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our shipping story


TheGrahams

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We had our stuff delivered last week and I thought I would tell our tale as I know how valuable these posts were to us when we were deciding who to go with.

 

We had 260cuft and got quotes from 5 companies. In the end we went with Crown.

 

They were great, our stuff was packed up within 3 hours and sent on it's way to wait for the rest of the container to fill up. The following day we had a phone call to say that our stuff was on it's way up to Leeds to fill up the rest of a container, a couple of weeks later it was on the open sea.

 

Crown kept us informed the whole way from when it was loaded and during it's journey, sending us tracking information regularly.

 

Everyone was friendly and helpful and emails were answered quickly.

 

The container arrived in Brisbane exactly when it was estimated to and it took 2 weeks to get through AQIS. They held back 5 photo albums that had dried flowers on the covers which they wanted $300 to fumigate or they could destroy the flowers for nothing. This was done quickly and the albums were sent on to us the week following our stuff arriving.

 

Our stuff arrived exactly as it was when it left the UK, one kitchen mixing bowl was broken, but to be fair it was already chipped. Everything else was fine.

 

So all in all a great service, we are so glad we chose Crown.

 

Oh yeah and another thing we really liked was that all the AQIS fees are included so the amount we paid in the UK was it, no bills to pay over here.

 

I hope this helps some peoples decision making I know it's hard

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you had a much better experience with Crown than we did. They picked up out stuff in August and we didn't see it in Melbourne until just before Xmas. We had to manage for 4 months with 2 young kids and all we had in 2 suitcases. It took many, many (international) phone calls and emails. Their constant excuse for over 2 months was that the container was still empty, they eventually sent our stuff because I mithered them so much. I also wasn't happy that the only label they put on our boxes were my surname (badly written/spelt) and "Melbourne". Fortunately I had done my own labels and stuck them on.

 

But I'm glad it went ok for you, one less thing to worry about!

 

 

 

.....to cap it all, when we arrived in Melbourne, quantas forgot to put any of our suitcases on the plane, so we actually spent the first 3 days with 2 kids (2&3) and the clothes we were wearing.

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In order to try and stay within forum rules, I must concur that the service I received from a company with a regal name was mediocre. Their "co-ordinator" in particular - I use the inverted commas deliberately as she couldn't be bothered to co-ordinate anything - was a total oxygen thief. Through finding out container numbers and Aussie agents' contact details myself, getting on the phone and chivvying, I managed to get our stuff delivered on 7 December as opposed to an initial estimate of 30 November. The best the oxygen thief could manage to offer was 23rd December, and she wanted me to be grateful for that, making out I should be thankful I wasn't getting it in mid Jan.

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ps. a bit off topic, but whilst I'm thinking about it......my next encounter with Qantas was no better either. It was Xmas 2010 and I was working in the UK when all the snow fell. On the day I was due to return both runways at Heathrow were clear. Unfortunately, even though I was able to get through to Qantas in New Zealand (the only place that would answer), the Qantas people at Heathrow had failed to tell the Qantas plane people that the runway was clear and they could use it. So they cancelled the flight even though all others were taking off! Then told me the next available flight was in 8 days (after Xmas!). So I flew back with Emirrates and landed on Xmas day, missing my families first Xmas in Oz (and the company didn't pay me for flying on Xmas day!).

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We had our stuff delivered last week and I thought I would tell our tale as I know how valuable these posts were to us when we were deciding who to go with.

 

We had 260cuft and got quotes from 5 companies. In the end we went with Crown.

 

They were great, our stuff was packed up within 3 hours and sent on it's way to wait for the rest of the container to fill up. The following day we had a phone call to say that our stuff was on it's way up to Leeds to fill up the rest of a container, a couple of weeks later it was on the open sea.

 

Crown kept us informed the whole way from when it was loaded and during it's journey, sending us tracking information regularly.

 

Everyone was friendly and helpful and emails were answered quickly.

 

The container arrived in Brisbane exactly when it was estimated to and it took 2 weeks to get through AQIS. They held back 5 photo albums that had dried flowers on the covers which they wanted $300 to fumigate or they could destroy the flowers for nothing. This was done quickly and the albums were sent on to us the week following our stuff arriving.

 

Our stuff arrived exactly as it was when it left the UK, one kitchen mixing bowl was broken, but to be fair it was already chipped. Everything else was fine.

 

So all in all a great service, we are so glad we chose Crown.

 

Oh yeah and another thing we really liked was that all the AQIS fees are included so the amount we paid in the UK was it, no bills to pay over here.

 

I hope this helps some peoples decision making I know it's hard

 

Its great to hear you got all your things on time and recieved a good service, it certainly takes some of the pressure off. We too used Crown at Leeds at couldnt fault them, no hidden charges, friendly staff and pretty accurate with their timescales..

 

Cal x

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Woah, I didn't mean for this post to turn into a slanging match and I am not sure what all the qantas references are all about?!

 

I suppose some people have good luck and others don't. I was just saying we had a good service. And all our boxes said was our surname and Brisbane, they made it fine!

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