CONTRIBUTED BY DIANA MIDDLETON
Most of us have had to do this at least once in our time as military families--move out of one house into another all on our own! In the Marine Corps, we call it a D-it-Y move (ditty). This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. If you're like me, it's bad, real bad (you don't even want to know how my kitchen dishes came out one time--and I couldn't blame it on anyone). That's why someone invented moving companies, right? For people like me, who throw "ditty" moves out the window and hire real professionals to handle the mess!
Anyhow, Kristi wants to know if anyone has had any experience with professional moving companies on Okinawa. I know there are about a dozen moving services listed in the yellow pages, but does anyone have first hand experience with one they would like to share? Thank you!
If you are already on island and want to move items on island, then I would recommend Budget. They have English speaking staff and did a good job for us.
We used Budget, too, and they were OK. They VERY late, but gave me discount to compensate. They also gave me free boxes and packing supplies even though I thought I would only use them for moving my furniture. They were fast and efficient once there. I’m not sure if this is with all companies, but I had to meet them at KAB Gate 1 to get passes for the delivery men. This was NOT disclosed to me until 20 min before I had to meet them. It was Saturday afternoon, my toddler was napping, and it was totally inconvenient! Again, this may be necessary with any company.
They were easy to work with, but I wish I had contacted a few more companies to see if someone else could’ve done a better job maybe even for a better price. They were the first and only phone call I made b/c they were available on the day I wanted(within a week). Oh well.
Has anyone got suggestions for international moving companies to use when moving between the states and Okinawa?
Just bumping this topic to see if anyone has any added information concerning moving companies here on Okinawa. Im about to move off-base in a few weeks and trying to determine if I should attempt to “self-move” versus having a company take care of this headache for me.
Any comments will be appreciated and thanks in advance!
I can’t fine Budget. Can anyone tell me how to find them? we are moving to a differt house on Base, and we were told to use Budget.
Help!
Shaine – I think you can call the Foster Furniture store and ask for them. They’re the same companies that do those deliveries.
Another option is Hank – http://www.okinawaentertainment.com – I’ve not used him to move a whole house, but he’s returned furniture for me several times. Always very prompt, communicative and works on MY schedule, even rescheduling at the last minute. It doesn’t mention moving on his site but you might ask him about it anyway.
Good luck!
Try InnovativeRyukyu.com or PatsSats.com, ask for Greg. He will either take care of you or point you in the right direction.
I just priced a move from on base to off base (June ’11) I priced four companies and Budget was by far the most expensive. They were easily double one of the companies and still more than the other two. I went with Okinawa Transportation Moving Services. They do not speak english well but we were able to communicate well enough. They provided as many free boxes as I needed and were quite professional. I saved 101,000 yen by using this company instead of the one that everyone recommends. Hope this helps.
If anyone knows the website or phone number for Okinawa Transportation Moving Services, would you please post it. I googled it but it didn’t turn up. Thank you!!
Budget quoted us 80,000 yen (993$) for a king bed, children’s single bed, a wardrobe, a dresser, a book shelf, washer and dryer, refrigerator, a china cabinet, a kitchen rack, television, dining table and chairs, sofa, and a photo stand. We will post two other companies estimates soon.
The second company is called Okinawa Haiso, As far as I know they are not affiliated with this website haha. Haiso 配送 means delivery. His quote was 40,000 yen. The last company is coming on Monday. We will post their quote on Monday. If anyone knows the number for OTMS we will get their estimate as well.
The final moving company, ART 0123, came today and quoted us 35,000 yen.
I also asked Okinawa Haiso and Art 0123 for a quote for all of our stuff. Okinawa Haiso was 88,000 and for Art 0123 it was 73,000 yen. We would have to pack and unpack ourselves but they provide the boxes.
Budget is the only company that also offers container storage for those of us who are moving to a smaller house.
I will let you know what we decide and all of the details of the move after it is finished!!
I wife called Art 0123 to agree to the move and ask for boxes to start our self pack. He said that he wanted to come back and look at our place again. It is very disappointing to be given a quote agreeing to hire the company only to be told they need to see our place again for a new quote! He should have done what he had to do while he was here! We have the paperwork here quoting us 73,000 yen!! Hopefully it all works out!! Standby for the rest of the story….
My wife called the moving company again and told them that we wanted to get the boxes and accept the quote of 73,000 yen. This time she said that they should stand by their quote! Mr. Miyagi who gave us the original quote told her that he was retiring and that they will not stand by their quote. Not sure what retiring has to do with it???? He said that he asked his superior and that they would do it for 98,000 yen. My wife was way to shy to say anything else.
It looks like 88,000 is the lowest offer so far but we will have one more quote tomorrow. Hopefully it is better than 88,000 yen!!!
Get a truck, move yourself and quit complaining. Truck will run you about $60/day.
Thanks Paul for the idea!! Do you have time to help us with the move? Haha Did you read what Diana contributed above?
Another company will be here this afternoon for another quote. Will post after their visit.
Sean, your posts are very helpful for the topic at hand. Although it’s been a while since I was on island and wrote this article, I know that the more info you have, the better decision you can make! Keep us posted on how things turn out! I hope you get a good price with a quality company and by sharing the info, you’re helping others! Thanks!
Hey Sean, thanks for sharing all of your info. Helps narrow down my list of who to call to get a quote. I appreciate the details and considering a move to Naha, a decent quote around 100,000yen would save me even on gas money alone (driving myself/multiple trips). Again, thanks!
Sean, it’s not that hard. It cost me Y30,000 to move my home across town (moving company). I had them move the large items like piano, beds, desks, tv’s, couches, entertainment center. I moved the clothes and small boxes myself in my truck.
Took one day. Piece of cake.
Thank you Diana and Shelly!! Much has happened since the last post. Sorry if this seems a little long.
I called the headquarters of Art (0123) corporation in Osaka this morning and told them what happened. They told me they needed some time to look into it and they called me back at 4 pm this afternoon. They told me that it was a misunderstanding between Mr. Miyagi of the local Art Corporation and myself but that they will honor their original quote of 73000 yen.
The person that I spoke with was pure gold, a shining example of what customer service should be. He apologized several times and gave us the price we were quoted. I told him that I would call him back tomorrow because we had one last company coming today and that tomorrow we will have decided. He agreed.
The final company Sakae came today. Like Art (0123) they are Nation-wide. They quoted us 64,000 yen for large items only and 108,000 yen for the everything. It looks like we will choose Art(0123) for our move. We will speak with the headquarters tomorrow. Stay tuned for the rest of the story!!
Paul: You are right! For lots of people it is a great option. We did consider it but we have far too much stuff to do it in a day.
The best quote for the large stuff is 35,000 yen and the best quote for everything was 73,000. So what it boils down to is this is the day or two of loading and unloading the truck worth 38000 yen? It is a personal choice.
Sean: So after all was said and done, what phone number do we call here in Okinawa? If we have them just move the big stuff we can assume about Y38,000?
Thank you, Sean.
Sorry, I was away this weekend!!
Meg I think they use weight/volume of furniture, distance of move and ease of access to the buildings for the quote.
Sakai said that if they can’t get our king bed up the elevator or stairs they might need a special type of outside lift or crane for the bed. If that happens they will charge extra.
So if you live in a building on an upper floor and you don’t have an elevator it might be more. If your amount of furniture or distance to your new place is different than ours than of course your quote will vary. I think that you should get at least two quotes and take the best offer!! It doesn’t hurt to let them know that you are shopping around either!
We are using Art Cooperation for our move. They dropped off all of the boxes for our self pack. Two of the boxes came in nylon bags with carry straps. They are for our dishes and glasses. There are 80 regular cardboard boxes and a roll of packing tape.
The contact numbers of the movers that we received quotes from are as follows:
Art ~ 098-874-0123
Sakai ~ 098-951-3144
Okinawa Haiso ~ 098 930-0023
Budget ~ 098-869-2222
I was using terrible Japanese and managed to get by. I expect that they have someone with decent English but I am not certain. The guy from Budget who came for the estimate spoke English.
We have until the 16th to pack up our stuff. I will post again once everything is done!!
I hope this goes well!!!
It has been a busy two weeks!!! We are almost ready to move! The movers will be here tomorrow at 9am. I am almost ready. Thank god we have an extra couple of days in our old place to finish up. I have the special cases for the dishes ready to go. We don’t have to worry about the clothes that are on hangers, they have cardboard wardrobes and they just move the hangers into them. Saves us a big hassle. 24 hours to go!!!
Sean
It took me a while to find time to finish this. We are still unpacking and organizing. The move went fairly well with no broken or missing items that we know of yet. The only complaint that I have is that the movers were pretty young and weren’t very serious. They were likable but didn’t instill confidence in us. They wrapped our king mattress well when they left our old house but when it was time to negotiate the stairs they either lost of removed half of the wrapping. Part of the mattress was exposed and I didn’t care for the way that they forced it up the stairs. There were black hand prints on the mattress afterwards. Other than that I didn’t have any issues. We paid what we were quoted and they will return for the boxes when we are done unpacking. We are definitely enjoying the view and breeze here in Onna village!
Moving company is one of few industries that expect the chip in Japan.
We, Japanese (I guess Okinawan are same) normally give 2000 yen to 5000yen to each worker.
You don’t need to pay it, but the services will be differ.