Moving Across Town

[NancyL]

I used the "search" function and found a few threads about moving or removal companies. I guess "removal" must be the British description for what we're doing. But, most of the threads deal with long-distance or international relocations. We've rented a new condo on one side of town and need to move our household items from our current condo on the other side of town. So, the distance isn't large.

However, we don't like to pack, don't have boxes and have a complete set of fine bone china and crystal that we'd like to have professionally packed. Otherwise our stuff isn't especially difficult -- mostly wicker furniture, a few books and clothes. So, we'd like the moving company to send in staff to pack for us and then do the move across town. We can unpack ourselves once at the new location.

Any recommendations?

[Loaded]

I have never heard of a specialist removal company here. From my experience Thais rope in friends and relatives to do the job of transporting things from one place to another. However, probably the closest you'll get to a local company that can do this job is Nim See Seng:

http://www.nimseeseng.com/

[gennisis]

I used 'Uncle Ouns remover Services' 053 242617.

No complaints at all. They supplied all nessesary boxes,did the packing,even removed some of my garden plants and trees.

certainly reccomended from my experience

[Priceless]

If you go to the rather unlikely destination of "Chiang Mai News & Events" and then on to "Resources & Information" and then to "All Other Professional Help" you'll find the following:

Moving Company

• Khun Preecha - 0845 024 267 or 053 433 622.

He has a large covered lorry and six workers. They pack and carry your belongings with great care. Khun Preecha supervises the work himself.

It's been three years since I used him, but they were really very good and professional.

/ Priceless

[Flatouthruthefog]

If you go to the rather unlikely destination of "Chiang Mai News & Events" and then on to "Resources & Information" and then to "All Other Professional Help" you'll find the following:

Moving Company

• Khun Preecha - 0845 024 267 or 053 433 622.

He has a large covered lorry and six workers. They pack and carry your belongings with great care. Khun Preecha supervises the work himself.

It's been three years since I used him, but they were really very good and professional.

/ Priceless

Uncle Ouns and this one sound good. We have used the giant Nim See Seng company twice, and twice one item of furniture has received minor damage. More fool me for giving them a second chance. Amazingly it was the SAME piece of furniture each time - and the cheapest!

They are very good at big heavy strong things, and have a fine modern warehousing/storage facility, but "bone china movers" they are NOT.

[NancyL]

Thanks everyone. We'll soon be visited by reps from three companies to look at our stuff to develop price quotations.

We used Uncle when we moved across town two years ago and while their service was good, I thought the price a little high. We didn't get quotes then. Now I think we should get quotes just to see if it really should be that expensive.

I'll let you know who we end up using, how they do and how the price compares with Uncle.

Incidentally, during the last move the only thing that got broken was the base of a table-top fan. They claimed it was already broken when they moved it. Yeah, right, that's why we kept it around; we wanted to move a broken fan.

.

[Tywais]

Incidentally, during the last move the only thing that got broken was the base of a table-top fan. They claimed it was already broken when they moved it. Yeah, right, that's why we kept it around; we wanted to move a broken fan.

Sounds like it might be a good idea to photograph (time stamped) everything before the move.

[NancyL]

Good idea to photograph everything. We'll also photograph the new rental condo before we move in, especially noting any scratches, nicks, marks on the wall, etc, so there won't be any questions when we move out.

Got a new quote from Uncle and also from one other company (so far). The other company said they'd pack everything in boxes and leave the boxes with us to unpack at our leisure. It's unclear what Uncle will do. When they moved us two years ago, they packed in big, sturdy plastic bins with snap-on lids. It would have been good protection had it been raining (it wasn't) and allowed them to stack the boxes quite high in their truck. However, they insisted they had to take their plastic bins with them immediately after the move. We wanted to keep them for 24 hrs to unpack ourselves, but no dice. Instead, they just unpacked and put everything on every available horizontal surface, in no particular order. It was absolute gridlock in the condo for a day while we tried to sort thru everything and get it put away. Would have been much better to unpack one box at a time and put the stuff where it belonged correctly immediately upon unpacking.

Does Uncle still use those plastic crates and insist on getting them back immediately? It was very unclear in talking with them today. No one who came to look over the place spoke much English.

[NancyL]

The move is done and every last box is unpacked. We ended up using CM Removals, which is a side business for Thai Exports Co., Ltd www.thai-exports.com The managing director John is a native English speaker. He came with a staffer to prepare a quote and also was present for the first hour of the packing to make sure I was comfortable with the job the four guys were doing. He left, but was available by phone during the day the one time I had problem communicating with his staff. Plus, he checked in with me by phone a couple other times during the pack and move to make sure everything was going OK.

They did a great job in packing the china and other delicate items -- bubble wrap, clean, new paper, sturdy new cardboard cartons. They packed as if our stuff was going around the world instead of across town. They were very careful with our furniture, wrapping much of it in bubble wrap, too, before loading. They guys worked quickly and efficiently. Nothing was broken or scratched. They arrived at 9 am and two loads later, we were in our new condo looking at the work ahead by 4 pm. Last time we did a similar move, it took Uncle's staff parts of two days to do the pack and move.

John's price was less than half what was quoted by Uncle. Plus, they used bubble wrap and clean paper for packing, rather than old Thai newspapers, like Uncle did. With the Uncle move we had to wash everything prior to putting it away in the kitchen. Didn't feel the need to do that CM Removals/Thai Exports style of packing.

Hopefully, we won't have to move again for a few years, but we'd definitely call on John at www.thai-exports.com again.