... Pirates Continue Their International Rampage

I cannot believe I haven't written about this .... I guess I was just too damn upset to want to be still and write about it.
For those who have been tracking my "Move to Australia" saga ...you will know that we have had MAJOR problems with our moving company, Fleet World Wide Shipping, now forever known as Fleet World Wide Pirates ..


After waiting nine long months - we finally had a partial shipment of our goods delivered to Australia from England at the beginning of July. There was wild familial applause as it meant we could at long last actually sleep in beds, have a selection of clothing, and enjoy some of our nice things. Sadly, like everything else associated with this move - the ideal and the reality didn't quite coincide.

First off, we had been told that the majority of things had been sent, barring 'a few boxes of books". The reality? We received a lot of bits and pieces of things .... for instance; the head board and foot board for my bed arrived, with no side rails to put it together. My son's bed got the side rails, no head board or foot board. The china cabinet arrived, with no shelves or doors. This is only the tip o' the iceberg by way of examples.

Next, the amount of breakage was heart breaking. Our main television, which was only a year old arrived looking like this ... the outside pkg-ing was in pristine condition - but the t.v looked like it had been (imagine this) kicked in by some angry Pirate.

There were many other precious bits - broken beyond repair, including this, a favorite piece of Italian Glassware.  Tho I have  successfully moved that piece many many times - it was unable to survive the TLC of the Pirates. Several items that had belonged to my Granny that held huge sentimental value - also gone the way of the Dodo.

  In an effort to save money, hubby had decided we would forgo insurance and hope for the best - after all, FWW claimed they had charged us 3x more due in part to the  "special deluxe packaging' ... yeah, no insurance ... yet another decision we now deeply regret.

So here we sit, still minus much of our belongings ... and now being charged storage fees on the balance which remain un-shipped in England!! Lemme tell you my darlings, piracy is alive and well in the year 2007

I desperately wish I had a lawyer in the family - cuz it would give me unbelievable pleasure to sue the asses off the Pirates and end this once and for all.

On the upside - life is more comfortable - even with only part of our things being here and some of the things I desperately needed (personal documentation being right up there) has made its way here. I only wish I could feel more positive about things - but even writing this little bit about it has me in tears. It's been a hard ol' time these last months - and the party isn't over.