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Shipping from Singapore to Melbourne

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onefruitsalad
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Shipping from Singapore to Melbourne

Post by onefruitsalad » Mon, 27 Jun 2016 12:39 pm

Hi,

I am relocating from Singapore to Melbourne and plan to ship out my belongings. I have narrowed down the movers to Interswift and Asian Tigers, however I am wanting to see if there is anyone here with recent feedback on either companies that they can share with me. I have searched through the forums and all feedback seems to be quite old.

Price wise between the two companies are comparative, the only main difference is Interswift is advising they can get groupage shipment together in 4 to 6 weeks, with 1 or 2 container shipments going to Melbourne each month. Asian Tigers currently do not have any groupage shipment on plan and the wait can be around 10 weeks or more. The shorter groupage period is swaying me towards Interswift, however service wise i seem to like Asian Tigers better.

My concern is that Interswift is over promising to get my business and i end up having to wait longer. Appreciate if anyone has feedback to share with me on either of these two companies.

Also if there is anyone wanting to share a shipment to Melbourne leaving in end July/Aug, I am open to consider sharing a container to reduce shipping costs.

Thanks in advance.

nanana
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Joined: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 3:03 pm

Re: Shipping from Singapore to Melbourne

Post by nanana » Tue, 28 Jun 2016 10:07 pm

Hi onefruitsalad,
I am relocating to Aust too. I rang Astromovers and Shalom for quotes.
I do not have big furniture. Total about 17-18 boxes.

Astro quoted me $1800 for 1 cubic meter of space (Around 8 boxes of the size 60x40x30 cm (can't remember the exact size)).
$480 for additional cubic meter there after.

Shalom quoted me $5K+++ with minimum of 35 boxes around the same size.
well..since i dont have that many boxes, I went ahead with Astro.

My appointment was today 2-3pm for them to come over to pack and pick my things up. I waited until 2.45pm. Worried that if they have forgotten my booking. So I called the office. The lady answered "the movers are ON THEIR WAY". So, waited til 3.15pm. Still, didn't see any movers. I called to ask if they are coming...The lady answered "She will call her supervisor and let him call me back". Waited til 4.00pm. No calls whatsoever....I was very stressed at that stage 'cos if they are not gonna show up, I'm doomed! My flight is tomorrow!!

So I called the office again. This time, the lady said "wait...I check for you..". So I was put on hold for more than 15 minutes and she never got back to me. I was so pissed. I hung up the phone and called them again. They refused to answer my calls. I kept trying many times...they did not answer my calls. So I tried using other phone to call. This time, she answered. I told her that I am losing my patience now. I asked to speak to her superior. She said "wait..." so, again, I was put on hold for 10 minutes. No one came to the phone....

At this stage, I have lost faith in their service. I started to call other companies if they are able to pick up my things at the very last minute. and guess what?..the Astro movers miraculously turned up at my door step at about 4.30pm!! The supervisor apologised profusely for being late as they were caught up with previous assignments. I felt much better. I mean...I can understand that they will be late...but at least call your customers and let them know. He said he called the office and told them to inform me. Well...I guess the people at the office certainly didn't do their job very well.

I'm not sure if all my boxes will arrive safely. Will update on this forum once i receive them in 5 weeks time (that;s what they told me).

Sorry for the long post. I hope others will benefit from my experience.

onefruitsalad
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Re: Shipping from Singapore to Melbourne

Post by onefruitsalad » Wed, 29 Jun 2016 11:01 am

Hi Nanana,

Just wondering where in Australia are you relocating to?

I also got a quote from Astromovers as well as many other movers. Astromovers actually quoted me a price must lesser than yours for Melbourne. For groupage shipment the price was $980 for first CBM and additional CBM at $280. This was based on me originally wanting to ship out around 3 CBM of things. Is your pricing based on LCL shipment or groupage?

I nearly went with the Astromovers quote before deciding to get Interswift and Asian Tigers to do a pre-move survey. Their prices were comparable or cheaper than the Astromovers quote based on groupage shipment.

I am very glad i did not choose Astromovers. The way they had manage your move, would not have been acceptable for me. I work in service delivery and unfortunately due to what I do, I have high standards on how service delivery/customer service should be provided to the customer.

I hope they did not give you any empty promises on your shipment and it appears in 5 weeks time. Based on the transit times i have collected from the different companies, 5 weeks to delivery in Australia is actually very fast. Astromovers themselves gave me a time line of 1-2 weeks for consolidation of groupage shipment, 2-3 weeks from port to port and 2-3 weeks to clear customs before delivery in Melbourne. Do update me on when exactly your items appear.

Really appreciate your post and the time you took to share your experience with Astromover.

nanana
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Joined: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 3:03 pm

Re: Shipping from Singapore to Melbourne

Post by nanana » Wed, 31 Aug 2016 9:52 pm

FINALLY my boxes arrived!! It certainly took more than 5 weeks (as expected).
I moved to Canberra (yeah....of all the other states...). Was given a quote slightly more expensive than to other major cities in Aust (eg SYD/MELB)...but was promised a door-to-door service, and all costs included (exclude custom taxes), so I'm ok with it.

Anyway, Astromover came to take my boxes towards end of June. I received email sometime in July from their partner company in Aust, updating on the vessel and the expected arrival date of my boxes.
Then about 1-2 weeks later, received another email of an invoice for me to pay for the delivery from SYD - CBR. WTH?!!! I thought I already paid everything.

Had no choice but to make another call to SG office to settle with them. So they told me to email them the invoice, and they will bear the cost.
All is good, but I still had to fork out AUD$200++ for the custom clearance and "difficulty access" fees (apparently, i live in an apartment, the delivery man finds it "difficult" to deliver boxes through the lift!).

It took me another 2-3 more weeks after I made the payment for my boxes to arrive.

Overall, I wish the experience with Astromover could be better. I'm not sure if I would use their service again nor recommend them to anyone. I hope others will benefit from my experience.

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