Brian Styles Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Having recently made the dream move from the UK to a life down under we did the usual comparisons for all that you can imagine including shipping. We had 3 companies to give us quotes and finally decided upon ***** ********** and received our inventory and quote for a 20ft container. The guys arrived little later than expected on the day of packing and informed us not to dismantle all the agreed wardrobes kids toys etc etc as all would fit into the container no problem. We were even more alarmed that they left at lunch time insisting all was in hand and packing all our goods into the container the following day was the easy part. They arrived the following day and resumed packing. We were later astonished to find 20% of our goods would not fit into the container and would have to follow on a shared container at a cost of a further £1000 this was not negotiable and if not paid the goods would not be sent and could be collected if we so wished which was a lit sick as we were of course emigrating to Australia. Having tried several times to make a formal compliant we were just fobbed off with we obviously had more furniture than listed. Please be aware of misleading information to get your business and then show no compassion or consideration on the follow up customer service call Mod note. * This post has been edited to remove the company name for legal reasons. Please PM member for company name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BacktoDemocracy Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Having recently made the dream move from the UK to a life down under we did the usual comparisons for all that you can imagine including shipping. We had 3 companies to give us quotes and finally decided upon ***** ********** and received our inventory and quote for a 20ft container. The guys arrived little later than expected on the day of packing and informed us not to dismantle all the agreed wardrobes kids toys etc etc as all would fit into the container no problem. We were even more alarmed that they left at lunch time insisting all was in hand and packing all our goods into the container the following day was the easy part. They arrived the following day and resumed packing. We were later astonished to find 20% of our goods would not fit into the container and would have to follow on a shared container at a cost of a further £1000 this was not negotiable and if not paid the goods would not be sent and could be collected if we so wished which was a lit sick as we were of course emigrating to Australia. Having tried several times to make a formal compliant we were just fobbed off with we obviously had more furniture than listed. Please be aware of misleading information to get your business and then show no compassion or consideration on the follow up customer service call Try complaining to the trade associations that all of these monkeys belong to, real sharp business practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Styles Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 Thanks for the tip. Will do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Having recently made the dream move from the UK to a life down under we did the usual comparisons for all that you can imagine including shipping. We had 3 companies to give us quotes and finally decided upon ***** ********** and received our inventory and quote for a 20ft container. The guys arrived little later than expected on the day of packing and informed us not to dismantle all the agreed wardrobes kids toys etc etc as all would fit into the container no problem. We were even more alarmed that they left at lunch time insisting all was in hand and packing all our goods into the container the following day was the easy part. They arrived the following day and resumed packing. We were later astonished to find 20% of our goods would not fit into the container and would have to follow on a shared container at a cost of a further £1000 this was not negotiable and if not paid the goods would not be sent and could be collected if we so wished which was a lit sick as we were of course emigrating to Australia. Having tried several times to make a formal compliant we were just fobbed off with we obviously had more furniture than listed. Please be aware of misleading information to get your business and then show no compassion or consideration on the follow up customer service call Mod note. * This post has been edited to remove the company name for legal reasons. Please PM member for company name. I remember agreeing an inventory with our company at the time of compiling quotes. Did you do that? All 3 companies reckoned we had about 10% spare in a 20ft container. The removers were initially relaxed but it gradually became apparent that it would be close. In the event it was a very tight squeeze and we left a few items until last that we were less bothered about - just in case. The guys themselves were first class and kept us fully informed. We used John Masons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daemongm Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Hi, could you PM me with the company? I'm just a few days away from deciding to book between our preferred two quotes and this could have a big impact on our decision. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest xmas lights Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 please pm me the co for same reasons as above. Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team AB Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Having recently made the dream move from the UK to a life down under we did the usual comparisons for all that you can imagine including shipping. We had 3 companies to give us quotes and finally decided upon ***** ********** and received our inventory and quote for a 20ft container. The guys arrived little later than expected on the day of packing and informed us not to dismantle all the agreed wardrobes kids toys etc etc as all would fit into the container no problem. We were even more alarmed that they left at lunch time insisting all was in hand and packing all our goods into the container the following day was the easy part. They arrived the following day and resumed packing. We were later astonished to find 20% of our goods would not fit into the container and would have to follow on a shared container at a cost of a further £1000 this was not negotiable and if not paid the goods would not be sent and could be collected if we so wished which was a lit sick as we were of course emigrating to Australia. Having tried several times to make a formal compliant we were just fobbed off with we obviously had more furniture than listed. Please be aware of misleading information to get your business and then show no compassion or consideration on the follow up customer service call Mod note. * This post has been edited to remove the company name for legal reasons. Please PM member for company name. Hi. We have a similar story, I'm afraid. From one of the well-known companies posted about on Poms In Oz. We were estimated at c.1,300 cu ft and, apart from a few things, shipped what we had told the estimator. We had a 40ft container. We were also told that items would be dismantled etc to reduce volume. The packing team arrived a week ago and all looked okay. We walked them round each room to show them what should and shouldn't be packed and emphasised that we didn't want to incur additional charges by going over our estimated volume. No problems say the packing team, "you'll be within your 1,300 cube". The packing commenced and all seemed to be going well. They were nice guys to have around and worked really hard. However, some items were packed that shouldn't have been, some of the boxes we saw weren't packed to 'capacity' and some items weren't dismantled. When we mentioned this we were reassured that it wouldn't be an issue as "you'll be within your 1,300 cube". The container was packed and left on schedule. We breathed a sigh of relief that all had gone, seemingly, smoothly. Then..... we receive an invoice for c.£400 for an additional volume of 200 cu ft!! We argued all the points above but were told that the packing team aren't able to say what the final volume is. Ultimately, the removal company can hold your shipment to ransom so we have paid the additional charges under protest. So, I'll offer readers of this some advice. Remember that the packing team can promise the earth, but, once they're gone you're back to dealing with the office. Make sure that you tell the team to unpack anything that has been packed in error and insist that items that should be dismantled are. It's understandable that the packing team want to get home to their families asap, but remember that you're paying the removal company a LOT of money to carry out your move. Happy to let readers of this know the name of the company in question. Just PM us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srg73 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Removals companies frequently sub contract so make sure the guys you get are actually from he company you expect. In addition, international moves are the hardest removals for the guys to come,eye so hopefully they send experienced crews. We could not praise our removals company enough however we put in a lot of hard graft before they even showed up. We packed everything back into its original box where possible however left them open so they could be inspected. I packed our 6000 plus records into crates again leaving open for inspect. I also broke down any furniture which would flat pack however most of our stuff is pre constructed. Our guys took records, packed lights weight goods into the cupboards and drawers etc etc. We ended up filling completely our 20 ft container and having to leave a sofa behind due to their estimators error. These things happen, prioritise what goes in first working towards the items you could live without. Help the packers out, do some pre packing for then, breaking furniture down etc and importantly ensure they are tipped well at the end of everything, we did £100 per person. S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daemongm Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Had planned to do a lot pre-prep, but always a good tip... Speaking of tips - that's a lot of money to tip with all the money paying for the shipping. I thought lots of tea and biscuits! Does anyone else tip or plan to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team AB Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Had planned to do a lot pre-prep, but always a good tip... Speaking of tips - that's a lot of money to tip with all the money paying for the shipping. I thought lots of tea and biscuits! Does anyone else tip or plan to? We completely fed and watered our team for the duration of their visit. Unfortunately, it didn't make any difference to the additional charge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel Lofts Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 We had a similar experience when moving our stuff from Florida to Australia but it was over capacity. The company said we would need a 40 foot container and we were in the UK when it was packed and sent. We paid 16000 US dollars plus 2000 dollars for insurance. When the container arrived they had not packed it properly and it would have fitted in a 20 foot container so everything was moving about in transit. 20% of our stuff was broken and the receiving agent said it was the worst packed container they had ever seen. We contacted the movers an they wouldn't reply neither would the insurance company they recommended. The UK house was completely different and we couldn't be happier with the company. All within budget and expertly packed and shipped with no breakages. I hope that the moderator allows me to mention the company - Camberley Removals - they did a great job for a fraction of the cost of the USA move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 I saw this post when it was first posted, so I know which company you are talking about. We had a similar issue with the same company. We were quoted for a full 20ft container and had included some large things such as a big range cooker and a church pew. However, we decided to leave the range cooker and pew behind and included a couple of deck chairs (which folded flat), a wall-mounted bookshelf (measuring about 50cm by 25cm by 25cm) and a couple of boxes of books, which I had decided to take. Everything still fitted into the container that we had paid for. Once our things were at sea, we received an email from their head office advising us that as we had taken extra things in the container, we would have to pay an extra 500GBP. They then provided a list of several items that we had apparently taken in the container (such as a chest of drawers, a coat stand etc) which we hadn't. We tried to argue that we had paid for a 20ft container and hadn't taken anything extra to this, and had actually taken some things off, but they basically held our stuff to ransom and told us that they wouldn't release our things until we had paid the extra charge. When our things were eventually delivered (over a month after they docked in Sydney because they had lost our paperwork, something which they tried to blame on us but that is another story) I checked the things that were on the inventory with what was in the container, and the things that we had packed were exactly as should have been with no extra chest of drawers, coat stand or anything else. I don't know whether they were scamming money out of us by claiming we had overpacked, or whether they had put someone else's things in the space left in our container and had got confused over who owned what, but in the end we didn't pursue it. I guess they know that they have you over a barrel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daemongm Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 It's a real shame that the original post got edited (haven't got a reply from my PM). I would've thought the site already has a disclaimer that they're not liable for what people post and if anything, just advise people that if they can't back up what they state, that the relevant company's may prosecute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 It's a real shame that the original post got edited (haven't got a reply from my PM). I would've thought the site already has a disclaimer that they're not liable for what people post and if anything, just advise people that if they can't back up what they state, that the relevant company's may prosecute. Look at it from the point of view of Admin - especially as its your first post, how do they know you are not a competitor slagging of the company? How do they know what you have written is fair and true? If they let us all slag off companies with no proof, companies would stop advertising on the site for one thing, And how on earth could the company prosecute you for what you wrote on here? PIO won't give out any details on you like your email address as thats a privacy issue so how on earth could the company prove it was you who wrote the post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daemongm Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Fair point. Just anxious about the company I'm about to choose today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest xmas lights Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 I did wonder the same nemesis.. Asked the op to pm me the name of the company but he/she just messaged me something about have I chosen a container company yet. All I wanted was the name of the alleged shipping co so I could either avoid or show more caution to... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest xmas lights Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Just noticed I was Pm'd by somebody else (who I didn't ask to pm me) so apologies to the op though I still haven't been pm'd by them yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Fair point. Just anxious about the company I'm about to choose today... I wouldnt worry too much ,i think i have read a negative post /s on just about every company out there over the years i have been on here. If you feel happy with the removal company you choose and they are a registered company etc then go for it. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 It's a real shame that the original post got edited (haven't got a reply from my PM). I would've thought the site already has a disclaimer that they're not liable for what people post and if anything, just advise people that if they can't back up what they state, that the relevant company's may prosecute. Australia law is different. This has been covered numerous times over the years. We receive legal threats on a regular basis. Here in Australia it is the publisher not the poster who is liable. Take a read of some of these cases: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/lawyer-wins-defamation-lawsuit-against-online-zgeek-forum-20150526-gh9ttz.html http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-27/adelaide-woman-sues-internet-giant-google-for-defamation/6890292 Same one again explaining the Australian side of things http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-29/google-responsible-for-linking-to-defamatory-websites/6894966 You will see a post I made after receiving lots of legal threats over the years, I said if the post was true to fact and not defamatory in any way I would allow it to stand. If the company continued legal threats I would name and shame them. However, as shown in this case, we get new members sign up and bad mouth a company and then never return to the forum . We don't know who this member is, in fact the same member signed up to a number of our forums all with the same aim, to bad mouth the said company. This could be a competitor, an ex employer who has a grievance etc. we don't know. Also people need to take a lot of posts like this with a pinch of salt because like Cal says for every person who has had a bad experience there will be someone else with a positive one. The problem is we don't tend to hear from people who have a positive experience only those who have had an issue. As this member has vanished in to thin air I will close this thread now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Just noticed I was Pm'd by somebody else (who I didn't ask to pm me) so apologies to the op though I still haven't been pm'd by them yet... @xmas lights if it was from a company trying to get your business please pm me and let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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