primaldivine

Hello to the Forum. I am returning to live in the UK after 23 years in Canada. After looking around online for a shipping company I am getting very nervous seeing so many bad reviews of shipping company rip offs and nightmare shipping scam stories. Does anyone on the forum have good shipping stories for expats returning to the UK from Canada?

Siouxie

Welcome to BE!

I moved your post to the "Moving back to the UK" forum as I think you will get more helpful advice from others that are also returning.

Good luck with your move!

primaldivine

ok, thank you

primaldivine

Although.. I was thinking that people that have just shipped from the Uk would have shipping stories to share whereas those moving back would not yet have shipped anything... Possible to post my question in both forums??
thanks, jamie

Siouxie

Please feel free to do so, if you want to.

I do believe that you will get more relevant responses from people who are actively returning to the UK though. A quick search on the Canadian Forum will give you literally hundreds of threads regarding shipping.

LooseChippings

We shipped from Vancouver to UK last November with Williams. Price was competitive vs. other quotes, service seemed very professional, communications excellent. However one of the 3 packers on site did a poor job, leading to some losses, but less than the deductible. We took out our own marine insurance with GB liners, saved a bundle.

Pollyana

Many of the posters in the UK forum have already moved back - we've had quite a few threads in here recently on shipping stuff

lf1

Hi Primaldivine,

I have copied a post that I made in another thread, quite recently. I tried to link the thread for you, but I can't remember how to do it. I used Highland Moving in Calgary and they are affiliated with Starline Movers.

Good luck with your move.


Hi Cardie,

In July 2012, I shipped my contents from Calgary, Ab to Scotland. My things were shipped in a shared container, so I had to wait a little longer for my things, but that wasn't a problem. The shipping co. could have shipped my things sooner, but I wanted to keep my home intact for as long as possible. The person I dealt with in Calgary was great from the quoting to delivery stage.

If you want to move the pieces you love, then do it. There are horror stories out there (our own Miss Betty and the poster using Chess Removals are good examples of where things have gone horribly wrong), but much like the newspapers, good news does not make headlines on a regular basis, so we don't hear about all the successful moves. I am not saying that there are not bad experiences out there, but when things go well, we don't often tell others about it.

I did not ship my entire household, but only pieces that I really loved or had sentimental value to me. I shipped a small wood & glass corner cabinet, that belonged to my grandmother. It had been shipped from Scotland to Canada after her death in the 70's, and was not in great shape, due to the dry climate in Calgary, but I still wanted to bring it back with me. I had resigned myself to the fact that it was unlikely to make the crossing due to its fragile condition, but it did. I had some other pieces of art and china that made the journey in perfect condition.

On the day the packers were in, the contents of my front closet did not get packed (not the movers fault) so they came back the next day and boxed them up. Unfortunately, the box did not get attached to the rest of my shipment and went missing. It was subsequently found in the movers' warehouse in Edmonton and has since been shipped to me by courier. The entire time, my contact in Calgary kept me up to date on how things were going re the missing box. That is the only negative of my moving experience and at the end of the day it didn't distress me too much as I didn't need the things for most of the time they were missing.

I know you are in the US, but my costs for shipping from Western Canada were $7712.00 Cdn for 3080 lbs & 370 cu. ft. This included crates for antique items and some art.

It is a difficult decision to make and I had to be realistic about what things I could bring with me, but I am glad that I brought the things I did and have detached myself from things I couldn't/didn't.

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