This is a continuation from my previous post where I talked about how we ended up choosing Burke Bros as our international movers when we emigrated from the UK to Canada.
I expected to get slightly different prices quoted to me but I was very surprised at just how much the prices varied. Not only that but some of the moving companies, despite being shown exactly the same items that we wanted to take with us, and being told exactly what was and wasn’t going, ended up with huge differences in the volume that they estimated would be in the container. When I say huge I’m talking over 50%! One company reckoned that there was no way that we would get everything in a 20ft container and we would need a 40ft container instead.
Most companies estimated that our possessions would fit in a 20ft container with about 50-100 cubic feet to spare. And one removal company estimated that we would use only about half of a 20ft container and quoted us for a shared container as well. A shared container (or groupage as some to the removal companies call it) is where you don’t have enough stuff to justify a 20ft container on your own. What they do is wait until they have a few customers and enough volume to fill a container and then they group various customers boxes together and send it in the one container. It can work out a lot cheaper for the customer, and I suspect it works out a lot more profitable for the removal company.
It definitely is a good move to get as many quotes as you can. I ignored the quotes that were at the 2 extremes for volume and figured that if the bulk of the quotes were coming in at roughly the same volume then that was probably right. I also crossed off the list the company that quoted a ridiculously high price, and, not suprisingly the company that quoted the lowest volume came in with by far the lowest price.
That quote was interesting, because when I got it in the post the first thing I noticed was that the list of items we were taking was both incredibly short and ambigous. There was a stipulation in the contract that anything not on the list that we ended up taking would be charged extra. I rang the guy up at the removal company and asked him why he had missed so many things off his list. I was pretty surpised at his reaction as he flew off the handle straight away! I’d been polite in how I’d asked and he immediately adopted an aggressive manner and claimed that he put down exactly what I had told him. I knew that was a lie as I’d gone round the house with about 10 different removal companies and had told each of them the same thing, and by the time I saw him I had the routine off pat.
I paid $1995 for a course. This is one of it’s manuals after Burke Bros slung it in a box.
Besides, some of the things that were missing from the list were such major items that there was no way I was going to ‘forget’ to tell him. It struck me that this was possibly his companies way of securing customers. Come in at an absurdly low price, deliberately miss things off the list, and then on the day of the removal suddenly find all these ‘extras’ to pack that you can charge the customer for. By that time it is too late for the customer to do anything about it other than pay whatever amount the removal company demands. How many customers actually read the small print of the contract or even bother to read what they are sent?
So how did I end up with Burke Bros?
Well, Ben Hingley, the guy from Burke Bros who came round and provided me with the quote was excellent. He told me all about how Burke Bros would expertly pack our possessions and how they would treat everything with care. He also explained a little about how Burke Bros were members of BAR and FIDI so were a reputable company. I have to say that he really left me with a feeling of confidence in Burke Bros, that they really would look after our possessions and make sure they were wrapped and packed properly and got to our destination safely.
Without a shadow of a doubt Ben Hingley from Burke Bros was miles ahead of any of the other reps that came round to see us. In fact, some of the people that turned up were absolutely shockers and it really left me wondering if they had ever had ANY training or if the removal companies involved ever checked up on how these guys represented the removal companies services to the public.
So that’s why we ended up choosing Burke Bros. The price they quoted us was middle of the range, but the confidence I had in the company following Ben Hingley’s visit was huge.
I don’t in any way blame Ben, he only told me what Burke Bros were supposed to do. If they had only done what they were supposed to then I wouldn’t be writing this now. My daughter would still have all her clothes, I wouldn’t be missing a fortune in PC equipment, and items that we treasured might not have ended up damaged due to Burke Bros negligence.