UK?" as they stood there with the cutters).

Everything inside looked in exactly the same position as it was when it was sealed back in the UK.

Delivery address was 100km from port.

I think our insurance didn't cover for breakages for anything self-packed. And there's a limitation of liability in what appears to be standard terms (all the removers we had quotes from had the same terms, although no idea whether that would stand up in court, but it's there in the terms the customer signs).