Personal Belongings Shipping Recommendations
Oct 15th 2008, 9:47 am
#1
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 556
Personal Belongings Shipping Recommendations
We recently migrated to Oz and had 15 boxes of personal belongings to send via sea freight & 2 cases (45kg) to send via air freight. Two very different experiences:
* Sea Freight - Seven Seas - Highly Recommended
Boxes took 9 weeks 5 days door to door (Yorkshire to Adelaide) - less than expected (including 2 weeks sat in Melbourne customs). Price was very competitive, service was excellent. Boxes were delivered the day after the order was made, and collected the morning after collection was requested. Plenty of bubble wrap and tape was provided. Both times I was emailed an exact drop off/collection time within a half hour window and the driver was spot on, and friendly. I was kept updated during the transit time (could even log on and view the ships progress on a map if I wanted to), and was able to change the delivery address at this end with no problem. Delivery of good was arranged easily and the driver phoned that morning to confirm when he would arrive. The boxes arrived in excellent condition, nothing damaged/broken etc. Very happy.
* Air Freight - Excess Baggage - Very Poor Service
Two cases took over 4 weeks door to door (Yorkshire to Adelaide) - despite us being promised delivery within 10 to 14 days - which was the whole point of us using air freight. The collection driver was late, the cases then took 4 days to get from Yorkshire to London and another week before they were processed by Excess Baggage. My seafreight had left the country in less time! I was constantly emailing and ringing to chase up progress but emails were ignored and the customer service was very poor. Eventually the cases left the UK and I received them a further 2 weeks later (despite the fact the plane only take approx 26 hours between the UK and Australia!) The cases just appeared at my house with no contact made from the shippers - it was lucky I was home - and the driver told me if I hadnt been home I would have incurred extra charges for delivery. When I opened the cases I found that they had been opened in transit (customs or the shippers?) and a new top was ripped as had been trapped in the suitcase zipper. On contacting the shipping co I was told the cases were not opened by them or customs and that I was making it up. I pointed out that their receipt was INSIDE the locked case therefore they must have opened it!! they then said it must have been customs who opened it (to put in the shipping co's receipt?) - the shipper said they would obtain a customs report for me to confirm this - 6 weeks later - no report. In the meantime I noticed the receipt gave a price significantly less than what they had taaken off my card. I complained and asked for an explanation - they admitted that they had overcharged me but offered no explanation or apology for that or the significant delivery delay. I am still trying to get a refund and apology from them. The customer service is so hopeless that they have called me about 4 different versions of my name when replying to my emails - I am surprised my cases actually made it here!
*Insurance - used Letton Percival for both air and sea - very competitively priced - easy to use, paid up straight away for damaged item
* Sea Freight - Seven Seas - Highly Recommended
Boxes took 9 weeks 5 days door to door (Yorkshire to Adelaide) - less than expected (including 2 weeks sat in Melbourne customs). Price was very competitive, service was excellent. Boxes were delivered the day after the order was made, and collected the morning after collection was requested. Plenty of bubble wrap and tape was provided. Both times I was emailed an exact drop off/collection time within a half hour window and the driver was spot on, and friendly. I was kept updated during the transit time (could even log on and view the ships progress on a map if I wanted to), and was able to change the delivery address at this end with no problem. Delivery of good was arranged easily and the driver phoned that morning to confirm when he would arrive. The boxes arrived in excellent condition, nothing damaged/broken etc. Very happy.
* Air Freight - Excess Baggage - Very Poor Service
Two cases took over 4 weeks door to door (Yorkshire to Adelaide) - despite us being promised delivery within 10 to 14 days - which was the whole point of us using air freight. The collection driver was late, the cases then took 4 days to get from Yorkshire to London and another week before they were processed by Excess Baggage. My seafreight had left the country in less time! I was constantly emailing and ringing to chase up progress but emails were ignored and the customer service was very poor. Eventually the cases left the UK and I received them a further 2 weeks later (despite the fact the plane only take approx 26 hours between the UK and Australia!) The cases just appeared at my house with no contact made from the shippers - it was lucky I was home - and the driver told me if I hadnt been home I would have incurred extra charges for delivery. When I opened the cases I found that they had been opened in transit (customs or the shippers?) and a new top was ripped as had been trapped in the suitcase zipper. On contacting the shipping co I was told the cases were not opened by them or customs and that I was making it up. I pointed out that their receipt was INSIDE the locked case therefore they must have opened it!! they then said it must have been customs who opened it (to put in the shipping co's receipt?) - the shipper said they would obtain a customs report for me to confirm this - 6 weeks later - no report. In the meantime I noticed the receipt gave a price significantly less than what they had taaken off my card. I complained and asked for an explanation - they admitted that they had overcharged me but offered no explanation or apology for that or the significant delivery delay. I am still trying to get a refund and apology from them. The customer service is so hopeless that they have called me about 4 different versions of my name when replying to my emails - I am surprised my cases actually made it here!
*Insurance - used Letton Percival for both air and sea - very competitively priced - easy to use, paid up straight away for damaged item
Oct 15th 2008, 1:13 pm
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2004
Location: Murrumbeena, Melbourne
Posts: 380
Re: Personal Belongings Shipping Recommendations
I shipped some stuff with sevenseas back in 2006 in anticipation of my move (which has been a little delayed) ... excellent service & will be using them again now that I'm actually going next year!
Oct 15th 2008, 3:23 pm
#3
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2007
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 203
Re: Personal Belongings Shipping Recommendations
Just having a bit of a read through.
What a pain in the ar**.
I have a suggestion ....if you paid on your credit card and they 1) over charged you and/or 2) they didn't deliver as promised maybe you can claim the whole cost back on your credit card.......bet they then correspond correctly to get your payment. Worth a chat with your credit card provider. If this is covered it's under the Section 75 rule.
Good Luck sorting everything...hope customer service is better in Oz than here in UK as it's awful at the moment.
Becky
What a pain in the ar**.
I have a suggestion ....if you paid on your credit card and they 1) over charged you and/or 2) they didn't deliver as promised maybe you can claim the whole cost back on your credit card.......bet they then correspond correctly to get your payment. Worth a chat with your credit card provider. If this is covered it's under the Section 75 rule.
Good Luck sorting everything...hope customer service is better in Oz than here in UK as it's awful at the moment.
Becky
