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We arrived in Oz a month or so ago and out container has just arrived. The removal agent informed us that quarantine found a Santa with an unidentified vine attached and we needed to pay £125 to destroy it or £460 to keep it. We paid to have it destroyed however after speaking with others in similar shoes they were not charged to destroy items. I think we have been ripped off, can anyone confirm this? I would call quarantine myself only it's the weekend!

I just read on AQIS 'These services, except for destroying the item, are subject to fees and charges, which are payable by the person receiving the package.' from here Seized Items and Treatments - DAFF I thought i'd read on here that you had to pay to have items destroyed (or fumigated). Can anyone clarify please? If it's free to destroy them I might chance it with a few items.

Hi ALL, :smile: Just thought I’d put a wee update on our plans and my latest news. If you remember we were the 2 clowns who emigrated to Brissy in January and came home after a week because my elderly in laws had gone AWOL and not told anyone. Anyway it all was OK in the end. We are heading back to Brisbane at the end of this month, and are just counting down the days now. Must tell you this though. About half of our goods and possessions, cloths and things were shipped to Oz in January. The removal firm were great, did everything, guided us on certain items what to take and what not to take. We had an E-mail Monday to say our goods cleared customs and quarantine last week and are now in storage. Now I have no idea why or how it took over 4 months to clear, maybe because we are home and not there pushing for their clearance, I don’t know but the fact is they took over 4 months to come through. Obviously this is fine for us, as we were back in the UK, but for people wanting their possessions quickly, I imagine this is frustrating beyond belief. One other point, inspite of all our care on packing, and making sure certain items were left behind in England, they confiscated what has been described as a Christmas Nativity?? Now I have checked our Christmas decs and their all still here in England in our loft infact. So I have no idea what they took. We were given the option of either paying $30 to have it destroyed, or $330.00 to have it fumigated. Needless to say we took the destroy it option. So I hope this helps anyone interested in seeing another problem encountered in the moving process. I think no matter how much you try to plan it all correctly, I guess a bit of luck always comes in handy when dealing with customs. I’m hoping the same customs officer is on duty when my mother in law comes to visit at Christmas. $330 to fumigate her and then the $30 to destroy her sounds a good deal to me! Hi ALL, Just thought I’d put a wee update on our plans and my latest news. If you remember we were the 2 clowns who emigrated to Brissy in January and came home after a week because my elderly in laws had gone AWOL and not told anyone. Anyway it all was OK. We are heading back to Brisbane at the end of this month, and are just counting down the days now. Must tell you this though. About half of our goods and possessions, cloths and things were shipped to Oz in January. The removal firm were great, did everything, guided us on certain items what to take and what not to take. Our goods cleared customs and quarantine last week. Now I have no idea why or how it took over 4 months to clear, maybe because we are home and not there pushing for their clearance, I don’t know but the fact is they took over 4 months to come through. Obviously this is fine for us, as we were back in the UK, but for people wanting their possessions quickly, I imagine this is frustrating beyond belief. One other point, inspite of all our care on packing, and making sure certain items were left behind in England, they confiscated what has been described as a Christmas Nativity?? Now I have checked our Christmas decs and their all still here in England in our loft infact. So I have no idea what they took. We were given the option of either paying $30 to have it destroyed, or $330.00 to have it fumigated. Needless to say we took the destroy it option. So I hope this helps anyone interested in seeing another problem encountered in the moving process. I think no matter how much you try to plan it all correctly, I guess a bit of luck always comes in handy when dealing with customs. I’m hoping the same customs officer is on duty when my mother in law comes to visit at Christmas. $330 to fumigate her and then the $30 to destroy her sounds a good deal to me! :twitcy: Only joking of course EMMY