mudblood21

I have been researching shipping agents, but as the thread was dated last June, I wondered if any of the more 'recent arrivals' have any new advice or information to share, please?

thanks

The Jezzers

Hi we used PSS all I can say is Brilliant. Every step of the way all the way from our house in the UK to our house in NZ. They did everything all for just 2900 for a 20ft container. The container came and they filled it to the max, packing things that we did not even know could fit in, using every space. All we paid at this end was a customs fee of $45. Not one thing broken and it took just 6 weeks. Some boxes I asked them not to unpack yet and they just said when ever I was ready they would come back and finish off. They were the best for us. Over here PSS is called NZ Van lines.

Please be careful our friends used a company called Ship it in the UK and had so many extra fees that they ended up paying the same as us just for 4 boxes and had to travel across the country to pick them up. Do they charge extra to fill the container if it is not on your packing list.
Get about 4 quotes. Ask what you get and are there any extra fees and will they pack and wrap and go door UK to door NZ.
Goodluck.

thedtb

We also used PSS and our container is due to land here in NZ this coming Friday... apparently. Not sure how long it'll take before we get it after that, but I'll report back on that in due course,

In terms of PSS themselves, we've had good and bad service so far... the people in the office (we dealt with Claudia and in terms of extending storage periods etc dealt with Brendan) and the removal guys who came to pack everything up in the UK have all been fantastic.

However the initial estimator that came out (I vaguely recall his name was Nigel but I could be wrong), seriously misjudged the contents of our house... the result was that only three days before we were due to fly, the truck they'd sent was full and we still had quite a bit left to be loaded on to it... as the truck apparently held just about as much as a 20ft container, this also meant we had too much stuff to fit in to the container....

The result? Choose to leave a load of stuff behind (we'd already been to numerous car-boot sales and sold and/or given loads of stuff away)... pay PSS a further completely not-budgeted-for-in-any-way £1,700 (from memory) to go to a 40ft container... or ask them to unload the truck and leave all the stuff at our house, pay them a cancellation fee that would apparently have come to almost £1,700 anyway and fly out of the UK before we'd have chance to organise a replacement shipping company....

There was of course no choice, we had no option but to pay the £1,700 extra to get all of our stuff shipped and we're now just biding our time to get our belongings here before we formally write to complain.

The biggest frustration of the lot was that the finger of blame is obviously pointed at us... e.g. we must have hidden a load of stuff when the estimator came, in order to get a low quote and then brought out all the extra stuff when the removal guys arrived... but this absoutely was not the case... we sold and gave away loads of stuff at car boot sales and even asked friends/family not to buy our two young boys bulky birthday presents in order to not have any extra stuff when the removal guys came... so it was massively frustrating to be put in such a position. Thankfully I was off work that day and able to calm the wife down, because had I not been, the stubborn yorkshire lass within her would have had our stuff taken off the truck regardless!

Time will tell what happens with our complaint... personally I don't think much will come of it, but hey, you never know.

One thing's for sure... when it comes to going back to the UK... I'll be booking a 40ft container to go back with regardless... no nasty surprises then!

The Jezzers

I would also recomend that people ask for the container to arrive at there address so they can see it loaded and sealed in front of them. We lived on the south coast of the UK and our team at PSS were just the best.
Everyone has good and bad stories about shipping agents.

mudblood21

THEDTB -

YUK ! You have really had some rotten luck! did you do something horrid in a previous life?

I had estimators from two companies out, they both said i would get all my stuff into a 20 ft container. I hope they were right! It is quite enough to take all this on without being hit by something like that!

I remember you had problems initially - hope that things are going better for you now!

I am heading for Auckland in April -- carefully timed so that I get one winter here and another there !

mudblood21

Cheers Jessers
I have Allied Pickfords coming for my stuff- I expect to see the container, so hopefully all will be well.

concretepump

hi yes we used nz van lines in 07 ours was about £3,000 but they sent three men to pack and load took four hours only because we was helping them load or it would have been all day, then the samr in tauranga my wife ticking off the numbers while i was helping unload took two hours then had to move contrainer off neighbours drive but overhall give then 8 out of ten

Him and Me

We used Robinson's they were really good and cheaper then Crown and Anglo pacific we paid 4,700 for a 40ft container (both quoted around 6,800...so big saving). The container came to our house and was loaded up there and then (took 3hrs i think), we were given a time/date so we were able to warn our neighbours that a big 60ft lorry would be blocking part of the road

Conrays will be the company this end who will unpack us...but so far not been that impressed with them as they don't seem to be keeping us imformed about our container..they just sent us an invoice asking for $600 with no explantion other then it was for MAF/Customs inspection it's been in their care now for 2wks and we're still waiting for a delivery date..every contact made has come from us not them and they seem uninterested in helping us get our stuff back

Also Robinsons DON'T add on the cost of a MAF check, so be aware that you could get hit with this on arrival..we had to pay $600 for ours but still worked out cheaper then going with the other 2 companies

So overall a mismatch of customer service so far..hopefully Conrays will do a great job of unpacking and redeem them selves

BEVS

If the container was inspected, then MAF will have sent Robinsons / Conrays a detailed invoice. Ask for a copy of this. You are entitled to it. You may well have been charged a so-called 'service fee' for someone to merely have been present when the inspection occured.
Moving Company charged us $375 a few years for MAF , however, after investigation we discovered that there had been no MAF fees and the container wasn't even inspected. We disputed and got a full refund.

Tell the blighters to get your container to you immediately. Flaming cheek of it.

Him and Me

Thanks Bev..will look in to that
the OH did e-mail conrays and they got back today saying MAF wanted to "look at" 50 boxes..and thats what the charge was for.

They've also just told us that Customs want a copy of my uk passport and visa to release the container it only asks for the "person who is completing the customs form" to state whether they are a returning resident or not...my OH is a kiwi and he filled out the customs form so unsure why they would want to see my passport Apperntly this is whats causing the hold up on our container

jennifer45

Yes avoid Crown!
Definately not a case of 'you get what you pay for'.
All individual franchises, so can't speak for all depots- but Leeds depot was abysmal and Nelson was even worse!
Still awaiting repairs.
Loads of very small [not terribly expensive ] items missing.
ie double Queen CD
The Blue planet- 5 boxed unopened CDs for grandchildren.
Missing items from sets of crockery/porcelain!
Unopened boxes of oil paints and brushes!.
I signed for them having been packed at UK end, because there was nothing left in the house at the end of 2 days packing. We had been confined to the conservatory during the packing process!!
NZ end we were left with a pile of boxes to open and unpack 'at our leisure'!
Try proving that items have been broken or mis-appropriated prior to arriving in NZ!
Think they are all as bad/good as one another.
Depends on the individual gang you are unlucky/lucky enough to get!

Shipping Agents eg Crown, put all problems at the door of Shipping companies, if anything goes wrong.
You definately need insurance- make sure it's fully comprehensive.
If I were to ship again I'd go for the cheapest relocation company and the dearest most comprehensive insurers- then just sit and chant/pray/plead that all goes well.
Take anything small of sentimental value with you.
If the worse comes to the worse- the rest can be replaced with a good insurance.
You'll see a lot of positive posts on here re individual shipping agents and we read them and went with the premis that you get what you pay for! We paid a lot and got a lot of heartache , certainly not a lot of help when things went wrong

mudblood21

I am on here today trying to find the name of the insurance company that has been recommended so many times... and I found this - a timely warning for me as I am dashing round sorting out my stuff. I thought i had pretty much finished sorting things out and i am amazed at how much I still have to do ! still it is only Monday and they don't come until thursday.....

thanks for your warnings! I am on the lookout for BRILLIANT insurance cover now....

shelloid

Mudblood, I think the name of the insurance company that lots of people here have recommended is Letton Percival or something similar.
Hope this helps!

Him and Me

Letton Percival are the one's...they quoted us a good price which saved us £500 on the overall cost of shipping.

Friends of used Crown and didn't have any issues with them, they're parents used Pickfords and had quite a few ornaments damaged/broken during the packing process in UK...so i really do agree that it's luck of the draw...we used Robinson's and they guys were excellent only worry is they had to pack the cotainer during the snow so things got abit wet inside.....still waiting for our container to be released from MAF so god knows what state things are in

Jo-Chris

We used Crown but WOULD NOT recommend them. Our belongings left the UK a month later than we were told because they 'could not fit it on the boat'! The communication on the NZ side was basically crap - they did not keep us informed of any progress at all and we had to check on the online tracking to try and find where our belongings were! We are now in the process of getting compensation out of Crown.