The opinions presented here are solely those of the author; they are not necessarily shared by EDS

We relocated to Sydney in May 2007, the move being paid for by EDS who required that we use their "preferred supplier" for moving - Wridgeways in Australia.  Their partner in New Zealand is NZ Van Lines, who did a great job packing our shipment.  But the delivery by Wridgeways in Australia was a disaster.

Despite EDS paying for "full unwrapping & unpacking" of all furniture and boxes, when all items had been brought from the delivery van into the apt I was asked to confirm that the shipment was complete.  The tone of voice indicated "job done", so I agreed that all boxes appeared to be delivered, but that I had paid for full unwrapping & unpacking and asked for confirmation that was going to be done.

Ross - the "leader" - said that was not normal in Australia and if asked to unpack & unwrap they would take things out of the moving boxes and put everything on the floor.  I called Wridgeways to confirm that the job included all unpacking & unwrapping, at which time Ross became very agitated and aggressive, demanded to use my phone to speak to his office, started a series of name calling, took the phone away from me & walked away from me to speak to the office.  He returned the phone to me with the call finished so I had to call back the office to find out what transpired; when reconnected the office confirmed that all items would be unpacked & unwrapped.

Ross continued his aggressive & name calling behaviour throughout the remainder of the day.  It wasn't pleasant to be called a "dickhead" & "a little twat" in my own home throughout the afternoon - it's not what I expect from a service provider.

True to his word, Ross the "leader" threw everything he unpacked on the floor - photos below.  And at the end of the day he required that I sign his standard Wridgeways form indicating that everything had been performed to my satisfaction.  Given the amount of aggravation this guy caused during the day I signed under duress & was happy to see the back of him.

All I can say is avoid Wridgeways.  If moving within Australia avoid them like the plague. If moving to Australia from overseas make sure the delivery agent in Australia is not Wridgeways; if it is, then find another mover to pack your goods.

The photos below are the proof of the pudding.  I wish they were clearer but they were taken with my camera phone.  If I could have found my camera I would have taken better photos - but, hey, it was piled at the bottom of Wridgeways' rubbish.

And how do I know that moving can be a better experience?  In the past 24 years I have moved internationally 12 times, 7 times with a shipment:

1. Melbourne -> Kuala Lumpur [no shipment, just a suitcase]
2. Kuala Lumpur -> Melbourne [no shipment, just a suitcase]
3. Melbourne -> Singapore [no shipment, just a suitcase]
4. Singapore -> New York [no shipment, just a suitcase]
5. New York -> Brussels
6. Brussels -> Jakarta
7. Jakarta -> Singapore
8. Singapore -> Jakarta
9. Jakarta -> Richmond, VA
10. Richmond -> Bangkok
11. Bangkok -> Wellington [no shipment, we just packed our bags and went]
12. Wellington -> Sydney

So, what have I done about this? Well, EDS contacted Wridgeways on my behalf, with these photos, who remarkably tried to defend Ross.  Did I know that he has never done this before?  And he has a great record with the company?  Well, all I know is that he acted aggressively and unprofessionally on 100% of the occasions that I interacted with him.  They offered to send a concierge lady to come and help clean up the mess; but that was 2-3 days after the damage was done and by then my wife had cleaned up about 80% of the mess; and she said something along the lines of "I don't want anyone from that company in my home again" -- it was a little more colourful but that was the gist of it.  They offered me an undefined monetary compensation but I told them that EDS paid for the move, so any discussion about compensation should be held with EDS, not me.  I shared the photos with EDS and recommended that Wridgeways are removed as a preferred provider of relocation services. I contacted NZ Van Lines to tell them that they had done a great job packing everything, but their reputation had been negatively affected by their poor choice of agents in Australia. 

I later contacted the CEO of Wridgeways Australia and he offered an apology from the company and told me that the team leader had been reprimanded for his behaviour.  I was also given an extract of the interview notes from the delivery team where they claimed that I had instigated the trouble.  I take that as self-defense by the people involved. 

Click on an image below to be horrified by a larger picture.