Did you use a Pet Shipper if so why or why not?

OK seriously need your help on this one! I have done a ton of homework on this but apparently not enough.

Did you use a pet shipper? or not?

One quote so far wants 5200.00 to get my dogs accross! They dont have 24 K gold toe nail polish for gods sake!

Kath

Did it all myself.  I had my brother put our kitty on the plane for us, and I picked her up at Heathrow.

It's expensive anyway you slice it.  I am right where you are.  I either have to rely on my mother and another friend of mine to get everything done and my dog on the plane, or cough up the money to have him shipped.  I am thinking (and most likely will go with) airbourne animals shipping company.  Her prices seem to be the most reasonable, and the woman who runs this company was highly suggested by another UKY'er.

I'm doing it all myself. Zeusy's right that it's expensive any way you do it. The most expensive is the cost of their flight. I've found that continental and virgin are cheaper than BA. Maybe see how much the flight is going to cost and go from there. It's not that difficult to do it yourself, you just have to stay on top of things.

I did it myself because using a shipper seemed to complicate things.  I also had this lingering fear that it would end up being more expensive than the quotes I was receiving.  I got a ride to the airport in the US and checked them in myself.  And my FIL hired a van and met us at the airport in the UK. 

If you think about it, you are paying for an animal shipper when you buy their tickets.  For example, Continental uses PBS International to handle its animal shipments to the UK.  It's mostly a matter of getting them to and from the airport. 

And, unless a company can prove to you that it has successfully shipped a lot of animals to the UK under the PETS scheme, I wouldn't turn responsibility for paperwork over.  The man at Continental told me that the number of people he turns away on the US end for paperwork mistakes is unbelievable. 

I did it myself. It really isn't that difficult, and I saw no point paying someone to do something I could easily figure out for myself.

I did it myself. It really isn't that difficult, and I saw no point paying someone to do something I could easily figure out for myself.

Ditto.  I wouldn't pay someone to do what I can do for free!

My DH & I paid someone to do all the paperwork for us. that was the best money we spent next to Our Wedding & moving me over here!! We used Airborne Animals service ourselves she was very Proffessional & Courteous with Us & my Precious cargo. we will always highly recomend them to anyone who asks for assisstance about pet travel. for some people they may cost to much but we didnt think so, we are very pleased with them!

Seems like you have a choice, coming from the States.  We HAD TO use a shipping agent; the DEFRA-approved carriers from Japan demanded it.  (BA is not an approved carrier, btw.  Odd, isn't it?)

They didn't do any of the paperwork, but they checked it.  For about 2 grand.  I had already faxed everything over to DEFRA and confirmed it was fine.

Bah, shipping agents.