Take a lot of care when contracting a moving company. They could provide you a good impression and present a reasonable quotation, but easily they can put you in a terrible situation as Omega Shipping and his partner Navtrans Global Relocation did.
My first mistake was that after many attempts, Mr.Aviani never provide me with a schedule for the overall process. I thought that would not be an issue, since I would follow-up the process quite insistently as I did, my mistake!
As scheduled, the container left Miami by the end of December, and arrived Bremerhaven(Germany) by January 04. All the paperwork was delivered as requested, that means by the end of December, or prior to the arrival of the container. My wife was calling Navtrans almost every other day, and they were never sure about our process. Finally on January 14, they told us that they need a different paper. The paper was provided on January 19, and finally they set the delivery for February 01, Monday.
Our nightmare started on January 31, Sunday at 6:00pm when Mr.Benjamin Beger, employee of Navtrans sent us an invoice with 25 days demurrage cost and administration fees, totalizing EURO 2,311 never before discussed, explained or agreed.
On the following day, Feb.01, Mr.Beger gaves us a call at 8:00am saying that the delivery of our goods would start after the CASH payment of the invoice. We tried to explain that since he never told us about that expense we were not prepared to pay anything else than the agreed amount as discussed on the previous week. The answer was: "or you go to the bank right now and get the money, or the container will leave and you will have to pay much more than what I am charging you now. I know customers like you that will never pay the invoice if I deliver the goods." So after around two hours trying to explain to Mr.Beger that those charges and the way he was trying to get the money from us was not acceptable, and due to the time difference Mr.Aviani could not be contacted, we had no other option to go to the bank and totally against our willingness we delivered the money.
After more than one month exchanging emails with Navtrans General Manager, Mr. Savo Radosavovic he never explained what happened from January 04 until January 14 when they asked us for the new paper and why he was charging for administrative fee that was not in the contract. We contacted their logistic provider in Bremerhaven and our process never arrived there prior to January 20, and they took 1 day to process it. We also contacted German customs, and the process was there for 1 day as well, so why do I have to pay for 25 days demurrage?
Mr.Aviani answer was, "I am sorry that it happened to you but I can not do anything" - believe or not, as simple as this.
I am now looking for a lawyer to talk to these people, since these companies can not behave like this where the customer is penalized with no chance to influence or prevent such a situation.
Navtrans
United States of America#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, March 15, 2011
We have just discovered this report and I think a site like this should not be used for abuse or comments posted as "revenge" for alleged injustice.
Overseas moving is a complex matter with different rules and regulations depending on the country of destination.
We are very particular, therefore, to inform each client about specific documentation requirements allowing tax- and duty free importation of household goods. This also happened in the case of
Mr. Rupp-Tyla.
One of the requirements is that an importer has to provide evidence for living outside of EU countries for more than 1 year. Usually clients provide a statement from their employer which confirms an overseas assignment for a certain time, others obtain a letter from their consulate at
origin. If a client cannot produce any of these they offer rental contracts, electricity bills and even tax records. Whilst we are quite willing to pass such records on to German customs, we cannot accept responsibility when they are denied and returned to us. During this process charges for demurrage and port storage accrue until the client is able to provide the required documentation.
Mr. Rupp-Tyla was fully informed of all requirements well before his shipment even reached the European port. Due to the lack of requested documentation we were unable to schedule either the forwarding to the final destination or a delivery crew to perform destination services. When the shipment finally cleared customs and the forwarding was arranged, we had a short term opportunity to schedule a delivery crew, hence the short notice producing our invoice for accrued demurrage and port storage charges. Demurrage is charged on a day to day basis, therefore, we have to wait right to the last minute to determine the correct amounts based on the return date for the empty container. There is definitely no time to discuss or even negotiate these charges as they are determined by the ocean carriers.
It should be known to anybody reading this response that we do prefer handling shipments with correct and complete paperwork, thus avoiding problems as with this shipment. We have spent a lot of extra time and effort to complete this relocation without any extra compensation.
We handle hundreds of imports to Germany, delays can occur for various reasons, but we have never encountered an unreasonable customer as Mr. Rupp_tyla, who just brushes off any responsibility for his lack of coperation, which consequently resulted in some extra charges.
Sincerely,
Savo Radosavovic
General Manager
Navtrans Global Relocation Service GmbH
Navtrans
United States of America#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, March 15, 2011
We have just discovered this report and I think a site like this should not be used for abuse or comments posted as "revenge" for alleged injustice.
Overseas moving is a complex matter with different rules and regulations depending on the country of destination.
We are very particular, therefore, to inform each client about specific documentation requirements allowing tax- and duty free importation of household goods. This also happened in the case of
Mr. Rupp-Tyla.
One of the requirements is that an importer has to provide evidence for living outside of EU countries for more than 1 year. Usually clients provide a statement from their employer which confirms an overseas assignment for a certain time, others obtain a letter from their consulate at
origin. If a client cannot produce any of these they offer rental contracts, electricity bills and even tax records. Whilst we are quite willing to pass such records on to German customs, we cannot accept responsibility when they are denied and returned to us. During this process charges for demurrage and port storage accrue until the client is able to provide the required documentation.
Mr. Rupp-Tyla was fully informed of all requirements well before his shipment even reached the European port. Due to the lack of requested documentation we were unable to schedule either the forwarding to the final destination or a delivery crew to perform destination services. When the shipment finally cleared customs and the forwarding was arranged, we had a short term opportunity to schedule a delivery crew, hence the short notice producing our invoice for accrued demurrage and port storage charges. Demurrage is charged on a day to day basis, therefore, we have to wait right to the last minute to determine the correct amounts based on the return date for the empty container. There is definitely no time to discuss or even negotiate these charges as they are determined by the ocean carriers.
It should be known to anybody reading this response that we do prefer handling shipments with correct and complete paperwork, thus avoiding problems as with this shipment. We have spent a lot of extra time and effort to complete this relocation without any extra compensation.
We handle hundreds of imports to Germany, delays can occur for various reasons, but we have never encountered an unreasonable customer as Mr. Rupp_tyla, who just brushes off any responsibility for his lack of coperation, which consequently resulted in some extra charges.
Sincerely,
Savo Radosavovic
General Manager
Navtrans Global Relocation Service GmbH