Move from Hong Kong to Washington
Beth
Submitted this review about
Swiftrelo Limited
Review made Live: 9/25/2015 2:22:00 PM
I have just used this company to both store my possessions in HK for a prolonged period of time and also ship them to the States.
The positives... they are cheaper than their competitors. I found they were around $20,000hkd cheaper.
However, their consultation process is shocking and they do not explain anything in detail. What SwiftRelo fail to share with you are the possible costs that can be incurred at customs.
Obviously it is not the company's fault that your crate is stopped and searched but they should share with you the rate of occurrence and the costs involved. In fact, in the USA, there is a 90% chance that your goods will be x rayed at port and an extra $600USD slapped onto your bill from customs and a 45% chance that your goods will be manually inspected at port and that incurs an extra $2,500USD bill.
The company are fully aware of these costs but simply refuse to share it with you and don't think that a 90% chance of your goods being x rayed is worth mentioning. All they say is there MAY be a chance your goods are stopped and you will incur extra charges. This appears in small print. I personally don't think this is transparent enough, if the US partner has all this very detailed customs information to hand, then SwifRelo should pass this on to the customers at quote OR when the goods are ready to be shipped. It's not as if we can blame the agent for what customs charge but what I would of really appreciated during the consultation, was a complete breakdown of rates of occurrence and costs.
To add insult to injury, when I approached the consultant about this and explained my frustrations, I was met with a very defensive attitude and basically they told me they were sorry but not really all that sorry as it's all my fault for not checking this information for myself (I thought this was included as part of the service and what I had paid over $40,000hkd for).What occurred next is beyond belief and this is why I would avoid SwiftRelo. I was then engaged in a continuous chain of email tit for tat, with the head of customer services . Her attitude was that of a petulant child. Even when I asked her to draw a line under this and to answer my other queries, she still insisted on sending a further childish email, telling me that in fact, I was at fault and she was the expert in these matters as she has over 15 years experience (which I find amusing, 15 years experience and can't provide a breakdown of customs charges). After completely loosing my temper at being spoken to in such a manner, I asked her to refrain from ever contacting me again. That's how utterly rude and unprofessional she was.
I forwarded the emails to the MD of the company and had no response as of yet. I can only assume that since having paid the company a bill of $40,000HKD and no chance of repeat business, they have no interest in customer satisfaction.
My goods are still at port and I can only hope that everything has been stored correctly and everything isn't damaged with mould. God help me if I have another problem!
All I was asking for was for them to provide as much consultation on the process as possible and was met with the most appalling attitude.
Don't even get me started on their Pet Relocation service!
If anyone thinks the above is a one off, I suggest you check out other forums/posts both in HK and in USA. Pretty much the same complaints about customs charges that were not disclosed and appalling customer service when anything goes wrong.
