penguinsix

When we moved USA-Hong Kong I called for quotes from both companies in the US and companies in Hong Kong. It was crazy how they varied in price eventhough they used the same shippers! (HK company Y would contract US company X, and then in the other quote US company X would contract HK company Y).

You might want to try looking at this from both ends--see if you can find a shipper in your destination who can arrange pickup in the US and then find a US shipper who can arrange delivery in the UK. Might lead to some interesting savings.

Gerber

Thanks, I'll look into it.

ottotheboar

To be clear I am not in the shipping business I export motorcycles
and import Land Rovers as a sideline and over the last 18 years have learnt the hard way. You can not compare "bare bones" container rates where we load and unload (or stuff the containers to use the correct term) to a specialist company who will send in a crew to pack up your whole house.Recently a 20 foot container with a Land Rover and a few engines from the UK to Denver recently cost 1900 UK pounds plus Customs clearance and duties to give an example of rates.

Gerber

Thanks ottotheboar. I appreciate the info, it gives me a better idea of what I'm being charged.

Annu

Hi
Just registered on this very informative site; we're moving to Washington DC in about 3wks!

In a bit of a mess with the dreaded cargo so, pls can u read my slightly long post and help:

Had 3 companies do the survey and shock horror:
- the first guy from Express Removals was literally in and out in 10min max!
- the second guy frm Global Moving Systems (GMS) was thorough with the estimation but boy did he give me a long sales speech
- the last one frm PSS was again very thorough and to the point but his estimate was 100 cuft less than the other two!!!!

So, I disregarded the quote frm Express removals for obvious reasons and decided to focus on PSS and GMS. The guy frm GMS called me couple of days after the survey, I told him that his quote was so 100cuft higher than the one I got frm PSS, now this is where it gets interesting....his initial responsive was very defensive and then the offers rolled in:

- £1300 for 270cuft or £1700 for 350cuft
- 2 installment payment option (50% in uk and 50% after it goes through US customs and is ready for delivery)
- Insurance at 2.5%
- 2mnths free storage in UK

Now having done my research into the two companies I started preferring PSS as they had BAR, FIDI, FAIM accreditation. As expected I called PSS to see how close they can come to the very lucrative offer by GMS and frankly speaking the guy I spoke to was incredibly rigid and not that interested. Whilst he agreed to offer the same for the insurance and storage but gave a point blank no to the payment option (fair enough) and his best was £1550 for 270cuft and £2000 for 350cuft!

So, I'm really stuck now as I don't understand why GMS are so desperate and whilst I'd like to go with PSS but the price is still high and the guy i spoke (who would be my move manager) was quite abrupt and most concerning for me, he was quite unhelpful when I had some questions about US customs.

I don't have the time to start all over again with new companies, so pls pls can anyone here give me some advice on my dilemma ?

joannabanana

We just shipped our belongings and had a similar experiance with whom we should go with. We ended up sharing a container as we only had personal items, no furniture. The quotes we got varied by a couple hundred pounds also, but we ended up going with the one that was more expensive with the best customer service - they were very helpful and never minded the thousands of phone calls with questions from me. If a couple of hundred pounds is worth the peace of mind to you, then do it, it was well worth it to us.

Annu

Hi Joanna - thanks for ur reply, do you mind sharing the name of the company you went with.
Regards,

joannabanana

yep. Vanguard logistics services tel 01942 685150 or e-mail [email protected] (neil was the man who quoted us) They are quite basic (we just wanted our belongings picked up and shipped - we didn't need any packing, etc) but were very helpful with the millions of questions I had.

Annu

Thanks

BadgerNaboo

All I can say is we had possibly the worst experience possible with Robinson's so I would give them a miss. Still feel sick every time I look at our trashed furniture