Glad But Bruised by the Process - April 2005

Despite advice not to bring over belongings we decided to go this route as we felt we would settle in much better.  I am also not convinced that decent furniture over here is as cheap as everyone makes out. 

We went through a company called TransAtUK.  The contact there was Glyn Haley.  She was brilliant and kept in regular contact with us through out the whole procedure both by phone and e-mail.  Unfortunately her part is only to organize a container and ship it here.  You still need to rely on an agent to deal with customs clearance for when it arrives in Izmir.  She put us in touch with Bilge GUZELOCAK of Element Logistics.  He put us together a quote which seemed very reasonable but based on the understanding we would still have taxes to pay.  We sent him a list of all our items which you have to include all the serial codes of every electrical item and an estimated price of everything. 

We moved to Turkey safe in the knowledge that we had all our moving costs covered.

We kept in regular contact with both Glyn and Bilge over the next few weeks.  2 weeks before our container was due to arrive in Izmir we received an e-mail from Bilge with an updated quote including taxes.  The problem being some extra charges of his own had slipped and some of the original prices that were quoted in US Dollars had now changed to Euros - 270 USD was now 270 euros.   With this amendment the bill worked out at around £1,200 more than we’d budgeted for.  After a number of discussions with him and threats from TransAtUk he amended his prices again bringing the extra’s to around £600.US D - USD,discussionsU

Despite all of the above the service we received was very good.  The container was only held in customs 2 days.  I have heard of people who are still waiting after 4 weeks.  Bearing in mind you are charged storage fees for this period it is a massive concern.  We also got a number of quotes from other agents and even with his increase he was still considerably cheaper.

Maybe it was all a misunderstanding or maybe it wasn't. Our goods are all here undamaged and we are glad, if not a little bruised, that we went ahead and shipped them over.  The whole process cost around £2,860 for a 12ft container. This price does not include the extra charge to fast track our residency (took around 4 days) or the trip to Izmir to sign over responsibility to the shipping agent.

Key Information

Glyn Haley TransAtUK  Ltd  01773 770050  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Bilges GUZELOCAK Element International Forwarding - Turkey (0232) 465 2036  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Prestige Hotel – Izmir – 4 * Hotel in a good location with parking behind The Hilton.  A room with breakfast cost around £46 a night   0232 4830323

Residency – You must have residency before your belongings can be released to you. See this page for more information