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Post by Hadia on Dec 15, 2011 17:47:52 GMT
For those of you who have received your sea shipment in recent weeks, have you discovered any items missing?
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Post by vpainter on Dec 23, 2011 13:41:56 GMT
People do find things missing or even extra items that don't belong to them in their shipments upon arrival. You can post in the classifieds on HR Online and hopefully it will be another Aramcon who has your things. You should also be checking with the moving company and find out if any of your boxes went to customs, they should know if anything was removed by customs.
FYI for new hires coming in: When a shipment comes in, there is a possibility it will be completely searched in customs right along with other people's shipments. Things can be mixed up putting them back in the boxes. That is why it is important for everything in one's shipment to be labeled as recommended in the relocation guide.
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Post by Twofeets on Dec 26, 2011 20:05:12 GMT
We had quite a few items damaged. We may be missing an IPOD Nano but can't be certain, all our boxes arrived opened and a lot of items weren't even boxed so we are still searching.
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Post by Hadia on Dec 27, 2011 6:04:49 GMT
We labeled everything, every little item, in our shipment. Annoying labels that won't come off, in fact. Customs didn't seem to open much of anything at all. The moving company had double-used numbers in their box inventory sequence, and other numbers were either missing in the sequence or not used. Could mean the numbers represent boxes that are MIA, or numbers that were skipped entirely. We'll never know. The whole process did not make sense. I made a meticulous inventory, but things were packed every which way in combinations of non-like items, and the boxes were incorrectly labeled with one word for contents which were not accurate. It is not possible to open every box while the movers are standing there, considering they are all large heavy boxes, sealed shut, with individual contents wrapped and taped tightly with heavy paper. The caveat of the movers is that they made us sign off on everything before they left, and since we didn't have them unpack and unwrap everything (not physically possible), they are off the hook for anything we later find missing or broken. Many items were broken or dented by compression. We were dismayed when we saw the condition of the boxes when the crates were unsealed in our driveway. You barely have time to tell the crew which rooms to dump the boxes in, while the movers impatiently want you to check off the box numbers on an inventory sheet to compare it with theirs. There is no way possible to open the boxes and see what's really inside, or the condition of the items while the movers are still at your house. We seem to be missing items, but since the movers packed our stuff up every which way, it is very hard to isolate the exact les, items missing. Because our name and badge number are on everything, we would hope that if another Aramcon receives boxes with our things, they would be kind enough to send an email to us.
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Post by Texas on Dec 27, 2011 6:22:47 GMT
Well, that got me thinking!
I am planning on buying appliances (microwave, toaster, vacuum cleaner, etc) and shipping them along with couple of desktop computers for my children and Plasma TV. Should I be worried about things being damaged or gone missing?
On a different subject, can I rent a car on day one and without Aramco ID?
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Post by vpainter on Dec 27, 2011 20:23:01 GMT
You'll get your temporary Aramco ID at the airport, so you would be able to rent a car.
NOTE for those labeling for shipping. Removeable file labels work well for those things you don't want a permanent sticker on them. The labels are long, so you can repeat your info on them twice and cut them in half.
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Post by Economist on Jan 11, 2012 10:43:10 GMT
Hadia, our experience was precisely the same as yours.
Your description of double-numbering by the movers, compression damage, movers rushing and and rushing out, and requiring you to sign off that all was okay when you had no ability to really verify, and then finding things broken or missing might as well have been written by us as well. So you are not alone, and we have dear friends whose things arrived a month later and for them it was worse and they took it quite hard.
The advice I received, and wholeheartedly echo for those of you preparing for the move, is expect to get robbed and take precautions to avoid it. That is blunt,but it helped us avoid the situation from being worse. The packers and unpackers need to be supervised in every room, so find 4-5 friends to help you watch after your things and how they are packed. Nor am I finding much joy in how the insurance claim process is going-- at best, two months later, it is slow. At worst I will get little on my claim as I messed up on my inventory forms leaving Houston, and some specific things that are missing were not on those forms. The things that were on the forms and for which there is clear loss I'm getting haggled on.
Customs did not inspect our shipment, so we don't have them to blame in our case. Some items that were stolen were removed from boxes where the Houston-based movers had made a point of writing the specific nature of the contents on the outside (e.g., Sony Video Camera, Model XXX, Serial ######). Nor did the thieve(s) understand the value of things, as they missed other, more valuable, items in the same box.
The theft was not done by the local guys unpacking here, as the boxes were sealed when I found things missing. I think the local guys did a pretty good job and they did the best they could, given that they were held up at the gate for a couple hours and then couldn't start unpacking until the K-9 unit came by and, literally, sniffed around. They had less then 5 hours to finish the job and did reasonably well, considering. And they had a good atude-- so kudos to the local guys. But the incompetence of the packers and whoever put things into the crates was beyond belief.
Sorry for the blast of negativity on this topic, folks, as I am generally positive on how we are treated by the company but this is a glaring exception. I have been expertly moved internationally by world-class moving companies, and this in no way resembled that experience.
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Post by Economist on Jan 11, 2012 11:55:24 GMT
Texas, by all means bring all of those things-- we did and are thankful to this site for providing guidance to do so. Gae door opener, too! The availability (and quality) of 110V appliances off-camp is reducing as the kingdom standardizes on 220V for domestic use. We, on-camp at 110V are an exception. I have friends who are kicking themselves for having sold various things in gae sales, expecting to replace them here, and finding that is not possible or the selection disappointing. So if you're doing the shipment, make it count. If you go over on the weight for your shipment, consider the charges a worthwhile investment, as the toasters, for example, where you are located are much more exciting.
Just take pictures, keep receipts, put them in your inventory, make sure they are well packed and you'll probably be fine.
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Post by Texas on Jan 12, 2012 16:56:12 GMT
Economist,
Maybe another option, for those that are in the process of making the decision, is to take the money in lieu and hire a reliable shipping company on your own to ship the stuff to Saudi.
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Post by Colts18 on Jan 12, 2012 19:42:59 GMT
This is disappointing. I guess one should seriously consider the in-lieu option. Question: Can one reasonably furnish their house with stuff from IKEA over there? Are there other options for buying furniture?
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Post by vpainter on Jan 12, 2012 22:57:18 GMT
There are lots of furniture stores other than IKEA. Most carry very large furniture that a lot of locals enjoy. Some carry European style and a couple carry a few American styles. But choices of those are limited. There is a new modern/contemporary furniture store in Khobar called Midas.
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Post by Hadia on Jan 13, 2012 6:01:30 GMT
Buying furniture has been a challenge for our family -- for three reasons: finding stores is not easy for the new arrival, selection is limited if you are looking for North American-style furniture, transportation of the furniture needs to be arranged, and delivery is not immediate. My personal recommendation for new hires is to bring/buy whatever you can in your homeland and ship it over.
The selection at IKEA is limited in style and color, but it is close by, and they do offer delivery and assembly, as does Saco World, which has a limited selection, but you might find a few things there. It has been taking on avee about 7-10 days for us to get stuff delivered from either store. We've also ordered a few accent pieces from Desert Designs, but I emphasize "accent," not functionality. As far as Midas goes, well, that's definitely an acquired taste. Trendy, lots of chrome and glittery stuff -- looks like a 60s/70s pad look, but hey, maybe that's me showing my age! To each his own.
Because the rooms are modest in size (we're in a townhouse), you have to be careful not to get furniture that is too large and overpowers the room, or you'll find yourself with a chunky-clunky set up (unless that's your thing), which would be the problem if you buy some of the local-style furniture, particularly the carved wood furniture such as beds and dining tables. They're designed for bigger homes, bigger families. When you see the beautiful walled-in Saudi homes in the neighboring cities, you'll understand why furniture can, and needs to be larger for a larger scale home. Not so the case for Aramco housing. In that case, the IKEA modular pieces do seem to be easier to meld into the floorplan.
Before we left the States, we bought our kids new mattresses, since we were bringing their bed frames. I'm kicking myself now for not having purchased a bed with mattress for the grown-ups at the same time. We left our bedframe behind, thinking we'd buy something new in KSA, and figured it would be easy. Not really. Between getting lost trying to find stores, and dodging prayer times for shopping on the weekends, we still haven't found a decent bed solution. The beds and mattress sizes are smaller here, too. I really wish we'd just bought something before we left the US. Another thing I'm glad we DID buy new in the US and tuck into our shipment: large area rugs. Again, it's a personal style issue (and also cost), but we like the US style stuff better.
I'm not sure how much the cash in lieu option pays out, but we definitely would have spent a lot of riyals if we'd had to furnish the entire home (parents, three kids) from scratch. Despite having discovered items missing from our shipment, I'm still glad we shipped what we did, especially our 110v items, which are quickly becoming like gold here in the camp!
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Post by vpainter on Jan 13, 2012 19:11:59 GMT
Hadia, check the Sealy Mattress store on the Dammam Highway in the Hail Center next to Dominoes Pizza. They have regular size mattresses and bed frames.
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Post by Jenmcr on Jan 14, 2012 12:30:29 GMT
Hi All I am currently in the process of relocating and would like to start to organise myself in terms of what to bring with me etc. After reading the forum and some very informative posts (thank you to you all for contributing) I am still unsure what the best thing to do is whether this will be to buy things over in KSA or ship them with me. I will be placed bachelor housing so not too sure on how much space i will have and also what will be the best things are to bring. I currently live in the UK in a modest 2 bedroom house and as I will be relocating on my own i would like my new place to feel as homely as possible to prevent me from getting home sick too much!  I wasnt intending on bringing my bed/mattress etc and just more personal effects and maybe a few electrical appliances. Are you able to get most things out there? I just have a feeling that I am going to turn up in a place which doesnt have much in it with my bags in my hand thinking what have I done?! Any helpful hints/tips on what a female with OCD about cleaning ha could bring would be great!  |
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Post by willowcat on Jan 14, 2012 14:12:44 GMT
Hi
If you are coming from the UK and taking your shipping allowance, bring everything. I don't regret bringing my stuff, as whilst most things are available here, it can be a challenge buying stuff and there isn't such a wide variety of nice things to buy (in my opinion). I think it also helps being surrounding by your things from home.... If however you are not planning on being here long term and you want to make some cash by getting cash in lieu, then there is always IKEA!
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