New Zealand Movers Auckland — Attraction in Māngere-Ōtāhuhu

Where to start?... I'm not going to describe my full experience with NZ Van Lines as it would take too much time... but , as the worst company to organise your relocation with, they however deserve a review. I wish I had read the reviews here before. By the way, note that some of the rare positive reviews are left by themselves like the review from Rebecca Woodley who is a member of the family of Matthew Woodley who is in charge of Internet Sales & Marketing at NZ Van Lines. As I had done with his own review (so clever...) i will report this and Google will delete it. Let's come to the service they offer... if it was possible to give them 0 stars, I would... It's hard to give them 1 out of 5. I relocated from Christchurch to Auckland... They came home to be able to prepare an accurate quotation. They offered a price which they said they were able to discuss - to match the competitors and unfortunately it's what I did... Don't even think about it... Just go to the competitor... they can't be less professional... Well, we agreed on a price and signed a contract. They came for the removal, removed our things (with a lot of help) and didn't mention anything. In the evening, once everything was gone, they sent an email saying that there was more boxes than what they had planned and that they would charge us the extra cost at the same price their contractor would charge them... When a professional mover would be speaking in volume... they were discussing the number of boxes... whatever the size of the boxes. In the end, they said there was 5 extra cubic meters, gave us a price for it and that we would have the invoice soon. A few days (and a few emails) they send us an invoice for this 5 m3 that was 25% higher than what they had said (and already added). They justified themselves by saying that it was my fault and that when they came to do the quotation and pointed what was coming I didn't mention that the pillows on the couch and the linen on the beds were coming... same thing for the clothes in the wardrobe (that I opened in front of them)... They made the assumption it wasn't, without asking any question, and whatever what was being shown to them... they probably thought that as most of the people I don't wear clothes... In the end, considering that I wasn't going to pay for the extra cost and after a lot of emails (especially because they always avoided my questions), when the boxes arrived at Port of Auckland, they checked and said the volume was actually 2.5m3 and sent a new invoice. The calculation of the invoice is obscure... No formula, no rate, just a total... There is nothing about it in the contract and they were not able to justify how they calculated it. Considering how childish they are I paid this invoice to be sure to be delivered... But their practices are not acceptable and I will now make a claim to the dispute tribunal... Other things you will have to deal with: some wrapping and protections were removed before delivery, some items were damaged, some items were broken... and one of the guys at the delivery had to be supervised all the time as he was always found with his hands in the box with our electronic devices (cameras, hard drives, ...) that we never asked him to open... Don't even ask them for a...

When I was young my parents used nz van lines to move, I recalled, and could still find in their home these neat little bar codes, this gave adult me a strong sense they had processes in place to deliver a stream lined and thoughtful move.

The service I purchased was pack, store, move, deliver.

Here is a list of the places where I was from disappointed to downright distraught

They could not arrange an packing and uplift that I could be present for all of.

The packing was in a small subset of boxes excellent but the majority by was appalling, I’m talking computer screens not wrapped and just chucked in a box. Light things packed under heavy things in boxes leading to items being crushed. Fragile electronics just dumped in boxes. Things from different rooms packed together and so on

The labelling was hopeless, I’d accept some unclarity from my absence, however NZ Van lines use recycled boxes, so it was often a game of guess which label is the one from my shift, or In many cases, no labelling at all.

The priority box didn’t get its label at all, so for my first night in my new home I had no legs on my bed with other so called important things

Another note on those neat little labels- they never scan them! Then didn’t even bring enough for the pack! And on the unpack they give you this sheet and say tick everything off as it comes out, this process only served to leave me at the end of the day anxious as around 1/4 of the packed numbers were never seen. Would it so hard to make a little app and use a smart phone to scan the barcodes on and off?

On NZ Van lines web site they show a picture of a warehouse with wooden crates in it that, you could make the impression that is how your possessions will be stored while you arrange your new home. Wrong. They store them in these wonderfully dark blue shipping containers, one presumes from the heat damage some of my possessions had received in a outdoor container farm.

On the note of those containers they didn’t pack into them they were cross loaded at some pointing giving an extra opportunity for breakages out of sight

But they did deliver from them! However they didn’t bring any ramps or tails lifts anything to help get some of the heavier items out, I ended up dismantling my drill press in the container to lift it out in parts, and the lifting out of the fridge and copier where just terrifying.

The on site staff where always lovely to deal with and I really feel for them as the problems with the move with obviously as tough on them as they were on me.

I don’t know how I’ll move next time, but it won’t be with...

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude for the heavy physical work and help done for us.

While it's important to be thankful, it's also important to get high-quality service for the high price paid.

We are missing two Damascus knives and a hunting knife. They were not in the supposed box and were also nowhere else.

Our furniture household goods came carefully packed by EOS Moving Company from Germany in a 40 ft container and were then stored in storage for months to then be delivered by NZ Movers: cramped, antique furniture stacked high on top of each other, boxes contents completely torn apart and left unwrapped, clothes on clothing racks were repacked into little normal boxes which left valuable jackets and suits heavily wrinkled.

Cherrywood furniture got marks and dents, just like the white leather sofa.

Of course, according to NZ Movers, it didn't happen like this, which is clearly a defense strategy. Unfortunately, we didn't photograph the boxes when everything was going so fast during delivery.

We paid a lot for great service, which was definitely performed 100% by EOS but not by NZ Movers. They are friendly but careless.

My tip for you who want to immigrate from overseas: don't list any content of boxes as "ITEMS" because these boxes are hopelessly torn apart and left like a salad.

Don't bother with clothing racks. NZ Movers will repack everything in case you want to store it for a while, as we did. Instead, pack it neatly folded so that they have no reason to cramp it into normal boxes—yes, they will cramp it their way.

Also, if you have especially valuable items like we had these knives, for example, don't list them as "ITEMS." Because then, the knife theoretically never existed. Also, they - of course- say that it's unlikely to be stolen. Yet - it's a great chance for a thief in the storage room, right? It's just an item in the ITEMS box, let's say 113. List it precisely. Or send it via airmail to family members.

My last tip: When fragile furniture can't be stacked, like in our case, let NZ movers know that. In our case, they told us that they didn't know "better." However, EOS Moving Company did know better and packed everything professionally for the journey on a container ship to NZ.

I wish you...