Venkata C.

What is the minimum standard expectation to have from a company that ships your stuff across the world?

If the expectation is just that they pick up what you give them from an address you give them and deliver it to the address you give them, then UniRelo meets those expectations. What we didn't realize is that UniRelo does a great job of only promising this while making it look like they do a lot more.

On the surface UniRelo looks like a cheaper alternative to more "branded" shippers, but they end up costing the same and will cause you anguish for long periods of time with half promises. Here's our recent moving experience in detail:

Moved from Pittsburgh, PA to Delhi, India.

The estimate provided put the total cost at $1347 for 100cu. Ft + $8.50 per additional cu. Ft (which for our 224 cu. Ft + 30% for paletization should have come to around $2900), but we ultimately ended up paying close to $4.2K for the whole shipment. There is a specific piece to the estimate which really made the thing a sham. The quote they give you is based on an estimated volume which is calculated using 2 parts. The first part is the volume of boxes and furniture etc that you plan to ship. The second part is a percentage that is added on to the first part to account for "palettization" of the shipment. This percentage is estimated to be 30% (see snapshot from quote). We were ultimately invoiced for 70% greater volume. Our total volume of shipment (non-paletized) was 224 cu. Ft. We got billed for 382 cu. Ft. When asked about this, we were told that they were helping us by making sure our stuff was handled properly (in response to other concerns we raised, which I will get to in a second) by using 2 crates rather than 1 (we did not care for the patronizing tone employed on us here).

We chose to pack the boxes and everything ourselves, Unirelo gave us a time when they would pick up our stuff. On the day, 1 man (the driver) showed up with incorrect information about how many boxes he had to pick up. Following some coordination initiated and largely facilitated by us, we were able to get him to pick up all the pieces of shipment. In addition, we had to facilitate the moving of everything from our house to the truck ourselves as there was only the driver who showed up at the end of the day with no equipment (like a dolly or cart), with a truck that was almost full before our stuff was even loaded. Another helper showed up, the guy was hired help from a website. The 50 inch TV we were shipping would not slot in easily and the UniRelo person kneed the box into place on its side (pictures attached).

We raised major concerns about the way our shipment was being handled. We were assured that everything reached the warehouse safely and photos were sent. The photos did not contain all of our stuff. Yes, we were very worried. When we raised this concern, they just said that everything is there, don't worry. It was in response to our complaint about the way the TV was loaded and boxes precariously placed that they said they packed everything in 2 wooden crates in addition to paletization!?. Felt like they were punishing us (which raised the palettized volume to 70% greater) for raising concern about how they handled our stuff.

Several follow ups were needed to get any documentation from them that looked acceptable. On the day of the pickup we were handed an empty document with no mention of what was picked up, instead they asked me how many pieces of shipment there are and wrote that number on the document and gave it to me. The number they wrote was incorrect. To give an idea of what I had to do to even get this document handed to me: I spoke to the lady who gave us the quote, after which I was put on the phone with the east cost head of UniRelo, following which I spoke to the driver's boss, following which I had to ask the driver to look for an envelope with a yellow document in it (which I still am not sure if we found the right one), following which I had to make a copy of it after he wrote the number 41 across the paper. I was promised a detailed list the next day as everyone was off for the day (per the east coast head), it never showed up. Eventually the driver got pissed off with everything, the people on the phone seemed to be getting angry with me for demanding that they at least give me a receipt for what was picked up!? Following our past experience with moving countries, there is a formal process of identifying, tagging and noting down every box and item along with detail about what is inside them. Then a document is provided to us by the movers listing everything with a signature at the bottom.

To get the Bill of Lading and Invoice, it required several follow ups. The first Bill of Lading they gave us had a typo in the destination address. When asked for a new one, we were first told that it just an honest mistake and it is fine. Someone from their own company who was cc'd on the email responded stating that is not acceptable and they should provide a new Bill of Lading.

The day the shipment arrived (2 months later) miraculously all our stuff arrived. Some crystal ware is broken, TV does not show black as black anymore, handful of boxes have signs of damage and ill handling (dented edges, torn sides, crushed faces, etc see pictures).

In addition, we were invoiced for custom and duty charges of 29K INR, apparently by the Indian Government. UniRelo has still not provided us with the bill or receipt from the government for this amount, despite us asking for this several times. They insisted that we pay the amount first before they can provide the receipt - our stuff could not be released without the money apparently.:(

We should note in all fairness that the india experience was smooth, the stuff arrived early and was offloaded by two guys efficiently and in a timely manner with little fuss.

In summary, if you should use UniRelo, pray that you are one of the lucky ones who is treated well by them. We read reviews before we used them, there was little sign of this happening, the allure was the price. If you do insist on going with UniRelo, have them pack your stuff, do not go for the all or nothing insurance plan.

Best of Luck.