Grace Removals Group

Agree that company should be re-branded 'dis-Grace'! Moved from NZ to Adelaide. Caught removalists throwing items out my upstairs bedroom window, packing not to international standard (which I paid for) so many items damaged or broken, sticky tape residue on all my furniture items which was difficult/impossible to remove. Then, to add insult to injury, the company accepts no blame for sub-par service & is weasling out of paying my very valid insurance claim. Go with another company would be my strong suggestion.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $11000

Before signing with Grace, they assured us they had a specialist art moving service, and that they did not use subcontractors - two key issues for us, so we were happy to pay the premium for Grace. Neither assurance proved correct.

The guys who packed our art were not especially careful, and they turned a large, unframed painting on hardboard, with raised palette-knifed paint, face down on our bed to wrap it. All our artworks were wrapped in thick plastic sheet, with an additional cardboard layer on their faces; however, none were provided with corner protection, and a very large, recently re-framed photograph, was delivered with a chipped corner on the frame. Corner protection is such a basic thing, we recently purchased a very inexpensive framed mirror, and it was wrapped with corner protection - but Grace’s “specialist” art handling team doesn’t provide any corner protection!?

We were moving interstate and were not fussy about the day of delivery, it just had to be in a particular week - this had been agreed months in advance. We were told at the beginning of that week the delivery was now scheduled for the following week because the Melbourne crew were too busy. After some to and fro, with Grace’s Melbourne and Sydney offices appearing to blame each other, we were then offered a delivery day in the week we required. We were relieved that they’d managed to resolve the impasse, until the moment the truck turned up - it was a subcontractor in an unmarked truck. Had Grace explained this was how they resolved their scheduling error, we might have instead rearranged our own schedule to ensure we had a Grace delivery.

We complained by phone and email to both Melbourne and Sydney personnel; however, over two months later, we still have not received any response to our complaints. We paid a premium fee for a very average service - there were other problems too numerous to detail here - and we’ll never use Grace again.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

They should be renamed "Dis-Grace" and unfortunately you cannot put less than no-stars for this review.

I have an absolute horrid experience with Grace moving goods from Adelaide to Singapore. Let down by both Grace and their associated company Vanpac.

I had employed Grace to shift my parents goods that I had inherited from them as they were moving into a nursing home. Goods that carry immense sentimental value but also valuable given their age and nature.

I was assured by sale person Kaylin that they have moved furniture and valuables of this nature hundreds of times and that there would be adequate packaging that would ensure no damage would come to the goods.

Very contactable when they need payments or wanting you to buy more insurance! But now i have issues....Nothing!

To my absolute horror when i started to unpack my goods, the dining table which is over a 100 years old leg was broken. A solid wood table which has been moved from Europe to Australia and within Australia several times, had one of its legs broken.

A China cabinet with lead light glass was packed in a box without any padding, And of course pieces were broken. Furniture that will be irreplaceable given the age.

I have stopped opening boxes given the heartache it is causing me. My parents legacy irreplaceably damaged by irresponsible, carless and negligent company.

Now they are trying to push the blame to me, where i should have bought insurance to protect my goods from their irresponsibility. I am not adverse to buying insurance if its for fire, flood, etc. Those issues are not avoidable, but carelessness on their part? Is that my responsibility? For months before i received my goods they have been bugging me to buy additional insurance, to make more money out this move.

Its now three weeks since I contacted them, with follow ups on a weekly basis. Each time they have said management are looking into it. A polite way of them hoping that I would stop emailing and go away.

Dis-Grace-ful service and thank you for ruining a family’s legacy.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $12000

Worst removalists ever. Grace Removals completely stuffed up our interstate removal. It started on moving day, where they turned up over 6 hours late and ended up packing until well into the evening. They were sent with incorrect packing materials despite their consultant spending 30 minutes in our home quoting for the removal. No wardrobes for a 2 bedroom house? For a company with 100 years experience, it doesn’t show. Then they arranged for the piano specialists to collect our grand piano – they neglected to inform them we had stairs, so our piano had to stay in our empty house for days until the pickup could be rescheduled. This delayed the cleaning and preparation of our property to be rented and as such resulted in loss of rental income, not to mention the inconvenience of having more time off work to deal with their stuff up. Then came delivery day. Despite being assured that our piano would arrive with our other items, it didn’t. Took an additional 2 weeks, and arrived with over $2000 worth of damage – now with the insurer. Add to that the thousands of dollars of damage to our other property, also now with the insurer, this has been an expensive move. In addition, they caused significant property damage to our outgoing property – scrapes to walls and paintwork – and won’t even dignify it with a response. The kicker was that we paid for their packing and unpacking service – a significant additional cost. On delivery day they simply refused to unpack any more than they already had, and left us with over 50 boxes to unpack ourselves. I note they charged us upfront for this extra service. Their customer service both during and after the move has been non-existent. Do yourself a favour and go elsewhere if you want your items delivered undamaged, on time, and want to deal with people who actually care, as it is clear to me that this organisation doesn’t give a darn about their customers once they have your money – which we now know why they claim upfront before your goods are even picked up. Tip - make sure you have insurance if you have the misfortune to use Grace - and don't buy their insurance, much cheaper and more comprehensive elsewhere.
Some 3 weeks after our move, I am still waiting on a response. Speaks volumes about their customer service ethic - hence this review to save others the misfortune in the future.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6000

We have moved 4 times internationally previously and understand the need to have decent movers. Grace came to quote on our removal, the moving consultant was attentive and knowledgeable.

We received 4 quotes before making a decision. Grace were not the cheapest or the most expensive but seemed to be easy to work with and understanding.

The packing day was by all accounts good and stress free. The 3 packers arrived on time and were efficient. We were advised the removal team would arrive between 8-9am the next day to load the container. When they didn’t arrive at 10am I called the office to be told that initial time was incorrectly advised to me and they would be there between 12:30-13:30. They finally arrived at 14:45. Hence waiting most of the day when moving internationally is extremely inconvenient as you have carpet cleaners etc coming in to finish up on top of numerous tasks. This started to get me nervous that Grace are not ideal movers.

The boat arrived to the port destination on 12 Jan. It took 10 days to process through customs which was normal. Customs found 4 items which needed to be treated or destroyed and this was advised to us by Grace on 22 Jan. We took 2 days (replied to Grace on 24 Jan) to decide what to do and advised 2 items to be treated and 2 destroyed.

From here I followed up each week with Grace to be informed on the process of customs and timing for delivery. Each time Grace would take 2-3 days before responding and only on repeated follow ups from myself. In the end the case manager for our move was so incompetent I had to find and contact their boss to see what was happening. He was quick to respond at the beginning but then fell back to a similar non-responsive manner. 2 months of consistently asking for progress updates (getting replied to about 1/3 of the time) Grace finally advised our goods were ready to deliver – 21 March. Each time saying its not their fault and customs are delaying the process.

The next shock arrived when they charged storage and handling equating to an extra $600 on top of over $13,500 already paid. I asked for an explanation on this charge as it appears to me the delay was purely Grace at fault for delay. I was advised that because of the “back and forth” when deciding if to treat or destroy some items (which took 2 days, 22nd to 24th Jan) it meant they could not advise customs, and therefore the delay was 2 months!

Grace blamed customs for the slow process which I do not believe. Supported by the fact a friend moved from the same Australian Port to the same destination Port 3 weeks earlier than we did and also had to treat items. This took 1 week to occur and process through customs. Overall, this was unacceptable so I asked for communication proof from customs to Grace to prove this was customs delay (as advised by Grace and hence I had to pay the new invoice as they were not at fault). If this was the case I would be happy and move on but they were not forth coming with information so I am more suspicious. After 3 days of chasing this up and no reply I gave in and paid the invoice so we can receive our goods (3 months since pick up now). I still asked for the proof still as Im sure Im being ripped off, this still not arrived and Grace still did not give me a reply or any timing on delivery, despite chasing each day. I hope the goods can be delivered in the next week and I am seeking a refund for the extra charges I believe are not warranted. 3 extra more days now and still no response so Im hopeful it will be sorted imminently. Next step is also complaining to Fairtrading NSW and AFRA etc.

Overall, would not recommend.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $12000

We recently moved overseas from Australia to Europe and the whole experience was appalling from start to finish. I will NEVER use Grace again.
First, the salesman didn't know the business and after they had been granted the contract tried to tell us that we couldn't take our unopened bottles of alcohol, which were part of the original quote. Then he tried telling us that declaring them would delay the shipment and that we would be responsible for port costs; and thus, advised us to hide them in our shipment, essentially smuggling the goods (and we are both Customs officers!). We obviously didn't take his advice and declared the goods and had no problems at the receiving port.
The packers were ordinary to put it mildly. They code your furniture with respect to its condition and any damage but didn't tell us this at the outset. I only found out when I came in to find the furniture wrapped and coded and asked what the coding meant. Their assessments of our furniture were inconsistent, VERY subjective and totally OTT. I insisted on at least one item being opened, which they did very reluctantly, to demonstrate that their assessment did not match the condition of the item. They coded some items based on the condition of the cover! e.g. the BBQ that had only been used once, was fitted with a heavy duty cover and never been moved from under the veranda, was coded as "badly worn all over" by one of the removalists. The BBQ, being hardly used and always covered, was in fact in great condition; though I can't say the same for the cover, which was what their assessment was based on. The $8000 king size mattress was marked as "heavily soiled - house under renovation" yet it was only 12 months old and was double sheeted for protection while being stored against the wall of the bedroom during renovations. The mattress was and still is in pristine condition. Again, their assessment was of the protective covering. As I told them, had I been notified of this system I would have accompanied them and taken photographs of each item and noted any discrepancies. After discussions with the packers I formed the opinion that they systematically devalue the goods for insurance purposes and treat all clients as cheats expecting you to make fraudulent claims for damage that hasn't occurred.
When we got to Europe we found that the packing had not only been chaotic, with box contents badly described and the wrong rooms marked and the most unusual items packed together (e.g. porcelain dinner set with a sewing machine .. and the dinner set wasn't on the top!) but that they had used our bed linen and our clothes as padding inside boxes, e.g. a white jacket was used as padding between two printers and a $1000 wedding suit, on hangers and covered in plastic, was rolled up and used to pad out a box. They had also thrown their rubbish (empty tape rolls, etc) into the packing boxes with our goods. It took 3 weeks to find the legs for the base of the bed; and some fragile items were sparsely wrapped while other more robust goods, such as wooden chopping boards, were swathed in several sheets of paper. I'm still astonished that only a couple of items were broken. Although as I continue to work my way through the electrical items I have found that at least two of these are now no longer working.
Finally, we had paid several hundred dollars extra for wooden crating of 3 high value, fragile items but we discovered at the other end that only one of these items actually got crated in wood, another item was just put into cardboard while the third was just wrapped in their furniture packing material.
We were just lucky that we had a FCL and so the damage to goods was limited. Had we shared a shipping container I hate to think of what condition our goods would have been in at the end of the journey.
This is the third time that I have had to use 'professional' (ha!) removalists, and the second international move that I have done, and these cowboys are definitely the worst with Williams Bros of Kempsey, who we were lumped with as third party contractors through Toll for an interstate move a few years ago, coming a close second.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $15000

I would never recommend Grace to anybody.
We moved from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast in December 2017.I have no problem with the salesman he did a fine job and delivered some wardrobe boxes bubble wrap and tape prior to our move so we could ensure some of our large plants would fit in the boxes. Their quote was $2,000 higher than the opposition, however they reduced their quote by $1,000. As we had a very pleasant experience some years ago when we shifted from Perth to Sydney with Grace we decided to accept their quote. What a mistake.
PLEASE be aware to pay close attention to the labelling of items to be shipped and the shipping manifest. In our case many items had no sticker and the hand written manifest is illegible.
We became aware that many items were missing on the day of delivery and were told they would be delivered. It is now 8 weeks later my wife is very upset that her Bonsai's were tipped on their side and will be lucky to survive and that the missing 20 Y.O Bamboo and Dracenia are missing.
I have been in touch with their insurance and they will honour less than 50% of our claim.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $11594

The sales person was great but the removal guys didn't have enough space in the containers so they pushed my furniture uncovered into a back area when it got to Brisbane boxes were missing and the men had no idea what was there or not furniture was damaged a piece that had been put in the back area uncovered. Items had to be delivered the next day and they even brought a box that wasn't mine, very chaotic. The insurance company CGU and Intercept Loss Adjustors are now refusing to pay for the damage. I complained to the customer service and the Mackay branch but they don't care once the job has been done.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2000