WARNING: shipping furniture?

[Baldyin38]

Please be advised. If you are thinking of shipping your furniture across to OZ...it can take a minimum of 12 weeks. yes..12 weeks..dont beleive the hype from those taking thousands from you to get it here in 8 weeks.
It is unfortunate that they forget to tell you it will detour to other countries where it may be held up...and when this happens...its too late.... they have your money and you can do nothing about it.
So please plan for a 12 week wait. Dont be dissapointed. DONT BELEIVE THE REMOVERS!!!

[sheena]

it depends if you have a full container or share!!!
ours took 17 weeks! so your 12 is nothing!!!!


sheena

[eddie&tina]

We were told 8 weeks it took about 14 weeks . Most of all make sure you have all your stuff insured.

I would no way in the world send your things with out insurance.

eddie

[The Baggo's]

Our belongings took 9 weeks and arrived before us - although that was the plan as we were living at my mum and dads! We used DAP in Kent who we couldn't fault! I just wished we had of put everything in the container!!

[Baldyin38]

Would be intereresting to see what companies lived up to their names and what companies let everyone down. Nice wee hobby for data freaks...lol. You could sell your info back to the companies...bet they would pay a fortune for it not to be posted!!!

[Herbster]

Originally Posted by Baldyin38

Please be advised. If you are thinking of shipping your furniture across to OZ...it can take a minimum of 12 weeks. yes...dont beleive the hype from those taking thousands from you to get it here in 8 weeks...they forget to tell you it will detour to other countries where it may be held up...and when this happens...its too late.... they have your money and you can do nothing about it...please plan for a 12 week wait. Dont be dissapointed. DONT BELEIVE THE REMOVERS!!!

OK, I think it's a good idea to allow a couple extra weeks, but you generally actually can't blame the Removal Companies!! Our furniture was collected April 25th, & our removal guys were hustling, running with furniture to fill the container as quickly as possible - it was our container, if you are sharing one, then obviously that's a different story! - It was loaded in less than 3 hours, some of those guys were then driving down to Coventry from Newcastle-upon-Tyne - to load another shipment ! Our driver was under starters orders: he had to get that container down to the railhead where it had a designated slot on the rails in order to meet our boat, which was at sea Monday. So nothing there to fault Doree Bonners/Kelly Removals... our container is on a vessel with hundreds of others, there was an ETA, which really is BEST CASE SCENARIO! which was June 8th in Tas...
I agree that the removalists could be more open with how ones container makes it's way round the world,(& some do offer tracking) but I suspect not everyone wants to know this info. (A bit scary!) As it transpired, our boat had problems and suffered a mechanical delay. This meant missing it's allocated connection in Singapore & having to wait its turn for a new boat going to Hobart - not all of them do! And of course this was via the East coast of Australia! Actual days on the ocean are around 40, which is pretty quick - but where the time can be lost is at port, loading/unloading & glitches, such as our mechanical one, and that doesn't even factor in the unpredictable weather roaming the High Seas... Also with the current fuel crises, I believe boats are sailing slower to ecconomise - so eventually our shipment arrived at our home 8:59 June 30th, so unfortunately 3-weeks late, but really pretty quick when you think how many miles it's covered... And over a week of that was on TasRail...

Again, Grace's this side did everyting they could to rush it through Customs, as our rep knew we were desperate for it! So it wasn't their faults at all that our shipment was delayed, & the rail here in Tassie is diabolical; it wouldn't have been so bad, if it weren't for the fact that we were staying with dear people that had endured a succession of visitors the previous seven months & we'd only expected to stay a week. In a nutshell, allow an extra 2 weeks anyway, & I think you'll find most removers offer some free days storage which would cover an early arrival... Also should you have paid your agent all the Customs fees, & you receive a bill from Customs & Quarrantine - don't pay it, take it to your agents & they'll pay it!
Hope this helps you plan ahead,

[Baldyin38]

Thanks Herbster. Its good to read there is an exception to the rule. Glad it all worked out well for you.
We had tracking with our removal also, it said the same thing from day 1 to the final day which was today and still said it was docking today...however, i doubt the removal companies sataelite must have been looking the other way as we are about 2 weeks late in docking and this wasnt picked up...maybe its the 7 hour difference thingy!!!
The point i was getting across was there appears to be an acceptance that when you pay thousands of pounds of hard earned cash to company which promisses you something then the least you expect is to be informed of any changes of arrival date...anyone can put the name of a ship on a site and say when its due to land...doesnt mean its being tracked as my case obviously proves. But there does appear to be an awful amount of displeased people who are sitting in houses without furniture due to incorrect estimates..surely the experts as they say they are can improve on this...might cut back on the amount of disgruntled customers...mind you...when your over here..what can u do about it?
Take it on the chin when the companies say there is nothing they can do about it..it's not their fault!!
I think they should be made more accountable, it may put pressure on them to ensure that who does cause the problems .. fixes it

[kdal]

Hi, This is another thing that we have not adventured into yet. Wanted to get the garage cleared before we get the shippers in for a quote. By what your saying I think we better move ourselves sharpish to get this side of things organised.
I do agree with you though, if they know the shipment is going to be late then they should contact you the client to keep you updated of the situation.

Can anyone tell me how long you can keep your belongings in the storage if you need to? Say we were not ready to have it all delivered what would happen?

Thank you and regards
Kim

[Herbster]

Hi All:
Yes, but it's probably not really the Removal Co's fault! The container belongs to a shipping company & is virtually rented by the minute and NOT by the people who pick up your furniture & load it into the container... Have you ever been to a hub like Singapore, the amount of containers & ships coming in & out at any moment in time is enormous, mind boggling, the logistics of getting a container from the back & beyond in England to the Back & Beyond in Tassie is incredible, and all the Removal company's can really do is get your stuff on board, asap & hope, like their client's, that everything proceeds as planned, they've got no more influence over Events than we have, & believe it will arrive at it's Customs destination more or less at planned, when again they can begin handling it for you. Logistically I'm quite amazed ours only took 65 days to do the 12,000 miles... and again, you're talking oceans to cross - it's not airfreight, that could clearly do the same journey in 48 hours or less. AND heaven knows BA are really great at handling that one!

Also think about it from a retailer/wholesalers view point; these are just our personal effects - imagine the container is full of Product coming from China, which can be sitting on the dockside at destination for weeks & weeks getting old & manky, until Customs get round to inspecting it, & your customers are having fits because their stock has not arrived & the Season is passing... So far as I know Hobart has only 1 or 2 Inspectors to do this job - imagine how long it takes them to get through 1 shipment from Singapore? The Removers don't know when our container will be inspected until they are notified by Customs & as with ours, Customs wanted to spread it out over the weekend into Monday, & Grace said NO! can we have it now, which fortunately they agreed to.
The Removal companies have little to do with the shipping process once it's in that container, other than try & choose the most reliable shipper & that might not be the quickest, & again, you have to factor in this fuel crises, ships are not steaming full ahead as they were a few months ago, & there are so many things that can influence a journey, even if it's tracked, I don't know how much that would help us, ours certainly wasn't, for it can be sitting in a massive pile on some dock somewhere & I don't know who prioritizes one container over another.. and there ain't nothing we could do anyways!. Certainly not Crown, or Boners, etc., either!
When other Removers (Crown, etc.) asked me how much I was paying, they were amazed, as they told me it costs at least £3k to physically move a container across the oceans whether empty or full, it cost us a third+ of that just to move 500 miles in UK... With the best will in the world the Removers want to get your stuff to you as quickly as possible, & clearly there are some Agents that are more on the ball than others, and also, if like me you're phoning them twice a week to find out where it is, that motivates them too! But they can't actually give you your stuff until it clears customs & quarrantine, so you could have had it earlier, but not once the Government gets involved... So from our experiences: an extra 14-20 days over a 6-wk ETA seems reasonable (You need to check with the removal agents in Oz how many free days you are permitted once it's cleared C&Q, for us it could have been 14), but check out the many threads that have been posted @ PIO to weigh up who might give you the best service to suit your circumstances. BUT, you do have to give a lot of consideration as to how you will spend the time while your belongings are at sea - if only to keep your friends & family sweet...
Hope our experiences help... Cheers,

[Baldyin38]

Thanks again herbster,
you know, no one doubs the difficulties in moving furniture or items from one country to another. My god, you only have to order something from MFI in brittain to realise how difficulties can turn up, but what were saying is that the companies like you have mentioned and many more have a duty to the customer to be honest from the offset. This is not the case. There have been too many complaints of the nature i have made to prove this.
As for accountability, well, sure many companies are concerned in the removal from one country to another but accountability liaes with the company you parted your thousands too. It is far too easy for companies to pass the buck and say..'it wasn't me'. They took the money therefor they accept responsibility when things go wrong. We as customers cant go chasing around the world trying to find out where your furniture is.
I suppose all i am saying is when a company makes a promise, they are accountable when that promise is broken. I nhave spoken to several families now who have suffered as we are going to and the problems this causes are massive.
A few days outwith the delivery date after customs is acceptable...not 4, 6 or 8 weeks.