Our experience of getting quotes from shipping companies

[kaoticturtle]

Hi everyone!

 

My husband and I have just been through the process of getting quotes and I thought others might find our experience useful. Please note that what is written here is just our opinion from the contact we have had with each company

 

We got quotes from the following companies:

Doree Boner

White and Co

Anglo Pacific

John Masons

Crown

 

We deliberately contacted some of the main companies that seemed to be used quite frequently and that we felt would provide a good level of service We decided that cutting corners and going for the cheapest option for shipping might prove to be a false economy. We also contacted PSS but they sent through an assessment form for us to complete before they would arrange for someone to come round and to be honest I never got round to filling it in. With 5 others I decided we would have enough options

 

 

• Doree Boner were the first to come round so we weren't too sure what to expect before hand. The rep was very friendly but we felt he was very sales oriented and quite arrogant. He also said some things about third party insurance which we felt was scaremongering and when we checked didn't actually reflect the policies that insure your move and letton percival actually sell. That put us off them quite substantially and we felt like he was really pushing for the sale. After the visit, we had been told the quote would arrive quite quickly (within a few days I think) but it took well over a week to reach us. By the time the quote arrived we had seen some other companies and come to the conclusion that we wouldn't go with them as we really liked some others.
  

 

 

 

• White and Co really impressed us when they came round. The rep was very friendly and helpful and we felt that they approximated our required space quite well. The contact that we had with the office was also good.
  

 

 

 

• Anglo Pacific also came across well and we felt they were very professional. However, the rep told us that they don't have a specific company that they use in Australia. While they are FIDI registered, and therefore pass off to a FIDI registered company it varies from load to load. We have had friends who had problems with a different company when the Australia company their stuff was passed to went bust so we wanted to make sure we knew in advance who was taking our things in Oz. This meant that we ruled Anglo Pacific out after their visit.
  

 

 

 

• John Mason's rep came across reasonably well and their office was particularly good. The woman working in the office was very friendly and efficient. The rep that came round (in my husband's opinion as I wasn't in at the time) seemed a bit bumbling to him but the quoted space was similar to others and the inventory was accurate when I checked it. The quote came through the quickest for JM although White and Co and Crown weren't far behind.
  

 

 

 

• Crown probably came across the best between the office and the man who came to do the survey. The person that I spoke to in the office on first contact gave me the most information and chatted quite a bit about the whole process in a way that the others didn't. The man who came round for the survey was chatty and friendly, seemed to be very competent at assessing the space required and didn't seem too sales oriented.
  

 

 

After the visits, we were left considering White and Co, John Masons and Crown as our three front runners. I had only read good reviews of John Masons and Crown so we decided to go ahead with asking them any further questions that we had.

 

For those that are interested, JM and Crown were the cheapest quotes that we had although all of them were fairly similar. Doree Boner were the most expensive but not by that much. Please don't PM me for more details on the quoted prices as I can't remember all the details exactly and I don't have some of the quotes anymore. We are going with groupage for about half a 20ft container (we are travelling for a while so have no time pressures) and quotes came in around £3000 (some above and some below). Note that this includes a fairly long journey after arriving in Sydney to reach our delivery point.

 

We spent quite a long time asking JM and Crown various questions to make sure that we understood the whole process. Both were excellent during this time and they gave us a lot of information. In the end, there was very little to distinguish between them and we were very confident that both would provide an excellent service at very similar prices so we finally just picked one fairly subjectively

 

We learned quite a lot during the process and two things really stood out.

 

 

• We got hugely different quotes in terms of cubic feet from the companies. They ranged from 500 through to over 650! We felt that the earlier quotes were slightly inflated as some of the things we are shipping were not as compact as they might be (e.g. my wardrobe looked full but the clothes were actually just spread out). On the later visits we were careful to collate things a bit better around the house and in the garage and I reorganised my wardrobe to make the amount of space required clearer.
  

 

 

 

• Each time a rep came over we learned something new. It was really good to get all the different views and between them all we think most things were covered. However, on reflection most of the reps missed something that might be important so research away from what the companies say is really important. We're just glad we have PIO to help!
  

 

 

Hope that helps others just starting to get quotes. If anyone has any other questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer

KT

[calNgary]

Great post , lots of luck with your move. We used Crown for 2 seperate small shipments and i couldnt fault them in the UK or at this end.

 

Cal x

[ali]

We used John Masons and found them to be exellent, they and Crown continue to enjoy good reputations.

[rikyuu]

We used Crown and it was hell. Good quote, fast shipping and lots of positive posts made us go with them. My first worry was then they were packing (we'd put most of it in boxes already), they simply labelled our boxes with my surname (spelt wrongly in some cases!). I queried it and they joked that the stuff usually gets there! Fortunately I'd prepared my own labels with full UK and Oz contact details and quickly stuck them on all the boxes. So off our stuff went and off we went to Japan for a month before on to Melbourne. We started worrying again after we couldn't log in to track our stuff. It took a few phone calls to sort out some 'strange' problems. Then after 3 weeks, we worried even more as our stuff hadn't left the UK. They were apparently waiting for the container to fill up. It was hard to imagine they were doing so few shipments that it would eventually take months to fill the container. They started ignoring our emails, so we started phoning them every other day. Finally after packing our stuff in August, we got it in Melbourne just be for Xmas. Nearly 4 months, and I was told that was a special favour as we phoned so much! Imagine 2 adults with 2 young children managing for 3 months in Australia with just our suitcases off the plane. We were furious.

 

Add to that, Qantas didn't both to put our suitcases on the plane, so we actually had the first 4 days in Oz with nothing! Then they smashed up the kids twin push chair when we did get it!

[kaoticturtle]

Thanks everyone

 

That sounds like a bit of a nightmare Rikyuu. We have certainly been warned by several companies that if we go groupage it may take quite a long time for our things to arrive. However, they are picking up at the end of the month and we don't arrive in oz until July due to the travelling we're doing. So, even if it takes 8 months we're not going to be too fussed. Even if it takes longer, we'll be at the in-laws for a month or two so we'll cope Hopefully it will be quicker than that though!