USA > NZ which shipping service did you use?

[LAsmith]

Here I am staring at the quote from Crown and taking deep soothing breaths! Having looked through the UK threads about shipping companies im starting to hope that there is light, and a lower price, at the end of the dark tunnel of international freight! SO, tell me who you used, if you were happy, etc......
TIA

[Guavagirl]

Whatever you do, avoid Ocean Star International, based in Miami. OSI quoted me a price (which was in the midrange of all the quotes i got) and wanted to charge me double AFTER they picked up my items. OSI then gave me the option of paying the new double fee or arrange for pickup of my items. I tried to switch to another moving company but OSI wouldn't even release the location of my belongings until I pay them a "pickup" fee and warehouse fee. In the end I ended up paying their new double price, only to have half my things arrived damaged.

Be very careful on picking your shipping company. Read all the fine print. I had to involve the BBB, Dept of transportation, an attorney and even the police. In the end the only option I can "win" is to take them to court afterwards. I didn't bother because I didn't think it was worth paying for a flight back to the States for it.

[Manks]

We used Allied and they sent along their local agent Siracusa. Packing all seemed to go well and the container is en route right now. The agent was good, but they use a separate relocation consultancy to help with paperwork so I find it hard to know who is responsible for what and end up asking them all.

But they were the lowest price by about US$1k. Do check with them, ask them lots of questions (based on the list that sophiedb created) and push them. I don't think they're as specialised in moving people from the US to NZ. I asked them loads of questions but they answered them all.

They did try to charge me a little bit more after they'd picked the container up based on the weight, but their original quote/contract stated "weight is not an issue" so I challenged it and they agreed and went back to the original quote.

At the NZ end, we were told they use three different agents. I gave them the names of a couple of agents I have read good things about on here and one I did NOT want to use based on the feedback on the Forum. They've given me Conroys, which was one of the requested agents, so I'm happy about that.

Rainier come highly recommended and they were the second lowest quote. But we got annoyed by the fact that they (their local agent) kept insisting that there would be access issues for the container outside our house so we'd need a shuttle (increasing the cost). We told them absolutely no way. We'd moved into the house just two years previously and the same sized container truck had no such problems.

[ljrobin]

We used Rainier from Seattle, and overall were very pleased. The packing crew were organised and efficient. No surprises at either end.

[cbrown]

We used Rainier Overseas also (from Phoenix). The packing was ok (they had the nerve to show up with only 2 people the first day, but after we complained a crew of 4 showed up the second day).
The cost was similar to the others. Our container is due next week.
No surprises with costs from the USA end.

[Nathan]

We used UPakWeShip....but somebody else on here wasn't happy with them. It's self service loading, and then we were unloaded on the NZ side. Saved a lot of money.
Avoid any company with a south Florida address!!
Here'a a site that has some ideas but moving that you might consider: http://www.movingscam.com/

Good luck.

[M-Squared]

Although Chicago-based, we used http://www.lasermoving.com/ and they were great! 3 guys took 2 days to pack our entire house up into our container. We were insured from when they signed the contract to when our last piece of furniture was unloaded. It was US$13K, roughly, door-to-door, fully insured, fully packed. Exceptionally happy!

[cantwait]

Ranier Overseas (Seattle) is coming for our stuff Oct 18th so I'll let you know...I got quotes from 5 different places & in the end they were all in close range dollar-wise, so it was just a comfort level. You can negotiate ALL of it though -- even the insurance rate which came down from $31/$1000 to $25/$1000, same coverage level. Good luck!

[Keith C.]

We used UPakWeShip....but somebody else on here wasn't happy with them.http://www.movingscam.com/

I was one of the people unhappy with UPakWeShip. See this thread.

[kenlanderson]

We used Rainier from Iowa to Wellington. I believe the cost was about 9K for door-to-door with them packing everything in Iowa. It was a 20ft container that just fit all our belongings. I was very nervous about the whole process but it ended up going extremely well. I was amazed by how fast they did everything. The packing and shipping portion was contracted to North American Van Lines. I was nervous when only 2 people showed up to pack everything in one day but they got it done with time to spare. The shipment left Des Moines July 1st and was at our house in Paraparaumu by 15th of August if I remember right. Good Luck!!!