Wooly_Cow

Just a word of warning / advice for those shipping their belongings to New Zealand especially Wellington.

We used Avalon / Allied Pickfords twice now. The first time we had no problem the NZ end. We paid about $180 for MAFF.

The second 20’ container however needed to be devanned (the contianer driven to as close to the hosue as possible, then the goods unpacked into a small shuttle van) as our new house was located on a road with parking restrictions outside it and on a narrowish road which is a bus route. OK so all of this is firstly my fault (shouldn’t have picked that house, and secondly legitimate from Allied as it was in the details of the contract I signed (something like having road access within 50-100 feet of the front door of the house)

However as a lot of people don’t know where they are going to live before sending their goods off, they need to be aware that there may be extra charges if the delivery is anything other than directly from the container. In many cases in Wellington especially this is going to be the case..

..result a bill of over $800.

Matewx

Sorry mate!

Time for some overtime me thinks....

willand tina_h

OUCH I would not have been happy about that, poor things.

BEVS

Nightmare Wooly.

I brought some cartons over with Anglo Pacific at the beginning of the year who used White Van lines as a third party to deliver. I made it crystal clear I would be doing my own paperwork , which I did. i wasn't having any of theat service fee scam malarky.

When I got the paperwork , there was a questionnaire attached about parking, access , the actual length of the drive, the width of the drive, the incline etc. I did answer it but told 'em that I would in no way pay extra and that I had paid door to door and that meant door to door. I also stated that if push came to shove , they were to leave the cartons at the bottom of the drive and I would fetch them up in my own trailor or wheelbarrow.

They delivered to the door.

Different with an entire container though. Not sure a wheelbarrow would suffice as a shuttle

Wooly_Cow

Yeah not a lot we could do.

The bill broke down at about $180 for MAF, $200 for the small van hire (how much for half a day!!!), and then the rest for 4 blokes for I guess an extra 4-5 hours...which works out at about $20-25 per hour per man

I guess we could have saved on the MAF if we'd not declared some wicker stuff, and Xmas decos but that would have been breaking the law.

The cost of the van hire pi....d me off as I could have hired the same sort of van for about $45!

Matewx

From $45 to $200

ARGH! Complain!!! I would....

Kiwiprincess

How'd four men fit in a van? aren't they 3 seaters?!

Sorry, apropos of nothing!

southerner

We were close to having to de-van, as our first rental was in quite a steepish street (we grow them well down in Dunedin too!). However, the truck driver (NZ Vanlines) took one look, we could see his eyes lit up for the challenge, and he put it down nice and sweet at the end of our drive. What's the use of having such a fabulous toy as one of those container trucks, and not being able to use it?

Wooly_Cow

I got back to them and apprently I was paying for not just the 4 guys unloading for the extra 3-4 or so hours but also the truck driver to sit in his truck, which was next to the fish and chip shop - nice!

cypherpunk

We had the same sort of thing with PSS/NZ Van Lines but they did it at their depot and only used two guys for a 20' container, cost about $200 extra as I recall.