Natia Posted March 23, 2017 Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 Good afternoon, We got our visas granted today and we are just over the moon ecstatic ?. I just need some helpful information in regards to shipping our stuff over to Sydney from Cape Town. Has anyone used Seven Seas (MoveCube) with any success? They seem to be the cheapest option but takes a few weeks more to arrive, also you have to pack your own cube(s), I'm a bit concerned that customs would keep our cubes longer than a container packed by a professional service. Any information would be greatly appreciated. TIA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LouiseMark Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Hi Congratulations on the visa! If you are in Cape Town then give Econotrans a call. They are friendly and realistic about the space you need and have loads of knowledge. My brother recently used SevenSeas and the experience was not totally a pleasant one..... Packing the move cube is also tricky. If you don't have enough for a container (we are packing a 20ft from a 3 bedroom/5 family house) there is also groupage. We are using Econotrans in May to ship our goods to Sydney and worked out only a little more expensive than MoveCube from our calculations as we would have needed two large MoveCubes and the quote online is a little frustrating. I liked the personal touch from Econotrans and the fact that any queries can be answered personally! Good Luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natia Posted March 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Hi LouiseMark, Thank you very much for your advice and the congratulations, this helps me a lot on making a decision. I was always a bit skeptical about using SevenSeas, but all I seem to read about them online is good reviews. I will give Econotrans a call on Monday and ask for a quote. Thank you once again, and good luck with your move ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberJoe Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Hi @Natia We never used Econotrans but recently made use of SevenSeas. It was unfortunately not a pleasant experience since we had multiple delays and service is not quite what they promise you on their website. We had to constantly follow up with them to find out where our movecube was and we only found out about a problem on our shipping paperwork a month after we arrived in Sydney when I dialed them just to update some details. That meant everything was still in port in RSA and made us wait a good few months for our items. If you decide to make use of SevenSeas, follow up constantly with them to find out where your items are. Another little thing they don't tell you is that the offloading service they offer really is not worth anything. The guy who came to deliver our cube only unloads the items from the cube to next to the truck. And guess what.... if there is anything in there that is heavy, they are not allowed to actually move it further than the entrance of your building and you have to help with the unloading anyway since it is only one person. Congratulations on your visas, hope you enjoy Aus as much as we are! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natia Posted March 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Hi CyberJoe, Thank you for this information, it is very disappointing when a service provider does not deliver as advertised. We will most definitely not be using SevenSeas then. We are also planning on sending our stuff over in May/June and most probably will use a shared container as we don't have that much to take. I have aslo been reading that if you buy any new items and ship it with your household contents, you will be paying duties. Is this true? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greggle Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 I used Econotrans and while their sales service was outstanding they didn't pack well so we had quite a number of unncessary breakages. They also claimed to know what should / shouldn't be packed but I removed a number of items (e.g. wicker baskets) that had ended up packed in boxes that we'd missed in our clear out. They also use Conroy's on the Australian side who don't have the best of reputations (http://www.productreview.com.au/p/conroy-removals.html). If I had to do it again I would have gone with my gut and used Advance Transport / Worldwide Removals and got them to use Grace Removals on the Australian side. I'd also have packed some of my valuables / sentimental items myself, even if they were just into smaller boxes. All the best with the move. Now that the stress of the move is over, it seems like a no-brainer decision for us to have moved over! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spazmaz Posted March 29, 2017 Report Share Posted March 29, 2017 Hi Natia, It obviously depends on how much you want to take - do you want to pack up your whole house? Do you just want basics and some sentimental items? We have used Elliott's - a big company who pack everything for you and can advise on what not to take if you are confused on the customs regulations. We only taking basics and sentimental items and have used up only a third of an 20ft container - we are paying 35k including marine insurance. It hasn't arrived yet so I can't comment on the delivery this side but so far it's been a positive experience. Only thing about a shared container is one has to wait for it to be full before they will ship it so the wait time is unpredictable but I believe it tends to be short in Nov/Dec/Jan shipments as that is their busy season. A lot of companies will come out to your house and do a survey which will tell you how much space you will need and then send you a quote. You can do that for multiple companies and you can see what expense you are dealing with and choose. They are also quite competitive so they will try beat quotes from other companies so you can reduce the quotes with some negotiation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riekie Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Crown on the South African side was shocking! For their initial consultation they sent out the best and promised the world, but for the rest of it, I don't even know where to start... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greggle Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 2 hours ago, Riekie said: Crown on the South African side was shocking! For their initial consultation they sent out the best and promised the world, but for the rest of it, I don't even know where to start... I nearly went with Crown but my friend who went to New Zealand and used them had the same bad experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPanda Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 3 hours ago, Riekie said: Crown on the South African side was shocking! For their initial consultation they sent out the best and promised the world, but for the rest of it, I don't even know where to start... 56 minutes ago, greggle said: I nearly went with Crown but my friend who went to New Zealand and used them had the same bad experience. I believe you. We just had a different experience, last year around March/April. They packed all out stuff perfectly fine, the staff were friendly and professional, and the only damage we had through the whole thing was one shattered glass pane (almost 2m long, so tricky to start with) a missing kettle, and my sewing machine had taken a knock. Insurance paid out without any difficulty. I'm very curious to know if they different teams? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneAndMel Posted April 1, 2017 Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 We used Elliot and our experience was very, very mixed. Our initial consult was excellent as the initial consultant was really on top of her game and gave very accurate guidance and support thereafter that proved helpful in the entire process The packing was mostly good as the packers made use of every bit of space possible but it was deficient in other respects. For example the corners of our wooden dining table, study desk and fridge got scratched because they didn't bother to reinforce the box corners on packing. (They reinforce the corners of packed furniture with hard plastic in Oz). These items box corners had worn away in several places during the voyage. The fridge and PC box clearly were also bashed during transport from lax handing post packing. They also foolishly packed a bag of biltong that I had intended as a snack on the day of packing back in SA. I recall putting it down and then looking for it later to no avail. Months later the mystery of the vanishing biltong was solved when we got the notification of a $100 fine for it being in our crate.... They then left a lot of packing material, waste and unused, on the premises that they said they'd fetch later but then made it our problem to dispose of. Unhappily we did so after some attitude from the cleaning staff manager in charge of the cleaners post packing. We'd thought that was the idea of that service! The cleaners were very good but their manager simply a prat and he needs an attitude gear change. Then days later we got harassed by yet another admin staff member as to why we threw away the leftover packing material - and as to why we weren't at the premises (which we'd vacated for the new owner) when they'd turned up unannounced to fetch said materials. (I was actually a little confused by this because surely if we've shipped all our household goods from a house we've moved out of it then means we're not going to be there anymore...) On the other side of the coin our crate took just more than two months to arrive, which was very quick, and the Australian shipper on this side was very efficient. Our other breakages were crockery, a lamp and a chair. Fortunately we had insurance but we got caught a bit by the values I'd had to estimate as replacement values for items or components as well as how they only give an average of the claimed repair costs (from quotes) even if it's less than ones submitted replacement value. Right now the insurer, Hollard, is also giving uphill about paying the agreed claim amount into an Oz bank account because of SA forex controls and that the Reserve Bank wants to know about my immigration status, which might ultimately affect my SA bank account. So I'm now also just over the rubbish forex constraints SA has and see it as another reason to yank every last remaining bit of savings and RA out SA when the time comes (if any value is left of the RA in a few years time under Zuma and Co's legalised mass looting and race inciting). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natia Posted April 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 Thanks for all the advice guys, it seems that there is not really one company you can fully trust with your stuff. I am still getting quotes. Elliott really gave me an accurate estimation of how much space I need and it seems we could fill 70% of a 20ft container. I'm just anxious about my fridges getting knocked in the process, they said they could build a case around it for protection, maybe I should take that option - just in case Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karools Posted April 1, 2017 Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 Would be nice to get a more up to date quote for those containers if anyone has one. We are seriously considering taking two large Move Cubes. I know there were some bad experiences with seven seas, but as mentioned above experiences differ wildly with the same company on different days. The cost is appreciably lower than what I've seen for containers, and it seems much less of a hassle to get the cube transported to and fro than the massive containers. I could be wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eva Posted April 2, 2017 Report Share Posted April 2, 2017 Congrats on the visa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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