PaulandDawn

Hi guys,

We will be leaving the UK in August for Calgary. I have been looking at shipping companies and it appears to be a bit of a mine field.

Any advice would help. We are in a 1 bedroom house at the moment and will only need a 'groupage container'.

What companies did you use and were they any good?

Cheers

Paul and Dawn

Sam-in-Okotoks

Whites came up with the best price for us, we had a 20ft container, Would I use them again (yes)
The bonus for us was the free 4 weeks storage they offered.

jericho

We used Anglo Pacific- their price was about 3700 GBP for a 20ft container (Manchester to Edmonton).

Service was fine, and everything arrived on time and in one piece.

burton bunch

Aug 2007 I used GB Liners to Lethbridge and think it was around the GBP4500 door to door and I also got some storage thrown in with that too.

Have to say that Chris at the Manchester Depot was amazing

Stophie

Wow, that seems cheap.
Robinsons were about £4300 I think (for a 20ft) - they weren't our cheapest quote but when we went back to them they reduced theirs to beat the cheapest and included 4 weeks free storage.
Service at the house was excellent. When it came to shipping they somehow left off 5 items, so sent them groupage later. Not ideal, but I guess these things happen. Most importantly, everything is now here, undamaged. Their agents at this end (Williams) were also very professional and unpacked / rebuilt everything, and took away all the packaging.

Hobbess

We shipped with Dorree Bonner and would go with them again. Packing was something else to watch, they were very efficient and it's amazing how compact all out stuff looked when they were done.

When we booked we thought we needed speedy service so paid up, about £4000 incl insurance, for a 20Ft Container from Glasgow to Calgary. It took just under a month and in the end we had to store our stuff at a friends as we weren't able to move in Canada for an extra few months after then!! In hindsight should have used groupage, which would have saved us about £1000 i think.

Lisa_W

Would completely back up what Gaynor says as we also used the Manchester depot of GB Liners.

But I notice you are in Kent and from what I have seen on previous threads about shipping companies, you will get people saying good and bad things about all of them. One person in one part of the UK has a great experience with one company, someone in another part of the UK has a terrible experience with the same company but a different depot.

We didn't go with the cheapest, just the one which we were most impressed with when we had several companies out to quote.

dejah

Ah well, if you're in Kent stay away from the Doree Bonner Canterbury office. You can tell them I said so.

Door to door from Thanet to New Brunswick cost us £5012.10 including insurance. We paid in full, up front, and didn't quibble. Then, after the stuff was packed and in their warehouse they told us it would be another £100 because "shipping costs have gone up" We paid without argument. And then the saga began...

I'm going to start another thread since I don't want to derail yours.

burton bunch

I would agree with Lisa too - nothing to do with the fact we arrived together on the same flights to meet out hubbys at Calgary - but GB Liners weren't the cheapest but because Hubby was already in Canada and I was left to arrange the shipping I had to go with someone who eased my mind and was "there" and compassionate for me. Chris at the Manchester Depot was both for me - amazing guy

NikkiNu

We used Whites and they were excellent.