best shipping company to use - UK to US

[zoobuffalo 0]

woof! sterling international say £995.00 ... yeah won't be going with them

[redkitty 0]

I'm not sure if this will make you feel any better but I know of 6 people who have used UPakWeShip and all had good experiences. Just wanted to throw that out there!

[zoobuffalo 0]

good to know - thanks redkitty well they're one of the front runners for me right now! i guess as soon as you say yep, we're going with you, they start laying on the customer service

[Lansbury 19]

I was also told that if I shipped early, in my name, and then wasn't yet present in the US to receive the goods, the shipment would be counted as an 'import' - ie for business purposes - and not a private domestic thing... again, not making great claims about the veracity of that; just putting it out there for consideration

Yes you do have to be in the USA when the shipment arrives, it cannot arrive before you if you want to ship as personal property duty free.

[tom_g 3]

well I shipped with The Excess Baggage Company. Two 4.5 cuft boxes, and two book boxes cost nearly 400 pounds

And now that they've arrived in the US, Customs are demanding more proof that I'm here to stay. The I-94 expires in April, so thats not enough. The K1 they've never heard of. NOAs for AOS/EAD/AP have left them unimpressed, I've just sent them copies of my EAD and AP. And of course changing my address had thrown them out completely.

If I'd thought it through I'd have shipped it all in my wife's name...

ps, and to cap it all, they asked for "approval notice from the biometrics interview".

Edited March 25, 2008 by tom_g

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Definitley not too much information zoobuffalo!

I'm watching closely to see how the various shipping companies shape up. I know excess baggage come with glowing reports from VJ, but I do think that they're on the more expensive end, no? If the cheaper companies are unreliable or otherwise inferior, then it is surely worth the money for piece of mind, but it's absolutely worth checking around.

[zoobuffalo 0]

well, excess baggage have come in at not too expensive - they quoted me £615. to specify, we're only moving 10 boxes of stuff, a sewing table with legs removed, an armchair that's partially dismantled, a mirror and a medium sized brass instrument.

i have really been impressed by john mason. i was contacted quickly by a representative, he asked me a couple of questions over the phone and then got back to me within the hour with a quote (their website has a cool application where you click on all the rooms in your house and then click on the items to add them to your list - it's fun!) - the quote was £560. i emailed back saying i'd like some more info about their company etc. and they said no problem, 2 days later i have received the quote as a document, including insurance forms and full explanation of costs and services. right now it's looking VERY likely we'll ship with them as their customer service has really impressed me

[zoobuffalo 0]

and i MEANT to ask, has anyone on here used john mason to ship before and can give me any feedback on them?

[Alex & Rachel 78]

I'm sorry I can't help - but I do greatly appreciate the information that you're giving us - extremely useful!

[sunnybear 0]

Best quote my fiance got was from Atlantic International.

[jpkeswim 0]

Do any of these companies ship from County Durham or Newcastle???? We are moving in 5 and half weeks and looking for a shipping company as well! We will mainly have one big trunk and the rest personal items - just boxes of things!!!

[zoobuffalo 0]

jpkeswim, i'd say put the names of the companies mentioned into google and check out their sites to find out. sure you'll find they ship from all over. thanks for the recommendation, sunnybear - have just filled in their contact us form. blimey, i have to say, as a web designer, the websites i'm having to look at for these shipping companies offend my vision!!! they're definitely not these guys' top priority!

[BexandAlan 0]

Thanks so much for sharing all your info with us, your a gem.

xxx

[jpkeswim 0]

John Mason also got back with us quit quickly by email and by phone! We will see what they will quote us!!

[Jeraly 4]

Keep the info coming!!

I just wondered about packing boxes - I mean I have some banana boxes and I can cram stuff in them but I wondered if they had size/weight restrictions on boxes? I want to take as much with me as I can but I don't want to pay 1000s to do it - I know we can get quotes but I don't want to box all my things up then find out it is going to cost me £3000!!! Does anyone know roughly how much it costs per CuFt for example?!

*dashes off to look at shipping company websites*

I'll dutifully report back with anything I find