Expectations when relocating: We heard them say….

A person seeking services for relocating has many concerns in his/her mind. Sometimes it is because of the lack of knowledge about the industry or the confusion to choose the service provider. Mostly it is not about choosing the best, but it is about the appropriate and best suitable for the situation. A consumer driven market has enabled an atmosphere of companies trying to convince the clients that they are the best. When the consumer is the King, the companies can’t go against their expectations. What does the consumer expect when he/she requires a relocation service? 

We asked people what are the things in their mind when they choose.

 “I would be concerned about the views of the people who used the company’s services. Their evaluation of the company would be a deciding factor. Safety of my possessions and smooth move would be my first priority and the price factor will be my second criteria.”

“The service provider needs to respect the time factor. The packing and delivery of items should be done on time. The company should also be a very reliable in the industry and efficient enough to handle my things with extreme care. I will also not tolerate a situation when company provides me a quote and charges me more than the amount quoted. I strongly believe that a good company will not miscalculate the cost of moving.”

“I will first consider whether the company will provide services for the price bracket I am looking for, if in-case they charge more than what I am willing to pay, I will check it is worth. The other factors would be end-to-end services, time taken for delivery, safety of the items and reputation of the company.”

“The quote provided by the company should be impressive and I would also go by opinion of people I know. A complete package of services, providing unpacking services and internet reviews will also be considered by me before I choose a company”

“Lower price is a very important factor when I opt for a relocation company, but I usually avoid the companies which quote prices well below the industry standards. Opting for such companies might turn out to be a risk.”

"The company should be a well-known and reputed. I will also be focused on the company's insurance policy, because incase of any damages to my items I would be able to recover some cost of loss. Though not a huge factor, price will also play a role in my decision-making."

"A Holistic service is what I expect from my relocation company. I would expect them to pack all the household things, except my clothes. The company should be very punctual about the delivery, because early delivery or late delivery might create issues when we are in a new place."

"Timely delivery, safety of my belongings and competitive pricing is what I will be looking at while engaging a packing and moving company."

"A quote which provides all-inclusive pricing will appeal to me more, because a detailed quote usually defines the professionalism involved in the company's functioning"

The general opinion about people seeking relocation services is that they are very focused about the reliability of a company and the opinion of their acquaintances. Though many base their decision on competitive pricing, they are also aware of the fact that price should not be the main factor in decision making. Timely service and holistic approach towards packing services have become the order of the day. A packing and moving company providing minimal services is being replaced by a trend of end-to-end solutions.

The Players

Companies providing end-to-end solutions for the relocating needs are Allied, Interem, Writer Relocations and few other FIDI affiliated companies. FIDI affiliated companies adhere high standards in providing services and so it is always better to choose them. While choosing any company for using their services thorough knowledge about the company's efficiency and resources is very important. Knowledge is always power.

Role of Interem

Companies like Interem are constantly raising the bar by providing higher standard of services. Their services include,

• Settling-in Services- which include Preview Trip, Orientation Program, Home Search, School Search, Immigration Consultancy (Foreign Registration & Visa Extensions) and Repatriation.
• Warehousing solutions for a possible delay in relocation plans.
• A specialized and expert handling of your prized art collections.
• Automobile relocation
• Professional pet handlers for relocating pets.

Relocation services have become a complete package. It is no wonder that the consumer is aware of the changing trend and demands higher standards in services. When selecting a service provider it is very important to evaluate the whole process and all the services provided. A right choice will save you from panic and uncertainties. When you have a map and you have chosen a good path, your journey will be pleasant. It is about taking the right decisions, for the right move with the right mover!



For all your relocating needs
Interem
www.interem.in
Our India Toll Free No. 1800 102 0110
sales.interem@freightsystems.com

Relocation: Are you in safe hands?

A sudden transfer? Settling down in hometown? Relocating from a country to another? Moving your pets? Moving your automobile?... All these can mean that you are going to be involved in confusions and great difficulty. A lot of issues have to be thought about during your relocation. The amount of money you need to spend, the emotional bonding with the place you are relocating from and the safe shifting of all your valued possessions. Add to that the complication of handling delicate and heavy products at the same time; your head will start spiraling.

What if you had a professional agency that specializes in relocating and can be your one stop solution for all your relocating needs? Now your woes have significantly reduced. But the real task is to choose the correct mover who could provide the best services.

Choosing a mover needs to be based on various criterias. 

• Warehouses and Offices

“Face is the index of mind”, says the old saying. A visit to the relocation facilities should solve half the problem about deciding the quality of the service they could provide. The neatness and orderliness of a company’s warehouse would help you assess the level of professionalism they would render in their services. Face being the index for mind, the warehouses and offices are surely the samples of services. The attitude of the employees towards the job will be a good preview of how your belongings will be handled. The business facilities of the company should give you a fair idea of their capabilities and limitations. The company which has operations in most cities can easily co-ordinate your move and so it is also necessary to know about the various office locations of the company.

•  Quality Standards

A company which adheres to quality standards should be preferred. It is very important to check for Accreditations and Certifications received by the moving company. As they would be required to be have certain infrastructure and equipments for their operations. This would enable increased level of effectiveness in providing services. FIDI accredition is one such certifications provided to the moving companies.

•  Verification with other clients of the company

The trustworthiness and promptness in services should be verified with clients who had used the company’s services. The level of trust in any company is elevated to the next level when people who used the services of the company vouch for the standard of services. A satisfied client is more important than any award or certification.

•  Knowledge about packing standards

The packing of the goods is a very important feature of any move and so unprofessional packing will lead to damage of goods. It is necessary to be aware of the industry standards in packing, materials used and techniques. Your knowledge will help you in identifying below par service and enable you to demand the requirements.

•  Clarity in operations

Be very careful about the formalities of the claim settlement process, as the agreement could have deceptive or hidden clauses. A low quote and hidden costs can be used by certain companies to deceive the potential clients. The clarifications about all costs applicable for the packing and moving of your goods should be made before you finalize the relocation company.

 When you are selecting a packers and movers, if these are considered then your successful relocation would be almost certain. You need not load your mind with the difficulties of relocating. Your only concern would be about adapting to the new environment.

It’s not just about moving your goods, it’s about moving good

Plan your mover, so that you don't have to move your plans

For all your relocation needs,

Contact: 1800 102 0110 (Our India Toll Free No.)

+91 9840555752

www.interem.in

Professionalism or Service

When was the last time you felt a company was serving you rather than just doing its business? Would you expect a company to do holistic service or just be happy with its professional approach? What do you see as the most vital element and the deciding factor to call a company a “good company”?

There are two doctors in a locality. One is a formal guy and the other is more friendly and compassionate. People in the locality know that the man of few words is more efficient and experienced, but they prefer to visit the compassionate and friendly doctor. They consult him because of the fact that he provides them with the comfort level needed during their crisis situations. We also tend to adapt the same approach in many such situations. We may convince ourselves to avail of services from a person or company even though we know that they are not the best in the business. The emotional connect we have overpowers the reasoning in preferring professionalism. Does this type of reasoning stand good in very strict business sense? Will we have the same considerations when dealing with the corporate world?

How will we choose? If the difference in standard of service between the two companies is very obvious then choosing might not be tough. When the level of professionalism is just marginally high, how do we choose? The company is experienced, well-established and a prominent one in its industry of operation, but still we may not want to be associated with them. This can be caused by a existing relationship with another company. A successful relationship need not be broken, if it has been providing satisfactory results. A consideration to join hands with the new company should be based on the innovative approaches they possess, added advantage we could obtain, general practises of the industry and a better image we could gain from our client’s perspective. A thorough analysis of these factors is required before we can have a new relationship. A new relationship without having any significant developments would not be acceptable. Tried and tested methods are better to have than adopting a new method which others might call the best.

How will you choose your relocation partner?

What would be on your mind when you plan to choose a relocation partner? What are the factors which will make you choose the company for servicing your relocation needs? Reputation, price, track record, global presence or any other fact? Which of these will create the greater impact in your decision making?

There are numerous reasons to stick or not stick to a particular relocation company. Cost is a very vital element, but however when it comes to safety and timeliness, cost just comes as the third in priority. Delivering on time and with utmost care is what we usually look for in a good relocation company, but there can be other factors that can make us go back to them whenever we have a necessity. Those factors make what might be usually just a business transaction into the relationship. There are a few instances that bring the company close to our heart, that’s what makes the difference between a transaction and a relationship. Its not enough if the good work is done only for the first instance, we need to get the comfort and trust every time we approach the business. We might need good feedback system to voice our grievances and also need to be practically proved that those issues were taken care. There might a few very small things that we tend to look while we decide to stick on to a particular service provider. Sticking to the promises, meeting and at times exceeding expectations and also the efforts to keep the customer happy is what really matters. There might be dozens of options to choose from, but what is most vital is that “do we feel the urge and the confidence to go back to service provider and use what’s on offer. End of day “No one can be fully satisfied, but for sure there is a benchmark to feel convinced about good service”.

Interem Relocations

(www.interem.in)

Interem and the other namesake companies

A review was written by a person about our company in a website. It was a negative review with lot of complaints about the operations of the company. The person accused the company of being highly unprofessional and providing dirty commitments. The person involved in moving his luggage kept them in the road and refused to take it to the house in the second floor because he had refused to pay him extra money. These claims by the person were hard to accept taking into consideration the high standards we set and the very serious complaints he made. We were courteous enough to apologize for the bad experience he had and we also requested his reference number to make clarifications. When we received the reference number and verified the records, we found out that the relocation services were not provided by us. It is most likely that he had availed the services of one of the many companies which constantly attempt at utilizing the brand value of Interem and misguide prospective clients. There have been negative reviews about the company before but they were a result of misunderstanding about the agreement between the company and the client. A not-so good review about the company is absolutely normal in any business operation, but this misguiding of prospective clients is unfair from the business point of view. The most disappointing part of this issue would be that only little can be done to tackle the problem. A look-a-like Roger Federer or Usain Bolt can pose like the originals. Can they perform like the real athletes? Reggie Brown (Barack Obama impersonator) can mouth lines like “we can” and amuse people, but is it possible for him to bring back troops from Afghanistan.  A similar situation would be when a person expects the same professionalism from the setup which wants to tap the name value of a reputed company.

A company which loses its prospective client, (because of a company which cons the client with a similar sounding name) loses one client and may also earn a bad reputation among a group known to the person. When proportionately taking it to consideration it might be minor, but what effect it has on the person who avails the services should be looked closely. The person will suffer badly and a sour memory of the experience will be etched in the back of their mind. Usually higher pricing is associated with greed but the truth is, it is near to impossible to provide a descent level of service without charging a descent fee. The cost charged includes proper packaging, good transporting and handling. When you feel the price is a big bargain according to industry standards, you should realize there is a possibility that you might not receive the perfection you wanted. It is important to prioritize our expectations. Do we rate low cost more than safety and proper handling of goods? A person moving their belongings would always prefer safety over other factors. You can either be satisfied with good services or be briefly happy about the huge discount you managed to obtain and later regret about the problems you faced while relocating.  

Interem Relocations (a subsidiary of Freight Systems Group) 

(www.interem.in)

Interem to invest Rs 200-crore in 3 years

Source: Economic Times (Bangalore edition) 19 Dec 2012

Relocation and warehousing company Interem plans to invest Rs 200 crore over the next three years, as part of its plan to increase its business in the consumer retail segment across the country.

The company has earmarked about Rs 150 crore to acquire land and build a logistics hub near the Nhava Sheva container port in Navi Mumbai.

It also plans to spend between Rs 50 crore and Rs 60 crore for a separate facility in Sanand, Gujarat.

"The Nhava Sheva project should be initiated by 2013, and be up and running by 2014. We have also applied to the government for land in Sanand," said Rahul Pillai, regional director for Middle East and India, Interem.

These new projects will spearhead the company's plans to re-orient its business towards a more consumer-led model. Currently, about 90% of its business in India is generated from the business-to-business model.

"The business-to-consumer segment is more competitive and margins do get impacted, but the Indian market works on volumes and we hope to grow the retail segment by an additional 10% over the next year," said Pillai.

According to industry estimates, the Indian relocation sector is valued at about $360 million (about Rs 1,960 crore now), and is expected to grow 20% annually.

Interem competes with Santa Fe Relocation Services and Crown Relocations — both based in Hong Kong — as well as UK's Allied Pickfords in the highly fractured Indian logistics, warehousing and relocation sector.

It will fund the expansion through its own reserves as also funds from its parent — Dubai-based $400 million Freight Systems Group.

Privately-held Freight Systems Group is involved in shipping, freight forwarding, warehousing and supply chain logistics.

In 2010, Interem invested Rs 50 crore for constructing a 20 lakh square-foot central logistics hub in the Mahindra World City special economic zone in Chennai.

"We have been fairly cash rich as a company, and our division has zero debt per se. As we go forward, it (investments in India) will be funded by the parent company," Pillai said.

According to him, Interem contributed 10%, or $40 million, to Freight Systems' turnover for 2011-12. It expects to make up 20% of the parent's turnover in the current fiscal.

"The huge volume of domestic consumption in India has been the differentiator, as the market requirements in the country are huge," Pillai said.