My family and I moved to the Philippines last February and had placed bids for a moving company to relocate our belongings from the USA. Kathryn of Dolphin International Shipping contacted us - as did several other companies. The prices were a bit high, but she told me they would beat the best price we had been offered. I could not find anything negative on the company when I searched, and they are listed with the BBB with no complaints, so I decided to give them the contract.
Arrangements were made and my belongings were picked up. After we had flown to the Philippines we received the invoice - considerably higher than expected. Complaints about this were simply put aside and eventually I went ahead and paid it since my belongings were already in their possession (or so I thought) and we were already overseas. Once the money was paid, the communication stopped altogether.
I emailed Kathryn Kaiser and Richard Perez multiple times concerning our shipment - asking when it would be delievered, who local contacts would be, etc. After multiple E-mails I received a response that promised phone calls and information, but nothing happened.
I also placed several phone calls to the company. Each time I was told the person I was attempting to contact was "on break" or "out to lunch" or "on a conference call and could not be disturbed" or some other such nonsense. I spoke with about 3 different receptionists, including one Kelly Love who has been mentioned by almost everybody so far. The response was always the same.
This scenario repeated itself many times, covering the space of several months. I will not list all the dates here at this time, but I do have them recorded should they be needed. I also have record of every E-mail and telephone conversation.
I was at times informed that things were on their way and just sitting at the port waiting. I finally demanded that the order be cancelled, my items returned to origin, and my money refunded plus damages for my trouble.
It was roughly July before I learned that my belongings were still with the company which originally picked them up. They had never left my home state! In all the multiple promises of them being on the way. They were sitting with huge storage charges affixed.
I worked closely with that company to try getting them their money and me my belongings, but nothing happened. Eventually I was informed that if payment was not received soon my belongings would be placed for auction. I was able to work out a deal with that local company to get my belongings back at a largely discounted price. I told them I am pursuing legal action and they would like to participate if there is something found on this case.
Bottom line is this: This company is a scam. Kathryn is now with another company (supposedly) in Chicago, Ill. The information I have for that is at my office so I will have to post it later. I will do so, but it should be noted that I have not been successful at even talking to a human being at that location.
I have a private attorney working on this, but I will also contact the FBI as noted by a previous victim and see what can be found. I hope we can all receive some redress of our grievances. Too bad this site didn't have all this dirt on them when I started, as everything has poured in just since the middle of this year. I did look for information on them prior to selecting them.
James
Pasig City
Philippines
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