Hi out there,

Wondering if anybody knows of a good yet inexpensive moving company. We will be moving from Los Angeles, CA to CH in a few months. I have tried with emailing quotes which seem to get me nowhere. Any help would be great. Thanks

Jessica

Hello:

I also have a similar situation as Jessica. Only I will be moving from the San Francisco/Bay area. Does any of you guys have a lead for us? Vielen Dank!

Vinnie

I've heard that this company is good although I have no personal experience. Their site is in English.

I will add more to my response later, but let me say in no uncertain terms that you should avoid Euro Transport which is based in the US and Canada. We are filing criminal charges against this company for fraud/theft for their charging us $1250 (usd) for insurance that they did not provide. the goods have not yet been delivered (YIKES).

Pay very careful attention to the contract that you will be required to sign with whatever company you work end up hiring. they will interpret the terms and conditions of the contract in ways that will shock you. also you should note that Euro Transport (and another Canadian-based moving company) are merely inept, general contractors who make a few bookings, hire local movers, and drivers as independent contractors do not directly manage or perform the move. My advice is that you would save a lot of money and hassle if you find a trucker who will deliver a cargo container to your home/apartment, get space on a ship to Europe, find a european-based mover to get your goods from the port to your new home. It is easier than it sounds and would take no more than a week at most to plan and execute.

Otherwise, get yourself a lawyer or smoke a big fattie, cus you are going to be taken for a ride like never before. bonne chance!!!

I am using Crown Relocation to relocate from Chicago to Lausanne, Switzerland. They are a full service relocation company with a worldwide presence. The surveyer who came to my home was very professional and the quote turn around time was just one day. Hope this helps!!

http://www.crownrelo.com/web/relo.nsf/index.htm

I am using Nationwide Relocation Serices which I later found out are only brokers and hire other movers to do the actual move. This company that they hired is Cross Country Vanlines...I do not know yet how the process is since I didn't get my stuff yet, but I am crossing my fingers. The beginning so far was pretty good except that the movers that came weren't very professional and looked like people they hired off the street. The packing of the truck was pretty good, but who knows since the stuff didn't arrive yet. Let me know if you have any questions.

Just wanted to say that I also think Crown Relocations is decent from what I've heard. In our case though, I think we should have left half our belongings behind. Anything you need for your household is available here at prices that are quite reasonable when you think of what you paid shipping them so far!

The good thing for me is that as part of my relocation package my firm covers the cost of packing and transportation of my personal belongings to Switzerland. Thus, it makes much more sense for me to purchase what I need in the US at reasonable prices, have it shipped at no cost to myself to Switzerland and hit the ground running not having to worry about where to buy stuff and how much it will cost. If I didn't have this benefit I might consider selling my stuff in the US and refurnishing once I arrive in Lausanne.

I used "professional" folks, too. They sent me a quote w/in 24 hours of the inquiry. They seemed to do everything right...until move day. A few things to ask, watch for, or consider:

- ask when they will use a 3rd party. My movers never informed me that they were just brokers and outsourced everything. They used 3rd party companies for EVERYTHING except for writing the contract and receiving payment. The fine print in that contract says they can charge an additional 30% when they use a 3rd party. And they did!

- if the contract states "approximate" in any line item, that is exactly what they mean. And it will not work in your favor.

Finally, schedule your goods to be picked up 5-7 days before you leave your house and keep in mind that these folks do not work weekends. Give time for problems to occur and the movers to delay things at the very last minute (real life example: truck carrying cargo container gets stopped at a weigh station and does not pass inspection. Has to get brakes and other things fixed before they will release him. Barely makes it to the house on a Friday afternoon. Then he said, if it had taken longer, he would have had to reschedule for Monday or Tuesday.) The trickle down impact could have been HUGE.

Hi again, and thank you for all the advice and suggestions of companies. I think I have found a good company, although I have not signed with them yet. They only deal in iternational moving, reasonably priced, and no outsourcing. So I hope I won't have a nightmare story like some of the people posting here. We are planning on moving in November, but will have our stuff shipped sometime in Oct.

Anybody have any advice on what not to take. So far we are getting rid of all electronics minus the computer and printer, and most furniture.

Thanks again,

Jessica

Make sure you either leave your bed behind or buy lots of extra sheets (the bed sizes are different!)

Also, if you're really getting rid of nearly everything, you may want to consider what we did-get rid of all furniture and kitchen stuff and ship the rest by postal service-no hidden fees, easy (the custom forms were a breeze, and the people at the post office were so curious about what the heck we were doing that they were incredibly helpful!), cheap (about $800 for the two of us), and dependable (it arrived pretty much exactly when they said it would). Plus, there's the exhilaration of getting rid of all the junk that accumulates (and the incentive to sort through it). Unfortunately, it did mean extra quality time at IKEA, but I've managed to recover. . .

It may also be worthwhile for you to obtain information about the Swiss moving company that will deliver your goods to your new house/apartment. In my case, the goods arrived this past friday and were delivered by a company based in lugano called bollinger and tanzi, and they were amazing. but you should understand that you will (more likely than not) have paid all of the moving fees a priori - so you essentially have no recourse and have to rely on the integrity of the local company (and you are liable for additional docking fees and other expenses). in any event, the lugano movers were fantastic and professional and really cool.

We are definetly chucking the bed!! My husband and I have tossed around the idea of the USPS, and after he read your post he said "SEEE, other people did that too", but we have a few items that we are taking that will be too hard to box up and ship, like our baby crib, toy box, and small rocking chair. So we are going with a partial container. Not too mention our two cats which is a whole other thread. LOL We just booked our tickets for our upcoming move, and have also booked space for our cats OH MY GOSH!! It will be fun at the airport with 4 suitcases, 2 kids, and 2 cats. I'm sure once we get there, we will be hitting up Ikea too. Thank you for your info, it was helpful!!

Also remember that a lot of electric goods from your side of the Pond really don't like 230V - and the TV standard is different (PAL vs NTSC)

Good luck

Martin

No problem. By the way, we also brought over two cats and a large dog (though not kids) from California, so I can at least partially feel your pain . If you have questions about the pets and want the full description, send me a PM. We traveled with the cats in cabin, dog in the cargo hold, so I can give advice on both methods. At the very least, make sure you get your cats' rabies vaccinations at least 30 days before you arrive but not longer than one year (CH doesn't recognize the multi-year rabies vaccination that is commonly used in the US). Also, for many reasons, don't book your tickets through the UK (try Germany instead).

Sounds like it will be crazy, but if it helps, you and your husband will surely be the worst for wear, everyone else (having not worried very much before hand) will come through beautifully!

related to bringing over pets, i brought a very large airedale (which cost $3,000 cdn - YIKES), but when we tried to retrieve her at the zurich airport (processed through customs) we found out that the dog should have had a microchip (this was not stipulated on any swiss government web site) and the customs vet person was really quite unkind. it took almost 3 hours to get our dog, not sure if the same microchip rules apply to cats but maybe it is something you should look into.

additionally, there were a bunch of additional fees that air canada neglected to inform us about - and it was really kind of freaky thinking that we may not get our dog because of rules that seemed ad hoc. ironically, despite the apparent concern for animal welfare, the swiss still allow circuses with animals (something that has been banned in several north american cities).

regarding your appliances and what to bring:
we almost brought our printer, but sold it at the 2nd garage sale we had. We just got an great HP with scanner and copier for $125.00 at mediamarkt. The ink is the same price as in the US. I must say that it is nice to not need an adapter for the printer. We brought adapters and converters for a few key items. But, find that it is just not as easy as it seems. Some outlets (like in bathrooms) do not allow for converters... so leave the hair dryer behind.

We got rid of everything that was junk or not too expensive to replace. Like someone else said, it was amazing and liberating to get rid of all the stuff you accumulate in the US. Before we decided on what to part with and what to bring, we went online and compared prices. While some things are very reasonably priced here, somethings are cheaper to bring than replace. The couches at Ikea are reasonable, but the quality is Ikea (i.e., some things are very cheap and some are very good).

Also, plan on buying closets here. Houses/flats do not come with closets. Ikea has great closets/wardrobes that come with 10+year warranties. Just know that it takes 3-4 weeks for delivery and car rentals are expensive.

Actually, it is clearly stated on the Swiss Federal Veterinary Office (FVO) website that Switzerland requires microchips (or tatoos) to identify animals from "third countries." Maybe the confusion stems from the fact that "third country" means "non EU-country," and not, say "third world country."

The real problem for pets (including cats) imported from the US is that the microchips use two different standards, and US vets do not carry the European version (and many don't know about the two versions at all!).

indeed, the english language stipulation was added after our entry - the customs vet checked the web site during our processing - and acknowledged the omission (additionally we had frequent correspondence with the Swiss consulate in toronto and the microchip issue was not raised).

you are correct about the confusion in the us and canada concerning microchips - there is no uniform standard and little knowledge in the vet community.

Hi there,
I used Weber-Vonesch to move from UK to Zug. They were excellent and I would certainly recommend them
www.weber-vonesch.ch
Good luck