Today I called Guardian Cargo to clear up the thing with the duplicate auto-responder email and to get a definitive Shipping Quote. I got a hold of their representative right away. Not being transferred back and force was a nice change. The representative took a look at the submitted Inventory Request and give me Quote of $ 1.650 right away. I told him that I would wait for the Binding eMail Quote and call him back if I had any additional questions. A couple of minutes later I received the binding quote and took look at it right away. It spells out pretty much the same thing as all the other quotes I've received so far. There are however 2 major differences: All other moving companies had to request a quote from the freight carrier first, before being able to give me a Quote and that took them all a couple of hours at the least. So I'm not entirely sure how trustworthy that particular quote really is. The second major difference is the fact that this proposal specifically states, that the shipment will arrive at the destination within 45 days. No other shipping company could make that promise so far. (The best I've gotten so far is a delivery time frame of 55 to 95 days!!). There's another thing that is a little bit odd about that shipping quote. This quote doesn't state the time frame they have to request new quotes from the freight carrier and adjust the binding quote accordingly. (It is my understanding that shipping companies usually request new quotes from the freight carrier every 30 days. Furthermore shipping quotes are being honored for 30 days, after that a new quote has to be requested and a shipping proposal has to be adjusted accordingly. This applies to both, shipping proposals and locked in shipping rates).
Next up was call to United Van Lines. I got a hold of them right away. Of course I only found the phone number for the domestic shipping department, but they transferred me to UNI (their international shipping department). I talked with their representative for quite some time and explained him to service I was looking for. He told me their minimum weight requirement is 1000 lbs, what is usually the weight of 1 Bedroom. I'm not quite sure if the stuff I plan on shipping meets their minimum weight requirement. Guess I will have to way the stuff that I plan on shipping and see where we stand. But regardless of that he couldn't give me quote, as they require a pre-move survey in order to request a quote from the freight carrier. United Van Lines will contact me in the next few days to set up an appointment for a pre-move survey.
After that I gave Schumacher Cargo a call. I had already a ballpark estimate of $ 1.600 from them. I asked him right away why their quote is so much less then the quote of their co-competitors. Turns out that most companies charge you for a minimum of 200 cubic feet, while Schumacher charges for a minimum of 100 cubic feet. So I asked him to email me a Binding Quote. A couple of hours later I had that quote and it's pretty much the same as all the other quotes, except that's it about $ 1.000 cheaper. This quote is good till the end of June. Until then I will have to decide if I want to lock the quote or if I request from all the carriers a new quote.
All in all it has been quite a productive day!
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