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Where's my stuff???

Where's my stuff???

Old Aug 3rd 2006, 1:00 am
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Angry Where's my stuff???

Well, I've now been here for a month and a half (not counting a 13000 miles in one weekend trip back to the UK for my graduation -- seemed like a good idea at the time!). My stuff was originally scheduled to show up in the first week or so of July. Whoops. Still no stuff. I keep calling and emailing the shipping company, but I get excuse after excuse. These excuses are individually plausible, but rather less so when taken as a complete set -- I was told over a month ago that my stuff had arrived, then it hadn't, then it was in customs, then it was still on the boat, etc. You get the drift.

Currently, I'm told that it is being held by customs for a 'second scan,' whatever that is. Presumably a second inspection. I am a bit concerned now, they are sufficiently overdue that I'm starting to wonder if they have lost or damaged some of the shipment and are giving me the runaround rather than owning up to it. It also worries me a little that the inventory was done by the packing/shipping agents in the UK, and I didn't ever get the chance to check it (or even actually see it, as it happens) so I am concerned that they have misclassified something and therefore caused a major fubar. There was a fair bit of art and quite a bit of nonstandard electronic equipment, so it is horribly plausible that something like that has screwed up.

I'm not really very pleased by this. It's all insured for a fair bit, but there are irreplaceable items, like a number of oil paintings and my custom built bass guitars.

Sorry, just venting mostly, I realise there's not a lot I can really do about it. Have any of you had similar experiences you wish to share?
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 1:09 am
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Yup. Our stuff didn't disappear for quite that long, but it was MIA for at least three weeks between Surrey and Dallas.

I assume your stuff's in a shipping container? There are millions of the buggers being shipped all over the world. It seems that the shipping companies don't always know the EXACT location of a particular container. "Secondary scanning" involves passing the whole container through a very high-powered X-ray scanner of sorts. An ex-colleague of mine who works on those machines tells me that you can at least be sure that everything in the container is DEAD after one of those scans!

I know how frustrating this must be for you, but right now I'd guess your stuff is only delayed, not lost. Just keep hassling the shipping company. I would demand a daily update phonecall/email from them in your position.
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 1:28 am
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Originally Posted by st326
Well, I've now been here for a month and a half (not counting a 13000 miles in one weekend trip back to the UK for my graduation -- seemed like a good idea at the time!). My stuff was originally scheduled to show up in the first week or so of July. Whoops. Still no stuff. I keep calling and emailing the shipping company, but I get excuse after excuse. These excuses are individually plausible, but rather less so when taken as a complete set -- I was told over a month ago that my stuff had arrived, then it hadn't, then it was in customs, then it was still on the boat, etc. You get the drift.

Currently, I'm told that it is being held by customs for a 'second scan,' whatever that is. Presumably a second inspection. I am a bit concerned now, they are sufficiently overdue that I'm starting to wonder if they have lost or damaged some of the shipment and are giving me the runaround rather than owning up to it. It also worries me a little that the inventory was done by the packing/shipping agents in the UK, and I didn't ever get the chance to check it (or even actually see it, as it happens) so I am concerned that they have misclassified something and therefore caused a major fubar. There was a fair bit of art and quite a bit of nonstandard electronic equipment, so it is horribly plausible that something like that has screwed up.

I'm not really very pleased by this. It's all insured for a fair bit, but there are irreplaceable items, like a number of oil paintings and my custom built bass guitars.

Sorry, just venting mostly, I realise there's not a lot I can really do about it. Have any of you had similar experiences you wish to share?

Thats horrible, sorry you've had such a crappy experience. I say call them and tell them you're going to give them another 3 weeks to make your stuff reappear and if after that it still hasn't appeared, they'll be hearing from your lawyers.
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 2:11 am
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Our stuff was held for a second scan last October. Freaked us out because we had packed a bit more alcohol than we should have done. It was about three weeks later than we had been promised but it hadn't been opened and everything was ok. My OH had three guitars in the container and they were fine.
It will be here soon...chin up.
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 2:21 am
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

It took our stuff 4 months to go from North Yorkshire to Oregon. On the slow boat, I'm sure.....
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 2:41 am
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Originally Posted by st326
Well, I've now been here for a month and a half (not counting a 13000 miles in one weekend trip back to the UK for my graduation -- seemed like a good idea at the time!). My stuff was originally scheduled to show up in the first week or so of July. Whoops. Still no stuff. I keep calling and emailing the shipping company, but I get excuse after excuse. These excuses are individually plausible, but rather less so when taken as a complete set -- I was told over a month ago that my stuff had arrived, then it hadn't, then it was in customs, then it was still on the boat, etc. You get the drift.

Currently, I'm told that it is being held by customs for a 'second scan,' whatever that is. Presumably a second inspection. I am a bit concerned now, they are sufficiently overdue that I'm starting to wonder if they have lost or damaged some of the shipment and are giving me the runaround rather than owning up to it. It also worries me a little that the inventory was done by the packing/shipping agents in the UK, and I didn't ever get the chance to check it (or even actually see it, as it happens) so I am concerned that they have misclassified something and therefore caused a major fubar. There was a fair bit of art and quite a bit of nonstandard electronic equipment, so it is horribly plausible that something like that has screwed up.

I'm not really very pleased by this. It's all insured for a fair bit, but there are irreplaceable items, like a number of oil paintings and my custom built bass guitars.

Sorry, just venting mostly, I realise there's not a lot I can really do about it. Have any of you had similar experiences you wish to share?
I hope you've agreed a set price beforehand... storage charges are astronomical sometimes.
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 12:47 pm
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Our stuff sat on Miami docks for 2 months before they finally decided we could have it.
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 11:42 pm
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Further news: supposedly, it is turning up between 11am and noon tomorrow. Woohoo! At last!

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Old Aug 4th 2006, 2:34 am
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Originally Posted by st326
Further news: supposedly, it is turning up between 11am and noon tomorrow. Woohoo! At last!

Good luck
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Old Aug 4th 2006, 2:17 pm
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Originally Posted by st326
Further news: supposedly, it is turning up between 11am and noon tomorrow. Woohoo! At last!

So did it?
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Old Aug 4th 2006, 2:18 pm
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Originally Posted by blaze
So did it?


Actually, it's a bit early, tell us later!
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Old Aug 4th 2006, 6:53 pm
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Originally Posted by blaze
Actually, it's a bit early, tell us later!
It's arriving right now!
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Old Aug 4th 2006, 7:49 pm
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Originally Posted by st326
It's arriving right now!


Yeah for you!
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Old Aug 7th 2006, 9:33 pm
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

It turned up, but I'm not amazingly happy. There was quite a bit of damage -- a 20" flat screen LCD monitor was basically destroyed, having obviously been dropped from a considerable height onto one of its edges. My mixing desk was damaged (bent fader) -- it didn't appear to have been packed *at all*, despite my having requested a wooden crate. One of the switches was snapped off my bass guitar, and there was also a framed pencil drawing whose glass was smashed. Oh, and the fabric of my office chair (not a cheap one, unfortunately -- it's an Aeron I bought second hand from a defunct insurance company) was damaged too. I suspect the problem was at the UK end, mostly due to inadequate packing.

I have complained about it and I intend to put in an insurance claim, but as-yet the shippers seem to be ignoring my emails.

Graaah.
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Old Aug 7th 2006, 9:53 pm
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Default Re: Where's my stuff???

Which shipping company did you use?


Originally Posted by st326
Well, I've now been here for a month and a half (not counting a 13000 miles in one weekend trip back to the UK for my graduation -- seemed like a good idea at the time!). My stuff was originally scheduled to show up in the first week or so of July. Whoops. Still no stuff. I keep calling and emailing the shipping company, but I get excuse after excuse. These excuses are individually plausible, but rather less so when taken as a complete set -- I was told over a month ago that my stuff had arrived, then it hadn't, then it was in customs, then it was still on the boat, etc. You get the drift.

Currently, I'm told that it is being held by customs for a 'second scan,' whatever that is. Presumably a second inspection. I am a bit concerned now, they are sufficiently overdue that I'm starting to wonder if they have lost or damaged some of the shipment and are giving me the runaround rather than owning up to it. It also worries me a little that the inventory was done by the packing/shipping agents in the UK, and I didn't ever get the chance to check it (or even actually see it, as it happens) so I am concerned that they have misclassified something and therefore caused a major fubar. There was a fair bit of art and quite a bit of nonstandard electronic equipment, so it is horribly plausible that something like that has screwed up.

I'm not really very pleased by this. It's all insured for a fair bit, but there are irreplaceable items, like a number of oil paintings and my custom built bass guitars.

Sorry, just venting mostly, I realise there's not a lot I can really do about it. Have any of you had similar experiences you wish to share?
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