Really annoyed. Paid for a 40ft container and all was going well. We have thrown out zillions of stuff; packers were great (none of that an entire box for a pair of earrings rubbish) and we have just received the invoice that has an additional £744 added (which is the maximum they can add). The line of the invoice states 'Add to FCL - 402cuft @ £2.88 per cuft'.

They estimated the thing. The only item we have added is one box which is a present for our son's birthday.

Am going to ring them tomorrow. Any advice would be great. This is a big company and I will hold off naming them at the moment, but how can they get their estimate sooooooo wrong.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr Mad as a mad thing from Madshire

Did you read the small print on the estimate? I suspect there's something there which allows them to do this.

I'm sure there is. Just means they can legally screw you over!!!

Is this a UK company?
If it is Id be surprised as everything is done better in the UK
Was it a written estimate? If so ask them to explain why the difference if only one box added.

So did they use more space than the 40 foot container? or or they just trying to charge you extra for packing more stuff than they quoted?

Suspect that these companies cut their quote to the bone knowing you will probably get lots of other quotes from companies and then use this 'extras' fantasy to push up their take on the move.

Personally I would have wanted to know on the day of packing at what point the quote amount was reached before they continued to pack.

Only advice I can give is asking them to reconsider the total amount of 'extras' and reduce the overall bill. Failing that I would be suggesting to them that you will be letting everyone on the BritishExpats forum know about your service from them. Good luck.

1) Look at the fine print on the estimate
2) Ask for a complete breakdown on their invoice
3) Contact whichever Association of Movers they belong to

Did the quote you got specify a cost for a 40ft container or was it based on a cubic footage cost? Normally you would be charged for a container load, not the other way (which is normally the charge for groupage where you share a container). Did they have to supply a second vehicle and is the overage being sent groupage?

Thanks for the suggestions, which I will be using. We were quoted for x amount to go into a 40ft container. Our gripe is that their estimators were so far off the mark. I mean, I could walk into a house and guess the cubic footage and come up with nothing near what it actually is. I expected some kind of additional cost, but I think over £700 is extracting the urine.

Needless to say, I will be sharing the name if I don't get a satisfactory response.

Thanks again for the advice.

That is unusual - they normally quote for a full container load (20 or 40 ft) and whatever you can get into it is included in the cost.

Did they go over the full container load?

No. There was loads of room left. Apparently the charge is for the extra packing of the stuff.

Does it say they can charge for that in the small print?

I can understand them charging for an overage if they had to secure a 2nd vehicle or send the extra groupage, but for packing? It was their error in estimating how much stuff there was...

How many extra hours did it take them to pack that stuff? How many people were packing? How long were they at your house for in total and what was the total cubic feet?

If you can work out how long they took to pack the extra items, I would tell them you will pay for the materials (x number of boxes and paper) and the pro rata rate for labour only.

Good advice. Am going to read through it all again in the morning before I call them. Just irritates me that these companies can put whatever they like in the small print and it just gives them licence to do what they want,

Just name them. They deserve it anyway.

Beware of removal companies marine insurance too. 100-200% markup on the premium for dealing direct with the broker. They will probably mostly use Catlin as underwriters anyway...

How much stuff did you have? I had a very large house and my husband's garage from hell and a car in a 40ft container....and it never went over the quote...I used The Moving Partnership, they were excellent and I'd use them again. Best of luck!

They all seem to get you one way or another. We were stung for handling charges in LA (about $400), even though I had specifically sought assurance that this would not happen before we appointed the firm. We used PSS, who overall were very good. We had a bit of a problem getting their sub-contractors here to take away all the empty boxes. We paid for a 40ft container and without a car. I can't remember how much it cost but there wasn't any quibble about the volume.

You have stated in one post it was an estimate and in another it was a quote. A lot of difference, an estimate is just that, a best guess and can be different on the final invoice, it is not a firm price. A quote is a firm price, but subject to any conditions you may have agreed to in when you accepted it.