WARNING: shipping furniture?

[Herbster]

Hi Yvonne: :

Happy to help! As you may recall we had our home, 2br cottage, out in the sticks, packed up over 2 days, and the container was sealed before our eyes & left our house around 3pm Fri April 25th (if that's a Friday) ETA was in Tas (not at our home) June 8th, so foolishly we arrived May 30, as we wanted to do stuff, clean the house, get ourselves sorted, but we could have waited till the 8th, as apart from the cleaning you can tie up your legal commitments in 2 days - as it was the container took just 65 days arriving at our door Monday, June 30, 8:59!

Being in the Corbridge area of Northumberland we eventually choose a Newcastle company (having interviewed everyone from Crown to Excess International - seemed good - very computer orientated... but I didn't feel we'd have gotten as much in our 20' & about £900+). The company we used was Kelly's Int Movers, aka Doree Bonner, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who have other outlets around the country - the sign of the cat. I've been told that to just hire the container is around £3K - now prices will have changed, but we paid £4K for door-to-door for wrap & EXPORT PACK & Unpack, + £1K Insurance, there were also the local Custom & Quarantine fees of around $400.00. (Which could be more should anything untoward occur!)

The main things to question about are they familiar with shipping to Oz! Do they belong to recognized Trade Group (FIDI) and do they EXPORT WRAP/PACK - which means every item encased! I even found one of those pesky bean shredders encased in bubble wrap! AND do they remove the rubbish...??! As we're moving again soon we've kept a mountain of it! Ummmmmm???

Now, the 2nd day we had a lad who I don't think was savvy in the ways of Export Wrapping as most of my pictures & photos were just stashed in boxes that I would never have packed like that to ship in the car home, let alone 12,000 miles on an Ocean voyage rattling round in an iso! So watch that - also that they have decent agent's this side - We had Grace in Hobart, who were very friendly & efficient - yes, they didn't exactly tell us what we wanted to know, but that was only because they didn't know either! But they hustled our stuff through Customs as they knew we were keen for it!

PS: Also factor in copious amounts of teas & coffees & cookies & a tip appropriate to the effort... I forgot about the Ts&Cs really & the fact you need a kettle & mugs to make it IN...!!! There's stuff like that where good neighbors or nearby rellies or just keeping the rubbish for that purpose to then junk it instead of washing up that you have to remember... AGhhhh! And as we took our fridge/freezer & stove.... microwave, all have to be devoid of crumbs, grease, mice...!

Obviously all your outdoor stuff has to be sanitized in disinfectant (so they can smell it!) & painted - NO dirt of any kind on outerwear, or anything, - shoes, pots, garden furniture, etc... I have a feeling they might even have new rules about fishing rods, wet suits & surf boards, although mine got through ok. Check that they will pack voids & flat pack difficult things like tables. Also what you can dismantle & what they expect you to do ahead of time (Clearly this saves them time & you ££) ... That was a big project for us, & again days ahead of time we had to dismantle our wardrobe (where to put the clothes??)book & cd cases, etc (FIND somewhere to stash the sounds & books) & spend the next week falling over planks of lumber & dictionary's... Also this sounds logical to ME, but... always pack your screws & bits in baggies & tape to the base of a shelf or other integral part of dismantled furniture... Don't put them all together in some pot, cos you'll never find them when you want them & be cursing cos you can't eat your dinner on the table, as the screws are in some pot that you can't remember/know where it was packed, or C&Q confiscated it!! Also make sure they'll pack your mattresses properly & any antiques will be properly cared for.
Helpful Hint: You can take some useful cleaning/bathroom, Body Shop items, etc. we just packed all liquids together in those clear plastic boxes, & put an inventory on the outside - obviously nothing flammable or combustible or items that shouldn't mix... Shippers will then encase in their wrapping media - you can also do this with personal items that you don't want to get damp, letters, photos, etc & request loads of desiccant... I think we had a couple dozen all told, Xmas decs - no pine cones, straw, lambs or donkey! We filled a Hope Chest with duvets & there was no problem with down pillows, etc. They let us pack drawers with clothing, soft toys, if they won't let you do that you'll soon be up to a larger container...
I think that's enuf info for another post!!
Hope it helps,


Cheers,

[Ross 1982]

hi all i was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how much it would cost to ship my tool box with all my tool out to perth , i will need them as i am a mechanic .
Thanks
Ross

[claire&fred]

We went with Pickfords. They advised 7-9 weeks it arrived in 4. Left on 5 July and arrived 5 August. That is quick!

Claire

[wardy]

The first of our shippers salesman has just left he told us a maximum of 15 weeks and that includes tansporting by road from Brisbane to cairns. we have another 2 coming next week so will see what they say.

[dave&donna]

I was just wondering if Baldy had got his container yet??? We've not heard anything from you Arthur come on tell us...

Well I blame the salesman!!! We used Robinsons and the chap who came out to quote gave us all the right answers and was soooooooo charming and told us he knew what our priorities were (time and price) and assured us it would cost about £3500 I think from memory and that it would take 9 weeks.
We had booked for our stuff to leave us 2 1/2 weeks before we flew out and camped out on blow up beds and begged and borrowed stuff from everybody and just about coped and then we had booked rental for 6 weeks this end so thought we had got it all covered and planned it all carefully.
Our house sale was going through at the same time as sorting the removal out so it was totally chaotic and I had paperwork coming out of my ears so didn't realise until it was too late that I had signed and returned a contract to robinsons with a different lead time on (I had received different contracts already by email so presumed the one in the post was just a copy so they had a hard copy for their records). The night before we were due to be packed up I had to ring Robinsons as I had no contact from them and only then was I told that it wouldn't arrive until 4 weeks after we were originally told and when I said we had booked a rental for 6 weeks she said that was my fault cos I should have spoken to her first!!!!! I told her I had planned and organised everything before cos wanted to be sure it was all sorted and she just said it was my fault for not reading the contract and said 9 weeks was not really realistic anyway and also said the charming salesman had not told her time was a priority so we were booked on a slower shipping line!!! I asked why it had changed suddenly and I wasn't made aware and she just said I had signed and that was it.

I asked why the price had suddenly shot up from that quoted and she said the charming salesman should have explained that some element of the insurance (can't remember now) was always added on to the price??? but we were never told that.

The charming salesman!!! was a con artist as far as I'm concerned because everything he said was complete rubbish - our coordinator was a real cow and was a not bit sympathetic to us neither.

I've got to say the Robinsons packers were fantastic and did it all in 1 1/2 days and really took care with everything so we felt very confident with them. On the other end Wridgeways were brilliant and in the end we did getting our stuff in about 9 weeks I think as Wrideways delivered it a lot earlier than we had been told by them as customs must have checked it earlier so we were really lucky but at the most crucial time when you want all your planning to go smoothly it was a nightmare and stress levels were high!!!!

So the moral of the story is ...... a salesman is a salesman through and through and will tell you what you want to hear to get you to buy!!!

Ross we brought Dave's tool box which is huge and heavy as part of our 20ft container but had it invoiced separately as the company paid and I think with insurance it was about £500.

Donna xx

[moving2melbourne]

We have two clients staying in our properties at the moment, one was suppose to have their furniture arrive at the end of August they have now been told end of September and another family who should have had theirs 2 weeks ago and still no sign. Unfortunately these families are having to go out and buy furniture to put them on until it arrives. Yes they could hire furniture but that can be an expense. I really do feel for people who ship their furniture, you either have to send it early which means sitting on cardboard boxes in the UK or have non when you arrive here.

[Herbster]

Again, to reiterate our time line: Doree Bonner/Kelly's International Removals, Newcastle-upon-Tyne & Grace, in Sandy Bay, Tas took just 65 days to collect, EXPORT pack, ship, support through Customs & Quarantine deliver & unpack our 2 br cottage via a 20' container.

When selecting a company, clearly the first selection criteria is are they are Expert's in shipping to OZ; Next, do they belong to a reputable trade organization, such as these?


Thirdly, are they regulated by the (Financial Services Authority) to offer your shipment essential Insurance Cover? This is ALWAYS a completely separate issue, and any sales person who does not treat it as such and explains it all to you as a completely separate issue, & IS NOT regulated by the FSA, is breaking the rules and you can easily report them to the FSA - Any reputable company wouldn't dare do this, as they could probably loose their license & their business. It is sensible to have your shippers to insure shipments, as everything needs to be itemized & signed for, which would mean another Insurance person having to come to site & oversee the whole operation, before signing off on it, even more $$££! From my experience, most outside insurers won't touch it with a barge pole! But just as with your contents insurance, this additionalcost will all depend upon the value you place upon your items and the insurance cover selected. Ours was around £1000, which in the event of the container being lost overboard or completely wrecked, well worth it, but in the event it all arrived safely with no claim whatsoever.

Obviously check out all the NUMEROUS comments by various members on the forums here & on other sites, and arrange for perhaps 3 - 6 company's to visit your home for a detailed site survey, allow 2 hours for this, & ask every and any question that pops into your head - have a comprehensive list drawn up ahead of time, because it's easy to remember things once they've left! Be sure to compare like-for-like! As with any quote, it will have a time-limit and in these volatile times of erratic fuel markets, prices are liable to fluctuate dramatically - Also bear in mind that just the basic hire of a 20' container is going to be around £3K - before they ever bring it to your home or they pack a piece of furniture into it, let alone send it half way round the world to your new destination.

Also factor in these containers go across oceans via Singapore - and it costs the shippers every minute that container is on a truck, train or vessel, in a port or sitting in a dock - there's NO FREE RIDE here for anyone! Remember your little container is at the mercy of storms at sea, faulty pumps & pistons, and marine accidents, truck strikes, typhoons or your connecting ship's punctuality, all factors which can impact the timeless of your container's travels! So with the best will in world, if the shippers estimate 45 days, that is what they truly hope & WANT: as it should actually only be at sea around 32 days - amazing really when you consider the vast distances involved, and because anything over & above that will cost them, the sooner they can get that container off the ship, off the dock, through C&Q, unpacked & back into service, the more chance they have a turning a profit - it's what everyone wants...

And we were very happy with Ken, Jeff & Brad at Kelly's & Sam with Grace's...
It all takes TIME, RESEARCH, ENERGY & MORE time & research! Then $$££$$! And then PATIENCE!!!
All the best to Future Globe Trotters, from a Bear who's been there...
XxX