White and Company - The story so far!!

I know when I was trying to decide who to use to ship our worldly goods to Oz reading about the experience of others really helped so here is our story so far.

We had quotes from all the shipping companies that operated in our area plus John Mason and PSS who just quoted via e-mail based on other companies volume calculation. White and Company came out as one of the cheapest with the most expensive being 50% more so we really had a massive range in price's even though they all worked out our volume to be pretty much the same. We had felt very comfortable and confident talking to Colin the estimator from White's who did the quote, he was very knowledgeable about the whole process and happy to deal with all questions we had. There was a slight doubt at the back of my mind - what do they do different to be 50% cheaper than some of their competitors? After a bit of research we felt comfortable booking with them so did, we had a 40Ft container so saved almost £3000 from our most expensive quote.

The packers have been with us for 3 days this week and our container was loaded yesterday. Having watched the White's packers working I can certainly say there is no cost cutting involved in the amount or quality of the packing materials used and the guys were all very experienced and certainly knew their trade. They turned up exactly when agreed and worked as long as it took to get the job done. We had 1 wicker basket that had been packed mistakenly and once I pointed out the mistake it was found immediately and removed - to find the box first time was impressive baring in mind the room was filled floor to ceiling was boxes.......thanks Rod!!

On the second day Colin the estimator was in the area doing another quote so he popped in just to check how the job was going and to make sure we were all happy. I am sure he would not be able to do this for all jobs but I thought it was a nice touch.

So all in all we are very happy with the service so far and fail to see what anyone could have done better. I will update this thread once we have some info about the containers progress and then again once we actually have our stuff delivered in Perth. Fingers crossed, we are off to a good start anyway.

Good post!

Hope everything continues to go well for you! :biggrin:

Thank you for writing about your experience ... we all need help in choosing ... It was helpful to read about a good company ... so far ...

I'll look out for your update...We're moving from Glasgow to Melbourne in a few months. I am just starting to get quotes, i'll definitely give this company a call...good luck!

We used White & Co also. They were tremendous! The packers took 2 days in total and were great. They worked SO hard and were great. We were kept apprised of our goods until handover to Brisbane where the process was taken over by Kent Removals. We could not have been happier all round. If your moving I can highly recommend White and Co and the same goes for Kent's Removals. Fantastic service.

P.S, not one broken item upon delivery in Oz....that says something!

We used White & Co also. They were tremendous! The packers took 2 days in total and were great. They worked SO hard and were great. We were kept apprised of our goods until handover to Brisbane where the process was taken over by Kent Removals. We could not have been happier all round. If your moving I can highly recommend White and Co and the same goes for Kent's Removals. Fantastic service.

P.S, not one broken item upon delivery in Oz....that says something!

Thanks Keira, that is really good to hear. Kent will be our agent in Perth too so fingers crossed our's goes as well as yours.

Keira-how big was your container? And how much did you pay?

Our container was a 40Ft but was only about 3/4 full and we paid £6500. That included AQIS but not insurance.

sounds all good but dont want to burst any bubble but i read on here or was it another forum where someone thought they was great also but on the other side was a complete nightmare im not go into details about it,but this sort of put me off by them,i still to look into shippers myself and these was on my list of ok companies to try,and reading the above makes me wanna add them again,i wondered did they come to you to give quotes,or did you have to supply,give info by email etc to get a quote,lets just say im having to empty my house my stuff is in short term storage in a container and i have a lot of flat packed items and many small items that fill up a lot of boxes,i would have no idea how many boxes really i would have of the small stuff,my goal was to have them out to the container have a look for themselves and then see what i need by that,im thinking it maybe a 40ft container but hoping a 20ft is enough as im not,using the space up as good as these guys do.

I just also wondered say they did work me out on volume and said ok you need a 40ft container,on what stuff you say your taking,if you say well then as im paying for a 40ft container i would like to take this and that and this etc etc does this then as cost to the price?as it seems to be a waste or unfair if your having to pay for a 40ft container and not getting full use of its space.

Its just i have some items i may leave back here in the uk with someone and sell them from oz,but get them shipped from uk,but if i knew that i was to be given the 40ft sue to the volume of stuff i have then i be as well take them with me,just like other items i have,some items i plan on selling as im not sure if my border line with a 20ft or if i really need a 40ft.

When I started doing my research I soon discovered that there was not 1 company that did not have a review from someone who "had a nightmare" so I decided to just accept that no company satisfy s their customers 100% of the time. Even John Mason who have an excellent reputation on here have had a couple of very unhappy customers. I discounted some companies who seemed to disappoint customers regularly and there was one beginning Pick that I actually struggled to find anything positive about atoll.

We contacted all the shippers who operated locally and they all came round and gave us a quote. You do the same drill for them all, take them room to room (incl garage) and point out everything you plan to take even opening a wardrobe and saying all or half of that. From that they work out your total volume and give you your options.

There are companies who will take on your job based on someone else's calculation and the first time you would see them would be when the packers arrive but we did not like the sound of this so only considered those we had met in person.

Based on how much stuff you have you will be given the option of sole use containers or shared use. Sole use means the container will be dedicated to you with no-one else's stuff in it and it will be shipped as soon as it is loaded. If you choose shared use then all your boxes will be taken back to the shippers depot and wait there until someone else has the correct amount of stuff to fill it up and only then will it be shipped. Sometimes this can be as quick as a dedicated container but you have no control over it so can be a long wait. We had 1/4 of our container as wasted space but the saving we would have made (only a few hundred) was not worth the risk for us. We have 2 kids and my husband will be working FIFO so finding a long-term rental and knowing our stuff will all be available for delivery when we want it was worth a lot to us.

I am not sure how you are going to work round the short term storage issue as the estimator will need to see everything to give you an accurate quote. If it was all say books that you just put in a box then that's ok but the packers use a lot of protective packing and although you say they will do a better job than you in reality they will make it all a lot bulkier as they pack it to protect everything during transit.

My advice would be have a good think about what you really need to take and have a massive clear out and then get a few companies to come round and talk to you. ask first if any of them could meet you at the storage unit too? Maybe they are used to doing this - I really have no idea. Once you have your quotes make sure you are comparing like for like as all include different amount of storage at either end and all will have different costs if you exceed that amount of storage time. Also check if AQIS (the quarintine fee) is included and if not add that to make your quotes comparable. Although Whites have given us an excellent price their storage costs at the other end are quite high but we decided to go with them and if everything goes to plan we will not need storage but if we have problems and need storage in Perth then we will be no worse off overall than if we had gone with the more expensive quote (Crown in our case) who had cheaper storage costs. It can be a bit of a minefield........

Best of luck, I hope that helped a bit.

As promised here is a quick update on our shipment. Container was held up in Grangemouth for a week due to high winds but made it to Felixstowe eventually and is now on it's way to Singapore. Our original due date in Perth was the 28th May and that has been revised to the 30th May so no great trauma.

Whites e-mailed me to advise of the delay due to the high-winds and sent me the link and booking reference for the Maersk site so that we could track out shipment. So far so good, will update again once our stuff arrives in Perth.

Did you have a whole container or did you just part fill it? I'm still waiting to hear if my cooker is en-route to Perth yet!

Thanks

Did you have a whole container or did you just part fill it? I'm still waiting to hear if my cooker is en-route to Perth yet!

 

Thanks

We had a 40Ft all to ourselves - I know tonnes of stuff!! It was odd that we were only offered a 2-3 hundred discount to part load so we decided to have the control and keep it all together. Did you just ship your cooker? Funny that and our fridge is about the only 2 things we didn't take....lol

I have friends who did a part load and I know they were able to track their shipment. Which shipping company did you use? I am sure if they give you the booking or container number you could track yours too.........

No we had a 40ft to ship all of our things and it all arrived in February. It got here quickly but then took nearly as long to clear customs/quarantine as it took to get to Australia in the first place.

The reason for shipping the cooker separately is this: We bought a house at auction a couple of months ago and it does not have a functioning kitchen (it needs ripping out and we have to start again). I love baking cakes and biscuits (when people tell me to get into shape, I tell them that round is a shape!). I grew up with an Aga and it has always been my dream to have my own once we had our own home. However an Aga is entirely impractical for the temperature here, so we decided that I would have a range cooker instead, as they can be turned off instead of being a year round heat source. We looked at the prices over here and we looked at the prices in the UK. The one I wanted was $8999 over here (without an induction hob). It was £1750 ($2400) in the UK (with an induction hob). Induction hobs cost in the region of $2k on top. Shipping from the UK was £625 (approx $1000) and we have to pay 10% import duty/GST ($340). When we spoke to the sales staff over in various shops in Perth, they could not guarantee a delivery date as the item was going to be shipped from the UK. With that in mind I decided to save myself over $5000 and ship one from the UK myself.

I'm currently looking at the price of fridges and getting shipping quotes to see how much I can save by shipping a large two door fridge freezer from the UK. I have my 2 UK fridge freezers but neither will suit the kitchen I am planning, so we will be selling it to get the new one I want. The question is where I buy it from. The same goes for the range hood I want (again super expensive over here and reasonably priced in the UK). The only big reason for buying a fridge over here is the guarantee which is worth having as far as the fridge goes, but I am less concerned about with an electric oven.

Our oven is being shipped with White & Co and when I spoke to them about 3 weeks ago, it had not left the UK. That's why I asked about yours. I hoped that if your container had been only part filled, that my cooker might have ended up in it and might be here at the end of May! In the end it's not too big of a deal as we now can't do anything about the new kitchen until the termite problem has been solved (which is likely to be in 4 - 6 months time if our pest control people are right). We were told before the auction that the house had had termites in the past (and there was visible termite damage so we knew and had factored in that we would have to replace the floorboards), but that the termites had been sorted out. We bought "as is" (it was a mortgage repossession and being sold by the bank) and did not know that in order to sell, a house is supposed to have a termite certificate, so we did not ask for it. Too late now. The day after we moved in we lifted a floorboard and found a live termite. We got the pest control people in a couple of days later and the result is that we are going to have to wait for the termites to be eradicated before we can replace the floorboards and put the new kitchen in. As we speak the little sods are being poisoned and I feel no sorrow for their fate whatsoever!

Thus the question. I am very glad that your container is on it's way and sad that my oven isn't in it!

Oh sorry Carolyn, no cooker in our container. 3 weeks ago was when we had really severe winds for a week and a lot of sailings were probably delayed. Do you know which boat your cooker is on? I will keep my fingers crossed that you get it soon. If we manage that play date with the kids I look forward to sampling your baking - sounds lovely. I forced myself to master pavlovas knowing they were the national pudding and I have been told they are the best (and that was from an aussie) but that is about my limit. Well that and mars bar crispies made with the kids........

Your termite problem sounds a nightmare, are you able to live in the house in the mean-time? Been loving all your little tips about house renting/buying on various threads - thanks. Oh and I noticed you were struggling to get a hold of Karvol, I have been trying to buy it here to take with us but it is out of production. I can get Vicks which you are not supposed to use under 2 years so may try a tiny bit of that and see how we go. Can you get a hold of Vicks, I can buy an extra tub for you if you can't.

Really interested to see these comments. We were going to go with White & Co too but they couldn't manage our dates. Pickfords matched Whites quote and are due to come and pack up our house next week. We've gone for sole use of a 40ft container and that's after having a big clear out!

Really interested to see these comments. We were going to go with White & Co too but they couldn't manage our dates. Pickfords matched Whites quote and are due to come and pack up our house next week. We've gone for sole use of a 40ft container and that's after having a big clear out!

Good luck, hope it all goes well. Be sure you have everything you don't want packed hidden in a cupboard with a massive sign on the door saying "DO NOT PACK". I was amazed when the packers arrived how quickly they fly round your house - it felt a bit like a hurricane and unnerved me a bit but by day 2 I was much more relaxed.

Just wanted to say that even though it is hard work for you posters to write posts with such a lot of detail, they become invaluable tools to help those coming behind you - so thank you!

Great news!!! The boat with the container on (that has my oven in it) leaves port tomorrow!!! Hurrah!!! I'm going to get it this side of Christmas! I am so excited I don't know what to do with myself! Recipe books ahoy!!

:biggrin:

Great news!!! The boat with the container on (that has my oven in it) leaves port tomorrow!!! Hurrah!!! I'm going to get it this side of Christmas! I am so excited I don't know what to do with myself! Recipe books ahoy!!

 

:biggrin:

Fantastic news!!!

White & Co are the cheapest quote we have so far. I am keen to go with them as they are "one of the ones mentioned quite a bit on PIO", but don't like to go with the cheapest. Anyone else got any comments on White & Co?

I know when I was trying to decide who to use to ship our worldly goods to Oz reading about the experience of others really helped so here is our story so far.

 

We had quotes from all the shipping companies that operated in our area plus John Mason and PSS who just quoted via e-mail based on other companies volume calculation. White and Company came out as one of the cheapest with the most expensive being 50% more so we really had a massive range in price's even though they all worked out our volume to be pretty much the same. We had felt very comfortable and confident talking to Colin the estimator from White's who did the quote, he was very knowledgeable about the whole process and happy to deal with all questions we had. There was a slight doubt at the back of my mind - what do they do different to be 50% cheaper than some of their competitors? After a bit of research we felt comfortable booking with them so did, we had a 40Ft container so saved almost £3000 from our most expensive quote.

 

The packers have been with us for 3 days this week and our container was loaded yesterday. Having watched the White's packers working I can certainly say there is no cost cutting involved in the amount or quality of the packing materials used and the guys were all very experienced and certainly knew their trade. They turned up exactly when agreed and worked as long as it took to get the job done. We had 1 wicker basket that had been packed mistakenly and once I pointed out the mistake it was found immediately and removed - to find the box first time was impressive baring in mind the room was filled floor to ceiling was boxes.......thanks Rod!!

 

On the second day Colin the estimator was in the area doing another quote so he popped in just to check how the job was going and to make sure we were all happy. I am sure he would not be able to do this for all jobs but I thought it was a nice touch.

 

So all in all we are very happy with the service so far and fail to see what anyone could have done better. I will update this thread once we have some info about the containers progress and then again once we actually have our stuff delivered in Perth. Fingers crossed, we are off to a good start anyway.

This is the Company my mother used! Horrible service! Packers came extremely late, thankfully we had already packed the house even though packing was in the price...When things arrived furniture was scrapped and table legs broken, couch pillows missing (YES SCRAPPED ALL ACROSS THE TOP, her expensive vintage dining table that has been wrapped by her so carefully) We are missing a box with expensive china in it. No refund they are being difficult to deal with, they only offer to have the furniture repaired...

I hope your experience is better than hers but please be wary and cautious with them!

Obviously some people are going to have a good experience and others bad ones... Just be firm with them from the beginning if anything goes array! Good Luck!

Oh no, sorry to hear you had such a difficult time. Is it not your insurance company that you need to claim from not White's? I know that our insurance policy said that anything packed by us would not be covered if it got damaged as they only insure what is packed by the professionals. Maybe you are having such a nightmare because the lines of responsibility are blurred with a lot of stuff being packed by yourselves.......Did you use White's own insurance? We used Insure Your Move so not sure about the t's+c's of the policy that White's sell. I hope you get everything sorted and your Mum is not too stressed with it all - just what you don't need when moving!!

I will update this thread as our shipment progresses and fingers crossed we don't have too many problems.

Oh no, sorry to hear you had such a difficult time. Is it not your insurance company that you need to claim from not White's? I know that our insurance policy said that anything packed by us would not be covered if it got damaged as they only insure what is packed by the professionals. Maybe you are having such a nightmare because the lines of responsibility are blurred with a lot of stuff being packed by yourselves.......Did you use White's own insurance? We used Insure Your Move so not sure about the t's+c's of the policy that White's sell. I hope you get everything sorted and your Mum is not too stressed with it all - just what you don't need when moving!!

 

I will update this thread as our shipment progresses and fingers crossed we don't have too many problems.

She purchased their insurance...I too do not know the t and c's ...She was so frustrated with everything plus had the stress of enrolling my sis into school and finding a job that she ended up leaving it and not pursuing further. From what she told me though their insurance covers fees to repair stuff...not to compensate or buy brand new replacements

sounds all good but dont want to burst any bubble but i read on here or was it another forum where someone thought they was great also but on the other side was a complete nightmare im not go into details about it,but this sort of put me off by them,i still to look into shippers myself and these was on my list of ok companies to try,and reading the above makes me wanna add them again,i wondered did they come to you to give quotes,or did you have to supply,give info by email etc to get a quote,lets just say im having to empty my house my stuff is in short term storage in a container and i have a lot of flat packed items and many small items that fill up a lot of boxes,i would have no idea how many boxes really i would have of the small stuff,my goal was to have them out to the container have a look for themselves and then see what i need by that,im thinking it maybe a 40ft container but hoping a 20ft is enough as im not,using the space up as good as these guys do.

 

I just also wondered say they did work me out on volume and said ok you need a 40ft container,on what stuff you say your taking,if you say well then as im paying for a 40ft container i would like to take this and that and this etc etc does this then as cost to the price?as it seems to be a waste or unfair if your having to pay for a 40ft container and not getting full use of its space.

Its just i have some items i may leave back here in the uk with someone and sell them from oz,but get them shipped from uk,but if i knew that i was to be given the 40ft sue to the volume of stuff i have then i be as well take them with me,just like other items i have,some items i plan on selling as im not sure if my border line with a 20ft or if i really need a 40ft.

We used white and co to Perth. UK end was fantastic, in Perth their partner company is Kent removals. They arrived when agreed, unpacked the truck and check all the items off the list as they went, pointed out something broken we would not have noticed till much later and noted it, put beds together etc and 2 of the guys came back a week later to collect all the boxes and packaging once they were all unpacked, all really good, no complaints and nice guys who brought our stuff

Has anyone done a self pack option for White & Co?

They had previously given me a quote of £2450 for a self pack. When I say that I would like to go with this quote, they then reply and say now quote is £3850 including packing.