Extremly Unhappy Customer
Extremly Unhappy Customer
I feel it my duty to write about the extremely poor service I got so that others can learn from my unfortunate experience.
My Experience:
I requested for a 20ft container to be cleared and was quoted the following:
The carrier (MSC) charges the following costs:
THC € 200,-
SPD € 20,-
ISPS € 8,-
Delivery Order € 48,-
Our costs are as follows:
Customs clearance € 125,-
Trucking Amsterdam € 425,-
Unpacking of container and taking items into the house (2 addresses) € 850,-
I had to pay this immediately which I did, although it was higher than other quotes I’d had because I expected a good service.
Two days before delivery I got an extra bill for :
STORAGE 01/02/03-03 - €135
Courier - €25
Then on the day of delivery I was suddenly told I had to pay an extra €400 cash otherwise the contents would not be delivered. This is because they did not expect the 20ft container to be full.
Note that I had already paid €850 for the contents do be sent from Amsterdam port to Amsterdam West, a distance of less than 5 miles.
They also complained it would take too long to empty the container, ignoring the fact that they sent an elderly man and his son to unload the entire contents.
To top it all off they only delivered the contents to the front of the house and only moved a couple of heavy items inside.
Reply from Sercon
Dear sir,
We’re sorry to see you're so unhappy.
You mailed us a picture of a 20’ container with personal effects, and asked us for a quote to customs clear and unpack it.
We offered you for the required services, and also informed you about the local handling costs of the carrier (MSC).
As you now say, you had better offers; still, you picked us to do the job, and accepted our quote, so, in that respect, we don’t quite understand your moaning.
Now - as to the job, which appeared quite different than expected.
To start with, we could not reach your home with the container, there simply wasn’t enough space in your street to park a container.
So we had to unpack it at a parking lot, and drive the contents to your home with a van (6 rides).
When our removalist opened the container doors, it appeared one big mess inside; quite something else than the picture you mailed us).
The container was fully stuffed with numerous loose items, most of them unpacked, and far from clean.
Sir, I don't know who packed this container, but this is not the way to do it.
You are very lucky our removalist did not just close the doors again and left, we wouldn’t have blamed him.
But he didn’t, understanding and respecting the needs of the customer, who was expecting his stuff to be delivered.
Before he commenced unpacking, we called you, informed you about the situation, and told you extra costs would occur.
Again, you accepted, and our removalist did the job, which costed him a whole day, instead of half the day he planned, but he did it, in a very professional way (like he handles all of our jobs).
And you’re correct, he did not bring items into your home - but we never agreed to do that.
We had to customs clear and unpack, which is exactly what we did.
And now, after a day of hard- and unexpected extra work for our removalist, you appear unhappy.
Sir, you could have called us and discuss your unhappiness with us.
We would have been more than happy to look into the file again, to see if there would have been room for a small refund, just to take away your bad feeling.
But since you choose to tarnish our good name and reputation on he internet, we will not do that now.
Instead, we would like to suggest that next time you have a container to unpack, you contact one of the companies you seem so enthusiastic about.
We would be very interested to hear if they at all accept these kind of jobs, and when they do, what their price would be.
And sir, next time you review services on the internet, please do make sure to share the full and correct story, as what you did in this case is not helpful.
Kind regards, the Sercon Shipping team.