Crown Relocations - Tauranga — Local services in North Island

The short version: absolutely avoid using Crown. We payed a lot of money but found the service severely lacking. We had some genuine complaints and were pretty much ignored all the way.

Every box I unpacked made me more pissed off with Crown. And no, not because of silly things like broken crockery. Be aware that the OVER-packing Crown is going far beyond its purpose. Well, in our case it greatly did. Not only now 20% of our content consisted of useless packing material (ah, so THAT's why their estimation of the cubic meters we need for the container was so much larger than ours) ... it is also is a complete waste of material that is impossible to get recycled (like Crown convinced us they would do). Ten years ago we went from the Netherlands to New Zealand and we filled 1 container ourselves. Our belongings got easily fitted in and after arriving absolutely nothing was damaged. This time I called Crown to get our furniture and car from New Zealand to Australia. I ended up with a long list of damaged goods.

Bags with soft materials (like coats, pillows and bedding, meant to throw on top in the container) were heavily repacked in boxes and therefore unnecessary grown in size. Delicate goods which I packed in a special made protecting box were ... UNPACKED. These delicate goods were brought into the new house ... piece by piece!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. Btw; I've never seen back my protecting box anymore. Old dented metal chests that clearly don't need protection, again were repacked in double (!) packing material.

Because our move was already anticipated for a while, we saved the original boxes as much as possible when we had bought new items. Original boxes completed with the Styrofoam interiors logically are the best for transport isn't it? And with the original box there is no question about what is IN the box. Why the hell were all these boxes again repacked with an unclear scribble on it what was in it? If you are packing a box, normally you do the heavy things on the bottom and the lighter stuff on top, right? With a sticker on top it's clear what is the top side of the box, isn't it??? Then WHY did a sad amount of the (again) repacked boxes came in upside down? So a lot of contents were broken or deformed? Whit all this over-packing and repacking often the appearance of the items became unrecognizable and nobody had any notion anymore of how to grip and carry boxes in a logical way. That caused (for example) that a couch is dragged by the back and therefore is ripped of from the frame. Thanks. My UNstackable chairs were forcefully stacked (right 'through' the packaging) and now all have a dent in the back. Thanks. Even not mentioned that my ... classic car ... is damaged!!! I hardly can type it. A dent and scratch on the bonnet. THANKS CROWN! Apparently a heavy wooden beam (built inside the container to push more of the most heavy stuff on a kind of extra 'floor') was broken and now there are 2 enormous dents in the roof of my classic car. Wasn't it more logical to throw light weighted things on that floor above the car? Pillows, bedding or maybe a mattress??? THANKS CROWN!!!!! I even can't think of the costs to restore this. Instead of ship my car 'roll on roll of' (unprotected on & off the ship) I had chosen to get it safely moved inside a sea container. Crown was not the cheapest, but I thought they were renowned and experienced. I so tremendously are regretting my decision. Let alone the fact that it took 4.5 months to get my car from the New Zealand port to the release at the customs. New Zealand and Australia are neighboring countries! I get it that a movers company don't have full control about what happens at the customs, but at least they should know the rules and laws so they can advice their customers what to expect. That's the reason why customers chose to not organize a relocation themselves!

I paid a huge bill but I wish I could give 5 black holes...

The team of Wellington based movers and the team of Tauranga based movers who respectively packed and then unpacked my household in Wellington and Rotorua were efficient and courtesy to deal with. I would rate just them 5 Stars. Sadly my experience of working with Crown to create a manifest, organizing details of the move, putting items into storage, taking some items out of storage was the worst ever "corporate" experience I have every had. Their sales dept does not seem to communicate with their operations dept, after explaining to the sales team what I wanted I then had to repeat those wants to their operations team again, even the most basic of details. They told me they were too busy to come out to do the manifest and encouraged me to do it myself. This I did. and when I submitted the manifest they sent me a discourtesy email that highlighted that if I had submitted a inaccurate manifest I would be charged extra. No mention of this when they encouraged me to do the manifest and if I had known I would have not put the manifest together myself but insisted they do it. Once I submitted my manifest they sent a digital copy back to me that did not include several items. When I queried this I was told that this was a "known" issue. That their system did this and that the "items" would not show on what they sent me. Sadly this was not "known" by me prior to getting their digital copy of the manifest. When sorting insurance for my items the process was a nightmare and on several occasions the information provided by them to me contained detail errors, which created unnecessary delays and stress. Furthermore, I told them that my household (a small 3 bed household) would only require one day to pack (I have done enough packing myself of households to know this). However, they insisted on allowing for two days and charging me accordingly. Come the day they packed my household the job was finished in less than one day. I feel that they "mislead" me by insisting that I would need two full days to pack and that I should pay for two full days. After they had packed my household after one day I queried why they charged me for two, their response was their movers were super efficient. I suggest that staff estimating the time needed to pack my household were at best inefficient at worst I dare not say. On a final note, they sent me a contract that contained an error that I did not pick up prior to signing the contract but was the result of their sales team not communicating fully with the operations team. Once I raised the issue with them their response was repeatedly "you've signed the contract" not a simple "how can we problem solve" to meet the customers needs and certainly no apology for sending the wrong contract. Despite paying a significant sum, Crown Worldwide, has been the worst corporate I have ever dealt with, overpriced for the standard of service provided. Would not recommend...

Dear Crown Relocations Team, I am writing to express my sincere appreciation for the exceptional service my family and I received during our recent international relocation. From our initial contact to the final stages of preparing our possessions, your team demonstrated remarkable professionalism and efficiency. Alan provided us with a comprehensive and professional quote, setting a positive tone from the outset. Throughout the entire process, your phone support was consistently helpful and informative. A special commendation goes to Justin and Tristan, who did a truly fantastic job on-site. Their expertise in wrapping and carefully storing our possessions was evident, and they handled everything with great care and precision. Joss also deserves significant recognition for her invaluable assistance with the extensive paperwork. Her guidance ensured we met all deadlines, which greatly alleviated the stress associated with international moves. My only minor suggestion for improvement would be to mention a bit sooner that we could store more items within drawers and cupboards. This information would have allowed us to be even better prepared for the packing process. Overall, our experience with Crown Relocations was overwhelmingly positive. I would thoroughly recommend your services to anyone planning a new start overseas. Your team's dedication and professionalism made a potentially daunting process much smoother. Thank you again for your outstanding...