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Click here to submit a review of Grace International Relocations (Formerly Southern Winds Interna

Grace International Relocations (Formerly Southern Winds Interna

3658 Ocean Ranch Blvd.
Oceanside , CA 92056
800-774-2129
This is a MovingScam.com endorsed company.
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DOT License Number: FMC 026831F
https://graceinternationalrelocations.com/
This company performs international moves.

This company was formerly Southern Winds International

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Reviews for Grace International Relocations (Formerly Southern Winds Interna

laurie m. 07/28/14
We moved from Los Angeles to London, and had our shipment in long term storage through Southern Winds until we got our house in London. Our shipment was delivered from storage on 20th of December, and everything was great. The whole experience was very professional and smooth, with excellent communication from Donovan Woodruff, who handled our move. We would highly recommend Southern Winds International.

Paul S. 09/01/13
I moved back to Australia from New York after losing my wife to cancer. I chose Southern Winds International, with some reservations, after reading posts on this site. It was a very hard move for me to go through emotionally. Making it worse from the start was the truck breaking down and arriving late that morning. I was due to catch a plane in the late afternoon, so there I was helping carry down a lot of the heavier boxes from my 6th-floor walkup apartment to ensure I could get to the airport in time.

But I paid my expenses with Southern Winds in a timely manner. I did the same with the cost of the Australian Customs (AQIS) exam with the moving company here because it was excluded from the agreement.

These were Southern Winds International's clearly listed exclusions:
WHAT DOES THIS SERVICE EXCLUDE:
AQIS exam, fumigation, 3rd party / handyman service (large wardrobes / items difficult to set-up), flights of stairs, long carries (walk more than 75 feet from front door to truck), shuttle, motorcycles, unpacking boxes. Destination agent GST excluded on additional services.

Southern Winds has a hold on the delivery of my shipment because of a U.S. Customs inspection. The company should be aware of a possible U.S. inspection but it was not in the list of exclusions in the agreement. Why have a list for you to be aware of/agree to in signing the agreement, by a company that's been doing this a while, if you're not going to stick to it? But I offered to pay the actual cost of the inspection anyway, $325, as shown in the invoice Southern Winds received. Southern Winds is insisting on added costs such as "ADMINISTRATION FEE $225" and "COORDINATION FEE $75" taking the cost of the examination of my shipment from $325 to $847.

I am going through extreme grief over the loss of my wife. Michael Gilbert at Southern Winds is well aware of that. Yet, once a money issue was involved, the tone/approach of his emails, with no justification, has been incredibly upsetting to me, causing me severe mental/emotional duress. He has even sent the same email to multiple email addresses of mine at the same time, sometimes attaching copious irrelevant previous correspondence.

Yesterday I sent a letter to the company here, Australian Van lines, asking why the shipment is on hold when Southern Winds can provide no legal basis for doing so. I have paid all money due in accordance with the agreement. First thing this morning there were 3 emails in my inbox from Southern Winds resuming that pattern of harassment, attaching documents they had already sent the day before. The tone, perhaps in relation to my correspondence with Australian Vanlines about them, now seems to be carefully modified, but the demand is no less.

As I've mentioned, I offered to pay the $325 anyway, which I think was fair. It was more than fair given such things as my having been assured that the cost of the shipment would be lowered from the estimate if I reduced the weight, with no mention of container volume. That was part of my choosing to use Southern Winds. I spent days getting rid of household goods, books, chairs, clothing, dumbbells, a heavy vintage sewing machine, etc., hundreds of kilos, and yet the price was not lowered from the estimate by a single dollar.

Getting settled back here has been tough enough already. And now that I am ready to move into a place, I am facing an apartment with no furniture. I'm someone who functions on an ethical basis, and Southern Winds just keeps skirting around the principles involved. I can't afford to pay for the furnished unit I'm in and one I'll be moving to, so I'm going to either have to let the new apartment go, which has taken so long to find, or have to borrow a mattress from someone and sleep on the floor within the next day or two.

As if my grief over my wife isn't enough to cope with every day. I moved back to Australia to get away from the memories of fighting her cancer together through four hospitals in New York, and this is what I'm faced with here--because Southern Winds is demanding a payment they are responsible for according to the contract, and making it far worse by charging exorbitant administrative costs they should be absorbing, instead of profiting from the situation.

07/12/12
We would like to share about our experience with Southern Winds International and their partners because they all did a wonderful job with us.

We moved to France recently and the company has been very careful with our stuff (not any item was lost or damaged, even pictures, glass coffee tables or mirrors...). Their service was great (especially Michael Gilbert's, who was always available to answer our questions and take the time to explain the process to us). Southern Winds and their partners were always perfectly on time, very nice to us, very competent and careful, from the picking up to the delivery.

Moreover, the price that they gave us before picking up our stuff was exactly the price we actually paid. The shipping company was about to increase our price because of a change in the shipping fee, but Michael Gilbert finally found another ship in order to maintain the price they gave us in the first place, which we really appreciated.

In brief, we had a great experience with Southern Winds, and they really helped us making our moving much smoother and less stressful.

We already recommended this company to all of our friends, and we would recommend it to anyone who's planning on moving abroad!

12/10/12
Reviews of Southern Winds International can be found here:
http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3987

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