Sids knee

The mould and mildew could be as result of the ingress of water (sea or rain) and therefore the actual proximate cause of the loss was water damage which would be an insured peril. The rain or sea water dried out causing the mould and mildew. Worth pursuing and I would suggest you speak to the actual Insurers and not through the removers. Your contract of insurance is between you and the Insurer with the remover solely acting as the Agent. Also check out the weather conditions your goods were packed - if rainy it could be that the removers left your goods out in the rain during the packing of the container thus causing the goods to become wet.

They appear to have a very good reputation in the industry and, in my opinion, certainly worth considering.

I would be very wary about this as it would be the Shipping Line responsible for the state of the container not the owner of the goods inside the container - 'words, for, money, old and rope' come to mind. Also if this was an insurance a full Policy wording would need to be provided by the remover and not just another entry on your invoice !

Re External Wash Just spoken to a shipping line and apparently it is the shipping line who is responsible for the costs and not the remover or the owner of the goods inside the container. It was pointed out to me that this would be most logical as otherwise how would the Port Authorities know who shipped the container - why would they know container 'A' was shipped by Remover X and container 'B' by Remover Y when the only common denominator is the Shipping Line - can we please have some transparency here ? Is this charge a true insurance (therefore supported by a written Policy from an insurance company) or as I am beginning to suspect just another unnecessary added on cost charged by some removal companies. Confusion reigns !!

Liam - all good stuff and this greatly clarifies the situation. Just one point, even if all containers are DAFF inspected and clearly the charges will then vary dependent upon how detailed the inspection is and what items need to be cleaning, treating or defumigating. Therefore, how can a remover in the UK charge up front DAFF fees in their quote ? Secondly and out of curiosity, how many time in the last year have you had one of your customer's containers selected for external washing and how does the customer then claim against the insurance you are offering - does it not get even more complicated if there are 4 or 5 customers sharing the container - what happens in 3 buy the insurance indemnity policy and 2 don't ?

Kirsty, All good stuff but re point 2 why are you still advocating purchasing insurance thru the remover when everybody else recommends using one of the independent insurance providers ?

I stand to be corrected but Pickfords in the UK have no affinity or common ownership with Pickfords in Oz. They are completely separate companies. The Pickford empire was broken up and sold off several years ago (when its parent company Sirva went into receivership) with the cavaet the new owners in each of the trading locations around the world be allowed to continue to use and market the Pickford name. To my knowledge the only company who have the same ownership and management structure in both the UK and Oz are Crown Relo whereas all the other removers work equally as well on an agent to agent basis. Notwithstanding the foregoing the advise to get several quotes is still very sound.

Looking at other threads on this site it seems there is a growing trend emerging whereby you are quoted £x based on an estimated volume of 'Y' but once the goods have been packed and taken away you are contacted asking for a further payment as the actual volume was 'Z'. As you have no way of verifying the true volume it seems the customer has no option but to stump up and pay or the goods simply don't get shipped/ Question I would ask is what happens if the volume is in excess of the salesman's estimate and get a clearly defined answer in writing so there can be no confusion. Equally, ask what happens if the volume is below the salesman's estimate though I suspect the moving company would never tell you this. If you get three or four quotes then there shouldn't be too much of discrepancy in the volume if these guys are doing their job correctly or are they simply sucking you in only for you to be hit with a bigger charge after you have signed up ?

You may want to check out what trading associations both company's belong to and then decide inasmuch moving with a member of the British Association of Removers (BAR) does offer a limited degree of protection /recourse if your move goes wrong.

I use to work in the insurance industry and the rationale in declining your claim should be challenged. Irrespective of whether cover included or excluded the Pairs & Sets Clause, you suffered a lost during the currency of the Policy therefore the Policy should respond to your lost - it is that simple. Please also remember you have the right to approach the Insurance company directly. Contact names and numbers should be in the policy wording and you should not be fobbed off by the loss adjustor who maybe working on behalf of the remover rather than the insurance company.

Never heard of this nor to my knowledge has it ever been mentioned on PIO. Sounds like a crafty way of earning a few more bucks out you. If you are sharing a container does everybody then pay £ 35 each? 10 people sharing a container x £ 35 = £ 350. One person exclusively using a container = £ 35 ?? Also since when are you responsible for the state of container ? My reckoning is that is just a way of the remover upping their indirect charges !

I have looked on the Aussie Govt website and found the following information which might help relating to their charges. [TABLE=class: MsoNormalTable, width: 75%] [TR] [TD=bgcolor: transparent] [/TD] [TD=bgcolor: transparent] Container Fees [/TD] [TD=bgcolor: transparent] Full container [/TD] [TD=bgcolor: transparent] Each unit [/TD] [TD=bgcolor: transparent] $24.00 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=bgcolor: transparent] Less than full container [/TD] [TD=bgcolor: transparent] Each unit [/TD] [TD=bgcolor: transparent] $6.00 [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Quarantine inspection fees are based on a ½ hour unit of inspection time. Your final quarantine inspection fee will be dependent on the time it takes for an AQIS officer to inspect your goods. Additional charges will apply if your goods require treatment prior to release. Ensure you discuss the fees and charges that apply to your consignment with your agent. This info came from the following site www.daff.gov.au/aqis/travel/entering-australia/moving-emigrating If you were charged A$ 200 then by my reckoning it must have taken them close to 17 hours (A$ 12 per hour) to inspect your consignment alone. Surely they aren't that thorough or am I missing something here ? Perhaps it might be worth getting a copy of the actual charge bill from Aqis rather than relying on the mover ! Hope this helps. Sids knee

Hopefully we will soon be in a position to start getting shipping quotes but surely all these costs should have been identified at the outset by the mover here in the UK. By making the payment to the Aussie mover and not to Aqis me thinks this can only mean they must be incurring some admin costs therefore are probably retaining a % of the fees paid to them to cover these. It would be interesting to learn how much and does it vary dependent upon which Aussie mover the UK mover selects. Sids Knee

You will need to speak to a removal company and they will ship your goods 'groupage' which means they will store your goods until such time they have a sufficient amount of goods to fill and ship an entire container. If you use one of the mainstream removers who regularly ship to Oz then they are more likely to be able to consolidate your shipment in a shorter period of time but they will give you an approx. estimate of how long it would take. The names of Pickfords, White & Co and John Mason seem to crop up quite frequently on this forum so perhaps they could be a good starting point. Sid Knee

Who have you got quotes from and what sort of volume are you shipping? It seems to me that most of the shippers are prepared to negotiate costs but you need to feel comfortable with whoever you choose. Some members get quotes from 5 or 6 removers and then pick just 2 or 3 removers to negotiate final terms. Others seem to be totally open and tell each mover what price they have to beat to win the business. From what I have read there seems to be a greater supply of shippers/removers than there is demand so in simple economic terms if supply outstrips demand then the price should be low.