Removals

Have you used a local company or service in the P-O? Put your recommendations here/Share your good and bad experiences.

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polremy
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Removals

Post by polremy »

We have just sent a first load back to England, prior to our big move back.
Shiply have been mentioned before on the forum but this is the first time we have actually used them.
They are in essence an auction site.
I listed all the items on the Shiply website with approximate dimensions and weight.
After a couple of hours I received the first bid from a removals company.
This was £895 which we thought was quite reasonable.
Good job we did nothing about it because then bids came in one after the other, each one lower than the last, often the same company would come back with a lower offer.
Eventually, we were offered the job at £325!!
Just to give you an idea, our load was: two bookcases, two single beds and mattresses, a tv, a sewing machine, toolbox, hifi and 35 vinyl records, 4 big storage bags of clothes, two large suitcases, four boxes of books, two underbed storage boxes of kitchen equipment, three small boxes of stuff, a (very heavy) box of kitchen tiles and, most importantly, a 10 litre box of wine.
Dead on time two charming Croatian young men arrived smiling and loaded up their van without any help from us.
They were delighted to be offered a bottle of coke each and asked the way to the beach since they weren't allowed to drive any more until the boss gave permission.
I paid them in euros and they gave me an exchange rate of 1.15!!!
Oh, yes, forgot to say, the price involves storage in Felixtowe until 4th July.
This all seems really good value to us.
Of course, the goods have gone now and we may never see them again!
Will let you know.
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sue and paul
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Post by sue and paul »

Sounds like a very good deal. Well done
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Marguerite & Steve
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Post by Marguerite & Steve »

....I have just seen a load of items on Ebay being sold by some Croatian chaps.... :wink: :lol: :lol:


Well Pol that was a bargain, hope it is all going well. x
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Post by opas »

.............First time i have ever seen an Auction on Thuir market, treated Outie to a box of wine for Fathers day, I even made a proffit, I bought it for a fiver and got 6 euros out of the girls :wink:
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Steve&Julie
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Post by Steve&Julie »

We used Shiply and got a whole flatpacked kitchen sent over for £300 its brilliant! I am amassing some stuff to furnish our almost finished at long last after 5 years house and might use them again. Unfortunately the chap that did it last time isn't doing it at the moment due to other committments what was the user name of your guys?
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

In the bids it said: mikegb

on the official stuff it said: blitzshipping

they seem to be based in East Anglia somewhere so that which was an advantage since we are going to Huntingdon.
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Santiago
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Post by Santiago »

I hope they don't get stopped by customs. That 10Lt BIB is going to cost you £22.50 in duty - a fair bit more than you paid for it I hazard to guess.
Domaine Treloar - Vineyard and Winery - www.domainetreloar.com - 04 68 95 02 29
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

Santiago wrote:I hope they don't get stopped by customs. That 10Lt BIB is going to cost you £22.50 in duty - a fair bit more than you paid for it I hazard to guess.
Really?
Why is that?
I thought you could bring in as much as you liked for personal use as long as duty has been paid in the country of origin?
Think we must be ok anyway since they would have told us by now if there had been a problem on entry to England.
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Santiago
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Post by Santiago »

It was a bit tongue in cheek but in general, if you don't travel with the wine yourself, you have to pay duty. That's why I can't send wine to the UK for people who want to buy it here.

The personal use limit is 90Lt. Which has been discussed previously.

Looks like you got away with it.

I would not recommend anybody using Pol's transport company to send back 90Lt of wine.
Domaine Treloar - Vineyard and Winery - www.domainetreloar.com - 04 68 95 02 29
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Colin L
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Post by Colin L »

I suppose the difference in Customs and Revenue eyes is that booze sent by carrier is being imported.
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

Our thinking was - going to be in England for 10 days - local brew comes in 10 litre boxes - sending loads of stuff anyway so one more box won't make any difference - bingo.
Fingers crossed it arrives ok
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

Update:

All our stuff arrived at the other end as planned (on a Sunday too!)
The boss himself delivered it.
Excellent service with a great big smile.
I'd happily recommend this method of removals and will definitely use them for the next batch of stuff we need to send back to England.
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Post by mpprh »

I know of someone who was moving from Belgium to Sweden before Sweden had entered the EU.

The lower front of the lorry was occupied by boxes marked "kitchen" containing :

300 bottles of wine
25 cases of beer
a couple of cases of assorted spirits

It was probably worth around £8000 at then Swedish prices.

The removal lorry driver was very happy with his case of beer gift when all arrived safely !

Peter
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

Thanks for that, mpprh.
It's given me a good idea for next time.
Really, those 10 litres pale into insignificance now.
Mind you, there was a bottle of Spanish brandy and a bottle of rum in among the clothes too. Not hiding - just an attempt to protect them in transit.
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Post by Sandy M »

We didn't realise you were moving back, but we have been a bit preoccupied since Dave took ill. He's very much better now and has been given the all-clear. Just wanted to wish you the very best. :-) xx
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