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At 1 Relocation Worldwide has a singular focus of making sure that clients begin the new adventure of moving overseas on the right foot. Starting something new is scary, moving shouldn’t be as well.
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Reviews
26Unfortunately, our relocation experience with 1Relo / Johnson International was challenging, expensive, and concerning.
In a nutshell:
- Quoted: US$14,181 with a 10-12 week delivery
- Outcome: US$18,618 with a 21+ week delivery
Our goods were held two weeks after customs/quarantine clearance due to non-payment from 1Relo to the local importer. At that time, 1Relo invoiced us an additional US$3,569. Though requested multiple times, there was no detailing of the additional costs. There were no unusual or additional findings or callouts during the customs and quarantine process - everything was allowed, no issues. An additional AU$1360 was paid to the local customs broker in mid October for GST.
Whether 1Relo was uninformed/uneducated about importing into Australia, is having internal issues, or something else — what transpired vs. what was quoted was drastically different and costly in both US$$ and time. We would have saved up to US$10K, had we gone with another vendor between the premium amount of the original quote, the extra $3569, and the additional housing costs accrued due to the inaccurate delivery date and eventual extra 10+ weeks delay in receiving our goods.
More details:
The quote we accepted was for US$14,181 with a 10-12 weeks delivery for a 20’ container, door-to-door service from Charlotte, NC, USA to Brisbane, QLD, AU, including a crated motorcycle. We paid a $3300 down payment in early March and we paid the $10.9K balance due in mid-July before the ship arrived in Brisbane. Our goods were picked up (a day earlier than communicated which was a bit crazy making) on May 8, 2023.
On Sept. 21, we were informed by the local importer that our goods had cleared customs though they could not schedule delivery as 1Relo had an outstanding balance due.
On Sept. 26, we received another invoice from 1Relo for “additional fees associated with your move that were not included in your contract such as port fees, quarantine fees.” We paid the additional invoice quickly, as it had been over 20 weeks without our goods. We also asked for a further breakdown of what these costs were. (The original quote mentioned only up to $850 of such possible additional charges; plus a $450 motorcycle inspection fee.) We never received a response to this request to 1Relo.
When we asked the local importer if there were any unexpected findings or charges with customs or quarantine, they informed us there were no additional charges invoiced beyond what their original quote to 1Relo earlier in the year was for their local services.
On Oct. 4, I emailed [Name removed by Sirelo], 1 Relo owner, requesting a review of our account to ensure the additional charges were accurate and that we had been appropriately credited for all 3 of our payments. The March payment went to Removals Inc., the next two payments went to Johnson Storage & Moving Co. I thought perhaps as part of the merging/partnering with Johnson International that our first payment went uncredited to our account. I emailed him again on Oct. 10 to which he replied that he had been out of the office though would look into the situation upon his return.
On Nov. 1, I emailed [Name removed by Sirelo] again — still no reply to date.
I’m at a loss - of spirit and $$$s. 1Relo talks about great care for their customers on their website, however that is not our experience. Communications and updates were made to us only when I reached out, the replies were often incorrect, the handling of the motorcycle title was a mess, they didn’t place our request for insurance (which could have been a disaster), and once we had paid the original $14K balance, we did not hear from them again — until the local importer held our goods for lack of payment by 1Relo and then 1Relo charged us the additional US$3,569. We’ve never heard back from [Name removed by Sirelo] regarding our concern for the significant additional costs. Their complete lack of concern for our care and wellbeing was shocking based on the price we invested.Read more