[Debbie]

In know this is very lazy of me but...
I've been reading thread after thread about the troubles people are having with shipper,
--don't all fit in container, wrong charges, losses, bad service in NZ, not to mention the knocks and scratches and odd dropped vase that you would expect.

I'm trying to pick a shipper and was looking to see who had the least complaints made about them. So if you have had a problem with your shipper, I know that you have probably mentioned it elsewhere on the forum but I was wandering if you wouldn't mind sending a few lines to this thread.
Who you used,
When,
What the problem was,
If it was resolved satisfactorly,

I hope that this thread will help myself and other in choosing a shipper, not only to pick the good from the indifferent but also bring to light possible problems I haven't even started to worry about yet.

Debbie, (yes I know I need help for my list addiction)

[Avalon]

We had 2 seperate shippers - one for us and one for my parents. We had to deal with both at this end so:

1: John mason with Allied Movers for us
Crown for my parents (with crown at this end)

2:Ours was last Jan
Parents was in June / July last year

3: Actually very few problems in either case. Allied Movers were basically lazy toads and didnt really want to get off thier behinds and organise delivery. An email to JM soon got things moving. No Maf rip off ($150 charged which is as near to right as makes no odds)

Crown also very few problems. A niggle or two as we only needed a few boxed delivering straight away, and it took 3 attempts to get it right! Then they tried charging us for storage for longer than they should have done. 1 email was all that took to get it sorted. The only other niggle we had with them was in organising a removal of our stuff from Welly to Carterton. The guy who gave us the quote actually phoned us at 7.30am one morning to see if we had made a decision. Not amused! Sent snottogram to the office saying this was tottally unnaceptable and got a rather nice apology off the guy - and a promice that he would NOT assume that juts because hes up and working at some silly hour - everyone else is.

4; So yes - all in all rather pleased. I always find that its not so much the original problem that causes the issues - its when people dont apologise and put problems right. In both cases - any problems were dealt with!

[Smiler]

Curtiss (part of White and co). They sent 2 guys to pack and they said that the estimator had grossly underestimated. Even though I had rejigged it when we had to ship out quickly. Curtiss estimated 350ccft and others up to 680ccft and they were all shown the same stuff. We had a 40 fter because of the car.

Packed September 05, had to wait two weeks for the shipping out because they missed the one our container was due to leave on. I had a real problem tracking our container as they gave me a different number and for a week or 2 our stuff appeared to be going between Rotterdam and Harwich. They found it incomprehensible that we might want to know where our stuff was on the ocean.

Arrived Wellington 16/11/05 'care' of NZ Van Lines, took us 2 weeks to get our stuff, 3 weeks for the bikes and one is still off the road,1 month to get the car on the road. Cannot recommend NZVL either, they have the customer service skills of a 3 year old.

Problem was mainly the vehicles, the car had been driven to the depot from our house in the UK and promises had been made to clean them prior to shipping, but they were not cleaned.Prior to them taking the vehicles we had spent the whole weekend, steam cleaning, karchering, valeting, and basically scrubbing them with a toothbrush.

Hence MAF inspected them, had a fit, we had to pay for more steam cleaning, hoovering, and reinspection. The shippers did not send the keys to the bikes and have lost them, this includes the alarm fob for one and we had to pay to have the alarm stripped out to be able to use the bike. Both bikes and car were damaged. Other household things were broken or missing and the standard of packing was carp.

We had two claims in at the moment, with our insurers and the shippers insurers, this is being help up because whoever deals with this at Curtiss is on annual leave for February. They have denied saying they would clean the vehicles, despite offering to collect the car and bikes and that they drove the car 40 miles on a wet autumn day. They also deny having the keys. Our MAF etc fees were $1453 in total and Curtiss offered to pay for the hoovering of the car, $100. So nice to know they are that bothered. We have been here nearly 5 months.

I realise you said a few lines, but if this puts anyone off using Curtiss or NZ VL, then it needs to be told in full, as I have done on other threads. Take pics of everything you can that is valuable or sentimental before packing or start a detailed inventory for your own peace of mind.

We moved 3 times in the last 3 years in the UK, always used Alan Greenwoods in Kingston, never had a thing broken, top service, cheery helpful guys, always went the extra mile.

Deborah

[Debbie]

Thanks Smiler & Avalon,
I said a few lines as I didn't want to bother people to much as I know all this stuff is spread across a hundred threads elsewhere but I just thought so many are having shipping problems is might be good (very useful to me) to have it in one place. Your reply is so helpful again thanks, I will be aware of the danger of allowing any compainy to drive my car and pack. Have made a note to get a commitment of cleaning from them in writing.
I agree Avalon, It's not the (initial) problem that's the problem, it's how these things are resolved that counts. An apology and swift effort to recitfy and convay so much more about a company.
Debbie