Complaint Review: Flexport - San Francisco California

I am writing about a negative incident I had with Flexport, where they decided to invoice me for another $1564.68 for 'extra charges' after I had already paid for the shipment 8 weeks earlier. This dispute was never fully solved and they later debited my card on file without warning.

Here is the timeline of events:

May 9 2016: I request a quote from Flexport to transfer 1000 cushions from China to a fulfillment center in Virginia. I run an Amazon business selling cushions and this was my 2nd time using Flexport - the first shipment went smoothly. 

During initial convesations, they recommend that they do the ocean leg from Guangzhou to Long Beach, CA, where they have a warehouse. And then do the last leg by truck delivery using UPS.

Flexport then tells me to plug in the Long Beach, CA into my shipment on the Amazon Seller Central Dashboard and it would then Amazon would then tell me to redirect my shipment to their Moreno Valley, CA fulfillment center instead of the Virginia one. 

I try that and Amazon still tells me to send it to their Virginia fulfillment center - I make this explicitly clear to the Flexport team.

July 1 2016: My cargo arrives in Long Beach, CA and Flexport have trouble trying to arrange truck delivery to the Amazon fulfillment center. Why? Because they still thought it was going to Moreno Valley, CA fulfillment center, even though I had told them that the original plan was always Virginia.

July 2 2016: Frustrated by the fact that the Flexport team working on my shipment still think it's suppose to goto the California fulfillment center, it also turns out that the boxes don't have UPS labels on them.

The manager in charge of my shipment tells me he will obtain the best rates and ultimately the rates will be "much cheaper" because my cargo is palletized:

"We will get this moving for you and are currently working with carriers to obtain the best rate for the delivery over to Virginia and will advise once we have it. Ultimately with the freight palletized LTL trucking to Virginia will be much cheaper then by sending the cartons via UPS across the country"

July 19 2016: Truck arrives at the Virginia fulfillment center, but turns out the center was full so was redirected to the fulfillment center in Florida.

August 11 2016: I pay in full the invoice of $1850.16.

September 28 2016: Almost 8 weeks after paying the invoice, I get sent another invoice of $1564.68. I enquire the nature of this invoice and am told:

"If you refer back to the shipment log, it was originally requested and booked by you to Long Beach, CA. to our CFS where the cargo was to be scheduled for delivery to Amazon Moreno Valley. Instead, upon our attempts to schedule an appointment with Amazon it was discovered the correct destination for delivery was to Amazon in Chester, VA. As a result the shipment was re-routed for LTL trucking from Long Beach to Amazon in Chester, VA. Furthermore upon arrival to Amazon, they then advised that the Chester, VA. fulfillment center was over-capacity and the cargo needed to be re-routed to their Ruskin, FL location. This invoice is for the additional costs as a result of these circumstances and is valid."

I provide evidence showing written correspondence between and Flexport reps showing that it was actually them who suggested Moreno Valley, CA, even though I had made it very clear to them that the plan was always Virginia. 

Manager at Flexport then tries to divert the reason for the extra charges due to the fact that my shipment didn't have UPS labels and therefore they couldnt' take advantage Amazon-discounted courier services.

I provide screenshot evidence of the him telling me that it would be "much cheaper than sending the cartons via UPS".

December 16 2016: The dispute is never fully resolved. Flexport continues to go ahead and debits my card on file.

I am informed by my bank that they will be unable to retrieve back the funds. I make a phone call to Flexport and am willing to make a deal with them - I understand that there should be some kind of extra charges involved because the Virginia fullfillment center was full and had to be redirected to Florida, but they are unable to give me a cost breakdown of the extra $1564.68 and more importantly, unwilling to compromise in this matter. In the same phone conversation they told me they are not here to maliciously screw over clients, yet are unwilling to make a compromise and then later hung up the phone on me.

I am very disappointed with Flexport as I held them in high regard. As an overseas resident it will be virtually impossible to claim my money back. Please use this company with caution.