Completely OT: Shipping from the USA

[Huge]

I know this is completely off-topic, but I've never come across a newsgroup with such a bunch of knowledgable people.

I will shortly need to have some family effects shipped from the USA to the UK.

My parents lived in the USA. My father died a couple of years ago, and my mother is about to move into sheltered accommodation. He was a cabinet maker, and there is a small quantity of furniture he made that I do not want to go outside the family. It is almost certainly not economic to do this, but heart rules over head...

Can anyone recommend a service that will collect the furniture (6 dining room chairs, 2 Pennsylvania tavern style Windsor chairs & a table, 2 bar stools and two occasional tables) pack them and ship them to the UK?

[dom]

Bishops Move

is meant to be the premier name in the business (and no doubt the most expensive).

[meow2222]

Some of the shipping cos will do this, for a charge, but I dont remember which ones, and I was looking at non-US shipping at the time.

NT

[Andy Hall]

Do any of the firms that you work with professionally have personnel doing company moves to and from the U.S.? The HR department of one of those would probably be able to suggest who they use to do that.

Otherwise, I would look at the large names in removals. Probably more expensive than the small guys, but that isn't really the point here.

[Weatherlawyer]

Get in touch with a US container depot nearest the home and ask them what the details are. You might want to consider filling it up with second hand 110v stuff if you have the time to go over there.

Then you might get a small profit out of it.

[Peter Ashby]

Whatever you do make sure the contract says absolutely that it is door to door. IOW that you will not have to go down to some anonymous building near Heathrow and pay to get your stuff through customs yourself. When my mother shipped me some stuff from NZ in the same situation we had to do this (fortunately Glasgow not Heathrow).

Peter

[Ian White]

BTDT, twice in rather different circumstances.

The whole thing stands or falls on the quality of the packing. For that reason, you need to arrange everything from the US end. Look for personal recommendations of a reliable US firm, and ask someone of your own to oversee the packing operation.

Also, ask them to take photographs of the furniture as it goes into the crate - no criticism of the packers, but to have some comeback against possible damage by UK Customs. In particular, specify that the open side of the crate is *screwed* on rather than nailed. US companies that are more accustomed to internal shipping may not understand the need to construct the crate so that it can be opened for Customs inspection, and then closed again by people who just don't care.

From the same experience, I'd strongly agree with that.

It's not easy, and not cheap either. I wish you the very best with it.

[Huge]

I feared that was the case.

The problem is that this is rural Pennsylvania. England might as well be on Mars. (An aide in the nursing home my father was in asked if we drove from England to the USA. And no, I am not joking)

My Mum can do that.

Thanks for that, people. Much food for thought. I think I might get my Mum to put the stuff in storage and I'll deal with it personally the next time I go to visit her.

[Andy Hall]

I've had that one, except that it was from somebody in international customer service at a major networking manufacturer. (Oh, you're from Europe... how long does it take to drive from there?) There were other 'attributes' though.

Given the circumstances and location, I think that's what I'd do. It's probably stressful enough moving home anyway. You could do some homework beforehand with potential firms in PA and also look at a few here and question them closely about who they use in the U.S. to pack and ship.

[S Viemeister]

I agree - that seems the best idea. How far is the house from Philadelphia? It's still a major port, and should have a number of experienced shipping firms.

[Huge]

About an hour's drive. I always imagined that someone would have to come from Philly.