Sally Redux

Maybe fewer people are emigrating at the moment and it takes longer to fill the container?

nettlebed

Probably transshipped in Jamaica or Colombia then. Do you know which ports it stopped at?

AddyLaddy

Yes the CSAV site has a constantly updated list of every port with arrival and departure dates. Cross-referencing with CSAV owned ships that go to Seattle leads me to believe it will be transshipped in Cartagena, Columbia. But I guess they don't necessarily have to use CSAV for both legs.

nettlebed

Cartagena makes a lot of sense: it's the last port before the Canal, and if your ship is bound for Peru, it won't want to head north after the canal.

It will likely end up on a Hanjin ship it's coming to Seattle from Cartagena. But of course you can never tell: the shipping industry is phenomenally complicated, and the complexities make those of airlines look trivial.

I used to try and get a grasp of things when I had more time, but I realized early on that it needed more time than I had.

BadgerNaboo

We have shipped from London to SF with Robinson's they collected on the 9th of Sept we have been told that it will take 45 days from the 9th. It sailed from Tilbury on the 15th

bromleygirl

Wish I had gone with Robinsons! that's really quick - did you have a full container?

I've just heard from Pickfords to say that our shipment is now in a container after sitting around for 6 weeks and is about to sail and won't get to San Francisco until 17th Oct.

BadgerNaboo

We filled about 2/3rds of a 20ft container have found Robinson's really good so far will confirm when we receive our stuff

TimNiceBut

My 20ft container (I couldn't go groupage as I took a few motorbikes with me) took roughly six weeks and arrived in Oakland the day it was scheduled...

A word of warning if this hasn't been mentioned before re containers - they stay on the truck if you get the actual container delivered as the trucks don't have the necessary equipment to take it off. In my case I had only 2 hours to unload the container, too. Fortunately the driver was kind enough to help getting the stuff out, but balancing three motorcycles down a narrow ramp from about chest height was a little disconcerting.

bromleygirl

The saga continues with Pickfords!! 17th Oct came and went! Checked on the so-called online tracker both Oct 18th and 19th. No arrival date listed and with the scheduled arrival date not updated. The Allied/Pickfords contact in SF advised she isn't informed re the status of the ship arrival and that I needed to liaise with my Pickfords Moving Coordintor in the UK.

To cut a long story short, Pickfords UK were of no help and actually copied me into an e-mail that talked about me complaining and questioning the fact that I was contacting them after the ship had left! The Allied/Pickfords contact in SF then advised me the ship had been rescheduled to Oct 21st. I then received an e-mail Oct 21st to say ship is now coming into Oakland Oct 26th!!

Oct 26th is exactly 13 weeks after my shipment was collected from me in the UK. So, two issues going on:

Firstly, I was originally told 6 - 12 weeks with 60% of shipments making it in 6weeks. Then the day my shipment was collected I was told 9-13 weeks. My shipment will take some days to clear customs and then be delivered to me making door to door delivery time in excess of the 13 weeks max I had been advised - has anyone claimed any kind of refund due to these circumstances from a shipping company??

Secondly, poor and rude customer service. Online tracker was not updated and the UK side of operations brushed every enquiry that I made for information on when my container was going to be assigned a ship and on the status of the ship due to the arrival delays. After paying in excess of 2000 GBP, I did not receive the necessary level of customer service that I should have. Even when packing my boxes I needed to use this forum as Pickfords were not helpful at all with the types of things that I could and could not pack.

I'm really dissapointed. I sent a complaint to Pickfords UK Head Office which was just referred to the Cambridge office. I've only had an acknowledgement from the manager to say she is on Annual Leave. Nothing about why the ship arrival has been rescheduled twice and nothing about what Pickfords intends to do.

Would really like to hear any suggestions on how to proceed further and others experiences with similar situations. Kids and I are feeling really unhappy and missing our things which should have been here by now

nxsfan

Ha ha!

Well hopefully this will make you laugh. We still haven't received our stuff either!!

Remember that it was collected on July 22nd?!

Seriously, I'm going doolally over this. What's really driving me nuts is the fact that there is constantly the prospect that the stuff will arrive 'next' week. There have been continual delays relative to the estimated times for, consolidation, lift-vans, local agent, etc. with no explanation. I'm sick of sleeping on an inflatable bed, sitting in cheap and uncomfortable campchairs and using Walmart plastic crockery. I have no winter clothes because it was summer when I left the UK and I never conceived it would be winter before my stuff arrived.

It will have been at least 14 weeks by the time my stuff arrives. ::RAGE::

(that said, the people I have interacted with from Pickfords have been very polite, if ineffective at getting my stuff to me promptly.)

EDIT: I just reread your email. Sorry to add to your depression, however it's been a pain even after my stuff arrived. It actually reached the US on September 28th, and it has taken until today to leave the port.

First there is the customs inspection, they say 7-10 working days. For me the stuff cleared sometime on or before the 8th, so 8 working days. There was an x-ray, but the charge for it was small ~$40.

On the 12th I received an email stating that it would now be loaded onto 'liftvans' for transportation to my state. (Hurray! I expected my stuff to arrive within a week at that point.)

On the 19th I received an email saying the 'liftvans' were now available and that the stuff would be with their local agent (local relative to my location) by 21st or 22nd.

This morning I received an email stating it would be with the local agent by tomorrow, the 26th.

Each one of these emails required 1 or 2 emails by myself prodding for further information.

Who know's when it will arrive at my house. I hope you have a more fluid experience.

bromleygirl

I feel your pain nxsfan. I can't believe that Pickfords are running this kind of operation. I'd had an e-mail from the UK today saying the ship was arriving this morning and again there is nothing on the tracker to indicate that it has or if it hasn't then the estimated date of arrival hasn't been changed again either.

Like you say to get any answers I have needed to send e-mails to prod Pickfords for information which I shouldn't need to do.

I've now sent another e-mail to Pickfords stating I want to know where the ship is and when exactly it will be arriving in port.

I fully intend to make a full complaint and demand a partial refund from Pickfords. I thought paying the extra and going with a well known international moving company with a sister company stateside would negate any anxiety and stress - how wrong was I!!

bromleygirl

My shipment was finally delivered Nov 12th with 2 items damaged and needing repair.

I didn't take out the insurance when shipping as for my mind my personal items are irreplaceable and as I understand it Pickfords has their own limited insurance to cover damage that they have caused. I paid over 2000GBP to have my things shipped and I expected Pickfords to take good care of my items.

Has anyone ever claimed from the shipping company directly against their insurance?

nxsfan

Wow, you just beat us. Our stuff took 14 weeks to arrive.

The best part was when their local 3rd party agent refused to deliver our stuff unless we paid him extra on-top of what he gets from Allied (although that was eventually resolved after several phone calls and emails).

We had 4 items damaged and they paid the cost of the items immediately. However the cost of the insurance worked out to be more expensive then the cost of replacing the items, so it will be interesting to see how you get on.

Did you ever get anything from Pickfords for taking longer then estimated? Our upper estimated limit was 10 weeks, so we were 4 weeks over with no explanation.

bromleygirl

The total cost of the repair to the 2 items damaged is just over $700. The thing is if Pickfords had packed them properly the damage would not have happened or have been so bad. Basically I'm holding Pickfords responsible for the damage and I expect them to pay for the repairs.

I also want some compensation for the fact it took over 14 weeks to finally get our things - lot longer than what they had said plus ther service was crap - complete lack of information and rudeness as well so I'm asking for compensation/refund of the shipping charges. I paid over 2100 GBP and I had terrible service, took longer than was promised and my Grandmothers antique Singer sewing machine in it's box appears to have been dropped upside down causing a lot of damage which was heartbreaking to see when it was delivered.

I've sent a very detailed letter with estimates and pictures and have given a deadline of 1 week for a response. I want to get this sorted before Christmas

TimNiceBut

Ouch, good luck with the repair!

Reading this makes me glad that I did pay for the container (which was the only option for me anyway because of the motorbikes) - at least that one did arrive on time and mostly undamaged. Turns out that one of the bikes suffered a little paint damage but that's something I discovered months after the fact so I guess I'll just have to dig in and pay for it myself.

By the way, my understanding regarding the insurance is that it covers you against fun stuff like the container falling off the side of the boat (which happens) so it might be worth having if you've got a chance. I shipped without, too, but that was because by the time I got around to contacting the insurance a few days after the movers had picked up my stuff, the container was already at sea...