Moving companies, Singapore to Australia

[jpatokal]

Just an update on this: the finalists were Relocasia and Oxford, and Oxford shot themselves in the feet so repeatedly that Relocasia won pretty much by default. Let's compare!

Oxford:
- took a week to come up with a vague two-line quote
- took the better part of a week to reply to my request for a site inspection
- finally called to ask for a time
- two hours before they were supposed to come, called me to ask if they can postpone it until the next day

Relocasia:
- replied snappily to the original quote request with a very detailed doc
- replied snappily to all followup and clarification emails
- came for site inspection exactly on time
- produced a new, lower quote within 24 hours and suggested a packing day timed to get us on a ship the same week
- once we clinched the deal, delivered boxes the next day and got straight to work on AQIS paperwork etc

So very happy so far, stay tuned for the next update from the other side

[sierra2469alpha]

Sounding good JP - still a shame that it's just a small amount of boxes.

FYI I have some updates on your suggestions regarding local removalists, Jenny Removals. Suggest we keep it private at the moment - then I'll delete this post. Cheers, Mr. P

[jpatokal]

FYI I have some updates on your suggestions regarding local removalists, Jenny Removals. Suggest we keep it private at the moment - then I'll delete this post. Cheers, Mr. P

Huh? This is a public forum, please post your comments here (or the "Local removals" thread). I have no connection to Jenny other than as a satisfied 3x customer, but it's been a few years since I last used them.

[rexwrx]

I'm in the middle of moving with Crown Relocations from Sydney to Singapore. They have both and Australian and Singapore/Malaysian branch and are doing the full door-to-door with both sea & air freight.

Thanks for the recommendation. I've already talked to Crown, but apparently it will take them 3-5 days to come up with even a rough estimate

yes we will be moving mel-sing end of march and we've been allocated with Crown Relo. So far, they've been very helpful and provide full service including packing, door-to-door delivery.

for a 40ft container, which is full container load, i think it was abt S$10K all up, i could be wrong. they will usually survey your place first before arriving at which container to go for and how much.

hope this helps.

[hawk_i]

I had terrible experience with Crown. They increased the quoted price after the goods were packed and taken away and was arrogantly told they will not ship it until I agree to the revised higher price/cu. ft. My repeated calls and emails were ignored and it was a nightmare. Never ever again with Crown.

[jpatokal]

Greetings from Down Under -- our move is finally complete and I thought I'd recap the story for y'all.

In a nutshell, Relocasia in Singapore were simply amazing. They showed up as promised -- and unlike the usual Singapore approach of sending in a truckload of foreign workers, our moving crew consisted of one (1) burly Aussie guy, who spent the morning coating everything in sight in multiple layers of cardboard and bubble wrap. Detailed inventory prepared, every box marked with a number, signed off and shipped out. One last positive surprise came a few days later, when Relocasia informed us that our shipment was actually slightly smaller than estimated, and they owed us a refund of a hundred-odd dollars. And they paid it too

There was one minor downside: for whatever reason, our stuff didn't make it onto the originally planned boat, and instead ended up sitting in port in Singapore for about two weeks. Kinda sucky, but not unexpected for a less than container load. The online tracking thingy didn't work either, but we knew the ship name and there are plenty of free online trackers that let us follow it anyway.

On the Australia side, Relocasia put us in touch with King & Wilson, who did a pretty solid job. We were assigned a guy to handle our case, and he kept us updated about when the ship arrived, when the goods were moved to their warehouse and when Australian customs got around to inspecting it (a bit over two weeks after arrival ). When they finally got around to it, our goods passed the spot inspection with flying colors, but it then took nearly a week to find a slot for the move in as K&W apparently doesn't do weekends.

On moving day, K&W's team of two showed up on time (extremely unusual for deliveries in Oz, mind you!). All boxes were accounted for and damage was limited to one (1) broken plate, and even that was packed by me and not Relocasia... and the next week, once we'd finish unpacking the lot, they showed up to collect the boxes and packing materials. One minor gripe here too though: despite promises to the contrary, they seemed completely incapable of calling before arrival; fortunately I work nearby and could get there in 15 minutes.

All in all, the move ended up taking nearly two months from beginning to end, so it's a good thing we were prepared for it. Apparently moves to Singapore are considerably snappier because the port is efficient and there's no quarantine hoo-ha.

Hope this proves useful to somebody following in our footsteps -- if yes, shout me a beer in Melbourne

[revhappy]

Excellent jpatokal,

I wish you a gr8 stay down under and would be waiting for a Singapore v/s Melbourne comparsion thread. I am sure we will have lot of fun.

[Splatted]

Greetings from Down Under -- our move is finally complete and I thought I'd recap the story for y'all.

In a nutshell, Relocasia in Singapore were simply amazing. They showed up as promised -- and unlike the usual Singapore approach of sending in a truckload of foreign workers, our moving crew consisted of one (1) burly Aussie guy, who spent the morning coating everything in sight in multiple layers of cardboard and bubble wrap. Detailed inventory prepared, every box marked with a number, signed off and shipped out. One last positive surprise came a few days later, when Relocasia informed us that our shipment was actually slightly smaller than estimated, and they owed us a refund of a hundred-odd dollars. And they paid it too

There was one minor downside: for whatever reason, our stuff didn't make it onto the originally planned boat, and instead ended up sitting in port in Singapore for about two weeks. Kinda sucky, but not unexpected for a less than container load. The online tracking thingy didn't work either, but we knew the ship name and there are plenty of free online trackers that let us follow it anyway.

On the Australia side, Relocasia put us in touch with King & Wilson, who did a pretty solid job. We were assigned a guy to handle our case, and he kept us updated about when the ship arrived, when the goods were moved to their warehouse and when Australian customs got around to inspecting it (a bit over two weeks after arrival ). When they finally got around to it, our goods passed the spot inspection with flying colors, but it then took nearly a week to find a slot for the move in as K&W apparently doesn't do weekends.

On moving day, K&W's team of two showed up on time (extremely unusual for deliveries in Oz, mind you!). All boxes were accounted for and damage was limited to one (1) broken plate, and even that was packed by me and not Relocasia... and the next week, once we'd finish unpacking the lot, they showed up to collect the boxes and packing materials. One minor gripe here too though: despite promises to the contrary, they seemed completely incapable of calling before arrival; fortunately I work nearby and could get there in 15 minutes.

All in all, the move ended up taking nearly two months from beginning to end, so it's a good thing we were prepared for it. Apparently moves to Singapore are considerably snappier because the port is efficient and there's no quarantine hoo-ha.

Hope this proves useful to somebody following in our footsteps -- if yes, shout me a beer in Melbourne

Furniture costs an arm and a leg these days in Australia, and not even good quality at that.

with this exception... I probably would have sold up everything and bought new or second hand upon arriving in Australia.

TV's are only dropping in prices.
White goods you want the warranty
Computers & monitors, can be picked up on the cheap from auction sites like grays online from $9
most small stuff you can source for under $2000 tops (collectively, I mean).

I actually kept a tally of everything I bought when I returned to Melbourne at one stage... including white goods, bed, pots, computer, dishes, lots of other bits and pieces.. under $2500.

Out of curiosity, how much would have it cost to put your stuff in storage in Singapore until you returned?

[jpatokal]

Furniture costs an arm and a leg these days in Australia, and not even good quality at that.

with this exception... I probably would have sold up everything and bought new or second hand upon arriving in Australia.

As noted above, we actually had a pretty minimal amount of stuff (mostly clothes, books, etc), with very little furniture. We quite possibly wouldn't have opted for a move at all if the company hadn't been willing to foot the bill.

Rental houses in Australia are by and large completely unfurnished, so we spent north of A$5000 on white goods (fridge, washing machine) and furniture: most of it cheap crap from IKEA, but also a few nicer pieces that we'll probably keep. Yes, most furniture here is pretty steeply priced, but we found a couple of nice deals after poking around. ClickOn in particular has a nice range of replicas at a tiny fraction of the price of the originals

I actually kept a tally of everything I bought when I returned to Melbourne at one stage... including white goods, bed, pots, computer, dishes, lots of other bits and pieces.. under $2500.

Yeah, we could have done that too if we had bought everything at Fantastic Furniture/K-Mart and picked up some used white goods, but our new place is pretty big (one of the advantages of living in a big country!) and we figured it's about time to spend a bit more on nicer things that we'll keep even if/when we do return to Sg.

Out of curiosity, how much would have it cost to put your stuff in storage in Singapore until you returned?

Didn't really even occur to as an option, because most of the stuff we brought along is stuff we'll be needing here. Not much sense in leaving all our winter clothes sitting in an air-con box in Sg

[Mad Scientist]

JP

FCL is definitely better compare to LCL as all your stuff is in one container not shared with others but it cost more. I think you have that under control
My 2 cents
Get your insurance from OZ , the likes of AIG, is quite reasonable. Unlike insurance in SG whereby they will do all their best not to pay you, insurance companies in OZ are quite straight up when things gone bad.
I had my house flooded during my stint in OZ. The cost of replacing my stuff and others was about $ 135K. AIG just foot the bill even my temporary accommodation in the motel for 4 months!!
I would definitely advise you to get home and content insurance. Well, if the house you are renting then the landlord will cover that home insurance. Content is whatever belongs to you. Rule of thumb on average the value should be about $100k to $150K cover.This will cover temp accommodation , energy bill when the builder repair the house , petrol etc.

Shop around and compare.
Good Luck

[ylglee]

Hi JP,

Im moving from singapore to sydney by end of this month, and have gotten few quotations, one of it from Relocasia. The price they quoted is quite reasonable compared to big Movers like Crown or KC Dat, however im not sure about the quality of service they can deliver. I search the net the whole day and I found lot of negative feedbacks on their services, especially those in China. As for Singapore, I found one person actually warned everyone not to use their service cos the goods were held and only released after he paid the amount that the Mover requested (which was double the intial price they quoted). So far you are the only one who has posted the positive feedback on their service. Wonder whether you have recommended Relocasia or you happen to know other people who have used their service and have the same positive comments?

I have budget constraint as the moving cost will come out from my own pocket, but on the other hand, I dont mind paying more to avoid the disappointment of chosing unreliable mover.

The other thing that I doubt about Relocasia quotation is the volume they estimated is slightly lower than 3 other quotation that I get, some more, their quotation doesnt detail out all the services they will provide. Im worry they end up asking me to pay much higher than the quoted price and threaten not to release my goods if I dont pay....

Your experience sharing will help me to ease my mind...

thx

[amiee40]

Hi JP,

Im moving from singapore to sydney by end of this month, and have gotten few quotations, one of it from Relocasia. The price they quoted is quite reasonable compared to big Movers like Crown or KC Dat, however im not sure about the quality of service they can deliver. I search the net the whole day and I found lot of negative feedbacks on their services, especially those in China. As for Singapore, I found one person actually warned everyone not to use their service cos the goods were held and only released after he paid the amount that the Mover requested (which was double the intial price they quoted). So far you are the only one who has posted the positive feedback on their service. Wonder whether you have recommended Relocasia or you happen to know other people who have used their service and have the same positive comments?

I have budget constraint as the moving cost will come out from my own pocket, but on the other hand, I dont mind paying more to avoid the disappointment of chosing unreliable mover.

The other thing that I doubt about Relocasia quotation is the volume they estimated is slightly lower than 3 other quotation that I get, some more, their quotation doesnt detail out all the services they will provide. Im worry they end up asking me to pay much higher than the quoted price and threaten not to release my goods if I dont pay....

Your experience sharing will help me to ease my mind...

thx

I will be using Relocasia for my move back to Australia next week, so i will let you know how it goes. So far, they have been prompt with my enquiries and their quote is reasonable compared to other quotes i have received based on the same inventory/cbms.

I will be using their packing service, hopefully they will be experienced enough to pack it well but mindful of wasting space in the boxes.

[jpatokal]

Better late than never, so...

So far you are the only one who has posted the positive feedback on their service. Wonder whether you have recommended Relocasia or you happen to know other people who have used their service and have the same positive comments?

My only experience with Relocasia was my own move, and as detailed above, I was 100% happy with their service in Singapore and reasonably satisfied with K&W on the Oz side.

[doomie]

amiee40, how was your experience with the relocasia?

[Junbug]

We used Relocasia for our move from Singapore to USA and were promised 3 months' delivery, max.

First, they got the final quote wrong. Then the let our boxes stay put in warehouses in Singapore and HK for months and when we contacted the manager in Singapore, nothing was done.

In the end, we received our boxes 6 MONTHS after packing. They may be cheap, but they're definitely unreliable.