I am thinking between selling/donating/storing my furniture or shipping it to Singapore during my husband's posting there. Company is paying for air shipment via Crown relocations, which we also asked for a quotation for sea shipment, we probably only need 1/4 to 1/2 of a full container. But I guess they are not the cheapest... Any ideas or recommendations for shipping companies? Any tips on getting shared containers? Thanks for any help!
It has been a while since I worked for them in the UK, but they should be able to give you a quote. You should ask for a groupage service and they will probably quote you based on cubic metres. Obviously you will need to look into customs clearance at the other end too, so see if you can get an all-in rate for Household Goods/Personal Effects sent to your door.
Not sure if I missed something but if the company is paying for it and they have a preferred company, shouldn't you just go with them?
But in case I did miss something, we used Team Allied to move here and likely will again on our move coming up. They were great through the whole process last time and kept us informed on where our shipment was en route which was nice as it was over the Christmas holidays.
Do not use Packimpex! I used them for a move from the east coast of the US about 8 months ago and had a horrible experience. Luckily my company paid for most of the move but they are very overpriced and really just act as a middle man. At the end, they ended up being 25% over the original estimate due to "unforseen costs". I can really go on and on about how poorly I was treated but in the end, the furniture arrived in one piece (except for my bed which was reimbursed).
So good luck to you and please what ever you do, DO NOT CHOOSE PACKIMPEX!
Don't use Packimpex, they break your things and wait for you to forget about them after you have informed them. My company paid so no idea about their price. Good luck..
Paximpex (inbound to here) ignored my damage claims for weeks until I eventually managed to pin them down. They were deliberately evasive eg scratched the floor during delivery, refused to remove broken items etc, ground them down in the end though.
We are relocating to Toronto and are also footing the bill ourselves. Cost is a factor but we also wanted a reliable & professional company since we have some fragile/easily damaged items to be shipped.
After some initial research online, we decided to ask for quotes from:
-Team Relocations
-Packimpex
-Welti-Furrer
All three quotes were within the same ballpark and we narrowed it down to Packimpex and Welti-Furrer, as we got the impression that these two were the most professional, and asked them both to perform onsite surveys.
During the onsite survey Welti-Furrer impressed us more favourably than Packimpex, for the following reasons:
1) The consultant who visited us seemed to be more knowledgeable and empowered. For example, he was able to commit to our desired packing/loading dates up-front and provided more detailed answers to our questions about how they would pack some of the more fragile items.
2) In their follow-up to the onsite survey, WF were more proactive & detailed in providing information, such as the dates when the container should be shipped and when it should arrive in Toronto. They also provided us with an Excel inventory taken during the onsite survey which included the assessed volume of each item to be shipped. This made it easy for us to do a what-if analysis on the impact of removing individual items on the overall volume, since they told us that we were over the space limit for a 20' container.
3) The final quotes from WF and Packimpex were not too far apart, however WF provided a more flexible insurance option, allowing us to reduce the insurance premium by choosing a $500 deductible. Packimpex were not willing to do this. The storage charges in Canada quoted by WF were also lower, which is a factor since we will not have a place to move into right away.
My wife and I have used many agencies whilst relocating around the world, although Crown relocations is not the cheapest they would be our preferred option. The last time we moved back from Australia a few things got slightly damaged (which was not such a big deal), Crown refunded the full replacement value within days and were very apologetic. Our experience, in Switzerland is that not all the companys respond this way, we have had extra charges (for example it once took 3 men, 3 hours to assemble our ikea wardrobe - which we had to pay for the additional time) Then another company smashed an item of funiture, they took it away glued it together badly and brought it back with no apology nor compensation - we complained but gave up.