Removals Firm

[AyG]

I need to move my possessions from about 100 km outside Bangkok to Bangkok.

At first I was keen to use Asian Tigers/Transpro since they have an excellent reputation - but they weren't willing to come and survey the move, and gave me a fairly dodgy estimate of the time required.

I then contacted Big Move (reputation unclear), and they quoted a price of exactly half what Asian Tigers was asking.

Does anyone have any experience of Big Move? I know I"d be pretty unhappy if my furniture (all imported from Europe) were damaged, but I really don't want to be paying over the odds for Asian Tigers who really give the impression they don't want my business - they're too busy.

[dfp]

Go for Santa Fe Moving & Relocation. Excellent service and very careful with your belongings. Can highly recommend. Used them from overseas to Bangkok and again internally in Bangkok. It is the biggest moving & relocation company in Asia. You might pay a premium for good service but it is absolutely worth it. Have a nice move.

[richardt1808]

Hi,

I have used Big Move 3 times in 2 years. The first time, they were absolutely brilliant... everything perfectly handled and put in its place in the new condo.

Second time we used them to move an office and it didnt work out so well. They broke several items of furniture and equipment, but offered us a discount, so we let them off the hook.

The third time, was 3 weeks ago moving a friend's house. They arrived (2.5 hours late) and although we had supplied a list and photographs of everything, they couldnt fit it all in their truck. They had wrapped the delicate things like plates and appliances quite well, but since they were then short of time, they didnt make an effort to pack odd shaped things economically, so instead of having our small items well-packed into 8 boxes, they used about 25 boxes which resulted in the truck problem. In the end, they had to use a smaller pick-up truck to shuttle a few extra trips to get it all done. We finally wrapped things up very late, but at least the move got done with only minor damage.

If you have expensive furniture, I wouldn't skimp on the move costs.

PM Me if you want to compare prices.

Cheers

[dfp]

If you have expensive furniture, I wouldn't skimp on the move costs.

This is the reason to opt for Santa Fe. I had nothing broken at all.

If you have very expensive furniture you could opt for insurance, however, the cost of this could be more expensive than the move itself.

[MJo]

I booked big move couple of months ago but cancelled due to their insurance policies. They quoted something like 50% of value insured for few km's move in Bangkok...

Santa Fe and the likes are expensive, i reckon min 20k for them to bring the truck. Tiger should be more reasonable and then there is one called JVK ? that should be the same price as big move but with reasonable insurance coverage included in price and additional can be purchase at reasonable rates.

Edited June 5, 2010 by MJo

[Pelorus]

Regarding their Phuket office I can only give Big Move the highest recommendation.

I had used the best company in Thailand ( will remain nameless for self explanatory reasons) for moves over three different phases. All handled first class, one being very complicated ( the acceptance of several deliveries for a large design project which were booked in, consolidated on my behalf and then bought to Phuket) Great job every time.

Fast forward to this month when I personally wanted to ship a limited number of items from Phuket ( a bed, 2 chairs, a couch, some antiques, books and personal possessions) to Bangkok. I reverted back to the the company and asked for a quote. I got the staggering estimate of baht 90,000 (which included the possiblity of a baht 4,000 one month storage charge and another baht 12,000 warehouse to Bangkok apartment charge) I emailed my contact and he apologised but said the best they could do was with a door to door shipment baht 66,000 plus tax.

As I have frequently shipped furniture from Chiang Mai or Bangkok to Phuket for design projects I have a good idea of what it costs to deliver items (be they antiques, imported or locally made furniture) and the prices quoted were absurd.

What needs to be understood is that the companies perceived as "first class" do not want to really handle this type of shipment as it is labour intensive and cuts into their high margins...they literally price to dissuade. They want to make BKK pickups, give great wrapping service and then drop the goods to Port of Bangkok 10 kilometers away. Fair enough. But I think you get suckered if you think you need to pay for this quality of service. I too have imported furniture and some quite valuable antiques and art.

So I contacted Big Move Phuket. They arrived on time the next morning, quoted a great price and then had no problems scheduling exactly when I wanted to ship- just a few days later. That day, a mid sized truck was sent to hold only my goods (no consolidation). They arrived first thing the next morning in Bangkok 4 hours ahead of schedule and unloaded everything efficiently and rebuilt the one piece of funiture we had to dismantle before shipping. There would have not been the slighest difference if I had used the "5 star service"-excellent serive from start to finish..

The Big Move price was baht 20,000......22% of the cost of the original "first class" companies quote and just 28% of the amended quote.

Two things:- with this experience I am not trying to vouch that the quality is the same in every Big Move office across Thailand...but one thing that should be said is that their primary business is domestic Thailand moving which is not what the 'known' companies used by farangs ( or more specifically their companies more ofter than not) are really about.

Finally, a note regarding the insurance that someone mentioned. Thai insurance is not handled the same way as western insurance is unless you take out an expensive and very specific policy. Normal insurance will not cover the true cost of an antique or jewellry for example where there is a capped amount for such items. In closing, like any other service, try to get references from satisfied (or not) customers from the office you would have to use.

All I can say was every aspect of Big Move Phuket's service was first class.