[sheppy99]

I've had 3 quotes from removal companies so far and am wondering which one to use. My guess is that all have made mistakes in the past and that they are much of a muchness assuming I use one that is a member of the trade organisations. Can anyone offer recommendations or who to avoid?
(PM me if necessary)
Thanks
Kevin

[Duncan74]

(evesdrops and hopes that no-one resorts to whispering).

Assuming this is UK>NZ?

[sheppy99]

Certainly is...
I could mention who was the most impressive salesman but I don't think it's the best idea on a google indexed public forum!
Certainly the advice about my Ikea untreated wood shelving has been 1 saying it must be painted, another thinking it may be a problem and the 3rd saying it's fine - I emailed MAF about this who suggested they wanted to inspect it but as long as it's clean and insect free it is fine.
2 out of 3 salesmen said importing my car was OK, another said I'd have to pay duty on it!!!!
Maybe the option is to comment on who did a good job and the lack of a comment means beware?

[Madoxen]

OOI can you share with us any prices, so i might get a rough idea of costs for a rough quantity

[Clappy]

This question is asked a lot, I am not going to make any recommendation but think it is worthwhile talking through what actually happens when your belongings are shipped to New Zealand so that the part played by the moving company is understood.

1. You engage a company to ship all your stuff to New Zealand.
2. The company sends its staff to your house to pack all your stuff into boxes.
3. Company staff load those boxes into a container (at your house if you have your own container or at their premises if you are using groupage).
4. The company delivers the container to a shipping company (probably Mearsk) at a port in the UK.

After this point the company that you have engaged have nothing more to do with your stuff unless you use Crown who have operations at the NZ end.

5. The shipping company loads the container onto a ship which will probably take it to Singapore. There the container will be unloaded and wait for another ship to take it to New Zealand.

6. An agent at the NZ end (probably NZ VanLines) unless you are using Crown who will do it themselves, receive the container from the port, deal with the customs formalities, charge you some more money, then deliver your stuff to you in New Zealand.

So that is a long winded way of saying that I don't think there is going to be so much difference between the moving companies.

[Familyofmonkeys]

IMO most of the major shipping companies are OK at the UK end....as has been said above, the service you'll recieve NZ end will depend upon the partner companies unless you use a company, like Crown, who have operations both end. Read up on these NZ partners.....the service people have recieved is very variable....we has an awful service 2 and a half years ago.

Also remember that you can bargain down the quotes.....pcik your favourite company and then get them to match or beat your cheapest quote....most will these days :)

And lastly, if you have any concerns about what you can and can't bring talk directly to MAF (in writing preferably so you have a record)...they are very helpful and the advice we were given by most shipping companies was very inaccurate. We brought all of our garden tools and furniture, along with some outdoor plant pots (washed and sterilised first) as well as wood items, wicker and sea grass, all of our kitchen herbs and spices and the contents of our booze cupboard....all was inspected by MAF etc and not one item was a problem.

[nifta]

we're in the same situation.. i.e. have received quotes from 3 companies to move from the UK to NZ.. we're wanting to ship some stuff which i guess is out of the ordinary, so it's been interesting to compare the different answers regarding what they think is the best way to go about it.

my impression is also that they're basically the same.. i think we'll make our decision primarily based on the "gut feeling" we've gotten when corresponding with them.

[coppers]

We have had two quotes uk-chch and waiting on a third for Jan. The first two quotes £200 difference so expect the third to be around the same. Two said 20ft container and one has said theres no way we would get our stuff in that, 40ft would be needed.
Will go with best price and customer service as a whole company - not just the salesman who comes around.
Anglo, Bonner and Robinsons (not in any order either).
Anyone had good/bad experiences with these??

[sophiedb]

We brought all of our garden tools and furniture, along with some outdoor plant pots (washed and sterilised first) as well as wood items, wicker and sea grass, all of our kitchen herbs and spices and the contents of our booze cupboard....all was inspected by MAF etc and not one item was a problem.

That's good to know! I didn't really like the idea of losing my herb/spice rack contents, though I'm sure someone on Freecycle would appreciate them :)

[simoragn]

That's good to know! I didn't really like the idea of losing my herb/spice rack contents, though I'm sure someone on Freecycle would appreciate them :)

Our spices got through fine. But remember, no seeds...

[wirld]

Crown were great for us - not the cheapest by any means, but did a fabulous job: No breakages, nothing lost from SA to NZ.

Unfortunately our internal move (not using Crown) from Hamilton to New Plymouth went far less smoothly!

G

[KatieBen]

Personally I didn't take to the Crown salesman but that's not his fault!

We used Pickfords from UK -> Nelson (they have offices worldwide so we weren't handed over to an NZ company this end, they dealt with the move from start to finish).

Very impressed with their packing service, equally impressed with speed of transit - our container arrived well within their maximum estimate (think it was about 9 weeks door to door, though we used their local storage for a little as well) - definitely impressed with their people this end (who found 2 pairs of extremely muddy hiking boots, took them away and brought them back the next day cleaner than when they'd been new! not charged a penny for it either). Nothing broken, chipped, scratched or otherwise damaged.

The only thing I wasn't impressed with was the cost of their insurance - we went with Letton Percival as they were far cheaper. However, as we didn't have to use them for a claim I don't know whether that was wise or not!

[Duncan74]

We had Allied round to quote yesterday, was impressed he made the effort to get to us. Still got Crown to come as they cancelled due to the snow.

[Rob&Don]

We used John Mason in UK and The Moving Company in NZ. :nice1
Could not fault either company-no losses or breakages at all. :bluebanana
We found when we got our quotes that all the companies we got quotes from were willing to match each others price so dont be afraid to haggle! :nice1

[sophiedb]

We're thinking either PSS or Allied Pickfords now. The former comes recommended by a friend who moved from the same area, the latter has the benefit of bases both a few miles away and in NZ.

Crown (Bristol office) seemed good, but the salesman's insistence on calling me about everything instead of emailing a quote - "now that we've spoken again you might have it by Friday, more likely Monday" - is likely to do himself out of a job. At least I finally found out how much they'd charge today though. (he came by on 23/12/09, so yes Xmas created a delay, but the guys who came on Xmas eve got the quote to me before New Year :p)

[girlwithanewf]

Crown were very slow to get back to me with a quote too. Pickfords were not very professional at all and didn't actually turn up for the survey meeting. We are using a company called Clark and Rose based in Stirling. The people moving in are also using them which will make negotiating about the snow much easier. We are using Letton Percival for the insurance. Companies definitely seem keen to match competitor quotes so it is always worth discussing this. One discrepancy I came up against was volume, with one company saying we had considerably less.

[Ash_B]

I'd definitely recommend Crown Relocations (http://www.moveoverseas.co.uk) as they have offices all over the world so if you have any problems when you get to the other end or need any advice or help when you arrive they are there to help. It means that you only have to deal with the one company and can speak to the office that is closest to you rather than on the other side of the world. It's not one company packing you off and then meeting a different company at the other end, it's all the same company so they provide a great overall service - you do have to pay a little more for it but it's worth it.:nice1

[Duncan74]

Update from me. Originally Anglo quoted £3600 for a 20'. Just also quoted £4800 for a 40'. Allied quoted $13,400 for a sole use 40', or $11,000 for 35m3 of a 40' with other stuff added as a 'top up' in the spare space. Crown couldn't make the original survey date due to the snow (and I fully support their decision not to come, no criticism at all) and are due to come and quote next Thursday.

Neither of the above include customs charges or insurance. And note that the two quotes are based in different currencies as Anglo is a 'private' quote, Allied would be invoiced to a company based in NZ. Both comapnies have been very good on the service so far, no clear 'winner' on that score and not attempted to negotiate yet.

[IanW99]

I'd definitely recommend Crown Relocations (http://www.moveoverseas.co.uk) as they have offices all over the world so if you have any problems when you get to the other end or need any advice or help when you arrive they are there to help. It means that you only have to deal with the one company and can speak to the office that is closest to you rather than on the other side of the world. It's not one company packing you off and then meeting a different company at the other end, it's all the same company so they provide a great overall service - you do have to pay a little more for it but it's worth it.:nice1

Hi and welcome to the forum...

Does it matter if they have offices all over the world? Do your household goods end up in the wrong country? Surely it is only important that they have offices in your home country and NZ?

Why does the fact that it is the same company mean that they provide a great overall service? Surely even separate companies can provide a great overall service?

Why would you have to pay a little more for it, if anything shouldn't they be cheaper as there would be less administration to have to do?

Would be useful to forum members for you to say when you last used Crown to move your household effects from country to country, which countries they were and when you did the move?

Ian

[Duncan74]

I think Ian's post may be summarised as "You've just registered, posted only once and it's a big push for a specific company and that could appear to some as being a bit 'fishy'"

:)

[slavvie]

Just has 3 quotes
Anglo
PSS
Pickfords
Pickfords seemed most sensible and professional, got a good gut feeling about them when they came ! He was the middle price but bettered the cheapest PSS.
Put off by PSS when he suggested we take our cane dining chairs and not declare them as cane, just list them as dining chairs !! Not a good start me thinks...
Any other good views about Pickfords

[RachieRoo]

Had three quotes (or waiting for the third):
Anglo Pacific - 20' container, £3500
PSS - 20' container, £3000
Crown - 40' container, quote not received yet but he said around £5000

We are shipping our car, and house stuff, but as everything is flat-pack (and we are willing to flatten it) it doesn't work out to be that much.

Anglo said we would be just over the 20' capacity, but they would try to get everything in, and we could just leave a few items untilt the end that we weren't too bothered about.

PSS also quoted for a 20', said it would be extremely tight, and becuase I had told them that Anglo said we could get it in.

Crown didn't consider the 20', just said you will need a 40'.

I know others have had 20/40 quotes before. Did anyone go for the 20 and get everything in? We don't really have anything that is so special that we couldn't leave it, and as Anglo/PSS think that we're only over 50-100 cubic feet I think I can sacrifice if necessary.

Based upon salespeople/gut feeling I would go for Anglo right now.

[Duncan74]

Bit worried that it would add at least £100 to the bill based on volume / weight to ship the Crown brochure. Didn't clarify if that was included in their quote or not ;)

TBH then I'm pretty happy with all 3 of mine, Crown, Allied and Anglo in terms of ability to do the job. All seem to be on level terms regarding extras too, ie none apart from fumigation, although I suspect this is a possibly issue with Anglo as they sub out the delivery. Anglo also tried to suggest we went for a 20' and then sent the rest groupage. Not sure about that. However, Allied suggested we do a 40' container, add the bulkhead, and then let them add groupage to the empty bit. So no more risk of damage as you may get with normal groupage, but a slight delay at either end.

Anglo went from £3500 to £4800 for the 20' to 40' sole use prices.
Allied were $11,500NZD for the part use of 40', $13,800 sole use.
Crown $14,800 40' sole use.
Manchester > Tauranga.