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I recently moved from Israel to the US and have been the victim of scams on both ends, so wanted to warn everyone against using either Teamnet (the Israeli agent) or NY Shipping (the US agent, whom I believe handles all sorts of international moves). Teamnet had quoted me a price per cubic meter (it was a consolidation shipment) and sent an estimator out to estimate the volume, which he said would be around 20 cbm. After this, I removed at least 4 cbm of very large furniture pieces, etc. from the shipment. I had also specified in advance to Teamnet multiple times by phone and email that the final destination, my house in NW VA, is difficult to access and could not accommodate a large truck. I made it very clear that I wanted this to be included in the price so that there would be no nasty surprises later. They said that it was and that they'd cleared it with the US agent. The agreement also specified door to door delivery and did not have any exclusions for difficult access or anything like that.
Teamnet's agreement stated that they would deliver within 6-9 weeks to me in the US, but it was over 12 weeks before the shipment even left Israel. When it arrived in NY, they told me that the volume was 25 cbm! This was an extra cost of over $2000 from what I expected, and so far no one at either end has been willing to provide me with any explanation of how my stuff ''grew'' almost 60% in volume - they've just said I had to pay or else. Teamnet also, despite their repeated assurances that they had done so, never even spoke to NY Shipping about the difficult access, and eventually (after they had most of my money) refused to do so, saying it was my problem.
Meanwhile, Teamnet took weeks to respond to each of my repeated emails and my stuff has been sitting in NY Shipping's warehouse. NY Shipping informed me of their storage charges after they'd already begun charging them, but the charges were $125/month, as stated in the invoices they sent me, and I figured this was reasonable given that the whole mess until then was mostly Teamnet's fault. Now that I've given up and paid Teamnet's extortionate charge, NY Shipping suddenly changed the storage rate and wants to charge me $544/month for three months!! They claim the original quote, which I have in writing in their invoices, was a mistake, and yet refuse to take responsibility for it - they're holding my belongings hostage until I pay that.
The road access issue is also still unresolved. According to David Mazafi at NY Shipping, the additional cost of a small truck shuttle service to get the goods up my road is $722, and it sounds like they're planning to charge me for that as well. He had said he would try to get Teamnet to take responsibility for it, but hasn't been able to reach them, and I don't expect anything to happen at that end.
There have also been issues with the insurance. For months I asked Teamnet for a copy of the insurance contract and details on the terms, but they never sent it. Then they told me my stuff had been sitting in the warehouses so long that the insurance wasn't valid. Finally after much pressure, they agreed to extend it in some form until the end of this month, but it's not clear (and they won't specify) if the terms cover damages done by the movers or incurred by long stints in humid warehouses. And it's not certain that NY Shipping will even deliver by the end of the month.
Now if I am ever going to see my stuff again (and who knows what condition it's in at this point), I will end up paying almost an extra $5000, thanks to the extortion at both ends. I'm furious about this, but of course they have my goods hostage. I had stupidly trusted Teamnet, as they'd been recommended by the relative of a friend, but I want to warn everyone else against using them or NY Shipping! I've moved many times around the world, and international shipping is always problematic, but I've never had anything close to such a disastrous experience before.
Instead of estimating, why didn't you just get a shipping container dedicated just to you (it would have taken 33 cbm)? rhetorical question as you tried to save money by going by the cbm price.
Well what's done is done. What you have is not much (under 1000 cuft). You can either find a local storage facility and have it delivered there which from there find a local mover and have them finish the delivery. Or they can park their delivery truck in the road and use hand carts to get it up your driveway. This is Virginia, the mishtara is not going to say or do anything. How long is the driveway?
From my past experience of doing it once is one learns to sell everything and purchase replacements in the new country. From what I've learned in doing anything in Israel is that an Advocate is nearly always needed and whatever time someone quotes you; double it.
From what I've learned in doing anything in Israel is that an Advocate is nearly always needed and whatever time someone quotes you; double it.
Several years ago I shipped stuff from NYC to Israel and at the same time some stuff from NYC to L.A. An expensive Persian carpet which had belonged to my grandparents which was shipped to L.A. was damaged. A desktop computer which was shipped to Israel was damaged. But the biggest issue was the extra fees demanded from me on the Israeli end in order for my stuff to be released to me from the port when I had been led to believe that the fee I paid in NYC was delivery door-to-door all included.
OP is posting this on every forum he can find!
Shipping international without all the details in a written contract and you can have a mess to deal with.
Really makes the most sense to get rid of stuff vs. ship it. I realize sometimes there are items you dread parting with, but that should be so minimal. I think one has to factor in that moving internationally means taking nothing with you that has to be shipped at great expense.
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