[Pip]

Apologies, I know there's a whole raft of threads on this, but I just wanted to confirm a couple of things.

Our 20 ft reefer container is due next week and we've received an invoice from the Moving Company for $378 MAF fees. As the container hasn't arrived, I'm not quite sure how they know what the inspection fees will be, additionally from reading some other threads, this seems a little high - but I'd welcome some opinions from other people.

We don't really have that much in it that would require inspection, most of it is clothes, furniture, books, CD's etc... I think the only think of interest would be a bike (washed with Jeyes), a couple of boxes of food, i.e marmite, stock cubes, cadburys etc.. and a couple of boxes of wine.

Based on what I've read, I think what I should be doing is saying to the Moving company that I'd like the MAF inspection done at my house when the container is delivered and I'll arrange to pay MAF directly.

is that the best thing to do, to ensure that I'm paying a legitimate charge ?

all advice gratefully received!

[kanatakiwi]

that does seem high. I think we paid about $170, and we had pretty much arranged that all of our items they might want to see were in two cartons. If the moving company is handling the MAF inspection, are you sure the extra money is not for a customs broker. i think cost about $200, but I feel it was worth it, it saved us an enormous amount of running around getting forms etc, and I think they will insist on doing the inspection at the container site. (if you have some scary infestations of moths or something, they wont want to be finding that out at your house. I would think the boxes cant leave the terminal until they are inspected.
G

[zardell]

Our charges were about the same price as your quote.

To be perfectly honest, by the time our container arrived, I was quite willing to pay what they asked as I was loosing the will to live and couldn't be bothered with another fight over money - silly, but true.

I just wanted my stuff and some normality back in my life !!

I know of others that paid a couple of hundred less..........

Julie

xx

[mossum]

Hi Pip

Just dug our invoice out from The moving company dated August 06. we also had a 20foot reefer . Our Maf & Quarantine fees combined were only $220.00 . I'd ring them & see why its gone up so much !!! - I'm more than happy for you to take a copy of my bill as evidence if you like , we're only up the road in Rangiora . GRRRRRRRR - this kind of stuff makes my blood boil:mad: :mad:

HTH

vic x

[Hannah]

We insisted from the start that we pay the fees direct. We still got invoice for $370 from agent in Auckland when we arrived. We refused to pay them and insisted we paid them direct. Agent said MAF wouldn't deal with us direct --- so we rang MAF, who said we could of course deal direct...and we rung agent and gave him our local MAF chap's name and number if he wished to verify our story.

We ended up having MAF come to us (arranged by shipper - well, dealing with the paperwork side of things was covered in our initial moving fee to the agent in UK!) and we received an invoice from MAF direct a few days later - for $130. The agent had originally billed us for 19 items that he expected to be inspected. The MAF guy looked at 6. There was no cleaning needed (which would have cost in excess of the $370 anyway as that was only for inspection fees).

OK so it's only 240 dollars - but we saved that with a phone call. Remember - $240 is worth more here in NZ than it is in UK!!!

hannah

[jess]

Wish I'd had Hannah's luck. We called MAF, and they told us we could NOT pay them directly. Guess it depends on who you get? Anyway our MAF fees were close to $400 for a 40 foot container. When I argued with the delivery guys from World Wide Movers, they said it was non-negotiable, and that if I didn't pay the full amount they wouldn't bring my container.

I had already gotten the shipper to make World Wide drop a $600 delivery fee I didn't owe. After that, and having the container held at the dock for 2 extra weeks while a ship owner and my shipper argued about payment, and after being told by World Wide Movers that I would probably have to pay hundreds for the 2 weeks storage fees (which I refused flat out), I was just relieved to have the container released and to not be paying delivery or storage fees I didn't owe. So I paid the MAF fee. :mad:

Hope you get the more pleasant answer from MAF and can pay them directly. :)

[Nienke]

I had the same problems with the Moving Company. Refused to pay them as I had an invoice from the MAF which was considerably lower than what the Moving Company wanted to have for the same thing. Hundreds of dollars more they wanted.
To make a long story short, do have the inspection at your home and do not pay any maf fees in advance (that way the Moving Company cannot hold your goods ransom). If you can pay direct to the MAF then do so! If not, try and get the exact amount that the MAF is charging (preferably on paper) and let the Moving Company know that that's what you'll be paying and not a cent more.
Good luck....

[Pip]

Right spoke to MAF and the moving co and was told the following

MAF:
its fine for you to deal with us directly and if you do decide to use the Moving Company, we have no problems giving you a copy invoice if you want to query their fees. Alternatively you can deal with us, but it will mean more admin for you - either is fine with us.

Moving Company:
Yes, you can MAF directly, but we will still charge you a fee, even if you do that, as our staff will need to be present and that incurs costs to us.

I pointed out that I felt that this was included in the original JM quote, but she was adament that if we payed MAF directly, we will still get an invoice for their (moving co's) people's time.

Sadly as our stuff has to go into storage, I suspect I may have no option but to pay up, or risk being held to ransom to get our stuff back. Additionally, I'm a bit depressed as I thought they would store the container and then deliver it, but apparently they unload everything - which is a bit worrying - if anything is missing, how do I know when it happened.

fun and games :confused:

[nippa&pippa]

MAF:
its fine for you to deal with us directly and if you do decide to use the Moving Company, we have no problems giving you a copy invoice if you want to query their fees. Alternatively you can deal with us, but it will mean more admin for you - either is fine with us.

Moving Company:
Yes, you can MAF directly, but we will still charge you a fee, even if you do that, as our staff will need to be present and that incurs costs to us.

I pointed out that I felt that this was included in the original JM quote, but she was adament that if we payed MAF directly, we will still get an invoice for their (moving co's) people's time.

Sadly as our stuff has to go into storage, I suspect I may have no option but to pay up, or risk being held to ransom to get our stuff back. Additionally, I'm a bit depressed as I thought they would store the container and then deliver it, but apparently they unload everything - which is a bit worrying - if anything is missing, how do I know when it happened.

fun and games :confused:

Pip, we paid just under $200 for our even we were with john mason/moving company(chch)
For moving company staffs 'suppose' to be present at MAF's visit, they didn't stay for MAF!!! A lady from MAF wasn't impressed! Just warning you as they might stay or not when MAF visit!

[bevsere]

So - I read that The Moving Company are still trying on the same old scam with the same old prices.

There is no such thing as an up-front MAF fee charge. what Moving Company are trying to do is levy a huge admin fee at you. AArrgg !

We were given this up-front fee to pay BEFORE our container arrived . $375 which I paid. I then learned there had been NO MAF inspection at all. Fee - zip - nil - zero. After complaining at length to the manager of Moving Company in Xchurch I received a full refund and an apology.
I wasn't the only one. check out the migrant forums, you will see plenty on there about this.

There is no real extra paperwork to do if you deal with MAF yourself. The Moving Company are going to send this same paperwork to you anyway to fill in. They don't do it for you.

Maf do charge Moving Company a fee as a third party if Moving Company present the paperwork you have yourself filled out. . Its about $40 bucks from memory. Its certainly not hundreds of dollars.

The Moving Company staff do not have to be present. Utter botox.
You can arrange with MAF for your inspection to happen at your house or you can meet them at the port.
Just think, not all containers that go through MAF are about migrants belongings .Many are inspected from the bill of lading with no-one present but MAF.

Nightmare.

Complain good and loud to JMason or whoever you shipped with. You paid good money for a door to door service. Tell them you want just that.

I totally agree that Moving Company will try and hold you to ransom re. your container and storage. They have done this with others.

If they state they will offload the contents of your container, then you MUST be present when they break the seal so you can count out your goods. Insist on it. Thats the only way you can be certain all is present. Further, you need to look for damages. Damages happen!

If you tell MAF you want your actual MAF fee invoice, they must give it to you.

Finally, I would strongly suggest you look at your arrangements for storage of your goods. Quite often shipping companies include a few days storage at the NZ end but when it comes down to it the third party, Moving Company and White Van Lines always seem to have to extend this because of goodness knows what - weekends, delivery dates, flipping well allsorts.
All this time you are held to ransom. & charged $$

Its an absolutely disgrace.

If Moving Company feel they incur charges , then tell them to take that up with J Masons. After all , its J Masons that pay them their cut of your money.
Why should you pay twice.

[Hannah]

Just a word of advice to anyone out there planning their move and looking for removal firms. We asked our removal firm right at the start if paying MAF direct was an option. When we were told that it was, we asked for that to be put in writing. If the agent here in NZ wanted to hold our goods to ransom (and that was kind of threatened) we at least had something in writing that specified paying MAF direct as a condition of us accepting the original removal quote.
The agent in UK said he'd agreed with the NZ agent that we could pay MAF direct. NZ agent said he'd agreed no such thing. We didn't care - it wasn't our problem and the fact that we had it in writing meant we were in a strong position.
As for paying MAF direct maybe it does depend who answers the phone. Seems strange that some people on this forum have paid direct and yet other areas people have been told its not an option??? What if you self ship???? You'd have to pay MAF direct then - so of course it's an option!
Get it in writing from the start if you can!
Hannah

[jess]

As for paying MAF direct maybe it does depend who answers the phone. Seems strange that some people on this forum have paid direct and yet other areas people have been told its not an option??? What if you self ship???? You'd have to pay MAF direct then - so of course it's an option!
Get it in writing from the start if you can! Yes, get it in writing!

It does seem odd that we should get such different answers. Not only did the woman who spoke to me on the phone from the MAF office tell me I couldn't pay MAF directly, but the man who came from MAF to inspect our goods told us we would not have been able to pay MAF directly. He also told us that he thought $400 was a reasonable MAF fee for our delivery company to have charged us!

Yet other people clearly got different answers. That was one of the things that bothered me most through the weeks our container was held extra at the docks. Apparently our container had been on more than one ship and the people I tracked down and called daily all gave me different answers about who was holding our container up and running up storage fees that I wasn't going to pay. It was never the person I was speaking to. It was always another company. And on and on it went. Different answers from everyone. Our shipping hassle was the most frustrating part of the move, and I'm so glad it's long since over now.

Anyway, given that you never know what answer you'll get, I would whole heartedly agree with Hannah to get your right to pay MAF direct in writing in your contract and to make sure you know what your contract covers as far as distance from the port. (We ended up living forty some kilometers from the port, and were charged hundreds for delivery. It was only my contract which stated we were covered door to door within 50 kilometers of port that allowed us to have that charge removed.) If it's not in writing, you probably won't get it. And even in writing, you'll have to stand up for your rights. Or at least that was our situation.

Some people have an easier time of it, and I wish that for anyone coming over now! :)

[marcia]

If you know where you are going to be based DEFINATELY look into self storage in the area you are going to live - we did and save ourselves heaps - We had a 40 footer and the removals company were going to charge us something stupid like, a one off unloading fee of $500, then weekly storage of $150, we got the biggest unit our storage facility had (we took some of the stuff to our furnished rental, toys for the kids and extra cloths and stuff we really wanted) and paid $250 a month! And you also then have the freedom to go into the storage unit and get anything you need whenever you want!

We also had out MAF inspection done there, the removals company tried to charge us $600 before they even arrived, we refused saying we had agreed with the shippers in the Uk to pay MAF direct. They waited for the MAF guy them disappeared, they didn't stay for the inspection, the chap was fantastic, only there about 45 mins, eating my proper cadburys chocolate, and having a real laugh, he said the inspection would cost no more than $85 - $90!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the end we didn't pay any MAF charges, the removals company this end lost our paperwork, the MAF guy rang us to tell us he couldn't send us a copy invoice because they couldn't produce one with the original paperwork!! Yet the removals company here STILL chased us a month later for the $600. We rang them and queried it all, but they still insisted we had to pay, so I contacted our shippers in the UK, who sorted it all out, after the muck up they made not making a crate for my Grandfather clock they had no choice really but to waive the fees, yet the explanation they gave for the high fees the company were trying to charge was:

In order to expedite the clearance process it is not usual for agents to estimate the costs incurred knowing that some inspections will take longer than others but over a given period this will balance out so that costs are covered. It is apparent from your circumstances that considerably less time was taken to inspect than anticipated and hence the big differential.

Hmmmmmmmm I think I know which way the 'balance' is tipped!!!!!!!!!

I think the whole MAF inspection thing is such a grey area, it all depends who you speak to and which way the wind is blowing at a particular time on a certain day as to what answer you get. If you ring and don't like the answer try again and see if you get a more helpful person - have to say our MAF guy was excellent.

Good luck - its a stressful time but you will come out the other end eventually and start enjoying your new life here! :nice1

[victoria]

I received the following today from JM who we've booked for the end of the month & to be honest after reading all this I'm worried.I emailed MAFF as I can't find anything on their site to confirm this alarmist info. I wonder if the destination agent reads this site & has come up with this little gem to wring out extra charges.We're having our stuff sent to Welly & to be honest, the thought of a fight ahead is the type of stress we could do without.Any advice anyone? I'll let you know immediately I get a reply;
IMPORTANT NOTICE
FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE
We have been advised by our destination agent that personal and household effects being imported from United Kingdom are highly likely to be thoroughly inspected by authorities upon arrival in the country of destination.
Inspectors will be looking for meat/meat by products,footware,garden tools,bicycles,farm/agricultural equipment etc. basically anything that could have dirt on it.
It is important that you ensure that food products are not included in the consignment and also that other items such as those mentioned above which could have come into contact with soil/dirt should be thoroughly washed down with AN APPROVED MAFF DISINFECTANT.A list of approved MAFF Disinfectants can be supplied upon request.
If any items are found to show signs of contamination,the goods could be turned around and shipped back to U.K. so it is vitally important that this information is acted upon.
There will more than likely be charges levied for the manpower used to perform the examination which will be for your account. Obviously,whilst this situation is regretted,we trust you appriciate that it is due to circumstances that are totally out of our control.
In view of the seriousness of the situation,we are enclosing a disclaimer which we would ask you to sign once you have disinfected all applicable items and ensure that this document is returned to us to enable shipment to proceed.>
I have reproduced this with the spelling and grammar errors intact.What do you make of it?
Vicky

[jess]

IMPORTANT NOTICE
FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE
We have been advised by our destination agent that personal and household effects being imported from United Kingdom are highly likely to be thoroughly inspected by authorities upon arrival in the country of destination. Victoria -- It sounds strange to me. MAF has been routinely checking goods from the UK for foot and mouth since at least 2001. See this govt. page (http://www.beehive.govt.nz/ViewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=9766) from that year. I can't think why this would be new info JM just received (though at the moment I can't get the MAF site to come up). I'd ask them what has just happened to make this an additional charge, and not something you could have been properly informed about before signing.

There will more than likely be charges levied for the manpower used to perform the examination...(Rant alert! - I love it when they say it takes extra manpower. In my case the delivery guy passing out our furniture and things from the truck gave me the numbers of the 4 boxes MAF wanted to see, and told me to be responsible for having the guys who were carrying leave those 4 boxes in the garage instead of taking them into the house. As far as I could tell, that was the extent of their extensive "manpower" for MAF inspection. That and passing the documents I filled out along to MAF. They told me the manpower involved would be them having to rearrange all my boxes in the container to put the MAF stuff in front before coming to my place, but they never opened my container before it got to me.)


And am I missing something, or is there a reason JM is spelling MAF - Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry - with two F's?

[The Hodges]

Just a quickie for those that missed our post on another thread...

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?p=126036#post126036

We hope that this helps.

[victoria]

Hi,further to my post the other day

I received a very concise and helpful reply from MAF. The statements in the notice from JM are inaccurate.
1.They always offer options if goods may be contaminated.
2.Yes you can deal with MAF direct by going there & collecting the paperwork yourself
3.Believe it or not, they might NOT need to inspect at all.

Someone somewhere is trying it on. We'll see this through but we won't be pushed around.

Vicky

[Trigirl]

good luck. MAF didn't inspect ours. charges from them = $0. moving company still charged us over $300 flat fee and said we couldn't have our stuff until we paid it. if you've got your things back its easy to be bolshy with them. if you haven't then they've got the upper hand.

[victoria]

Thanks Trigirl. I've respected all your various postings. Time for me to stop being so anal about this & concentrate on what's going to be our big adventure.

[olivia]

We too used John Mason and The Moving Company. We paid $220 to TMC here for our MAF fees which was a fixed amount they quoted us. We had four boxes opened and examined so i didn't feel too bad but if we hadn't had anything opened i definitely would have felt more cheated. You know that they are pulling a fast one but if you want your things (and unpacked in one piece) then sometimes i think you have to concede.

Just my pennies worth!

Olivia

[victoria]

Yes I agree with you. We'll take it as it comes. Appreciate pennies worth anytime as it all helps. Thanks
Vicky

[Pip]

Just a bit of an update on this one. So to recap - we arrived to find a Moving Co invoice for MAF fees for $380 in relation to our container. Having been forewarned and knowing that our container was still at sea and therefore this was an estimate, I called Moving Co and said I was paying MAF directly. The moving co agreed, but said I would still have to pay for their peoples's time in being involved in the MAF inspection and then pay MAF directly for their inspection charges when the inspection took place. (apparently they had estimated that MAF fees would be about $200 based on the no of boxes they estimated would be inspected and their charges for the moving co peoples time was around $180 - hence their initial bill of $380).


I (think) the MAF inspection has now taken place, as our stuff had to go into storage and I was told that therefore I couldn't be present at the inspection (not entirely convinced about that one but anyway)... I've now received a revised invoice for moving co's part in the MAF inspection for $75! and nothing from MAF directly.. our container contents are due to be delivered next tues, the day after we move into the new house, at which point I will be checking to see if a MAF inspection even took place at all! Anyway, unless the MAF bill itself, assuming it comes, amounts to more than $300 which seems unlikely based on previous posts from other people, it looks like we have definitely saved somwhere between 100 - 200 dollars just for the sake of a couple of phone calls.... I'm not suprised that people feel so strongly about this. Its easy to look at this with £ glasses and say, well thats not that much.. but after two months of living here and getting used to NZ salaries, I realise that $200 goes quite a long way!

[Nienke]

Well done!:nice1

[Hannah]

Is this mainly a John Masons problem I wonder, having read some of these posts???
I contacted JM's several times before I moved and couldn't even get them to reply to my calls/emails to come and do a removals quote. Maybe they were too busy chasing the Moving Company or typing up weird leaflets to justify the Moving Company stitching their customers up at the other end.
I return to the point i made earlier regarding dealing with MAF directly. If you self shipped, you would have no choice but to deal with MAF directly. why should it be any different if you use a removal firm to ship your stuff.
My advice would be to have this as a condition of you doing business with a particular removal company, and to get it in writing. If the removal company says it's not an option, but offer a cheaper quote (e.g. John Mason's ) then be prepared to pay a few quid/dollars more at the other end to make up for the 'cheaper quote'. And be prepared that even when you agree with your UK agent to pay direct you may still find that the agent 'knows nothing' and wants to charge you at the other end...this is where you need you bit of paper to prove your point.
Yes i know it's only 2 or 3 hundred dollars, but crikey we spend enough getting over to NZ... why spend more needlessly.... $300 will buy you a small gas/electric fire to warm up in your new freezing cold rental house (he he he)

[Pip]

Further update: Have just been told that our MAF bill on the container is
$145, so adding to the £75 dollars of spurious "moving company time", thats still a considerable saving on the initial $380 they wanted us to pay. I do recommend that people ask to pay their MAF bill direct.

Sadly, that will go towards the bill for the car being steam cleaned at MAF's insistence, now thats finally arrived - despite it being "steam cleaned and prepared for shipping by JM before it left the UK" - I will be asking John Mason to reimburse me for that bill as I don't see why I should have to pay twice.... Maybe they can also explain why the car is (apparently) unmarked but mechanically damaged according to the moving co/MAF - (something about steering rod being snapped and a flat tyre)..how does that happen! I might have expected some scratches to the body work or the odd dent, but how something internal like the steering rod (whatever that is) being broken is beyond me and the outside of the car being fine is beyond me...and how did it get a puncture ?! Grrr..rant!!

Good thing we haven't got much stuff to take to the new house, as moving with a MX5 sized boot (our other car) is going to take quite a few trips! :wah

[Nienke]

Jeez, you are having a bad run with this one!:(
According to my husband there's 3 moments when the car might have been damaged: loading into the container, getting it off the container, and during the MAF inspection (cars are driven onto a ramp for inspection).

He thinks it is unlikely that the car was damaged during the voyage, unless it wasn't secured properly, but then you would have had a lot of more damage to the body of the car.