[zardell]

Hi All.

Well - I've heard it all now and it's left me totally confused......

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had various shippers out to give me quotes and (as per this forums suggestions) have told them that I will pay MAF fees direct to MAF.

Two of the four firms I've had out said 'OK, no problem. We will inform our NZ agents of your request'. One said 'No, you can't do that - you pay MAF fees to our NZ agents', but the fourth firm (and this is a cracker !!) said 'All MAF inspection fees are pre-paid because they are included in our quote. MAF fees fall under the heading of custom charges / inspections. We will be aware of the MAF fees, because we inform MAF of any necessary inspection via your itinerary. The only extra charges will be if there is any fumigation and/or duty to be paid on your goods, which is highly unlikely'

Now I have to say, that shipper No:4's comments make sense to me, but has this been said to anyone else ??

Oh for crying out loud !!! Confusion reigns supreme.........

Seriously thinking sell the lot and just go with a suitcase :exit

Thoughts and advice would be good......

Julie

xx

[Milliemoo]

Hi there,

I'm guessing Shipper No4 is Crown? They include an allownace of £60, which is included in your quote, to cover MAF costs. I'm guessing the average cost for just an inspection is far less than this, but the reason you choose Crown (usually) is because it's Crown from end to end and they deal with everything. Crown are not the cheapest, so you do pay a premium for what you hope is peace of mind.

Make sure you haggle on the price. We got £500 knocked off our 20f conatiner quote with Crown.

Don't forget, even if the UK shipper says it's not a problem for you to pay MAF direct, you may still have to stick to your guns with the NZ side of things. I would never assume that because they say it's not a problem it won't be. If you go down that route, get it in writting.

Milliemoo

[southparkers]

On our John Mason quote it just says" assistance with customs clearance"
and the PSS guy said we pay them as nobody knows what they are going to be till they have done their job. Which makes sense.
I actually forgot to ask John Mason so i must tell OH to ask when he rings to haggle.
Just found another bit ,re J Mason. "SERVICES NOT INCLUDED IN THE QUOTATION", Local duties inspections and taxes. so need to clarify that point.

April

[westies]

We used John Mason and too were concerned re maf charges this end, this side the agents were The Moving Co. who like John Mason were very good, we did end up paying them for maf charges, total 220 nz dollars. (everything else was inclded in the JM quote). We found this quite reasonable, so didn't bother to pursue paying maf direct, but could have done!! It was much easier in our case to deal with the agents, rather than getting maf involved as well, The Moving Co. bought our stuff, put aside what maf wanted to inspect, maf arrived a couple of days later, checked it all, no probs!!

[zardell]

Thanks Milliemoo.

Actually no, it wasn't Crown, it was a company called Whittles, but after reading your post, it seems that they work in a similar way to Crown.


Thanks Southparkers.

Well, it was John Mason that said I had to pay MAF fees to their NZ agent and that I couldn't pay them direct !

To quote your post - "On our John Mason quote it just says" assistance with customs clearance"
and the PSS guy said we pay them as nobody knows what they are going to be till they have done their job. Which makes sense."

I'm sorry,but what the PSS guy said doesn't make sense to me.... As I understand it, MAF are directed (via your itinerary) to the goods which need inspection - ie Xmas decorations, untreated wood etc and once inspected, they will (or won't) clear customs. If some or all of these good need fumigation or duty to be paid before they are allowed into the country, well although it's covered under the 'custom clearance' umbrella, it is charged for separately to MAF inspection charges.

At the end of the day, whichever shipping company we eventually decide to go with, our container will be handled by the same people at the docks/on the ship/and at the NZ port of entry as any other UK consignment, so I don't know why I'm putting myself through all this stress.......


Or maybe I've got it all wrong !!!!!

Julie

xx

[Avalon]

Or maybe I've got it all wrong !!!!!

Julie

xx

General dismay, confusion and discombobulation?

Nah - I think you've got it perfectly! :laugh

[jess]

Hi Zardell. Our MAF inspector told us when he came to the house that it's MAF's policy not to take payments from you directly no matter what your shipper says. We had to pay the shipping company.

(Worldwide Movers - also known as NZ Vanlines - charged us a whopping $325 in MAf fees and would not unload our truck unless we paid them the exact amount on the invoice. They said they not only had to pay the fees but see that all the boxes MAF wanted were set aside properly. This turned out to be a process of them telling me which number boxes to look out for and telling me to make sure they were set aside as they came off the truck. Much has been written about them on the forum.):mad:

[Smiler]

Hi Zardell. Our MAF inspector told us when he came to the house that it's MAF's policy not to take payments from you directly no matter what your shipper says. We had to pay the shipping company.

(Worldwide Movers - also known as NZ Vanlines - charged us a whopping $325 in MAf fees and would not unload our truck unless we paid them the exact amount on the invoice. They said they not only had to pay the fees but see that all the boxes MAF wanted were set aside properly. This turned out to be a process of them telling me which number boxes to look out for and telling me to make sure they were set aside as they came off the truck. Much has been written about them on the forum.):mad:

Mostly by me..................:laugh...................:D... ....................;)

The way MAF do it is to send you the invoice after the inspection and then you pay on that. Not cash in the hand of the inspector who calls.

NZVL are very forceful at insisting that the only way it can be done is through them. It's complete rubbish.

[zardell]

Thanks for all your responses guys....much appreciated :nice1

Anyway, that's it - I've made a decision - I'm going with the cheapest quote and what will be, will be.

I've got other things to worry about............ :roll

Now, where's my 'To Do' list......

Julie

xx

[Babette & Andy]

Hi Julie

I read much about this on the forum before we made our move, and was all ready to 'challenge' the local delivery agent (the moving company). BUT, at the end of the day I was soooo happy to see our container, everything ran smoothly and in the grand scale of things the $200 or so that they charged (think it was below that actually) wasn't going to break the bank (no offence to anyone intended).

Hope all your worldly goods arrive in 1 piece when it gets here! Enjoy ticking of your To Do list items.

Best wishes
Babette

[baboonworld]

I got about £500 knocked off which then covered our insurance. The MAF fees here we had to pay thru The Moving Co (20ft) and cost about NZ$500!!

It seemed expensive and I am actually still a bit peeved since I thought we were supposed to pay them to MAF and they havent even sent me a inv to cover it (although I will be insisting on a copy of MAF's inv to them)!

[Nienke]

Yes, you should persist in insisting to have a copy of that invoice, 500 dollars is way too much! You can also call the MAF and ask how much the invoice was.
The Moving Company wanted us to pay some 600 dollars up front which I flatly refused, I also told them why I refused (I knew about this scam). Told them I would pay AFTER I saw a copy of the MAF invoice. They apparently accepted that and they did deliver our container to our house, no problems. That was more than a month ago and we're still waiting for an invoice to pay!
The MAF lady told me by the way the invoice would be 154 dollars.

[CAFCValley]

We used John Masons whose agents are the Moving Company, I have emailed them and spoken to them last night at last (they called me back) my query was that we had an invoice for $220 before the shipment arrived, asked for MAF charges but MC said all invoices on continous paper. Have advised JM that I want to see the invoice. My main concern is that my car has been shipped and I have seen threads where $450 + is requested by the MC prior to the ship arriving. JM brandished all sorts of reasons for the charges including one that MC had to have a ramp installed for inspections by MAF to which I replied that they should charge that in the initial quote not her in NZ (they had no ans & agreed) They could not give me a reasonable explanation for forward charges. Will have to wait and see when car arrives??

[toots]

I'm going back a couple of years now but the MAF inspection fee was/is composed of two elements: a set regional charge depending on how far you are from their nearest office and an hourly fee for the actual inspection. Costs for disposal, fumigation etc. are additional.

All the moving companies seem to do is supply MAF with a copy of your inventory and passport details/permit, MAF look at the inventory and say which items they want put aside. The moving company highlight those items on your inventory and as they take them off the container they/you will put them to one side.

MAF bod turns up, looks at your tent/christmas decs/walking boots, has a chat and if all is ok will be out of the place in 10-15 mins.

How the moving companies justify their >$300 charge has always been a mystery to me, and to be honest it's nothing more than a nice little earner. We were asked to pay our fee as cash direct to the removals men. Go figure :yes