This is a letter sent by my lawyer Mr. Arie Weiss, Advocate & Notary,
LAW OFFICES AND NOTARIES
7 Shmuel Hanagid St., Yahalom House
94263 Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Tel. + 972-2-623-1215 Fax + 972-2-624-8667
On Jerusalem, January 16, 2012
To the Better Business Bureau
1112 South Bascom Avenue
San Jose, CA 95128
USA
Dear Madam or Sir,
Re: Air 7 Seas Transport Logistic
Inc.
I am writing you in the hopes that your intervention will enable my client to recover his losses from Air 7
Seas, who have to date ignored his attempts to work out the issues with them. In browsing some of the mover reviews, I find that their behavior is apparently not unique to my clients case.
My client, Judah Melamed, purchased a motorcycle on eBay in December, 2010. Air 7 Seas was to ship the bike to Israel via Istanbul, Turkey. The quote for shipping the motorcycle, as provided by Air 7 Seas, was the most favorable, $ 710, although once the bike was delivered to them, they informed Mr. Melamed that the price would be a bit higher. Cargo insurance was provided and paid for, although despite numerous requests, the insurance documentation was never provided, even when a claim needed to be made, as I will explain.
The eBay seller had the bike crated and delivered to Air 7 Seas. No complaints or comments about the packing crate were made by Air 7 Seas, and they duly shipped the crate, but to Singapore (!) instead of Istanbul.
When the Singapore agent acted to have the bike sent to Israel, the shipper refused unless my client paid
for repacking, since the crate arrived in Singapore broken.
Air 7 Seas seemed to take days for even the most simple communications, failed to provide insurance
information or documentation, so that by the time Mr. Melamed was able to establish that no help would be forthcoming from Air 7 Seas and agreed to pay for repacking at his own expense, the storage fees
were such that attempting to salvage the bike became prohibitively expensive.
My clients attempts at communications were met with unpleasantness and threats to have the bike destroyed, At no time did Air 7 make any effort to help resolve the issue, or to have their Singapore agent attempt to mitigate the local storage charges (accepted practice, especially under the circumstances).
Considering the fact that the motorcycle was to have been shipped to Istanbul and that Air 7 was
responsible for the bike being mistakenly shipped to Singapore, full restitution of my clients losses is mandated, not shrugging it off and leaving Mr. Melamed to his own devices. The bike, safely crated,
was delivered to the Air 7 warehouse, but arrived in Singapore in a broken crate, yet Air 7 takes no responsibility, and prevents my client from making an insurance claim by failing to provide any insurance documentation, if any was indeed purchased, rather than just charged for.
I attach documentation supporting the facts set out in my letter. If the BBB can put any sort of pressure
on Air 7 Seas to satisfy my clients claims for damages arising from the shipping to the wrong location, failing to have the bike shipped to Israel as they had been contracted to do and failing to
provide help or service of any type, failing to insure or at least failing to provide insurance documentation, that help would be deeply appreciated.
Sincerely yours,
Arie Weiss, Adv.
Cc: Department of Transportation, Consumer Division 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590 regarding Licence # 004859
Movers.com 827 Ridgewood
Avenue, North Brunswick, NJ 08902 USA
Air7Seas Transport Logistics
Inc., 1815 Houret Ct. Milpitas, CA 95035 USA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the complaint filled with the Federal Trade Commission (7th Sep. 2011):
I will make this short and as i get all the information together for filling an international law claim, I will send you a copy:
1. I contacted them (27/12/2010) for exporting a bike bought on eBay on 12/15/2010.
2. Initial price proposal was at 710 USD - I agreed to pay as they were the cheapest.
3. Price got to 1000 USD when they had the bike - they had me in their hands, there was nothing I could do but pay, the price included insurance that they highly recommended is necessary.
4. When the bike was delivered to them, it was crate by the seller (which I payed for) and they had no complaints as for the packing.
5. The bike got to Singapore and the crate was broken.
6. They deliberately delayed responses as to accumulate more time that they can charge storage
for.
7. I tried to get the insurance to cover the re-packing as requested by the shipping gate company, but the shipping company failed to respond with insurance coverage details nor assist in reducing financial damage.
8. I tried to get them to help me sort the matter out with the gate company in Singapore but the kept on threatening by disposal of the bike.
9. I wrote the CEO and the VP but they never responded.
10. I had never had such an offensive service, such power manipulators and extorter.
11. Gate company in Singapore asked for 600 USD for re-packing, after I agreed to pay, the asked for additional storage fees. I checked with shipping experts in Israel and they said that usually such fees are not collected and that the insurance is to cover all charges.
12. I never did get to contact the insurance company nor did I get the insurance coverage policy.
13. I never got the service I payed for!
They are abusive and unfair.
Paying all in advance put me in their mercy and they abused it.
No matter how much I asked them to make this right they kept on ignoring my repeated requests and kept on asking for more money and additional charges.
I wish they are dealt properly by law failing to comply with any standard of international trade and commerce laws and customs.
* All is documented and a transcript of all email correspondence is available.
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Based on the information you have given us, we recommend that you take the following steps, if you have not already.
==================================================================
==================================================================
It has been 2 months and they have failed to answer.
It has been a year and a half and I have yet not recovered my money.
As an outsider to the American nation I would think things are done differently there, a little more honesty and respect.
I think the American public should denunciate such way of conducting business and put such businesses out of business cause they make every one look bad.
Not to mention the awfal complaints and reviews I read on the internet about air7Seas.
The bike is considered a collectors item in Israel and was meant to be a gift to my Father's retirement day!
I will press charges for the full value of the bike and all additional expenses.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Yehuda M
Jerusalem,With Air7Seas truth is scarce
#3Author of original report
Wed, May 01, 2013
As you can see and understand,
They are not professional at all!!! be ware!!!
As they have accepted the crate for shipping knowing, like they claim, it was not suitable for international shipping, they are held responsible!
And apparently you can not trust them!
They did not say anything nor did they suggest repacking or reinforcing the crate they took, knowing it will cost more when it gets to other people's hands!
They bike was to ship to Istanbul!
It shipped to Singapore!!
Why???
And they gave us a bunch of lies!
They charged me for insurance and never gave me any details about the insurance company!
They never helped me get my bike!
They never responded on time!
They never helped me get any kind of compensation from insurance company!!!
They take care of their own interests when it comes to that!!
They did help the Singapore shipper claim 3000 USD for repacking. A sum never heard of in Israel!!!
Mind you we in Israel are pretty expensive when it comes to shipping and still when consulting a company in Israel they said it was extortion!!!
They know the rules of the game, and they will f**k you over when ever they get the chance!!!
If you run into trouble with them, forget about getting any help!!! You are on your own!!
It took them over a year to respond to this report!
How do you think they will help you when your shippment in in Bangladesh instead on New-York??
How is loosing 4ooo USD considered saving??
How is a retirement present to your father getting lost by shipper considered finding??
This is a terrible company & I do advise anyone who whishes to ship anything NOT to use this company!!
And since when legal advice considered threats?? Or reclaiming your money?
This who they are and how they operate!
You can find this pattern in other reports!! just Google air 7 seas complaints and you will see for your self!!!
And the advise given at the end here is preposterous....they accepted they crate as it was & that makes them either responsible or if they would like – very unprofessional!!
Even requests from a lawyer did not help! I would call this theft!
Be ware of this company!!
Yehuda Melamed.
AIR 7 SEAS - Customer Satisfaction Department
Milpitas,California,
AIR 7 SEAS Helps in every situation
#3UPDATE Employee
Wed, May 01, 2013
This incident was 2 years back when client shipped motorcycle which was not packed sea worthy. You may notice in the picture posted by client that it is just few piece of wood nailed around. Client bought this motorcycle from an eBay seller and the packing was not professionally done. When we do the packing/crating, our legal liability covers any damages caused due to packaging.
We are one of the very few shipping companies who ships motorcycles to overseas from USA so client found us and saved in shipping.
We did all the export documentation and shipping but in-transit at Singapore port, it was noticed the poor packing needed work to make it safe to transport further to Israel. Client was notified & asked to pay for the re-packing and that made him unhappy. We had to hold the shipment in Singapore for the safety of goods.
Client under frustation tried legal threats and we responded to all and notified them of situation which was afterall in the interest of client.
Professionally packed goods gets full insurance coverage including damages to the good otherwise only full loss is covered. One should get Expensive, Valuable & Fragile items packed professionally.