Consumer Council｜Overseas moving complaints increase, British and Hong Kong residents are charged with extra freight charges for six months before taking possession of property

Under the tide of immigration, the demand for overseas removal services has increased.

The Consumer Council received 20 complaints in the first seven months of this year. The number of cases is the sum of the past three years.

Some citizens commissioned a logistics company to move their homes from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom in December last year, and were later required to pay additional freight, otherwise they would suspend the processing of their freight arrangements and have to bear the storage fees during the period.

The requester believes that the other party has no right to detain the goods, and after about half a year after disturbing the victim, he finally received the shipment and at the same time received a bill for the storage fee during the deduction period.

▼On 7.19 the airport reappeared to move to the UK residents and their relatives and friends to drop off the plane▼

+26

In December last year, Mr. Li commissioned a logistics company to move Hong Kong household goods to the UK, and he has paid the full amount in accordance with the contract.

In March of this year, he was notified by the logistics company’s British partner that the goods would arrive in April and will be arranged to be delivered to Mr. Li’s address in the UK.

But by April, Mr. Li received an email from the logistics provider requesting to pay 3,240 yuan for extra freight, and at the same time he received an email notification from the British company that he would suspend the processing of its shipping arrangements according to the logistics provider’s instructions until the logistics provider’s payment was paid. , Also have to bear the storage fee during the period.

The victim had received the final invoice issued by the logistics company on March 1 without additional freight. Therefore, he believed that the logistics company had no right to add charges after the final invoice was issued; and that neither the logistics company nor the British company had the right to detain their goods.

However, the logistics company stated that the terms of the contract have stated that "the final charge will be based on the freight actually collected by the shipping company." Therefore, they insisted on recovering the freight from Mr. Li and provided the shipping company's documents as supporting evidence.

In the end, Mr. Li paid the extra freight at the end of May. On June 10, he finally received the goods shipped in December, but at the same time he received a bill from the British company requesting payment of the storage fee during the deduction period. Whether it involves additional services and whether local partners will charge additional fees.

(Picture of the Consumer Council)

The consignment has been detained and is required to pay storage fees

Another complaint was that in December last year, the logistics company informed the victim, Ms. Chen, that the goods were expected to arrive in the UK in January this year. After receiving the goods at the door, the freight was paid in full according to the contract. However, on January 19 this year, the logistics company informed the goods. Still stranded in Hong Kong, and must pay an additional 12,800 yuan to continue to be scheduled to board the ship.

The victim hoped that the delivery date would be confirmed before payment, but Ms. Chen was informed on January 27 that the storage fee was being charged for her goods, but the amount was not stated; it was not until February 17 that the logistics company responded that the relevant storage fee was At 2,400 yuan per month, it is still uncertain when the goods will be delivered.

After many negotiations, the logistics company is only willing to deduct 50% of the February storage fee.

Ms. Chen believes that delivery delays, additional freight and storage fees will be charged, which is unreasonable.

After the intervention of the Consumer Council, the logistics company informed that the shipping freight rate in March had fallen, and had shipped Ms. Chen's goods to the UK, and decided not to charge additional freight or storage fees.

The quotation fee differs by 1.6 times the shipping schedule delay and the storage fee

The Consumer Council’s research on overseas relocation services found that the quotations and fees charged by logistics providers are quite different. 10 logistics providers provide quotations for delivery of 220cuft (cubic feet/cubic feet, about 40-50 boxes) of goods to London as required. The cost ranges from 20,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan, with a difference of up to 1.5 times. As for shipping 500cuft of goods (including personal items, wooden furniture, pianos and large items, etc.) from Hong Kong to Toronto, Canada, 6 companies offer quotations on request, and the cost ranges from 50,950 RMB 134,350, a difference of 1.6 times.

According to the survey, 5 logistics companies will pass on the relevant storage fees to consumers. Although 3 of them can be exempted from part of the cost, the exemption ranges from the first 2 weeks to 30 days from the date of receipt. However, the shipping delay may be as long as several In September, the derivative storage fee was expensive; 6 logistics companies refused to reply whether they would charge storage fee, and the information transparency was not satisfactory.

The estimated delivery time of the goods varies from a few weeks to a few months

Under normal shipping schedules, it is estimated that it will take 6 weeks to 5 months for 10 logistics companies to deliver goods to London. The fastest one means that the goods will arrive about 25 days after they board the ship and leave Hong Kong.

For the delivery of goods to Toronto, it is expected that it will take 5 weeks to 3 months for the 8 logistics companies to reply normally.

However, almost all logistics companies said that the shipping schedule is tight and it is difficult to determine the shipping schedule. Only one and two logistics companies respectively stated that the current shipping schedules for goods arriving in London and Toronto are normal, and additional shipments can be arranged.

Or be charged a surcharge for unloading upstairs

The investigation also found that after the goods arrived at the destination, local porters had the opportunity to charge an upstairs unloading surcharge based on the floor of the unit.

Taking London’s upstairs unloading as an example, 7 logistics companies said that local cooperative logistics companies will charge related surcharges, of which 2 are charged at a fixed amount of 1,600 Hong Kong dollars and GBP50 (approximately 537 Hong Kong dollars), and 2 are based on cargo volume and The surcharge is calculated for the floor where the unit is located; a logistics company also said that it will only deliver the goods to the vicinity of the truck parking location, and consumers need to move the goods upstairs by themselves.

As for loading and unloading in Toronto, four logistics companies indicated that they would charge related surcharges, while the remaining six refused to answer or were unsure whether they would charge extra.

There are provisions that allow logistics companies to dispose of customer property until all debts are paid off

In the investigation, five logistics companies had contracts with lien clauses that allowed them to possess and dispose of customers’ property until the customers paid off all their debts. Four of them gave logistics companies the right to remove and dispose of their possessions. "Goods", there are also 4 liens that state that the logistics company "has the right to sell the goods in its possession to pay the arrears."

Consumers unilaterally change shipping schedules and adjust costs to logistics companies, and even the entire handling arrangement may have difficulty in bargaining, which may lead to loss of property and goods.

The Consumer Council recommends that in addition to comparing service charges, it is also necessary to consider the shipping schedule, estimated delivery time, and merchant’s reputation. If merchants say that the shipping schedule is tight, they should carefully check the schedule when the shipping schedule is delayed, such as whether there will be storage fees, Will the purchased protection be affected, whether it can be arranged to pick up the goods until the scheduled time, etc.; pay attention to whether the destination delivery address can allow trucks to reach the door, whether it needs to go up and down the stairs, whether there are elevators directly to the residential unit, etc., understand the local transportation Will workers charge additional fees based on the situation?

Consumer Council｜Mitsubishi Electric two-door refrigerator with the highest cooling capacity, Sharp overall score, low heat preservation capacity Disfigurement, water injection, full face, needle holes, no fading, laser spot, pain, and blisters

01News