chilliboy Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Hi,apologies if I am clogging this part of the forum up and the information is already here on the site somewhere.By starting a new thread I hope to have some very recent experience responses - this would be wonderful.Ironically my removals haven't yet arrived from the UK and we have decided to return in early July!! I used Pickfords to bring our stuff over,it apparently arrived in Sydney on Jan 13th but no word yet as to when we will have it in our rental house.We shipped 2 sofas,1 double bed,2 single beds,2 bookcases,coffee tables and bedside tables,(these were the big items)lots of boxes of books,kitchen stuff,pictures,dvds etc and it all came to £2900 - I thought this was pricey as it wasn't a big houseful - we sold a lot in the uk. any good feedback from removal companies back to the uk? is it worth packing the boxes myself? any info is very much appreciated,cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Is it worth just not unpacking and having them ship it straight back? Would they quote you for that? We used Grace for a few boxes but those 3 small boxes to nearly 6 months to arrive and they weren't that cheap either. Other people have had great service from Grace otoh. It's interesting when you discover that you can actually live without all this stuff! Good luck and let us know who you find gives you a good deal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huggy75 Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I agree, if you're managing to live without this stuff now then maybe just get Pickfords to store it for you and then send it straight back when you have more definitive details of your move back. The company I used were going to store our stuff for about $17 a week until we were more settled in the UK (however, other things happened and we got our stuff back earlier anyway as the company weren't very good shall we say!) - it wasn't either of the companies mentioned in these posts. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imapla Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Yes best to get them to store it and then 8 weeks before you leave again send it back - ours left Brisbane on 1/7 and arrived to us in UK 3/9 - the same company that shipped it to Aus should be able to ship it back - they work in partnership with an Aus company for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilliboy Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 Is it worth just not unpacking and having them ship it straight back? Would they quote you for that? We used Grace for a few boxes but those 3 small boxes to nearly 6 months to arrive and they weren't that cheap either. Other people have had great service from Grace otoh. It's interesting when you discover that you can actually live without all this stuff! Good luck and let us know who you find gives you a good deal! I would quite happily send everything back and make do but my OH is sensible and wants our children to have their belongings around them even if only for a few months so we can salvage some sort of normality out of moving around the world and back in just 7 months! Pickfords have quoted the same amount for return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilliboy Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 Does anyone know if boxing your own stuff will make it considerably cheaper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 What is the typical length of time for belongings to actually arrive after being shipped? We had ours shipped from London at the beginning of December 2015 and it's still not here!! We've decided to move back to the UK in December 2016 so are looking for reputable companies that other people have used where the shipping time hasn't been ridiculous. Four months without your stuff is too long in my opinion particularly when we told by our company (John Mason) that our stuff would be "on a container within the next two weeks".... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Does anyone know if boxing your own stuff will make it considerably cheaper? I got told that you're not allowed to box your own stuff for customs reasons.... not sure if that was a lie on the part of the shipping company Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I cant remember shipping times for UK to Oz as too long ago, but we have just shipped a move cube Oz back to the UK. It has been about 4 weeks now and we are expecting it in 3 weeks. Yes, you can pack yourself and most people do. If you do, the shippers will give you the customs form to complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 What is the typical length of time for belongings to actually arrive after being shipped? We had ours shipped from London at the beginning of December 2015 and it's still not here!!. Was it a full or part container, or was it boxes? If you send a part container, then the container won't be shipped until it's full. That means if your stuff is first on, you could be waiting months for them to get more customers to fill the rest of the container, before it even gets on a ship. I suspect that's especially the case now, with fewer Brits coming out to Oz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I got told that you're not allowed to box your own stuff for customs reasons.... not sure if that was a lie on the part of the shipping company This is wrong. Not only can you box your own things, in some cases they insist on it. We lived too far and they wouldn't come to us, so we had to do it ourselves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I cant remember shipping times for UK to Oz as too long ago, but we have just shipped a move cube Oz back to the UK. It has been about 4 weeks now and we are expecting it in 3 weeks. Yes, you can pack yourself and most people do. If you do, the shippers will give you the customs form to complete. Well those timings are a lot better than four months which is what I'm currently looking at! Cheers for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sapphire Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Does anyone know if boxing your own stuff will make it considerably cheaper? We boxed up all our own stuff, removals said we were more likely to be checked by customs,but I think that was rubbish.I dont know if it made much difference to price,I doubt it,but I wouldent of wanted packers, packing my personal belongings. I think going out to Oz,you have to have the removal company pack now,but it certainly is not the case coming into the UK. Just make sure you number each box and write contents on box,along with a detailed packing list and you will be just fine Customs let our container straight through,without even opening it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilliboy Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 It took our stuff 15 weeks to get to us from the UK,We used Pickfords and the communication from the Australian end was v poor.Our container remained in Sydney for about three weeks and then for some reason was driven past us to a depot to be driven back down again.Boxes were missing and our sons bed arrived without any sides or mattress so our sons bed didn't arrive.Items were also damaged.The remote controls for our TVs were cunningly hidden in items which had no relation to anything electrical and it took us days to find them!Funny now,not at the time as they couldn't be turned on!We used Letton Percival for insurance and they were absolutely excellent.I would advise anyone moving to itemise every single box with 100% detail of what is in it and if using a company ensure you have seen the box leave the house before ticking it off.On our move day we had so many boxes that it was impossible to be sure everything had been added to our list and we were so stressed we just ticked everything. Another thing hindsight has shown us is that a removal company wants to generate as big a volume of space as possible when packing and loading.We had our bulky cushions from our sofas packed separately and not sat on the sofas,nothing was flat packed,we even had an empty laundry basket packed into a box which could easily have had stuff placed in it.If we packed ourselves I believe we could've saved over a third of the space,which would've meant big savings. We return to the UK in July and will be using move cube and planning our packing like a military excercise!Anyone got any info about movecube? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mummy2 Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 On 26/04/2016 at 20:11, chilliboy said: It took our stuff 15 weeks to get to us from the UK,We used Pickfords and the communication from the Australian end was v poor.Our container remained in Sydney for about three weeks and then for some reason was driven past us to a depot to be driven back down again.Boxes were missing and our sons bed arrived without any sides or mattress so our sons bed didn't arrive.Items were also damaged.The remote controls for our TVs were cunningly hidden in items which had no relation to anything electrical and it took us days to find them!Funny now,not at the time as they couldn't be turned on!We used Letton Percival for insurance and they were absolutely excellent.I would advise anyone moving to itemise every single box with 100% detail of what is in it and if using a company ensure you have seen the box leave the house before ticking it off.On our move day we had so many boxes that it was impossible to be sure everything had been added to our list and we were so stressed we just ticked everything. Another thing hindsight has shown us is that a removal company wants to generate as big a volume of space as possible when packing and loading.We had our bulky cushions from our sofas packed separately and not sat on the sofas,nothing was flat packed,we even had an empty laundry basket packed into a box which could easily have had stuff placed in it.If we packed ourselves I believe we could've saved over a third of the space,which would've meant big savings. We return to the UK in July and will be using move cube and planning our packing like a military excercise!Anyone got any info about movecube? We are in a similar poof returning eight months down the line. any good removals companies here ? Going from Sydney to Kent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilliboy Posted April 15, 2018 Author Share Posted April 15, 2018 Hi, we've been back in the UK since summer 2016 - . Things for us as much better in the UK, i got a good job and my employer has funded further training to retain me! I couldnt get a permanent job in Oz. My wife has also got a job and sees how the Australian equivalent of her job was "backward" i.e had not embraced evidence to move forward - she works in health. Anyway, i used pickfords to go to Oz and they were awful, i used allied to return to the uk and they were excellent. I see now though that they have merged!!!! I would wait for a few responses and go with the majority positive vote! LettonPercival were an outstanding insurer for us. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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