the turner family

Hi all,

I was just wondering if anyone has shipped their worldly possessions via container and have any advice on the following:

Did bedding, clothing and mattresses get musty and mildewy?
Does the wood fumigation treatment make everything smell?
Did mirrors and pictures survive ok?
Did electrical stuff still work?

Because the things will be at sea for a month and a half in a metal box I'm a little unsure what to expect! Is there anything which is really not worth taking?

We will be booking a 20ft container which we will have to load and unload ourselves, we are also responsible for all the wrapping and plastic sealing etc. Has anyone else done it this way?

Thanks!

Andrea

the turner family

We have now started with our packing and have booked the container for Monday 25th July (eek ).

I was just wondering if anyone could give any useful tips about packing your entire house contents into a 20ft container!

Hopefully we'll get some guidance this time........

Thanks,

Andrea

bookemjano

Andrea, sorry, can't answer questions, not got to that stage yet, but can ask who you're using and if you had to haggle to get the price you wanted? Jan

P.S. Great avatar!

the turner family

Hi Jan,

We are shipping from Spain, so it's a bit different. I phoned 6 shippers for quotes and got 3 prices back. The most expensive was €7612, the next was €5225 and the last was €2864 - the differences are staggering aren't they? Naturally we opted for the cheapest one who are a company called Combitrans. I didn't haggle because I thought that the price was excellent.

I just hope that they don't turn around next week and say "oops, you were mis-quoted"!

I expect you will be able to get better help from UK shippers though, as in Spain poor service is par for the course! (Sorry any Spanish people ) That's why I'm asking for advice from the forum instead of the shipper!

Andrea

planty

Hi, shipping was one of the things I wanted to ask about.

Like how have other people got on?
Were things in one piece the other end?
Was it worth it?
Did they do it themselves?
How much?
How big are the containers?
Which companies are recommended?

We're not planning on taking a lot of things, some essentials that the wife couldn't bare to part with, I wanted to sell everything and start again.

I phoned one company and was quoted about £3500 for a full container or about £2200 for a half container, they said they would have to come and visit to see exactly how much we were looking at taking. They said the full container would take appox the contents of a 3 bedroomed house. That was also house to house delivery.

Gill and Rob

My advice, from our experience, would be to bring everything. Things are more expensive to buy here and replace than you think. It is amazing how comforting it is to have your own possessions turn up. We brought everything except the kids bunk beds, which we got rid of as they were at the end of their life !! and our microwave and tumble drier which we gave to my Mum {we lived with her for almost 4 months before we left the UK}. Needless to say we had to replace them quickly once we got here.

We shipped with Crown and they were excellent. No ill effects of being in storage for 4 months plus 6 weeks at sea. We had 2 "broken items", a cracked sherry glass {sentimental}, and a squashed plastic basket from Everthings a Pound, that the kids played with. Not bad going !!!

We have still had to buy loads of furniture items once we got here, including drawers, extra storage units etc. This is because the house is bigger than our previous home in the UK.

Gill

SarahB

Hi,we're been in AKL for 5 weeks now. Our container has arrived in NZ and is being brought to us on Thursday. We were based in East Mids in UK and used a Norfolk company called Hadley and Ottaway...the service was absolutely brilliant. So I cant tell you yet if everything is still in one piece but they packed everything so well Ill be surprised if anything is broken. The cost was about £3.7K but they did all the packing including the crating up of some special very large belongings. Their agent in AKL is The Moving Company and they have been helpful so far....the price includes unwrapping and they will take away the wrappings for us too....they have even offered to come back in a few weeks time to collect any more paper and boxes etc that we might have if we dont want to unpack everything straight away.

The Pickfords quote was way too much so we didnt use them. Well over 4k for a 20 footer.

Bring everything you can. We didnt bring absolutely everything and now are realising we should have done. Nothing is cheap in AKL....everything is more expensive than you think it will be. Fit in everything you possibly can.

I am so looking forward to getting my belongings on Thursday

scottish

Our belongings were in a shared container and like the other people we had no worries when they arrived. A few breakages - cheap Ikea Birch Frames, and a missing item - hubbys record deck (very strange). All elec stuff arrived working perfectly. No items had mould or mildew.

We wish we had brought more over as everyone else has said its very expensive to replace things in NZ. My advice would be get on that last time shopping spree and buy, buy, buy.

(one thing that was great but made me feel sad was that all my bedding smelt of HOME!! - great comfort getting all your things but that smell of Lenor made me cry).

xx

Joshlin

we were strongly advised to let them do all the packing so as to ensure that all things arrived safely and that (heaven forbid) if anything went wrong they couldn't blame anything on poor packing so that's the route we're taking.

again like the others we are bringing everything (familiarity, cost to replace etc etc) and we have got a lot of stuff - a 4 bed, 3 reception house with all the paraphenalia that 2 kids bring plus my OH work tools (2 huge tool boxes). We are having a 20' container plus overspill (which goes shared) going to Lyttleton. We got 3 quotes and there wasn't much in it - Crown was the most expensive (and they said they would be!), then PSS, then John Mason - we've gone for PSS so it's gonna be about £3800 for the container and then £1500 for the overspill which includes all packing, transport, up to 7 weeks "holdback" at UK port(as an alternative to UK storage) customs paperwork etc, delivery, unpacking, taking away the packing materials - it doesn't include insurance, storage in the NZ, quarantine treatments.

Good luck with your move - I must say I'm glad I'm not packing, its one less thing we need to do!

planty

Quarantine treatments?
What's this?

Joshlin

your stuff will get checked over by customs and if there is anything that they think present a risk to the ecoenvironment they have the right to treat it - ie. garden furniture / tools / golf clubs / shoes / camping equipment / etc etc. They can fumigate, irradiate or destroy if they feel the need. We have been advised to allow about $500 for this.

Also if anything is locked make sure the keys are available - again we have been advised that if they can't get into anything they will just break it open!!!!!

planty

We downloaded the 'the new zealand immigration and relocation report' for a fee, in that it tells you your not allowed to take tents, wicker or bamboo furniture, no live or dead plants, avoid sending garden equipment or be certain it is spotlessy clean of all dirt and debris, and thouroughly clean boots, bicycle tyres, sports equipment and other outdoor equipment.

Well worth the down load fee.

the turner family

Thanks to everyone for the info. Sorry I haven't responded sooner but I've been busy packing! Following the advice given, I'm now packing absolutely everything, the poor lady buying our house will arrive to an empty shell!

PS) Are NZ light fittings screw or bayonet? Need to know if I should bring my energy saver lightbulbs!!

Cheers,

Andrea

bookemjano

I assume pine furniture is ok? And oak (not going if I can't take my bed, took me 12 months to find the right one)?

the turner family

Yes, all types of wood are fine. Apparently they fumigate the entire container in order to treat all the wooden items.