[Paul and Linda]

Hi All,
Just wondering if any of you have had this problem. We've asked a couple of removers to quote us for the full service and then separately for us to pack small stuff (books toys etc.) and they provide the packing materials.

Yet all of them still insist on just giving us the standard full service quote, one week later in the post (even when you ask for an urgent quote).

What's going on?

Paul

[Lisa T]

We have been told by two removal companies that if we pack anything ourselves it must be labelled as packed by owners and these boxes will almost definately be opened by customs who will then go on to check everything to make sure nothing dodgy has been "smuggled" through.

One company stated very clearly that if we packed anything to put into storage beforehand then they would unpack it and repack before it went on to the container. They suggested removing anything that we didn't want the removal people to see (not sure what they were insinuating on that one......) and they would simply swoop in and pack everything else.

[Cardiff Irons]

Paul, getting quotes from removal companies is a bit like making love to a beautiful woman. Although for the moment I can't think why.

Maybe it's time for you to play the trade-off game. I'm assuming they don't know how many quotes you have so.....ring each of them up and tell them that you're looking to make a decision tomorrow (preferably specify a time, say midday). At the moment, though, you can't take their quote into consideration because they haven't met the criteria (i.e. haven't given an alternative quote for some self-packing). Give them until shortly before decision time (say 11.00am) to fax or email the information, failing which you'll have to discard them from your final selection. Job done :nice1

Disclaimer: If at 12.05pm tomorrow you have no quotes, then please understand that this advice is offered in good faith and that my knowledge of the removals industry is anecdotal rather than professional ;)

[Paul and Linda]

Yup tried that on thursday morning. Had to phone up today and give them a jolly good nudge.

Not very good on customer service are they?

[kiwidebs]

Do you think there's just too many people leaving the UK giving them much too much of the good life to worry about individual quotes? Or are they just slack?

Debs

[veronica]

The fact that you pack the boxes yourselves does NOT mean that customs will go through it. We packed the whole container load ourselves and the only things they wanted to check on were Petes golf stuff and that the Dyson was clean. Think they just try and use that as a scare tactic to get you to let them do the full service.

[lisa]

Hi all

We used Britannia for our shipping and packed all "smalls" as they call them!! and they wrapped the furniture. I must say it worked out really well and none of the boxes were opened, although we did have a MAF lady come round to new house and check things like the hoover fishing tent ,golf trolley and garden furniture, mind you I was a bit put out as it took me 3 days to wash all the shoes and they never even looked!! :?
The only thing to be said about packing bits yourself is that they will only insure it for loss not damage but nothing turned up remotely damaged . The packers did pack some boxes ie video/dvd player and were very efficient they also took down beds and wrapped the fixings and taped them to the headboard which was better than some horror stories of them being put in boxes!!! never to be seen again.

All in all was very pleased with the service at both ends, they will only put up furniture that they took down but that was the only thing and they can only unpack boxes onto a table but to be honest the last thing you need is somneone sticking loads of bits you haven't even missed and will possibly never unpack again onto a table :wah

Anyway that was our experience hope that helps!!

Lisa :P

[shagen]

We packed and labelled almost all our kids' stuff such as clothes, books and toys and MAF did not opened them for inspection.

Only a couple of boxes were opened and they mainly contained our camping stuff and the vacuum cleaner.

I think what is important is in the labelling and and what is stated on the inventory list. In fact, we had a couple of boxes labelled as rattan and wood based items and they were also not inspected by MAF.

Therefore, not sure if we are lucky or there were too many boxes (a total of 164) but almost all the boxes were not opened by MAF for inspection.

[Miffy]

Do you think there's just too many people leaving the UK giving them much too much of the good life to worry about individual quotes? Or are they just slack?

Debs

Could be .... when I the bloke from pickfords came round to sort out the quote he said "another young professional couple leaving the country. all I seem to be doing for the last few months is giving quotes to families or couple under 40 going off to NZ or Australia"

[Paul and Linda]

Yup i think that is what's happening. We've decided to go with Crown, our local international remover was even less enthusiatic than Crown.

The difference for self pack vs. full service is £370. It's difficult....no impossible to know if yours is the one container they drop or bump/knock.

We've already packed half of our stuff into proper boxes so I don't really know what to do.

I'd like to spend the £370 on a cheap laptop or a new telly. :smile

Paul

[Mildred]

Paul, getting quotes from removal companies is a bit like making love to a beautiful woman. Although for the moment I can't think why.




I know that I have finally lost the plot. Perhaps its a cardboard box and bubble wrap fettish :laugh

[jonSE]

Don't get confused between Maf and Customs -

Customs are like Customs in the UK - out for their pound of flesh (import duty) on anything they feel the need to charge it on but as far as I can ascertain from reading this forum unless you try to import a container full of wine or spirits that you obviously intend to sell they arent that fussy.

Maf can and will take apart anything you import that could conceivably harm NZs biodiversity. This ranges from ensuring that the boots you wore on the kids school farm trip don't have mud on them to making sure that your tent doesn't have grass still stuck to the groundsheet, and your lawnmower isn't covered in dead english grass to having you pay to have cars taken to pieces to ensure they arent full of strange spiders. They are unlikely to cut your toothpaste tube up to check if it is fullof heroin, nor are they likely to raise an eyebrow at a couple of hndred bottles of wine. They do appreciate being pointed in the direction of your garden furniture that you religiously cleaned with Jeyes fluid and don't appreciate lots of boxes marked miscellaneous. The above said there is little in the UK that is a threat to NZs biodiversity now (it was all imported here about 200 years ago) so UK immigrants tend to get an easy ride.

Jon

[Diny]

We're using Britannia and opted to pack all our own stuff. They just came and wrapped the furniture and loaded the container.

I listed ALL the contents of each box and then game the list to the packers when they arrived. They just affed them onto thier inventory and made NO mention that they were packed by us. When MAF look at all the paperwork they won't be able to tell which bits were packed by us and which were packed by the pros.

Our wordly goods are bobbing along on the ocean wave as I type this (hopefully) - will let you know how how things eventuate when it arrives.

Diny

[shagen]

Our movers actually made a mark on the list for boxes packed by us. Customs or MAF did not open these as we labels them correctly.