[pinkpiggy]

Just a quick post to update you all. Our container arrived yesterday and so far so good. The only thing missing at the moment are the bolts to fasten the dining room legs to the table top! I'm sure once we unpack a few more boxes we'll find them but I guess in the mean time we'll have to do like the Japenese and sit cross legged on the floor! ;)

We used White & Co in the UK and The Moving Company this end. Both were fantastic and really helpful.

Unfortunately, we probably won't be able to post for a little while (unless we can beg/borrow internet access from someone else) as we aren't connected in our new house yet (either telephone or internet).

So to all you guys out there in the midst of moving, preparing to move etc. good luck. :nice1

[Lupin]

Yay! you might find you have a 'bits' box somewhere with remote controls, curtain hooks and table leg screws!!!

Enjoy :)

[swissmissdesigner]

the kiwis took it!!:laugh

[Sam B]

So jealous! Ours was meant to arrive on the same day as yours, we were so excited, but apparently the ship has been held up by the storms. I hope my precious stuff hasn't disappeared into the ocean...

[StevieD]

Just need to get that bloomin tv sorted ;)

[M&J]

Nice one, hope you find the bolts!! You must be so excited, it will be like Christmas all over again.

Happy unwrapping, let us know if you want to check your e-mail or anything.

Jo

[jubjub]

The bolts will be around somewhere! Glad you got your stuff.

Sam, shame your stuff is not here yet, these boats are built to withstand a bit of bad weather, so dont panic!

[speckythecky]

Great news hope the unpacking is going well and you get the new place sorted soon.

[willsken]

I remember the feeling of excitment so well - until I realised how much junk I'd brought with me! 6 months on and some of it is still in boxes!!:uhoh

[marcia]

Great news - the packers usually have a bits box which they put all the screws and odd bits in. It was the last thing put in our container too, so it was the first out!

You will find that when you are unpacking some of the stuff will make you cry, other stuff you'll think what on earth did we bring this rubbish for!

Good luck, hope it all goes well!

[Kim39]

I remember the feeling of excitment so well - until I realised how much junk I'd brought with me! 6 months on and some of it is still in boxes!!:uhoh


Hey Nicola, some of ours are still in boxes 20 months on!!!!!

Paula, hope you got that wonderful feeling that i think we all get from receiving that big metal box. Just keep Sammy boy off the comp for a while so he's away from the fantasy league and it gives us novices a chance of catch up.:laugh


Kim

[thezorbster]

Brilliant news Paula, it will soon feel like home for you.

[pinkpiggy]

Yay! you might find you have a 'bits' box somewhere with remote controls, curtain hooks and table leg screws!!!

No box with 'bits' or 'odds and ends' in but we have found the bolts for our table legs. :nice1 They seem to have just put things like bolts and remote controls in any box that was handy.

So jealous! Ours was meant to arrive on the same day as yours, we were so excited, but apparently the ship has been held up by the storms. I hope my precious stuff hasn't disappeared into the ocean...

Sam - Don't want to upset you or make you more jealous but our container arrived 5 days early. I'm sure it will all be here, safe and sound, very soon. :roll

We have, thus far, been unable to tune our tv to accept Kiwi telly. :no StevieD has been looking info up on the internet for us but we don't seem to have the option to change the region. Will keep looking though.

For those of you waiting for your goods to arrive, chin up. It won't be long.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Our stuff arrived last week. We used John Masons in UK, who were fantastic...really professional, ang got on with the job...no messing around. Our stuff arrived in 7 1/2 weeks total.
We were not at all impressed with The Moving Company, who handled our stuff this end. The office staff were great, but the guys who moved our furniture were not particularly careful. They almost dropped one of our sofas trying to haul it over a 1st floor balcony rather than carry it up the stairs...did not save much time in the end. Several boxes labelled fragile were practically dropped the last few inches to the ground...and upside down!! Several boxes and a fridge freezer were missing....surprise surprise...CD's and DVD's. When they did turn up, they had been opened...and not sealed up again. I know customs do open some stuff in case anything dodgy is packed, but they were supposed to re-seal everything MAF and customs open. We have several items damaged and some missing stuff....luckily all well insured and nothing irreplacable.
How does this compare to other peoples experience? I did not expect to move everything from one side of the planet to the other without some hiccups....but a little more care may well have avoided things being lost and damaged.

[Sam B]

Just phoned NZ Vanlines for more info, and our ship is now due to arrive on the 3rd August, a month later than I was originally told. I'm too upset to talk, sob sob. More weeks of sitting on patio furniture, sniff.

[Lupin]

We used crown in the end who have their own offices and warehouses here so you get the same company right through. We anticipated they'd be dearer than the others so we got all our other quotes in first and then showed them our lowest and they beat it. They were awesome. The packers were so helpful and careful and the unpackers were too.

SamB, our stuff was quite late too and in the end arrived 24 hours before my in-laws! Don't worry about the storms, the container ships are massive and it takes more than the average storm to cause anything more than a delay. We were sitting on a flattened cardborad box for 4 weeks and it was so unfunny in the end :(

[M&J]

We used Crown too for that reason, dealing with stuff both ends. We managed to haggle a bit and get them down on the final price.

Our shipment has also been delayed now getting into Auckland 31st July, a week later.

[StevieD]

There has to be a thread here about hardships waiting for the container to arrive ??

Would be interesting/funny/sad....

Maybe a thought..

[Sam B]

It's been 6 months of no furniture for us as I delayed sending it until we made up our minds if we wanted to stay or not, and then it's taken so long. Our shippers in the UK said that apparently thousands of containers are lost overboard each year ... but it hadn't happened to them...yet. Anyway, it's a silly thing to grumble about really I suppose, as everything else has gone so smoothly I should be grateful (brave but insincere smile).

[John Z]

Just phoned NZ Vanlines for more info, and our ship is now due to arrive on the 3rd August, a month later than I was originally told. I'm too upset to talk, sob sob. More weeks of sitting on patio furniture, sniff.

Hey Sam, don't worry about your stuff; it is below decks, so in a severe storm they won't (can't) cut it loose. Also NZ Vanlines could/should be able to tell you in front what kind of deal they have made with the shipping company. There are fast tracks and slow tracks. Ours offered an extra slow (is cheaper) one if we wanted to take our time traveling etc.

Cheers, John Z (just out of some "tropical heat" in Europe)

[jubjub]

There has to be a thread here about hardships waiting for the container to arrive ??

Would be interesting/funny/sad....

Maybe a thought..

You mean the boiling water and having to cook in the same one saucepan, and sitting on a bean bag for weeks?? I fear it could easily turn into a Monty Python sketch.... "Bean bag!, you don't know you were born, we had to sit on a rock, and we were grateful..." etc :)

[stephenandjulie]

We've just experienced 9 nights sleeping on the floor with nothing but sleeping bags. Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad except when the temperatures dropped to -5.
Julie

[marcia]

I fear it could easily turn into a Monty Python sketch.... "Bean bag!, you don't know you were born, we had to sit on a rock, and we were grateful..." etc :)

Ok lord i love that sketch - think i have it on a cassette somewhere, one of the very few we brought - in fact i don't even know if we have a cassette player - dohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!


As regards crown - didn't any of you see those rogue packers the other week on telly, searching through drawers etc - which company - Crown????

I think they all employ a skeleton staff, and hire in workers as they need them, so the employees who come aren't always employed by that company, but sub contracters and therefore not trained to the 'high standards' they all say they have. However at least with crown you are dealing with the same company so should you have problems its easier to sort out, instead of having to email the company in the uk. having said that the company we dealt with sorted our problems with Conroys trying to charge us $600 MAF fees very quickly.

Unfortunately it just one of those horrible things where you are trusting other people to do their best, and sometimes its great and works fine, other times there are mis-haps and its frustrating because you have no control!

We had a couple of minor breakages, the glass in a picture, and an arm off a skeleton model of the boys which had been broken and mended in the same spot before. Even my Grandfather clock made it in one piece despite all the hassle we had on container day in the uk when there wasn't a crate made for it. The packers there were fantastic, they triple wrapped it in card as well as the breathable layer of wrap they had used and wedged it in with all the mattresses and boxes of 'soft' things. It didn't stop me worrying though until it arrived here. Thankfully intact and ticking away nicely now in our living area.
Good luck to all those waiting for their containers.