Moving at a Snail's Pace

After six months, we finally received some of the things we shipped! Big excitement!

The ordeal has produced many disasters along the way, but thanks to the Fort Collins packers, at least most of it arrived unscathed. I had nightmares about this shipment. My most entertaining one had me greeting the truck in the driveway with great anticipation, only to find that instead of our belongings, they were unloading animals like a reverse Noah's ark. I told them that I was allergic to animals and that there was a mistake and they replied, "Lady, this is what the bill of lading says. They're yours now." and proceeded to try to get an elephant up our circular stairs.

Due to incompetence and a hurricane, our shipment missed scheduled ships, trains and trucks. As it was, they separated the goods and the rest is supposed to arrive tomorrow. (Of course, I had to call the driver myself twice to arrange this!) Ron Wilson Removals, the moving company in Sydney, has been extremely unhelpful. One of the last straws for me was when they were due a couple weeks ago. When I called to see what was happening, I was told, "I think it's still in Melbourne." They managed to get part of it on the train and this segment was supposed to be delivered last Wednesday at 1:00. My loyal friend, Sherri, was here to help and we waited and waited.

Sherri also fixed up the stereo and
rearranged furniture while we waited.

At 2:30, we saw a moving van come down the street so I called RWR in Sydney to find out what was happening. Of course, instead of following up themselves, they gave me the number in Perth to call myself. The dispatcher told me that they were on the highway and would be here in 10 minutes. I verified the address with him but obviously he didn't listen. An hour later, he called to say they were lost and didn't have any time on their mobile (cell phone) so had returned to the warehouse. It turns out they were looking for Charles Street in Perth instead of South Fremantle.

When they did arriveabout 4:30, they were very nice and it only took them about an hour to unload. They wanted me to sign off so they could leave and I pointed out they hadn't put our table back together as agreed. I couldn't believe it when he asked me if I had any tools. He looked at the table and said all he needed was a Phillips head screwdriver. Sherri corrected him because an Allen wrench was needed.

It really bugged her that it wasn't assembled so she
and Paul ended up doing their job for them.

Too bad we'll only be here six more months! We weren't going to ship anything back but if we can't get good money for a few items like the bed and our bikes, we may ship them back. At least the CO people have been apologetic and offered a return move at cost. If you ever contemplate an international move, talk to me first to avoid the pitfalls we've experienced. I will post some before and after photos once we're settled.