[Rose]

PODS have given us a very competitive quotation for moving our 3 cubic metres of stuff from Sweden to NZ. Has anyone used them? What are your experiences? Their name was kinda familiar but I did a search on this board and didn't find them (but please redirect me if you can).

Many thanks
Rose

[tchelseat]

We used PODS (I think they also go by the name of Cargobookers) to ship three boxes from the UK to Wellington. All of our stuff got here in one piece. Here are a few points of interest:

1. We were told we would receive an email confirmation of the sailing approximately one week into the sailing which we never received. Once we made the (1st of many) international call to them they resent it.
2. As an FYI, the seemingly low price of shipping (only 130 pounds for three boxes, for us) will be met by the receiving cargo company here in NZ with more 'standard' fees ($200 NZD). The quote does however say 'destination charges not included in quote'. It's a bit annoying that while the fees we incurred in NZ were 'standard', they were not 'standard' enough to be included in the original quote or at least communicated to us from the beginning.
3. If you are having the boxes shipped to anywhere in NZ except Auckland, there is this strange procedure for clearing Customs. The boxes are kept in Auckland until you've provided the appropriate paperwork that proves you've cleared your items with Customs and MAF, then shipped locally to your nearest port.
4. Watch what they charge you. We paid the 10 pound deposit for shipping boxes and told the deposit would count toward our final bill. In the end they charged us the amount of the quote PLUS the 10 pound deposit. I've called twice and had someone tell me they're taking care of it. Still no refund of deposit.
5. I was told the shipment would take 36 days. Boxes were picked up Sept. 1 and arrived into Wellington Oct. 23. 53 days? Don't expect punctuality.

In the end, unfortunately, it was still worth it as the items we shipped we worth more than the price of replacing them. However, I was really disappointed in the lack of customer service. Having never done this before, I was shocked at how much information I had to drag out of them. Is there not a simple document they can send or email that says: This is what is going on. This is how we work. This is what you should expect. This is the procedure for going about shipping boxes to another country. Even once the boxes got to Auckland and we asked how we go about getting them to Wellington, they told us to go to Customs to have them cleared. Only when we arrived at Customs (in the middle of a rain storm with gale force winds) did they tell us we first had to go to MAF, etcetc. The lack of clarity on the part of the shipping companies, both in the UK and NZ was astounding.

Sorry for the rant. I hope this helps you in your decision making.

[thepiesleys]

Were going with cargo bookers as well and are airfreighting the stuff. Feel as if we definately taking a plunge but after talking to them again today and reading katandbobs excellent post, the link I cant find at present - try a search on self packing, I feel more at ease and feel I understand the procedure. But as you say they provided me with zero paperwork, information, reading material of any kind. I found out what we needed to know via this site and 'dragging' information out of them.

[Rose]

Thanks a lot, you two. I will keep talking to them and see if they are right for us. The cheaper price might not be worth the extra hassle. I emailed them a couple of questions last night - let's see how fast and well they answer the questions. The difference is about NZD 1000.

I will keep you updated!

Thanks
Rose