Hello

There seems to be so many agencies out there offering their services to help us move but I was wondering whether anyone could recommend a good removal firm that they've used and also a finance company to transfer the money from the sale of our house in Yorkshire to Canada?

Any advice on costs, pros and cons to look out for would be very welcome.

Thank you.

Gillian

I can only tell you the ones we used and that we had no problems with them.
They were Anglo Pacific for the shipping and HIFX for the transfer of funds.
Shop around loads for shipping quotes as they vary quite a bit.

We used Anglo Pacific's door to door service, and our stuff is due to arrive at the beginning of next month. I'll know for sure next month how well they will have done!

As for moving money, we didn't have a lot of finance to bring with us, so we used travelex.co.uk online to change a couple of grand. However, I actually get a better rate from my Nationwide Credit & Debit cards! Unbelieveable, but true. Not only is the exchange rate better (when travelex is 1.95 Nationwide give me 2.02) - but they do not charge any fees for the use of the card abroad. I now use that as a good way to transfer money cheaply from the UK...simply spend it on the UK card here in Canada, pay the card off via Internet banking from the UK, and get a good exchange rate.

As I said, I'm not dealing with large sums here, but it works well for lower sums.
Rob

Hi Rabrol,Another new Edmontonian
Theres a few of us on here now. Where are you in the city ?
The freight company that Anglo Pacific use over here arrived at our house nice and early on the morning of delivery, after a couple of phone calls to update us on expected time of arrival etc.
3 people unloaded the truck whilst I checked each box off on a check list. They unwrapped the larger items and put them in the appropriate rooms in the house, and they offered to unpack the boxes too, but I wanted to do those at my own pace, so declined.
Only one or two items slightly damaged. No complaints really. The service was efficient and they were very polite and friendly.

Hi R2D2...I've read many of your posts; its good to have regular contributors to the site such as yourself. I tried to mail you once but you had incoming blocked (although I read on a post yesterday that you have now sorted that out!).

Glad to hear Anglo Pacifics carriers are good. They (Bekins) contacted me last week and I faxed some stuff off to them for customs. Our boxes were due to arrive last Friday, so we should get our stuff in a couple of weeks. Much better than the shipping time Anglo Pacific quoted, but no complaints here!

We are at the bottom end of Millwoods in a nice little rented place.
Rob

We used Britannia to move - don't touch them with a barge pole and HIFX to transfer cash - fast and polite service, highly recommended.

We used PSS from Bucks to Calgary. Very impressed. 1 month door to door. Nothing at all broken apart from one coat hanger which may very well have been already broken.

One thing to check when you compare quotes. Look at the volume that you are being quoted for as well as the overall cost. Generally the quotes will be for a quantity up to the volume that they are quoting for. If they pack the container and find more, you will probably get a bill for the extra. The estimates that we received varied from 1200 to 2000 ft3. It ended up being the latter.

Yep, HIFX are very efficient and are event tolerant of the problems that I have getting HSBC to hand the money over to them.

Hi again rabrol
I hadn't clicked the box to allow incoming PM's, but yes, sorted now, feel free to pm me if you still want to ask anything specific.
How are you guys enjoying the mild temps over the last few days ? I heard it was due to be +10 degrees here tomorrow. Incredible. We, like you, don't know what a true Canadian winter feels like yet.
Yes, it was Bekins worldwide, I couldn't recall the name for my earlier post. Yes, they were fine, and just cracked on brilliantly. They came in the biggest truck i've ever seen in my life.
My son used to go for swimming lesons at Millwoods recreation centre, before we moved to Sherwood Park. Do you plan to stay there or are you looking at other areas?