Anglo Pacific

I arranged to have some belongings shipped from Glasgow to Melbourne, and there were several problems along the way.Firstly, I was given a day to be home so cartons could be delivered. They did not arrive which wasted an entire day, time which was especially valuable when trying to plan everything for a big move, as I'm sure you can appreciate. I was given no reason for this, and was told they would be delivered before 5 the next day. They arrived at 5, which wasted a great deal of that day too as I was unable to leave the house.I then organised for my mother to be in for collection of the items once they were packed. She asked if it was possible to be given a specific time that they would be collected, to try and avoid wasting yet another day. She was told that it would be before 5pm, and that was as specific as they could be. When no one had arrived by 5pm she again contacted an anglo pacific employee to chase up the collection. She was informed that there were no vans available, but that they would send someone anyway. A driver then turned up in a builders van, and my belongings were put in the back of a van filled with tiles and blocks. The driver wasn't sure what had gone on as he said he was in the area that day and could have easily collected earlier, and in the appropriate van.When the items arrived in Australia, they were held in customs for days, which was to be expected I know. But when my things were delivered, they were left outside on the step, in plain view of anyone who walked by. I couldn't say how long they had been left there for. I understand that it is in the hands of the Australian courier company at that point, but I paid for a service that would ensure safe delivery of my things, and I never would have expected such carelessness at any stage of the operation.I would strongly advise against ever using Anglo-Pacific for your removal needs.

Service cost: £500

Like the previous poster, Andrew Harris, we recently received a bill for approx $400 to move our items from Napier to Wellington port. The reason being that Wellington port is partly closed post earthquake.
This is despite the fact that we booked our shipment 2 weeks after the quake, and our shipment didn't actually leave for another 7 weeks (9 weeks post quake). At no point did anyone at Anglo Pacific contact us to suggest there may be an issue or further costs. I presume this was to prevent us from making alternative arrangements.
To make matters worse, they never even contacted us about the additional cost, but instead told their chosen transport company that we would foot their bill. At the very least a courtesy email should have been sent to customers but this didn't happen.
I eventually spoke with a manager who while superficially very polite, repeatedly said that they were fulfilling their contract by moving items door to door. When I said that the contract was two parts I.e. A job for a fixed price, he said he disagreed as the earthquakes was outside their control. This is of course true, but their ability to quote appropriately AFTER an earthquake is certainly in their power. He refused to acknowledge that Anglo Pacific had any power in the situation, this is despite the fact that they were aware of issues at the port in November until now.
When I asked what would happen if I refused to pay, he said that I wouldn't want things to get nasty. When I asked for clarification, as I was merely asking a question he became very vague, and started talking about having to distinguish between personal items and freight- he gave no straight answer.
He then changed tactics and appeared very concerned about my having to cover storage costs, as he did not want this to cost me even more.
I feel these statements were veiled threats. He wouldn't say what would happen to our items, the question hung in the air..
He then had the cheek to say how frustrating it is for them to have to defend Anglo Pacific to customers when they make the effort to carefully pack and ship our belongings! I had to remind him that this was what they were paid to do.

As I see it, Anglo Pacific had all the power, but refused to do anything useful for their customers. If fact, it seems they think we should be grateful to them for even partly doing their job.
They accept a contract, take your money and your items, and then try to change the terms to avoid their part of the bargain. They lack the decency and the integrity to communicate around potential issues, and instead appear to feel entitled to apply extra costs. Then, worst of all, they use veiled threats to hold you to ransom.
I have decided to take the matter further via their regulatory body. I will post an update. I refused to be threatened.
My advice- avoid. Perhaps use a smaller company, one which actually cares about its customers.

Note- the menu wouldn't give me the option to say delivery to New Zealand so I've put Australia instead. Shipment was due to Wellington port, then to our home in napier.

Service cost: £4100

I sent 32 items (ca 130 cubic feet) from the UK to Australia.
After receiving the quote I had a few question, which were answered quickly by the sales team in the UK. After confirming my shipment I was allocated a shipment manager, who provided me will all neccessary forms and answered further questions. My items were collected on time, and within 45 minutes (I had packed and things had been in storage for 5 months) everything was logged on their shipping documents and loaded onto their lorry. Communication continued to be excellent, with me receiving a corrected quote (less cubic feet than initially quoted) and a refund of my over paid money. Once the shipment was loaded into a container, I received an email detailing container number, name of the ship, estimated date of arrival and the contacts for the local partner company (King & Wilson) in Sydney. Before the shipment arrived I was contacted by King & Wilson and communication was fantastic (email replies usually within minutes). They took care of customs, delivery was arranged and all things arrived without damage or loss of items. I would definitely use Anglo-Pacific (or King & Wilson for that matter again)!

Shipping time was c. 6 weeks, plus 4 weeks storage in the UK as my things were to go into a shared container and they had to wait for more items to arrive before shipping it to Australia.

Service cost: £1000

While dealing with Anglo Pacific we encountered a lot of miss information and later on (and more frustrating) Anglo Pacific were not willing to take responsibility for there employees mistakes. We ended up cancelling there service although already paid 50 pounds as a deposit. We might have been unlucky and had to deal with a new or an incompetent worker, that could happen everywhere, but in that case the costumer shouldn't pay the price for the workers mistakes. The least that I would expect in this situation is that Anglo Pacific would apologise for their mistakes and return the deposit money. We have obviously did not receive a reply of that sort nor did we receive our deposit money back. If you decide to use Anglo Pacific services make sure you record any conversation over the phone and save all communications with them, and be ware for dubious work ethics.

Service cost: £50

We sent our precious belongings in premium service to go directly from our home to Heathrow and then arriving a few days later at our home in Tenerife. After a month they arrived with everything smashed! When we when to claim on the Insurance for the £2500 as although I had detailed the items I had not correctly completed the form so instead of the value we received a couple of hundred pounds. We provided all the photographic evidence but still they would pay for our loss of our wedding gifts and items from deceased parent. This company has no ethics and couldn't careless as has been factually demonstrated. We have never made an insurance claim and this is how people are treated when clearly their fault for what happened!! DO NOT USE.

Service cost: £1400

Anglo Pacific start friendly. My first email stated (with little else around it): "At Anglo Pacific we believe in total transparency. Our door to door service includes Customs clearance and delivery to residence. Others may exclude destination charges and demand up to $200 on arrival, so be sure to read the small print and compare like for like."

Don't believe it. You'll almost certainly be charged for the customs clearance, especially if you're sending good to the US.

Schumacher (AP's US partner) noted that 90%+ of shipments to the US are subject to an X-ray exam, and 40% are subject to a detailed exam. Neither exam is included in your "totally transparent" Anglo Pacific price. Instead, you get an invoice from Schumacher, which you need to pay if you'd like to see your things again.

Anglo Pacific will pretend that this is a "quarantine fee," and totally out of the ordinary. This wouldn't be terribly annoying *except* that every other quote I received did clearly exclude customs inspection costs - so I really believed I was getting a better deal with Anglo Pacific.

They're also sloppy. I updated the delivery address from Illinois to California well before the move date. Unfortunately, Anglo Pacific didn't update it everywhere in their system, so our shipment was sent to the wrong port, adding a significant delay to the receipt of our goods. It's been over two months, and I still have no idea when we might see our stuff.

Further, unless you're in Manchester, Glasgow or London, you pay a premium for the collection of your goods, as they use an outside courier.

The one plus I can think of is that they include boxes and crates - though that wouldn't be enough for me to recommend their services.

Service cost: £1000

Moving from UK to Australia.
Everyone was very helpful and the packing team was apparently very efficient, and the shipment to the docks seemed to go smoothly.
It turned out that the packing was inadequate, and all the advice given to us by the rep Paul Handley was not known to the packing team.
On delivery to our new home it became apparent that things were not as they should be. Be advised that the guys that delivered and unpacked our furniture were very helpful, and had nothing to do with the damage we found.
Much of our furniture was damaged, and it was immediately obvious that it was due to negligence on the part of the packers. Also many fragile items were broken, again obviously due to poor packing - perhaps we should have done all this type of packing ourselves.
Our Insurers made a reasonable settlement for the claim we made; we used this company because AP premiums were double. This maybe because they anticipate many similar claims due to their negligence.
Then we claimed compensation from AP for the anxiety and stress we experienced due to their negligence, and it was also indicative of liability that they paid us $258.
If we had seen the reviews/forums before deciding on a shipping agent, Anglo Pacific would not have been considered.
BE WARNED!

Service cost: £3000

Shipping from UK to Australia was absolutely fantastic from start to finish. My entire shipment was all in one piece when we unpacked it, no breakages and only 3 boxes were opened by customs, and these were carefully repacked and sealed.  Would highly recommend Anglo Pacific and OSS shipping.  They maintained great communication through out and took time to listen to me over my concerns. Pick up and delivery were at the times quoted and no extra costs were incurred.  We paid what we were quoted, plus we added insurance and obviously the customs charge was extra when it arrived in Australia, but we were advised about that so it wasn't a surprise.  We packed the shipment ourselves, so personally ensured our belongings were carefully padded and protected.  The boxes I purchased not from Anglo were triple layered and we used a lot of bubble wrap!  Our shipment was 16 boxes in total and all our wooden items were placed in a box by themselves rather than spread over lots of boxes.  I did that to make the customs clearance a bit easier, which I believe worked. The other boxes that they opened were due to me declaring 'Xmas decorations' in them.  This is a big thing at the moment as it seems people are shipping pine cones, which obviously are not allowed In the country.

Service cost: £550

The initial contact with the company was good. The staff were polite. Box delivery, pick up was good and efficient. My boxes arrived when they said they would.
Initially I was only planning to ship clothes/books etc, but after discussing with the sales representative, I was convinced that I could take my glassware and crockery. I was even considering taking mirrors and tv on the advise and reassurance of the sales representative. (Thank god I decided not to)
When I started unpacking it was apparent anything breakable was shattered to pieces. I had packed things like my glass ware and crockery in plastic boxes and bubble wrap before packing them into the shipment boxes surrounded by towels/ clothes. Everything was not only broken but shattered. My metal bin had a huge dent and was unusable.
I had taken out insurance. I am still yet to reiceve anything despite my box arriving a month ago. I asked for compensation on shipping as had I known I would be getting boxes of broken possessions I wouldn’t have paid to have them shipped. Their response “We are unable to offer compensation for your shipping costs as we actually shipped your items. If the items were not shipped there would be basis for a claim but contractually we have no mechanism to handle this.”
So basically if you want a box of damaged possessions then go ahead and use this company. They will certainly deliver them, they just don’t specify what condition they deliver them in. But you’d get the same sort of effect if you threw your boxes down several flights of stairs and didn’t bother shipping them (it would certainly be cheaper anyway).

Service cost: £500