Katydid83

Hi all

Beginning to look into moving companies. Does anyone have any recommendations of companies they have used? We will be going from the South Coast UK to Philadelphia area.

We are not planning on bringing any of our furniture but will bring the rest! Anyone find shipping boxes cheaper than getting a pallet?

Also, how long does it take between obtaining quotes etc and getting booked in? We are looking at leaving July - September.

Anyway, any help is much appreciated!

Thanks
Kate

Jerseygirl

Many years since I moved...but have you looked in the Wiki. There is information about shipping in there.

Bob

Aye, quite a bit in that and on the numerous threads on BE.

Recommendations tend to be a bit moot anyway as it all depends on who gets cub-contracted for the local US end, which is where the scam moving website is handy to check over.

As for time frames, ring them up and ask, could be anything from days to weeks. Either way, if they can't send someone around to do a check on the quote, it's probably best to avoid as it'll be a way off.

slummymummy

We got quotes from 3 companies I think it was, but decided on Doree Bonner. They were really nice when they came to pack our whole house up. I was stressed to the max and probably a pain in the arse, but they were nice and calm and made me feel better. Nothing got broken. The company they use this end is North American Van Lines and they were also pleasant enough to deal with when they delivered the stuff.

http://www.doreebonner.co.uk/

Bob

They're a franchise gig....so definitely check rep of which one you get as some are great, others aren't.

The Horticulturalist

Yes, we also had Dorree Bonner 4 years ago and NAVL at this end, it was very good. but as Bob says you might want to look up the local agent at this end on movingscam.com

slummymummy

We were told it was always NAVL? But maybe this was just for our location... Florida.

Bob

NAVL are made up of local franchises though, so the level of service, quality of service and the amount that they try and rip you off by will massively depend on the local franchise of the company.

slummymummy

Oh I see. So the OP might want to ask somewhere if someone has used NAVL in the Philly area? www.city-data.com/forum maybe.

However, how much wrong can they do when they're only delivering your stuff?

Our crew looked like mostly illegal immigrants and they didn't speak great english but they were friendly and polite and put our boxes where we told them to and nothing was missing!

Jerseygirl

That's what I was thinking...similar to Allied.

slummymummy

We didn't pay anything to NAVL so I don't know how they could rip us off. The only thing we paid for was extra time in storage because it took longer than we thought to find a house.

slummymummy

In case someone missed it I put a photo above, edited into a post...

Bob

They have all your shit and you don't.

You want it back, you pay them extra fees and storage fees on top until you do, is the common scam, usually under the guise of security inspection charges, being a couple of grand more than any charge would be if you even got searched in the first place.

Jerseygirl

^^^What Bob said...we've heard stories such as that before. ^^^

slummymummy

Ok but do you really think Doree Bonner would work with such companies? They would hear about this and use someone else in those areas... Not saying you're wrong but it sounds crazy! Phew, lucky we had no probs.