Pros:
The office staff were very friendly, helpful and accommodating, very reasonable quote as well compared
to other companies. The actual removalists were very pleasant to deal with as well.
Cons:
The state my shipment of goods arrived in at the destination.
Everything left clean (even the computer desk which the uplift form marked as soiled/dirty, not even
dust was on that).
Everything arrived covered in dirt. Not dust, this was dirt.
I did expect a certain amount of dust would arrive with the goods, but not dirt and dead insects.
All the boxes left in good condition.
All the boxes arrived squashed and damaged.
It is basic common sense to put lighter items on top of heavier ones, common sense which does not seem
to have been applied.
Also it is common sense to put similar sized boxes on top of each other, not a smaller heavier box on
top of a larger lighter box so that the top box doesn't even have the support of resting on the edges
of the box below. This only creates a nice deep groove in the bottom box and puts pressure on it's
contents.
There were several hard plastic boxes that were cracked, broken and damaged.
There were several foam boxes that were broken and damaged.
One foam box full of computer equipment seems to have been demolished. It was very thoughtful to
include the last 2 pieces of foam that used to make up the box. Even more thoughtful to literally
haphazardly throw the contents into a cardboard box so that the books would get damaged, and disks and
equipment get tossed about. I have yet to check whether the equipment even works anymore.
I expected far better from a business whose primary function is to shift furniture around the world.
Twice previously I have used a heavy haulage company to transport boxes for me. The first time the
shipment arrived in excellent clean undamaged condition. The second time unfortunately the goods were
damaged and boxes were squashed and broken open. I decided the next time I would use a proper
furniture removalist, I thought with choosing Grace I had, sadly I was mistaken. The shipment of
goods arrived in as bad if not worse condition.
The only good thing I can say about the experience is that there was only minor damage (scratches)
caused to the goods themselves, and that while the boxes may now be completely unusable and cost me
$100 to replace it seems the contents have survived intact. (I did take out insurance but it hardly
seemed worth the effort trying to reclaim this sort of damage.)
I also did not appreciate feeling pressured to sign the form which stated that the goods had arrived
in the condition they'd left, even when I pointed out that all the boxes were damaged. And that the
company was timely. I was told they would arrive between 11am and 1pm. I rang up at 1:30pm and was
assured they would arrive in no more than 15mins. The truck arrived at 2:15pm, over an hour late. It
would not have mattered so much if I'd at least been informed it would be late.
But wait there's more. My shipment was the last to be delivered for the day. There was a large
plastic box without a number on it, it was not my box. I was repeatedly offered by the younger
removalist to take the box as it would mean they would've have to deal with it. So comforting to know
that it could've been my box out there being offered to a stranger. He didn't seem to know what to do
so I looked through the box and found some papers with a name on it. That name didn't seem familiar
to either of them but they took the box back. I hope the owner eventually recovered his possessions.
Truth be told, I did consider taking the box only to try and find the owner myself, as the attitude
seemed to be one of apathy. I thought better of doing so however as this is not my responsibility.
The icing on the cake was picking up a piece of a broken box from the ground behind the removal truck
as it drove away with a nice little form to hand in that said everything was in order and everything
arrived in as good as condition as when it was handed over.
Appalling, truly appalling.
Overall:
Competitive price, good service, but be prepared for minor damage at the other end, even hard plastic
boxes are not safe, make sure everything is packed extremely well.
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