moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

hi folks
I'm here because I'm very sadly going through divorce and have decided to move back to UK so that I have family and friends around me. I've been living on the east coast, CA for the past 2 years and love it, LOVE it, but it's lonely and I can't imagine being here alone now...I need to be back there and it feels right in my heart.

So I'm planning the move back - solo this time. It's rather stressful.
We have a young child too so figuring out transatlantic joint custody :blink:

Does anyone have an removals company recommendations. I've done a search hear and found a couple to look into but wonder if there might be any more recent.
I'm not shipping furniture, but many many boxes of personal stuff, clothes, books, my craft supplies.

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

Hello Moonfairy

I have very recently been researching transatlantic shipping, albeit from the south west coast of Florida, and in fact delivered my boxes today to an agent close to Tampa airport. I, too, am shipping many boxes (25 to be exact), but not furniture. I found that UpakweShip seemed the simplest and the most reasonable. They have a very comprehensive website with lots of information also. 100 cubic feet, which I have since found out is not so much as it sounds, would cost $995.00 in a shared container, door to door, which what I have opted for, and am hoping I havent gone over. I am really not used to thinking in a three dimensional way. They have 80 drop off points around the US and all shipping goes from Charleston, SC.

If you have less stuff or can afford a higher price they do a personal wooden crate with 50 cubic feet for $1,075 or 100 cubic feet for $1,700. The crate is delivered to one of the 80 drop off points and you just go and pack it yourself and take your own padlock and it is delivered to the UK in the crate.

Hope this helps.

By the way I am sorry to hear about your divorce.

Regards.

Sue

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

thanks Sue - I've looked at upackweShip too. I can't get boxes to a depot so need a door to door service.
It's madness trying to do this by myself. I've got to hire a babysitter to mind my kid while I pack AND I'm doing the divorce. No thanks to my xH.

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

So sorry to hear about your divorce. I've just done the same thing but I've left it up to him to file for the divorce because the transatlantic move was plenty enough for me to deal with. Anyway I too used Upakweship. I got the 50 cube crate and stuffed it to the top with my belongings. Everything arrived in perfect condition, not one single item broken and I had a lot of china/glassware in there. They do offer a service where they will pick up boxes from your home for an additional cost. You might want to give them a call, they're very helpful.

Good luck!!

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

I would agree about the company being very helpful. I enquired about the pick up service as I wasn't sure whether I would be able to get them there myself. Apparently the pick up is done by Fedex and costs $200.00, which I think is worth it to avoid the stress of worrying about how to get them to the local collection point.

Good luck with everything.

Sue

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

So what does a 20 foot container cost from SC to the UK with a car and a 3 bedroom 'house full' of furniture in it cost?

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

Hi MoonFairy,

Sorry to hear about your divorce. I am single, and just planning my move back to the UK after almost 25 years living on the West Coast, so I understand the pressure of getting it all done on your own. I've received quotes from several companies. The cheapest for a 400 cu feet shipment (about half a 20 foot container) is from Schumacher Cargo Logistics at $3660. That's for door to door service. They are based in Gardena, CA. I have used them before and found their packing service was excellent. I did have a piece of furniture badly damaged, either in transit or by J.A Coles the movers they used in England, but after back and forth and much finger pointing I got nothing on the insurance. Schumacher also has a few negative complaints, if you goole their name and 'complaints' you'll see, they mostly seem to be concerned with shipping vehicles. Secondly I'm getting a quote from Suddath International. They are providing 2 x 200cu feet wooden crates. They will pack everything and provide door to door delivery including all debris removal for $4550. So they are a lot more expensive, but I couldn't find any bad reviews about them. I'm trying to get them to give me a lower price as I don't ned them to pack my boxes. Insurance is always extra.

Anyway, hope that is of some use to you. I'm breaking my move down into small tasks, and trying to keep it simple so as not to get overwhelmed - I have my moments.:ohmy:

Anyway, good luck to you. I hope your move goes smoothly and you settle back into life in England easily.
:)

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

thanks Salgb! I've pretty much settled on Suddath after a bit of research, but they aren't responding to my inquiries for a quote - I wonder if it's maybe because I only have about 200cubic feet to ship.

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

My contact at Suddath is Chris Jenkins. I do know he's out of the office until Wednesday this week. Hopefully he will reply to you then. BTW my move is from Central CA to Hampshire, forgot to mention that before.

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

I spoke to them today - they are so nice, so far - and I'm just waiting for Chris Jenkins to get back to me to arrange a viewing for estimate. I also have a day arranged with Schumacher, who's agent also seemed very nice.

The ball park quote for Suddath was about 2500 for 200 cubic feet. Which is really good considering it includes all the packing (which would help me out really). I got quoted more than that by a bunch of other companies (who have terrible reviews) when I was self packing.

So my goal now is to try to pare everything down a bit more to try to keep it under 200 cubic feet. That way I can go with Suddath, feel reassured that they are a good bet AND not have to actually pack and inventory everything as they will do it.

This weekend, I hired a baby sitter to watch my kid, who is 3, while I clear out part of the bedroom so I can stack everything in that corner....the kids stuff will have to wait until last minute, so not sure how to tackle that yet but I can easily live out of a suitcase for a few weeks.

I'm moving to Somerset! When do you plan to be back?

btw, when we moved over here in the first place, we didn't bother with insurance. It might have changed now but we discovered that it's actually very unlikely to be useful, and if the boat sinks or is captured by pirates etc, it's useless. For me, it's more a case of sentimental value than anything though.

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

I moved back home to London in August. I used Ranier from L.A. to London. I have had absolutely no complaints yet. My shipment was small, less than 100 cubic feet, but arrived in port on September 25 after being picked up by CalRelo on August 5. The shippers were very professional, very quick, and very congenial. I could not accept the first delivery as they only gave me 24 hours notice and I couldn't take time off work at such a short notice. The second date did not work because it wasn't convenient at the office, and they were fine about it. They did not charge me additional storage. It is being delivered tomorrow to my storage facility just a couple of miles away. I will see what shape it is in when everything is delivered. Right now, they've been great. EuroUSA is the company dealing with the shipment over here.

Doug Wiviott is the contact at Ranier in Washington State.

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

thanks - I'm having second thoughts about Suddath - they quoted me 2300 at first and then it went up to 2800 and I still haven't had the survey yet. I'm thinking of Schumacher Cargo now...

I'm going around in circles at the moment. It's definitely that overwhelmed stage of the process.

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

Sorry to hear of your divorce.

I too have used Upakweship when moving back home. I studied in CA and came back home after I had gained my qualification. I was really gutted to leave as it’s a beautiful place and I made some good friends but I knew when I moved it was only on a temporary basis. Anyway Upakweship are very good. I used them to ship over all my personal possessions and found them a very competent and reliable removals company.

I have never used Schumacher Cargo before so I dont know what they are like.

Good luck :) x

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

:thumbdown: Update to Schumacher Cargo:
They packed and transported my goods from Central CA to Los Angeles early November. I arrived in the UK November 28. When I followed up with them in December, I was told my shipment would be leaving within 2 weeks. I followed up 2 weeks later to be told that now the shipment had been targeted by US Customs for inspection. I was given the run around for a week. When I finally asked for the ship details so I could follow up with US Customs myself, miraculously the same day US Customs released the shipment! Forward another 6 weeks, I received an additional bill from Schumacher for over $560! Charges for "US Customs storage and search fees". This had to be paid before Schumacher would release my goods. They also had all the incorrect information on my Customs paperwork - which could have caused more delays had I not spotted it. The UK shipper in England receiving my goods then stated they may have to charge me an additional fee because I lived on a narrow street. (Um, hello - quite a few narrow streets in England, and they knew the address from the get go.) After a mild hissy fit on my part this was taken care of without additional charges. I received my goods at the end of February.
I have to conclude that I was disappointed with the handling on my shipment. I was not told until after the fact, that the shipment was being delayed because of the Christmas holiday. This decision caused not only an excessive delay in receiving my goods, but also those additional charges. And their rep was unhelpful to say the least. In hindsight I would have chosen Suddath and given them a chance, and they would have worked out cheaper! My goods arrived with a couple of boxes hanging open, some were taped with US customs green tape. The overall damage was acceptable although annoying under the circumstances. I think in life a good philosophy is always you do get what you pay for!
Good luck with your move and choice!

Re: moving home solo - CA to somerset, removals recommendations?
 

I'll scratch Schumacher off my list of possibilities then. Thank you for that.
I'm still leaning towards Upak I think we could rent a Uhaul and take everything to the terminal as we are over the 50 miles radius for free. But also they will turn up, you load the truck within 2 hours $96 an hour after 2 hours. This may be the way to go for shared container for us. We have a bit much for their u crate or u box (I think)