International movers

ranjeetrain

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I am thinking of moving my entire AV room from China to India. Since the components I would need to move are heavy and large, Fedex type of services may not be suitable. The concern is not only the charges needed by them but also the safety of the equipments. I tried finding the prices at DHL etc and it seems like I will be able to buy these in India for the price I would pay on shipping them.

So, I am looking to hear from experiences of people. I am specifically looking to find answers to these questions.

  1. Have you used the service of any International mover? How good was the service?
  2. Was it an end-to-end service?
  3. Did it have insurance?
  4. How was the handling of the articles moved? Did they arrive safely as expected?
  5. How was the customs handled? Did they take care of the customs?
  6. How costly was it?
Some data around what was the size/weight/type of the articles moved and the cost incurred will be very helpful.

Thanks in advance for any helpful responses!
 
I don't have experience with International Packing and Moving services, but I did recently have a (somewhat) direct experience with Packing and Moving within India. Though not directly applicable, I can answer your questions in that context.

1. My cousin used the services of Agarwal Packers & Movers about a month back to move some stuff over about 300kms within India. The service was simply outstanding. (More about it in the next few answers).

2. Yes, it was end-to-end. Nearly all household articles (kitchen utensils, appliances, dishware, cutlery, curtains, books, shoes, clothes, framed photos, TV, refrigerator, washing machine, a couple of almirahs, 2 couches, 4-5 chairs, two small tables, a mattress and a cot) used by a person staying alone needed to be moved. All this was on the 1st floor of a building with pretty narrow stairs (3-ft wide).

3. Yes, insurance was optional and we opted for it. It was charged at 3% of the total of the declared value of the articles. We were free to declare any value we liked.

4. The way the articles were packed was outstanding. In the case of the electrical appliances, we were only expected to unplug all wires and hoses from the electrical/plumbing outlets. The packers arrived with about 8-10 people and all the packing supplies they needed. The everything, including the electrical equipment, was packed very carefully, securely and efficiently. They used a lot more packing buffer that I would have, if I had to do the packing myself (and I'm one paranoid android). After all the packing the equipment was wrapped in many layers of cling-film and labelled with handling markings. None of the items had original packing, but that was not an issue at all. Once packed, the items were taken down very carefully and loaded onto their truck carefully. The other stuff went into cartons, and each carton was labelled with information about the contents (books/clothes/cutlery etc)

They took just 5 hours to pack everything and load everything.

The items were unloaded the next day at the destination as carefully, and they even unpacked the stuff for us. Nothing (except a couple of glasses and a serving tray) broke or got damaged, thankfully.

5. Customs was not an issue, of course, but the items were moved across a state border. We had to give a declaration in a letter (with photocopy of ID proof) stating that all items were items of personal use, had been in personal use and were not intended for sale.

6. It was a bit costly. It cost my cousin Rs.35K total. Other than the big items of furniture and the electrical items, there were 20 cartons of about 24"x24"x24". They charge by number of items and the distance to be covered. But frankly, considering the service and the speed with which it all got done, she was pretty satisfied. If we had to organize all this, it would have taken us 2 days to pack it all (and not half as efficiently as they did) and also a lot of hassle and headache to have the stuff loaded, moved and unloaded. Doing it ourselves might had cost about 25K-28K probably.
 
Paranoid Android :D

Thanks for the detailed reply. Its exactly what I was looking for, except in terms of international movement. It is very helpful information to understand how they work in domestic circles. And I am sure anyone looking for such information will immensely benefit from it.

Looking forward to more, specially some international moving experiences.
 
My niece brought a full container load of stuff to India from the US last year, I recollect her mentioning that the packers and movers packed and loaded everything into a container. The customs clearance here needs a local agent I think,and proper documentation. I don't think that is a real problem.
 
Thanks Geroge. What was the name of the mover? Any contact links? May be they can help my case, or lead to some other sources.
 
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