Australasian Relocations Pty Ltd- Reviews, Rate Quote

As members of the Household Goods Forwarders Association of America we can offer you the security of knowing that you are dealing with a reputable international moving company.
Our services include:
- Cars, Boats & Caravans
- Outbound by Sea
- Airfreight Services
- Australian Electrical Items
- Visa Procurement
- Insurance
- Checklist
- Pet Transportation-Intl
- Relocation Services Int'l

Customer's Reviews:

emily

great service

Kevin Collier

Best move we ever did, the guys at Austrelo reallly know their stuff when it comes to International moving, they moved the cars, the pets, the even offered to ship the wife free of charge.

I would suggest anyone moving from Sydney to the UK get a quote from them.

Ben Halliday

not sure if the other notes here are talking about the same company but i found Australasian Relocations to be the most helpful, responsive. My goods were all packed and wrapped by a great crew in Redfern, the goods arrived in Cleveland UK in exactly the same condition, no damage, no delay and no additional payments that Australasian Relocations had not warned me about.

Alan Townsend

Having moved many times in the last ten years, we found the team at Austrelo to be Enthusiastic and very proactive in their approach to our move.
The move was by no means straight forward and many of the other big name movers in Australia didnt even respond to our initial request.
I would Recommend Australasian Relocations to anyone.

Ally Johnson

We have just received our 40 foot container in NZ and not a single thing broken. How good is that. Well done to Steve and his crew - you guys are magic

Mr and Mrs Jackson

Our family of 9 are very happy with our Corporate move up to Beijing China in 1 40 foot container and airfreight. We have recommended Aust Relo to our company for other expats heading out.
Everything on budget and time. Excellent service on all aspects

Raoul Hamilton-Smith

Third time posted as keeps being deleted! I've had a terrible time with AustRelo as have lots of other people. My goods are currently stuck with one of AustRelos subcontractors in London with 24 other peoples' possessions (Sydney to UK relocation) because AustRelo haven't paid their bills. I've heard similar stories from other people around the world. If you are one of the other 24 people and have had enough I would love to hear from you. I would also like to hear from you if you've had a nightmare with this organisation. Please contact my email address in the first instance.
Note for AusRelo - I'll post this everyday until I get my stuff. I now have 20 disgruntled customers and counting.

M Hughes-Baldwin

It has taken me a year, more money in international phone calls than my claim is probably worth and more frustration than you can imagine. Antiques damaged because of poor packing and then a complete lack of response to my claim. Promises that they "will get to it right away" after I manage to actually contact someone result in no action, and my e-mails to Kate Briggs in the insurance department (who is only there two days a week) go unanswered. Buyer beware!

Chris Marsh

(Posted 3rd July 2008)

Another very unhappy customer here. Our stuff is also stuck in the UK with a subcontractor who won't deliver until Australasian Relocation pays them.

You really are at their mercy - they are 12,000 miles away and don't seem to care that their customers are waiting for months to receive their deliveries.

Additionally, you'd think a company that ships overseas would have some way of contacting them at all hours of the day, not just 8:30am to 5pm Sydney time.

I am not happy.

Matthew Chalmers

Don't be fooled by all these glowing reviews, note that they have only a 1 star rating! AustRelo obviously can get it right, but if you search the web you'll also find some absolute horror stories about them. In our case they've completely mismanaged our order, blowing out the estimated delivery time from 11 weeks to 27. Throughout the whole ordeal they've refused time and time again to answer our desperate phone calls and emails, and even lied to us about where our goods were, all the while leaving us stranded in an empty house in a foreign country. In the end the order had to be cancelled because after almost 5 months it didn't even make it out of their warehouse. To top it off they are only willing to refund a small part of our money. Stay away from these guys.

Andrew Chan

I backed up some of the negative review. They crewed up my move from Melbourne to UK with no morals so here is the appreciation that I am giving them.

I am so angry with this company that I hope no one will fall into this trap anymore.

Just for good measures I am reposting it here as well

Sue
su7262@virginbroadband.com.au

Anyone else notice all the good reviews aqre made from free email accounts? AR keep removing all the negative reviews. Their service is the worst I have ever dealt with. The charged me extra for a box of firewood, which turned out to be my pine dresser! If you want to be riped off I recommend AR.

Jim
Jim@whim.com

I have been absolutely disappointed by this outfit. Their level of service is beyond rude. I have not received returns to my phone calls and after waiting over three months for my container to arrive in the UK from Melbourne I still cannot get my own property back because AR have not paid the freight fees and the UK agent will not release the good until this has been done. I have not a kind word to say about this company or any of its employees that I have dealt with. DO NOT USE THEM FOR A MOVE ACROSS TOWN!

Keith
kik_id@hotmail.com

This company are currently under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading and under numerous pending legal actions, by separate individuals who have had not had their goods delivered, and who have been lied to at every step of the way by Australian Relocations. Currently this company have goods on hold in the UK due to non-payment of Port Taxes. We have written about their conduct to 'A Current Affair'... and hope to see them outed for the charlatans they are, on TV and in the press soon. Go with someone else who has an inkling of professional conduct!

p.s. Australasian Relocations have no justification for trying to remove this comment as we have a catalogue of all written legal documentation to substantiate these comments.

Hamish
hrbowden@hotmail.com

I have to agree with all the negative comments posted (both now and previously deleted). After my shipment was delayed by a number of months for non-payment of their local UK subcontractor, and having to pay additional and unsubstantiated fees, I received my goods in Italy with substantial and "never before seen damage".

Having now waited many months for payment of insurance claim, and unless they respond soon, I will now have to consider legal action - and look to seek additional damages for time and additional required temporary purchases.

I of course have to strongly recommend that you do not use this company or individuals (Keith Boshell or Robert Briggs).

P.S. I am surprised that Austrelo have not removed these negative messages as usual!!

Valeska
luithian@hotmail.com

I absolutely do NOT recommend using this company. I used Australasian relocations to move from Australia to the UK last October (2007).

We went with Austrelo because their initial contact was very friendly and helpful.

Our stuff was picked up about a month before we left, and arrived in the UK, but we had to wait 3 months, (sleeping on the floor in our unfurnished apartment) to receive it because it was sitting at the dock. Turns out Ausrelo hadn't paid the UK shipping company, not only for our container, but for others' as well. We spent weeks phoning/emailing the company, and were told to call back numerous times, and then were blatantly lied to.

When our stuff finally arrived, a number of items were broken, and we put in an insurance claim, which was handled by Austrelo. It has been 4 months now, and when they have bothered to reply, they have given us excuses including staffing issues, people being on leave, losing our documentation, etc, and we still cannot get a clear answer out of them regarding whether the clain has even been lodged, much less processed.

Janet Bellairs
jaybee2151@hotmail.com

I took this awful awful company to Tribunal for (a) ripping up several pieces of antique furniture and calling it "firewood" and also charging me an extra £2,000 for "extra" items which did not exist. Apparently the Tribunal in Sydney thought that Mr Briggs and his crap company was of exemplary character and I lost my case. Strangely all bad comment seem to disappear off this site and are replaced by glowing references, obviously from his friends - if he has any

L I Bocock

BEWARE! This is an appalling company. Robert Briggs viewed our goods, underquoted to win our business, then demanded more money before shipping our goods. They promised 3 weeks delivery, it took over 8 weeks.

Thousands of dollars of damaged and stolen goods. Do NOT use this company.

Janet Bellairs

This is a dreadful company who rips up pieces of furniture they cannot be bothered to pack and then makes up lists of "extra" items which are the original items under a different name.

Elise

I currently have a shipment with Australasian Relocations and it is just as BAD! I wanted to ensure that this was posted with all the comments so consumers are warned - DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY AT ALL!

A few months ago I sent about five boxes with this company and an employee called Stuart Streitberg was 'in charge' of my shipment. Again I can relate to your discussion, Stuart was so helpful until he got my money! First, he lost the paperwork that I completed, then he claimed that I had not paid, when I had. The company had to conduct an 'investigation' and the invoice department sent their apologies saying that they had indeed received my payment. I can tell every consumer now that you do not want to deal with these types of problems when you have relocated overseas and have enough to adjust to already!

It also gets better ... when I paid I was told that the cost included door-to-door delivery from Melbourne, Australia to France. I recently received an email from ANOTHER relocation agency called EuroUSA and apparently I am required to pay 141.75 Euros if I want my goods delivered to my door!! PORT FEES WHICH WERE SUPPOSED TO BE INCLUDED IN THE COST! I will not be paying this and I think it is unbelievable that this company has basically dumped my goods in the UK customs and now expects me to pay another company to have my goods delivered. Stuart is no longer in charge of my shipping and I have someone else helping me but I can now see that all of the problems have occurred already. Also, the cost was not cheap!

If anyone can recommend anything I can do or has had a similar experience, please let me know. My parents and family are in Australia and so they can also call frequently (and have been), which is much more difficult when you are already in another country!!

In future, I will pay a premium for a company that has received good word-of-mouth and does not engage in dodgy deals!

Irene Fung

I am in the same boat as Elise. Stuart was the man came to our house and boasted how good the company is until they collected my stuff. They just simply put it in the box, Rubbish also included in some boxes. When my stuff arrived in UK, the piano was missing instead other people was sharing our container and we were charged a fee of sole used. When the piano finally arrived, more drama, EuroUSA was in charge and demanded a port fees. They said they won't release it until I paid. It was 3 months now and I got no choice. The piano was damaged badly as they said they would crate it but instead it was only bubble wrapped only. When I tried to contact them, they were OFTEN SICK and NOT WELL. It was a nigthmare that left me so depressed and angry. I hope our experience will put anyone off of using them. We also received email from others who would like to be interviewed by current affairs to expose them.

Jessica M

I also had a bad experience with AR. In April 2007 Robert Briggs came and gave us a reasonable quote to move our stuff from Sydney to the UK and a 6 - 8 week shipping time. 3 months later we were still awaiting delivery, because they hadn't paid the UK company for the delivery at this end. We also had to pay UK port fees which we were told had been included in the original fee. It took a lot of calls and hassle to even find this out. We only got delivery because I begged and pleaded with the Uk company. Stay away from this amoral, horrible company.

Tim Radcliffe

My son and his family are caught up in this mess. The ship he was informed his goods were on is due to dock in Tilbury this weekend, however there is a major problem in that the forwarding agent appointed by AR understandably refuses to deal with it. In an effort to find some sort of solution I contacted a forwarding agent in Tilbury mainly to ask for advise. Keith, the guy I spoke to was extremely helpful and contacted the shipping company who confirmed that the ship is due and the container carrying the number we have is indeed on board. He then went on to contact the AR appointed forwarding agent who confirmed that due to non payment by AR he would not be dealing with it and he further informed Keith that there is already a container from AR sitting on the docks at Tilbury which nobody will touch.
Keith's company, Total Forwarding are able and prepared to sort out this mess but everyone must understand that any money paid to AR to get their belongings to their final destination is now lost, at least until the administrators have done their job, but all concerned must be realistic and accept that the likelihood of getting anything back is slim to say the least, therefore Total would charge you for their services, but at least you would get your possessions back!
In order to have the containers released to Total it is necessary for the shipping line to obtain authorization from the administrators.
Anyone wishing to discuss this or needing more information can contact me at tim.radcliffe@btinternet.com or mobile