Angelamgg Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 We are less than 1 week away from packers arriving and we just heard from the removals company (PSS) that the shipping line cannot longer cover the booking and that they will be unlikely to sort a container until the middle of October - and this date was not confirmed! They are giving up the option of storage , but of course with a fee attached - which apparently none of the two insurances we took with them (PSS) covers. Has anything like this happened to anyone here?? It is so frustrating because we feel like we don't have any other choice but to pay the daily fee , and who knows until when!!! The way they set up their terms and conditions is so that all the risks lies with the customer. The date was confirmed a while ago, we paid a booking fee to confirm the date and we paid in full yesterday. Frustrating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandL Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Sorry to hear that , that must be really stressful . We used PSS at the end of 2018 and the experience was not that great either for similar reason. We sold our house , had a provisional booking that they didn't honour when we needed them. It took quite some jumping up and down and dummy spitting to get them a week later and we had an understanding buyer of our house). I thought as you have already paid in full they would have some sort of contractual obligation. Don't think I will us them again next time . All the best , hope you get sorted soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Not good. We had to have our stuff moved into their warehouse as they couldn't get a container last week, but covered by the £100 insurance thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 To be fair they are a company which arranges packing and shipping and unpacking, so it is not really reasonable to expect them to cover a significant increase in costs. Margins are not great I think, and all the companies are struggling to get containers and space on ships. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelamgg Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 45 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said: Not good. We had to have our stuff moved into their warehouse as they couldn't get a container last week, but covered by the £100 insurance thing. Can I ask how long in advance they told you they couldnt get a container? We also paid the £100 insurance thing but they said to me on the phone today that that only included less than 24hour cancellations... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Is it the actual container or space on the ship? I know we had several options for the ship, some faster than others at different prices. They did not tell us this but I found out and asked to see the shipping route options, they had us on the cheapest one. We paid extra and got a better, faster route. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 15 hours ago, Angelamgg said: Can I ask how long in advance they told you they couldnt get a container? We also paid the £100 insurance thing but they said to me on the phone today that that only included less than 24hour cancellations... They told us on the Friday before packing started on the Monday, so within 24 working of packing. they’ve had our stuff for a week and we’ve now been told the 14th October is the next date to load, and eta Fremantle 3rd December. And we need a 40ft HC container. So much for the quote! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandL Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 I would be interested by how much the removal costs have gone up , we moved in 2018 and our cost for sole 20" container to Perth was about £3500 without insurance . Just wondering what people are getting quoted now . We came back in 2020, thought we were missing something but things didn't work out and now aiming to return to Perth sometime end next year when travel restrictions hopefully are relaxed, making this a bit easier again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asquithgirl Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 On 14/09/2021 at 22:23, Angelamgg said: We are less than 1 week away from packers arriving and we just heard from the removals company (PSS) that the shipping line cannot longer cover the booking and that they will be unlikely to sort a container until the middle of October - and this date was not confirmed! They are giving up the option of storage , but of course with a fee attached - which apparently none of the two insurances we took with them (PSS) covers. Has anything like this happened to anyone here?? It is so frustrating because we feel like we don't have any other choice but to pay the daily fee , and who knows until when!!! The way they set up their terms and conditions is so that all the risks lies with the customer. The date was confirmed a while ago, we paid a booking fee to confirm the date and we paid in full yesterday. Frustrating! What a pain! We are looking to book a container for December 2021 and have heard similar stories of shipping companies changing plans. Can I ask the company and cost please? I would really appreciate a recommendation for a recent positive experience of shipping from Sydney to the UK if anyone has one please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cup Final 1973 Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 In addition to anything quoted be prepared for demurrage charges - containers are having to wait at ports and this charge is passed on to the client. I’ve just paid £109 for our container and we were extremely lucky as we were one of 16 clients in the container. If it had been sole occupancy we would have had to pay the whole amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asquithgirl Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Thanks for your reply, really good to hear first hand experiences; clearly a tricky time to be shipping. It would seem a part container may be easier all round. Time to cull our stuff I guess! Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 1 hour ago, Asquithgirl said: Thanks for your reply, really good to hear first hand experiences; clearly a tricky time to be shipping. It would seem a part container may be easier all round. Time to cull our stuff I guess! Thanks again. A part container also has its downsides, because if you're the first to use it, then you've got to wait around until they get other clients to fill the rest of the container before it can even leave the UK. Thta used to cause delays even in normal times, but with fewer people being allowed to travel to Australia at the moment, you could be waiting a long time. Having said that, if it's that easy to cull your stuff, then I would be doing it. There's no point shipping stuff that isn't worth it. Try doing a pretend shop at Ikea.com.au, harveynorman.com.au, petersofkensington.com.au, target.com.au. Remember you've got to furnish your entire home from scratch, and actually it's all the small stuff that mounts up the most, so be thorough. Then you'll start to see what's worth paying to ship and what isn't. You will also find there are some things you can't replace because the equivalent isn't available in Australia. If you only need a part container in the end, look at Movecube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cup Final 1973 Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 Absolutely right Marisa. Our belongings were packed up on March 15th but the shipping journey didn’t start until June 20th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cup Final 1973 Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Just an update on our removal saga from Victoria to Yorkshire, which started on March 15th. The container arrived in London on September 16th and was moved to PSS’s warehouse on October 5th after I’d paid the demurrage charges. Since then, nothing. We are still waiting for our goods to be delivered to Yorkshire and the earliest possible date is the week beginning November 8th. That hasn’t been confirmed but it doesn’t appear to be a shortage of lorry drivers rather waiting to find something for the return journey to London. Meanwhile, we continue to camp in our new house. The Australian side of our removal, Palmers, have been absolutely useless, not even replying to emails. If you are returning to the UK make sure you ask about shipping routes (ours involved 3 ships and took over 12 weeks for the actual shipping), who the English partners are and ask for guarantees about delivery. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyxkat Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 On 15/09/2021 at 15:49, Jon the Hat said: They told us on the Friday before packing started on the Monday, so within 24 working of packing. they’ve had our stuff for a week and we’ve now been told the 14th October is the next date to load, and eta Fremantle 3rd December. And we need a 40ft HC container. So much for the quote! Wow, you're getting your stuff before us and ours was packed and taken in August . We were quoted arrival of mid to late November and the container delays then hit. We have been told our stuff got on a ship on 12th November and will arrive in Perth on 24th Dec, so we're unlikely to see our items til Jan due to customs times and the holiday period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyxkat Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 Pss are a cheap option and they at least refunded us a token sum for the damage they did to our walls (two massive corner dent holes in the stair way halls, thanks guys ) and for container space we didn't actually use (our load was smaller than expected) but oh my. The communication has been awful. A full month without a single update and only told our stuff was shipping after sending an email saying "hey, its been a month, what's going on". Also the rep we dealt with was quite short with us on a couple of occasions. Even though we were fully understanding of the container shortage issue and were polite. We wouldn't use them again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asquithgirl Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 Just an update on our shipping experience so far. After Very careful consideration and a few quotes, we opted to go with Phil from Chess Removals, Sydney to ship a 40ft container to the UK. Who knows what will happen between now and our goods arriving in the UK, but so far I would 100% recommend them. Phil in particular is very honest, totally competent and knows the business inside out. And the guys who packed our stuff a couple of weeks ago (Tony and Brandon) were honestly incredible! They were so fast, but so careful, brilliant at packing, top quality packaging materials, some tricky glass cabinets to pack which they made look easy and were totally accommodating of everything I asked. Amazing blokes! This bit has been stress free. I expect it won't be plain sailing all the way, but Chess have more than delivered at this end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 47 minutes ago, Asquithgirl said: After Very careful consideration and a few quotes, we opted to go with Phil from Chess Removals, Sydney to ship a 40ft container to the UK. Who knows what will happen between now and our goods arriving in the UK, but so far I would 100% recommend them. I used to use Chess in NSW for office removals and they were always fantastic, a real cut above all the rest (and I did a lot of office removals!). Unfortunately they can't control what happens at the other end because even if it's the same name on the door, it's a different management team, different policies etc at the destination. That's always a problem with international moves, because no matter how careful you are choosing a company, you can't be sure what you'll get However, having your stuff properly and safely packed is three-quarters of the battle, so you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 8 hours ago, Nyxkat said: Wow, you're getting your stuff before us and ours was packed and taken in August . We were quoted arrival of mid to late November and the container delays then hit. We have been told our stuff got on a ship on 12th November and will arrive in Perth on 24th Dec, so we're unlikely to see our items til Jan due to customs times and the holiday period. Same here now! Arriving in Freo on the Margaret River Bridge on the 23rd December, so will be Mid Jan I think before we get anything. Our container is spending 17 days in Singapore now. Our car was transhipped in 3 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyxkat Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 27 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said: Same here now! Arriving in Freo on the Margaret River Bridge on the 23rd December, so will be Mid Jan I think before we get anything. Our container is spending 17 days in Singapore now. Our car was transhipped in 3 days. Ooff, crazy times eh? We managed to locate a car we liked here so that was easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 1 minute ago, Nyxkat said: Ooff, crazy times eh? We managed to locate a car we liked here so that was easy. I have to say importing the car was very easy because of the help from Kristian at Iron Lady. It’s not cheap but works for us due the difference in price uk to Australia for our car, plus we love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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