;
  • Report:  #714013

Complaint Review: Bongo International - Bridgeport Connecticut

Reported By:
wicky - Kowloon, Internet, Hong Kong
Submitted:
Updated:

Bongo International
Bongo International 315 Seaview Ave Bridgeport, 06607 Connecticut, United States of America
Phone:
203-683-4894
Web:
http://www.bongous.com
Categories:
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
I ordered an Apple TV on March, 2011 and used Bongo International to do forwarding to Hong Kong.  Before I made the orderm I tried to estimate the shipment cost.  So I put 10 x 10 x 4 inch and 2 lb.  (big enough for an external box that go around that Apple TV, I thought).  From the online calculator that calculate shipment cost, it showed $53.74.  So, I went for this company.

Then, the package arrived at Bongo International on March 22, 2011, they measured the dimension and weight it.  And came up with the dimension being 13 x 10 x 5 inch.  The dimension weight being 3.6lb, and actual weight being 1.6lb.  So, they charged me 4lb (because they charged for whichever is higher, and they round up the number).  And it was $75.01. 

After seeing those figures from their notification, I wondered something was wrong, they charged so much!  So, I put 13 x 10 x 5 inch again on March 25, 2011, to the calculator, and it still showed $53.74!!  I was overcharged for like 20 dollars for no reason.  Then I asked this company for explanation.  They did reply me, but they mentioned it is because I am not using "subscription service" which is cheaper, and they said that I couldn't tell the different between dimension weight and actual weight.  But of course, I did entered the correct kind of service and understood the differences between dimension weight and actual weight, and charged whichever was higher.  They kept replying this kind of answers, and in fact, they ignored the my core question.  "Why they did not charged me as shown by the calculator?"

And finally, on Mar 26, 2011, they somehow changed the caluator such that even if I entered 13 x 10 x 5 inch, it came up with $75.01, but not $53.74 anymore!   And so far, they still could not answer why I had 2 different calculation results on two different occasions (March 25 and March 26).  And they denied they changed the calculation formula.  And of course, I had received no money back for the overcharge.

So, be careful about this company.  I think overcharging is their day to day practice.


3 Updates & Rebuttals

Cheuk Ying

Hong Kong
Don't trust Bongo!

#2Consumer Comment

Wed, December 14, 2011

My experience with Bongo is exactly the same as Wicky.

Before signing up Bongo, I entered all the correct information in the calculator and the shipping cost showed $121.08 as shipment fee.

<a target='_blank' href='http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/213/bongoovercharge1.png/'><img src='http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8454/bongoovercharge1.th.png' border='0'/></a>

After the parcel arrived, they charged me >$210 for the same size parcel.

When I talked to the customer service on the matter and she wasnt helping at all. They asked me to pay more to Bongo and upgrade the service so I can have it shipped at ~$150. What the h**l?

AND worse still, they changed the calculator's and now it showed $210.62!!!!!!!

<a target='_blank' href='http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/bongoovercharge5.png/'><img src='http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6113/bongoovercharge5.th.png' border='0'/></a>

If Bongo are really fixing the problem, they would NOT have done it twice. IT IS A PRACTICE of CHEATING customer, whether you are aware of it.

Report Attachments

Ryan

Bridgeport,
Connecticut,
USA
Dear Valued Customer

#3UPDATE Employee

Mon, April 11, 2011

Wicky,

Let me first apologize for any frustration in this matter.  I did some research and it seems the only Wicky we have in our account base is from Hong Kong but hasn't been active since 2009, nor has shipped any Apple products through their Bongo Account before.  So in order to properly resolve this issue we would need to know which account to research :)

Regarding your issue, our calculator references our shipping cost page which can be found here for Hong Kong. http://bongous.com/shipping_cost_calculator.php

What I think could have happened..  $53.74 is the cost of shipping for a 2lb package to be shipped to Hong Kong with our Pay Per Use Rates. (Standard DHL rates are $76.95 for 2lbs).  So it may be possible that you accidentally typed the incorrect amount of 2lbs instead of 4lbs in the cost calculator while trying to determine rates.  Or possibly referenced the wrong line on the Shipping Costs Sheet. In either case, we would be happy to extend the rate of $53.74 for this shipment for the 4lb Apple TV.  If you could copy and paste this message into your support log or [email protected], we will know which account to credit for this transaction.  If you have not shipped your item we can offer you the $53.74 when you do a 4lb shipment of an Apple TV to Hong Kong. 

Let us know if there is anything else we can do to help!

Thanks,


wicky

Hong Kong
Bongo International - Don't trust the calculator!!

#4Author of original report

Tue, April 05, 2011

I ordered an Apple TV on March, 2011 and used Bongo International to do forwarding to Hong Kong.  Before I made the order I tried to estimate the shipment cost.  So I put 10 x 10 x 4 inch and 2 lb.  (big enough for an external box that go around that Apple TV, I thought).  From the
online calculator that calculate shipment cost, it showed $53.74.  So, I went for it.

Then, the package arrived at Bongo International on March 22, 2011, they measured the dimension and weight it.  And came up with the dimension being 13 x 10 x 5 inch.  The dimension weight being 3.6lb, and actual weight being 1.6lb.  So, they charged me 4lb (because they charged for whichever is higher, and they round up the number).  And it was $75.01. 


After seeing those figures from their notification, I wondered something was wrong, they charged so much!  So, I put 13 x 10 x 5 inch again on March 25, 2011, to the calculator, and it still showed $53.74!!  I was overcharged for like 20 dollars for no reason.  Then I asked this company for explanation.  They did reply me, but they mentioned it was because I was not using "subscription service", which was cheaper.  And they judged that I couldn't tell the different between dimension weight and actual weight.  But in fact, I did entered the correct kind of service and understood the differences between dimension weight and actual weight.  And I understood they charged whichever was higher.  They, however, kept replying this kind of answers, and ignored the my core question.  "Why they did not charged me as shown by the calculator?"

And finally, on Mar 26, 2011, they somehow changed the calculator such that even if I entered 13 x 10 x 5 inch, it came up with $75.01, but not $53.74 anymore!   And so far, they still could not answer why I had 2 different calculation results on two different occasions (March 25 and
March 26).  And they denied they changed the calculation formula.  And of course, I had received no money back for the overcharge.

So, be careful about this company.  I think overcharging is their practice.

Reports & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
Also a victim?
Repair Your Reputation!
//