8mm Forum: Help needed! Want to get a heavy / big item from UK to Belgium

This is topic Help needed! Want to get a heavy / big item from UK to Belgium in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Erwin Geeraerts (Member # 992) on December 12, 2008, 07:29 AM:

I would like to buy a projector from someone in the uk (from mister Warton Parfitt). Unfortunately he isn't keen on sending the item (it's about 26 kilos). I'm not keen in making the trip to Hinckley and back either, so I need to find another way of getting this item to Belgium.
Maybe someone on this forum is planning to cross the channel in the near future and is willing to take this heavy item with him? Ofcourse I would pay for all the extra troubles.
Or maybe someone got another or better idea?

Posted by Stewart McSporran (Member # 128) on December 12, 2008, 01:11 PM:

I use Parcel2Go (http://www.parcel2go.com/) for shipping heavy items throughout the world and have had pretty good service from them.

You could arrange the pickup through their website so that all the seller had to do was have the machine boxed and ready to go and be in when the collection van arrived. If they're not prepared to do even that then I wouldn't bother with them.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on December 12, 2008, 01:47 PM:

Hi Stewart,

Have you used them for shipping 16mm to the US? Are they cheaper than Royal Mail for this? Any problems with their service?

-Mike

Posted by Erwin Geeraerts (Member # 992) on December 12, 2008, 04:58 PM:

Thanx for the tip. I could indeed arrange the pickup myself through a shipping company.
I'll look into it.

Posted by Bart Smith (Member # 780) on December 13, 2008, 12:25 AM:

If I book into my account with www.interparcel.com, and look at the prices for a package sent to Belgium, weighing 26kg, 50x50x50cm, insured for £250, it comes to a total of £25.90 + VAT, so total is £29.79. The service they use for this cheap rate is DHL Europlus, delivery time 2-5 working days. Admittedly I have an account with them so I get a 5% discount on their standard rates, but I reckon that the price is pretty reasonable.

Typically I have always found that if I try to arrange a collection from a different country from the UK it tends to be much more expensive, so you may have to talk a UK forum member into helping you.

People always seem to be under the impression that sending goods abroad is expensive, but this is a fallacy. If you are using a courier to send to the closer bits of Europe (France, Germany, Belgium, Holland etc.) it really isn't that bad. Let's face it, Belgium is CLOSER to London (where I am based) than it is to Edinburgh for example. As far as I am aware it doesn't matter where in the UK the item is based to attract the same rate as long as it is not in the Highlands & Islands or Northern Ireland.

***VERY IMPORTANT*** Get him to remove the lens and send this separately. This may seem a bit strange, but in the event of the package being damaged/run over by a train/trampled by a herd of buffalo etc. the courier companies will try anything to wriggle out of the insurance, and in the small print you will invariably find that items made out of or containing any glass are specifically excluded. It would not amaze me if they could then claim that because a small part of it was glass they won't pay out at all even if the lens itself is undamaged. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I don't trust any courier company to be good to their word whatsoever. It is an article of faith to them to scour the small print for exceptions. The same applies for the outer packaging, this has to be of really good quality otherwise they might wriggle out of it. I sent a 16mm projector to Hong Kong a couple of years back, the buyer didn't care whatsoever about shipping costs etc. so I made a crate out of 18mm MDF just to make sure it got there fine. The buyer was prepared to pay me for my time and effort and it added considerably to the weight so the whole thing was expensive, but money seemed to be no object to him and he was very happy.

Hope this helps,

Bart

[ December 13, 2008, 11:29 AM: Message edited by: Bart Smith ]

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on December 13, 2008, 08:19 AM:

When excluding glass it may be an idea to remove the lamp as well.

BTW Parcel2go also make ref to photographic projectors as an item excluded for compensation. Its in their excluded list so be very careful on this point.

I used their 24 - 48 service for the NT1 I bought recently and it arrived in less than 24hrs with DHL and the box was completely unscathed. An excellent service indeed.

Kev.

Posted by Bart Smith (Member # 780) on December 13, 2008, 08:44 AM:

Good point Kev, one I had overlooked. I suppose if you want to go really belt and braces it might be worth removing any glass fuses too!

Interparcel don't seem to have a specific policy on projectors, it may be better to go with them IMHO.

The best insurance policy against damage is to pack things really really really well.

Bart

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