Hi All,
Just to be clear: I am not an employee of any shipment company and this review is not linked or paid by shipment company (please bear in mind that many reviews on forums are).
Why I am writing this: I spent a lot of time choosing relocation company, reading many forums with contradicting information. I was really disappointed with paid/false reviews. Thanks to the forum moderators for picking some of these and marking them.
I have chosen Anglo Pacific.
I got my visa in March and started looking for relocation company from Reading UK to Melbourne AUS.
Size: 1/3 container with many delicate items: guitars, art, kitchen things, expensive road/mtb bikes and furniture.
Insurance: I went with private insurance not the APs.
I had six companies doing an estimate (end of Feb 2015) and chosen one based on various things: my intuition after talking with companies' reps, reviews and cost (not the cheapest and not the most expensive). All of the companies overestimated how much things I had. I was consistent showing them what I had - this was done over two days.
Important: representatives give lots of advice on how to clean things and what you can take. I really appreciated this help. Customs did not question anything in the shipping and did not charge additionally for cleaning (besides standard AQIS cost for the check).
Pre packing: very good communication by email, phone. Answered all my questions and also tried to arranged parking permits (Reading council is very difficult with this). Pick up day was scheduled without problem.
Packing (20th April): Arrived on time and despite difficulty with parking (one way street, full of cars). They didn't make a problem with it possibly because not large shipment. Packed very fast and most important they packed it really well. Guitars, my road bike and kitchen staff were packed is paper, wrap, boxes that would survive a hurricane. Each box had a label and details on what is in the box, number etc. You get the copy of the shipment and it is useful to check on delivery. Road bike had special wooden crate. Arrived without any (new) scratches.
Post packing: AP checked the size of shipping again in their warehouse. They called me to say that I had less things than estimated and refunded some cost. Why this is important: one company said that they will not change the initial estimate if the size is smaller (they will if I have more things).
Waiting: AP provides ship details that you can track here: http://www.marinetraffic.com/ and I also could track container here: http://www.track-trace.com/container. Why I like it? Because I am impatient. Helped a bit.
Delivery (21 July 2015) : Company in Aus emailed the details and approx. delivery date. This slipped by 2 days but no problem. Customs took two weeks. I had a call to confirm delivery day and they also said they will call again with delivery time. Delivery time was in one hour slot. Again very fast service and very nice guys. Unpacked what I wanted (furniture and bikes) and took the rubbish away. Took the furniture upstairs. I kept some boxes for next move.
I have just unpacked other boxes. I asked for the floor protection as I have timber floors. This was not needed at the end as they were really careful.
Most important: nothing is broken, lost, damaged, mouldy. Everything is fine. All boxes arrived.
If you are lost in all the reviews on forums just get appointments with few companies and compare them.
Thanks for other people who reviewed and shared their experience. This was very useful when I was deciding and planning the relocation.
