The client, a leading software company, needed Graebel Relocation's help to secure housing for an expatriate employee relocating from California to the UK. The employee's bank misplaced funds required to rent a property, jeopardizing the assignment. Graebel processed an urgent payment within 29 minutes, resolving the issue and allowing the employee to secure the rental. Graebel's fast response avoided serious problems for the employee and assignment through quick action and coordination between their international teams.

1. CUTTING
CUMBERSOME
RED-TAPE IN
UK RENTALS
THE CUSTOMER
A Fortune 500 software corporation
headquartered in California with more
than 20,000 employees worldwide.
PROJECT SCOPE
To handle an out of scope rush rental
payment so expatriate could secure
housing in the UK, and to avoid delivery
issue with assignee’s household goods.
WHY GRAEBEL RELOCATION
Policy compliance, cost containment and
ongoing communication with clients and
their assignees are legendary at Graebel.
Because of the fast-changing, complex
events and varying assignee needs
associated with an international
assignment, Graebel Relocation empowers
its industry-expert employees to employ
their real-world experiences and sound
judgment to overcome obstacles. This
unique flexibility and agility comes into
play in 165 countries on six continents.
“A huge thank you to Graebel’s team in Prague for taking such
responsive proactive action on what could’ve been
a potentially awful situation for our employee.”
– Global Mobility Manager, leading software firm
GRSW-181 © 2015 Graebel Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. * Contractually, client cannot be named.
www.GRAEBEL.com
Global Employee & Office Relocation, Move Management & Workplace Services
CONNECT AND SHARE
The client, a leading global software firm, authorized Graebel
Relocation to administer moving services for an assignee from
Silicon Valley (U.S.) to Reading in the UK. An expat-lite benefit
required the employee to self-manage housing-related services
while on the two-year assignment. The assignee and spouse
settled into temporary housing in the UK. While all was smooth
sailing with the household goods shipments, the employee ran
into a rental challenge.
THE CHALLENGE
The assignee’s bank misplaced a transfer of funds required to secure the rental property. The
Reading and surrounding area’s extremely tight rental market caused the assignee to be in jeopardy
of forfeiting the property, because the unavailable rental funds were required the next day.
THE SOLUTION
Typically, one of the most important aspects of a successful international assignment is to secure
acceptable housing, the prospect of losing this assignee’s selected rental property brought extreme
stress and panic to the assignee and spouse.
The client’s formal process could not provide funds for the assignee in less than 24-hours, the
client’s global mobility manager was alerted by the assignee’s manager who immediately reached
out to Graebel Relocation.
The urgent request for help reached Graebel at 3:53 p.m. MST. The client was assured that the problem
would be solved; and, the Graebel accounting team initiated the rush payment. By 4:22 p.m. MST
(10:22 p.m., GMT) the assignee and the client’s dedicated in-region Graebel EMEA center team were
notified about the critical /next steps. By 8:10 a.m. MST (10:22 p.m., GMT) the rush payment was
processed and the issue was resolved.
THE RESULTS
Graebel Relocation avoided a serious roadblock for the assignee after receiving the urgent
request, and did not hesitate to work outside of the client’s scope of service, without ever asking
for compensation for a special service fee. Rapid response and proactive steps to loop in the
appropriate parties instantly, and with a workable solution resulted in the securing of the rental
property so that the assignee could focus on the new UK assignment.
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