killercat

Has anyone heard of or used Abacus international? weve narrowed it down to Pickfords, John Mason or Abacus who are local to us in Portsmouth but have search the thread and not found anyone who has used them.

Any info greatfully recieved, really need to get a move on now lol

Dewb09

Sorry cant say I have someone may know of them. Just waiting for our third company (anglo pacific) to come & quote on Friday for us as well. So far had Crown & Excess international. Crown very expensive but they say they include quarantine charge in the quote. Will see what anglo come up with then make a decision.

Good luck

Dewb

RobDon

Why would you need quarantine charges?

killercat

Hey Dewb, dont think weve been told about Quarentine charge! we had a quote from Anglian and i have to say they were the nices and most helpful, unfortunatly they were also the most expensive, quoting nearly 4,000 for a 20 ft container. however they told us about claiming a tax rebate which i hadnt thought about, so as i say definatly the most helpful. This is bloody expensive buisness init lol

MOSO

Can't help with Abacus sorry but one thing to watch out for is who they use in NZ to sort out customs/deliver your stuff. There have been quite a few people who have been stung with unexpected costs from 3rd party removal companies at this end.

We used Pickfords as they have an office here in Wellington so communication was easy, we just popped into the office with the paperwork etc. when we arrived and we had no problems with the stuff being delivered either. Crown also have their own offices here but we found them WAY too expensive.

Last piece of advice is to haggle them down, especially on insurance.

Happy Moving!

Dewb09

Eye watering expensive! we need a 40ft container and Crown were just under £7,000 but are door to door with no 3rd party and Excess International £5, 500 who do use a 3rd party, just a bit of difference. As say one more to go then will see if we can haggle them down a bit.

We will prprobablyo with Letton Percival with marine insurance.

BEVS

Oi! Sorry isn't in the vocabulary when doing the UK to NZ stuff or NZ to anywhere else stuff.

Have you tried Curtiss Removals? They are part of the franchise that is White and Co.

Play one off against another for the best price but do ask them about what will happen this end in NZ.
You don't want to be stung for blasted service fees as an extra for simply having your stuff delivered.

ragdolls2

Hi - we used Pickfords fantastic service - stuff on it's way so will let you know how it goes. Will and Tina also used Pickfords and were happy with the service. Good Luck!!!

killercat

Thanx Bev, have just had a look at them and there only 10 mins from us lol hopefully they will be coming round next week for a quote.

fpower

Just a word of warning on your insurance - make sure you itemise and photograph EVERYTHING - then put down replacement figures for the lot - it will make you overall premium slightly more expensive (cos it is based on value normally). The when you finally recover all your beloved goods (it is like Xmas all over again) make sure that you UNPACK EVERYTHING whilst the removers are still on site to check for damages.

I know that after a long day of moving it is the last thing you want to do but if you don't you might find that the insurance company won't pay up. Cost us dear (approx £3,000) but we didn't have a leg to stand on becuse we unpacked slowly over the next few days and then found all the damage.

Also one more thing - make sure that you allow ample time for them to pack you up in the UK as it always takes longer than you think and we ended up leaving them to finish off as we had a plane to catch. Judging by the state of some of the goods and how scantily they were packaged when they arrived here, it was obvious that they just rushed the whole thing once we were out of the picture.

And the culprits of this saga: ARROWPAK, they claim to be superior movers all over the world esp military US but in my humble opinion: don't touch them with a bargepole. I found out recently that they didn't put one of my paintings in the container - I thought it was in the loft but it simply didn't arrive and they won't even enter into a discussion about it saying they don't lose things .......

sirplug

Just bear in mind the cost of some goods in New Zealand. If you bought your washing machine for £400 in the UK, you won't buy the same quality for $850 in New Zealand........check the price of the big electrical items on the Noel Leeming or Dick Smith sites over here, also, the quality of the furniture is nowhere near that of the UK and European made stuff........

killercat

[QUOTE=sirplug;8604859]Just bear in mind the cost of some goods in New Zealand. If you bought your washing machine for £400 in the UK, you won't buy the same quality for $850 in New Zealand........check the price of the big electrical items on the Noel Leeming or Dick Smith sites over here, also, the quality of the furniture is nowhere near that of the UK and European made stuff........[/QUOTE

Thanx sirplug, checking them out now, were gonna be renting for a while so hoping the rental will have washing machine and cooker in. Just looking to buy me a nice new tv to bring with me and a shiney new dyson really should stop spending now! lol God its gonna be hard to ajust to a small salery and one wage

sirplug

[QUOTE=killercat;8606791] T.V's aren't too bad on price...........

alchris

We have got Doree Bonner packing our stuff £5,200 for a 40'' and got insurance down to 2%. Did get a quote from Letton Percival but be advised they are extra for 'pairs n sets' mould and mildew and do not cover for electrical deraingment(think thats the right word!)

RobDon

Thanx sirplug, checking them out now, were gonna be renting for a while so hoping the rental will have washing machine and cooker in. Just looking to buy me a nice new tv to bring with me and a shiney new dyson really should stop spending now! lol God its gonna be hard to ajust to a small salery and one wage [/QUOTE]




We rented a washing machine for around $100 a month when we arrived
and we were able to extend the rental period week by week until our container arrived with our washing machine!