Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd Reviews 

122
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TrustScore 3 out of 5

2.8

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

You don't deserved even 1 star.. you charge astronomical price . Then despite having been paid and confirming receipt of the payment, you tell me on the day after when the item is being collected,... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Managed to get 25cbm ex US here a week earlier than expected & deliver within 48 hours of arrival of vessel Client was over the moon Great service from Sarah/Linh/Karthik on USA import trade... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Lynsey and team are always very quick to reply to export rate requests often giving a couple of options with different transit times. Rates are usually extremely competitive and sometimes very much so... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Cardinal Maritime, Manchester have dealt with my imports with greater care and attention than I have received with many other shipping agents prior to using them. They have even managed to push throu... See more

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Company details

  1. Logistics service

Written by the company

A member of the Cardinal Partnership, the world's largest employee-owned logistics business. Leaders in logistics, investors in people. Our aim is to improve the lives of those we work with, the world over. It’s not enough to be agile. That’s why we leverage our international infrastructure to empower importers, exporters and everyone in between. With headquarters in the UK and 40 offices around the globe, our clients have greater visibility, control and confidence in their supply chain. We know a better way, the Cardinal way.


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2.8

Average

TrustScore 3 out of 5

122 reviews

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2.8

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(122)

1 review in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

PATHETIC !!!

PATHETIC !!!! WORST COMPANY EVER. PLEASE DO NOT USE THEM.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS....

I contacted them on on numerous occasions requesting for their complaints procedure and for details of their regulatory body. NO RESPONSE. They fail to response despite the fact I have been chasing.

You do NOT have to use this company when they contact you.
Run away as fast as you can and go to a legitimate company that won't scam you out of thousands in pounds. How is the SCAM & FRAUD called Cardinal Maritime still operating? We need to unite and keep reporting Cardinal Maritime to Trading Standards or something to get them STOPPED. They lie and manipulate to do whatever it takes to delay the delivery of your goods.

They charge over 10x what the going rates are for customer clearance, etc.
They literally make up prices as they go and because they have your goods as hostage you don't have a choice but to pay.

Now seeking legal advise and will be taking the appropriate action. They have given me enough evidence to prove that their invoices do not reflect the stories"given".

I had my father arrange goods for my weddings from India to UK. We had received notification that goods have arrived. My father was made to sign the documents and then later, was asked to sign another documents. We had to chase on numerous occasions. We found that they had been sending information to an email that was not ours. However they tried to justify that because this. They were able to respond to my fathers email but also email another email address notifying goods are ready for collection. Ofcourse, to delay the transaction! We had no idea what the invoice would be like, only having to see that it is 3x more than the goods itself!!! We paid £1500 plus to get the goods released. When I asked them what will happen if we don't want to use their services they simply stated that they will keep on charging us on daily basis for rent etc. I had simply agreed to pay this off as I did not want more stress using my wedding! When I needed the goods to be released, they said they need an original document to be posted to their office before the goods can be released! WHY DID THEY NOT INFORM THIS TO ME PREVIOUSLY WHEN I HAD PAID MY INVOICES. This delayed the process even more, causing so much distress to me and my family.

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. ABSOLUTE JOKE.

4 June 2018
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

Hi,

I’m sorry to read that you feel that Cardinal have acted unfairly, and that you have been over charged for the services you contracted to us. I have reviewed your file and read the correspondence between yourself and our team here. I see that you purchased these goods from the supplier in India on a freight pre-paid basis, your supplier would have been made aware of the collect charges in the UK, it would seem that they failed to inform you of these charges, hence your surprise. Cardinal Maritime are simply the break bulk agent in the UK, our responsibility is to collect the charges as instructed by the freight forwarder working on behalf of the supplier you purchased the goods from in India. My suggestion would be contact the supplier if you’re unhappy with the charges, if your successful they may wish to reimburse some of the charges. I’m happy to send a message to the freight forwarder in India, with you in copy, explaining that you’re unhappy with the charges, as they may be able to help with your negotiation with the supplier. I’m not completely sure what you mean by “You do not have to use this company when they contact you” we are the break bulk agent, responsible for receiving the cargo, collecting payment and then releasing the cargo. I assume your referring to the customs clearance and delivery, if so, this is correct, you do not need to use Cardinal Maritime, you’re free to use any customs clearance broker. I see from some of the correspondence there was some confusion in relation to the email address we used, we were provided with IAETRICHY2003@GMAIL.COM this appears on the invoice, packing list and bill of lading, if this is incorrect I’d suggest you speak with your supplier as it is them whom provided this. Finally, there was a delay customs clearing your consignment, which meant your cargo was held beyond the free time allowed, I can see this delay was caused due to us receiving the incorrect direct representation form in the first instance, once the correctly completed form was received the customs clearance was processed the same day. I’d be happy to discuss this matter further with you over the phone if you wish.

Best Regards
Rick

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Avoid!

I would advise everyone who is thinking of using this company to find another one. The shipment was meant to arrive in Bristol but ended up in felixstowe then they wanted to charge me £200 for delivery for 1CBM to Bristol. Every thing they quoted was at a ridiculous price i originally thought they made a mistake and sent me the bill for the entire container but no its just their standard prices. Although i moved to another company to do customs clearance which was 5 times cheaper still had to pay ridiculous fees but thanks to another company i managed to get £500 knocked off a £800 bill.If you dont pay their ridiculous fees they will hold your items and charge a huge amount for storage to pressure you into paying their extortionate rates.
AVOID!

19 March 2018
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

Dear Steven,

We believe you are being completely unfair in registering this complaint against Cardinal Maritime.

You will know that this shipment was not booked with Cardinal Maritime, but by your supplier directly with the carrier; Messrs ATA of Vietnam on freight prepaid terms (CFR). We were neither involved in negotiating the charges with you or your supplier nor responsible for the carriage of goods.

The charges invoiced to you were as issued in accordance with the carrier's instructions, other than clearance and delivery which as shown on the Notice of Arrival as being non-mandatory charges.

You elected not to use Cardinal Maritime for clearance and delivery and the charges were subsequently credited, in full, to you.

On your behalf, we contacted the carrier to request a reduction in the charges levied by them and, thankfully, kindly agreed to discount the same. These charges were again immediately credited to you.

We would recommend that, in future, before commencing shipment of a consignment you obtain full details of all charges payable and, ideally, on freight collect terms which would provide you with a more transparent and managed method of shipment.

Kind regards,
Cardinal Maritime.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Extremely professional and trustworthy!

Extremely professional! These guys went beyond common business practices when they didn't have to! They understood a complicated force majeure situation that prevented my company from keeping up with its part of the business and they made a very generous and humane gesture! If you are really searching for a reliable, trustworthy and professional business partner than you won't find better than Cardinal Maritime! Thank you from the bottom of my heart guys! You deserve it! Cheers!

27 February 2018
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

Wow, thank you so much Andrey for you fantastic feedback. Very much appreciated by all of us here at Cardinal Maritime.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The worst shipping company Ive ever seen

I shipped goods from the US to England recently. On the US side everything was great, however I did not know who would be receiving my goods on the other side. Unfortunately it was Cardinal and the nightmare began. The fees to get my shipment into the country was only 150 pounds. The goods were supposed to be delivered to Southampton but instead I was contacted by Cardinal in Manchester to pay shipping fees to get in to Southampton. I informed them that the goods were in the wrong location and they responded by saying that the US shipping company did not inform them of an pre-paid shipping cost to get the stuff to southampton. After threatening daily shipping fees we called the US company to see whats going on but in the meantime we paid the invoice to ship the goods to southampton. 3 days later our shipping company informed us that they have spoke to Cardinal and they agreed to ship the goods to Southampton. However come to find out that they new they were supposed to ship it to Southampton the whole time and refused to do it. When we brought this up they blamed it on the ocean carrier and refused to refund our money of 250 pounds in shipping cost. Our shipment came in on 1 pallet, they charged us a transfer pallet fee for 2 pallets, fuel surcharges, and other fees equaling up to almost 550 pounds. I have never had as bad of customer service as there, there prices are outrageous, and I urge anyone to avoid them at all cost. The management is horrible, and if they were church goes, they would only come to steal out of the collection plate.

13 February 2018
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the review, we are sorry you feel you were poorly treated by us. We have checked your file and would like to take this opportunity to respond to your comments.

Your shipment was imported under CFR (freight prepaid) terms meaning that your supplier will have determined which carrier to use. In such circumstances, we would not have been the carrier, merely the import de-vanning agent acting on instruction from the carrier.

We agree that the final destination on the B/L is Southampton, however the service utilised by your supplier unpacks in London, therefore needed to be customs cleared in London before any on-carriage to a Southampton warehouse for collection could be arranged. (The supplier did not pay for any door delivery to be made).

On our arrival notice we quoted you for arranging customs clearance and delivery to your door, it does state you don't have to use our services for these items. We confirmed this and explained what all the charges meant in our email reply to you on 05/02/18 and gave you the option to collect the shipment once cleared but you chose to pay all our invoice so we proceeded with door delivery and this was made on 09/02/18.

All our hauliers work on a pallet exchange basis and normally we palletise on arrival which is why you have been charged for pallets, however I can see your shipment arrived on a pallet therefore this was charged in error, we will raise a credit – if you can contact us we can arrange a refund for the same.

We’re not aware of any queries being escalated so do not understand your comment made about management.

We trust this answers your questions and look forward to hearing from you to arrange the refund.

Regards
Cardinal Maritime.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Please don't deal with this company :(

Please don't deal with this company :(

Make yourself a favour and don't deal with them ever ever ever ever !!!!!!

It was the worst experience in my business dealing with them.

You give you them the goods and after a few days they ask 300 pounds/day for storaging your goods and they force you to keep the goods into their warehouse as long as possible.

This is long story short that happened to me 4 months ago.

16 November 2017
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

DIABOLICAL, RUDE, ISLAMAPHOBIC TRUCKER

Having made an order for a shipment of toys from China to the UK, I decided to let my agent find a company, through no fault of her own, little did she know that cardinal maritime were a bad choice.

My items had arrived at Felixstowe port. I was asked to make the payment for HMRC taxes due which I did. After this is was acknowledged that my shipment would be delivered at a set date. All of a sudden, SOME HOW trading standards had POUNCED on my delivery (says HELEN) I couldn't get a word in edge ways, and on MOST occasions I was talked over. She then said they were able to broker a DEAL with trading standards on my behalf? Hmmmm. Something fishy me thinks...

Anyway, having made numerous calls, sometimes 3-4 per day, I was given no clarity as to my shipment and the projected timescale it might take to release my shipment from the holding warehouse (Where I was charged, albeit having told the rates upfront prior to storage) At times it felt like (when speaking on the phone) as if they knew I had no option other than to compromise. However, from this 1 and EVER ONLY EXPERIENCE, I can safely say STAY AWAY!!!

Rude staff, no transparency on timescales, talking over me, on 1 occasion I made it clear that there approach to business is child like and unprofessional, and they decide to laugh down the phone....

Not a good experience..
Also the freight company that delivered my goods, albeit not directly connected to the standards of Cardinal Maritime, but one that I feel I must declare and a reflection of the overall poor service, is the lacking standards of the freight truck driver service. He was helpful, and unloaded with me, but his remark, "oh keep away, they've got knives on their hands". OK, please let me explain. Whilst I was unpackaging the pallet of goods and removing the plastic covering from the boxes with a stanley knife, the driver decided to make a derogatory remark which was clearly a reference to the Muslim terror attacks which happened a few months earlier. ABSOLUTELY DIABOLICAL. The trucking company is called DAVID HATHAWAY.

Goodbye.

20 July 2017
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

Dear Sir,

Having reviewed the file for this shipment and your comments, we feel obliged to provide some feedback on the same which we believe more accurately reflects our handling of this consignment.

Firstly, we wish to clarify that this shipment was not loaded from China by your agent/supplier with Cardinal Maritime Ltd. We were not involved in this process whatsoever and, as can be seen from the ocean bill of lading, the carrier was Lucky Logistics of Shenzhen.

We were merely appointed to unpack the container at Felixstowe port which was carried out within 1 day of the vessel discharging. Further to this, we offered import customs clearance services to you, for which we quoted you in advance, which resulted in the instruction from you to proceed.

As you know, the goods were selected by Trading Standards for inspection. This is not unusual and simply part of the process. We have no influence or control over such matters and Helen was merely managing the process for you. If you do not accept that the consignment was selected by Trading Standards as your review is unclear on this, please simply contact Trading Standards directly. They can be reached at felixstoweborderforce@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk. Please quote reference 3CIC7060582.

As we did not deliver this shipment for you, we are simply unable to provide any commentary on the additional reference made in your review regarding this process.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Helpful receptionist !

I'm a DPD courier and had a badly addressed delivery. The lady on reception made 3 or 4 calls to try and find the recipient. Without her determination I would been unable to complete the delivery. Thank you Miss/Mrs Grimes.

13 June 2017
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

Thank you for your review Gary, good to know that the team were able to help you.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! Charged £2500 fee for clearing the goods without any explanation about the charge before. We didn't sign anything to suggest we would have to pay that fee. After arguing a few days they gave a £250 discount. But then when they goods are getting ready to be shipped they pass on a £2,300 storage fee of which we didn't sign any documents that agreed to these fees. We then did our calculations based on the figures they gave us they overcharged by £150. So making figures up as they go along!

There attitude to resolve this issue was:
Well if you don't pay the bill you don't get the goods.

22 May 2017
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

Dear Dean,

Having reviewed the documentation and notes recorded against your shipment, I feel it appropriate to provide some commentary in response of your review.

Our records show that this consignment was purchased by you from your supplier on a DDU basis, meaning that you were responsible for the Customs clearance process, including the payment of import Duty and VAT.

In order to process import clearance on your behalf, you were requested to provide us with a Direct Representation Form, completed in your name. Your initial submission was incorrect as it did not match the import documentation provided by your supplier and we were obliged to request an amended submission. We are unable to process an import clearance with incorrect or inaccurate documentation.

This was received by us on the 15th of May some 11 days after the vessel had arrived, and outside the port free-time period of 5 days. Our documentation also shows that we provided you, in writing, with a clear explanation of our charges both in respect of the duty deferment fee and port rental charges. This can be clearly seen on the notice of arrival and guidance notes also provided.

You state that we agreed to a reduction after days of arguing yet I note that you sent an email to our office querying the charges at 5:40 pm on the 17th of May and we responded to you at 09:30 am, the following day, offering you a slight reduction; in good faith.

It is our view that had you responded in good time to the notice of arrival and provided accurate documentation, the port rental charges could have been avoided and your experience of working with Cardinal Maritime would have been quite different.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Cardinal Maritime

Cardinal Maritime, Manchester have dealt with my imports with greater care and attention than I have received with many other shipping agents prior to using them. They have even managed to push through and speed up consignments when there is a tight schedule.
Fast Track Medals and Awards Ltd.

18 April 2017
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

Thank you for your review Tom. We appreciate your feedback.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Do not use this company, avoid at all costs

Cardinal maritime is a company built on dishonesty and exploitation. My company was importing goods from China via sea freight for the first time, unbeknownst to us, we should have been asking for specific shipping terms. Fast forward some weeks and the goods are set to arrive and we receive an extortionate invoice with hugely inflated costs. On top of this blatant gouging, they attempted to tack on further charges for 'storage' when they were entirely responsible delaying our shipment on arrival.

After calling around more reputable freight forwarders I was told that there are some companies like this that set out to take companies that import through them (not always out of choice) for as much money as possible, usually offering financial incentives to the suppliers to bring in more victims.

DO NOT use this company, always ask your supplier who they are using and set clear shipping terms, this whole affair increased my product costs by over 50%. Had we not challenged them on all of his we could have been charged hundreds more.

I hope Cardinal maritime are eventually punished for these practices, I'm sure many small business owners have suffered greatly at the hands of these shameless individuals.

15 March 2017
Unprompted review
Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd logo

Reply from Cardinal Global Logistics (UK) Ltd

We note your review and in absence of any specific file information we have not been able to study the relevant file.

However, in your review, you appear to accept that you imported the goods from China using the wrong shipping terms. From our experience, we believe that you will have imported the goods on either CIF/CFR terms meaning that you supplier will have determined which carrier to use. In such circumstances, we would not have been the carrier, merely the import de-vanning agent acting on instruction from the carrier.

In this event, all local charges, either than Customs Clearance and Delivery, which you would not have been obliged to contract to Cardinal Maritime, would have been collected in accordance with the carriers instruction and not determined by our operational colleagues here in the U.K.

We would always recommend that importers take control of their own supplier chains and purchase goods on FOB terms, thus providing them with the option to choose which carrier is used. We are guessing this is the same such advice that you have received from others as your review indicates.

If we are incorrect and the terms were anything other than CIF/CFR (freight prepaid), please get in touch and we will further review the file for you.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Cardinal Maritime - KNOW YOUR RIGHTS - SCAMMERS

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS....You do NOT have to use this company when they contact you.

Run away as fast as you can and go to a legitimate company that won't scam you out of thousands in pounds. How is the SCAM & FRAUD called Cardinal Maritime still operating? We need to unite and keep reporting Cardinal Maritime to Trading Standards or something to get them STOPPED. They lie and manipulate to do whatever it takes to delay the delivery of your goods.

They charge over 10x what the going rates are for customer clearance, etc.

They literally make up prices as they go and because they have your goods as hostage you don't have a choice but to pay CRAZY out of this world charges.KEEP REPORTING THEM TO TRADING STANDARDS AND LETS GET THEM SHUT DOWN!!

7 February 2017
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Low life of a company

Used them to ship some goods to Australia. Whilst the sea freight charges seemed reasonable in comparison to other similar service providers, their catch is the local fees at the destination country. I am no rookie in shipping and perhaps sent Cardinal half a dozen of emails trying to get the local costs. They avoided replying, using any excuse conceivable, until i had the deadline and released cargo to them. Their local charges in Australia were quadrupled, and it did cost more to ship with them than with the most expensive competitor. Low life and scum and employ such.

2 February 2017
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Cardinal Maritime - Rip off scam - shipping hijackers

I got a gift shipped over from USA valued at £200 and Cardinal Maritime tried charging £500 for delivery and £1000 for storage fees. A friend in the shipping industry has told me that they are called "hijackers" because they keeps people's goods for as long as possible because their business model is based on "storage fees". For a start they never told me my goods arrived for 10 days but wanted me to pay £29.50 per day for this mistake. Then they kept charging me £29.50 per day for the next several weeks by asking me for some documentation, then I'd send it, then they'd wait a couple days to reply, then they'd ask for something else, I'd send it, then they'd say they didn't get it (even though I have proof it was sent), then they'd wait a few more days to respond... And it just keeps going on and on. The shipping company from the USA tried to step in and Cardinal Maritime just wouldn't even respond because they knew she was calling them out on the scam. I could go on and on but just google their name and you'll see they actually have dedicated websites with all the complaints.

If they ever get ahold of your goods, I'd do everything in my power to get it transferred to a legitimate company or else they will make up excuses and delays to get their beloved storage fees! I still don't have my goods yet so God only knows what else they will do to delay this. I'll update the review once I have the final totals of how badly I've been shafted. Obviously I won't be collecting the goods if they don't budge on the fees because I'm not paying £1,500 in charges for something worth £200!! Or who knows maybe they will actually be able to resolve this amicably (hopefully) but nothing can give me back the days of stress or lost sleep this has caused.

1 February 2017
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Disgraceful company - total rip-off

Cardinal Maritime were employed by one of our suppliers in China to import some goods for us. There was a delay clearing customs. They said we owed them £12,000 worth of storage fees for the 3 week period and that they would be happy to "accept" £1,200.

Never were we forewarned of this enormous charge nor had we agreed to this. It felt as though they were making up these numbers on the go!

We had to pay them as otherwise they would not release our goods.

Total disgrace of a company. We will never use them again!

21 September 2016
Unprompted review

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