Seven Seas Worldwide

TLDR: If you're sending clothes and tough durable items you'll probably be okay but you're taking a massive risk if you send anything valuable with this firm and the insurance is a waste of money and shouldn't even be offered given the sneaky small print clauses. Long version: I'll start by saying that I've used Seven Seas multiple times and had reasonably good experiences. I usually send tea chests with clothing, books and miscellaneous small items of furniture etc and after a few months my stuff turns up uneventfully. My recent shipment is the first time I ever sent fragile high value items (desktop computer and monitor) and as such took extra care to package them and took out premium insurance. Standard insurance only covers total loss where as premium covers for damage. When I received my unpacked monitor it looked ok but when I turned it on the screen was cracked and totally unusable. The damage is most likely the result of crushing or bending. I put in a claim which was rejected based on this small print: “Evidence of damage to outer packaging must be provided if applicable” and there is an exclusion for damage “To individual items packed by the owner unless there is damage to the outer packaging”. Now I got caught out, this is probably legal but very unethical and sneaky. If a company is going to offer to transport fragile items and offer expensive premium insurance this get-out clause should be front a centre. They effectively don't actually offer insurance for damage unless the whole box gets completely mangled, it's deliberately misleading and I'm going to the insurance regulator and ombudsman regarding how they offer and word these policies.

I'll also note that my computer show signs of damage to the case from crushing or bashing confirming the consignment was stressed but luckily it still works as the cardboard box looked ok so any claim here would have been rejected too.

Fully expecting the reply from seven seas saying they are bound by the insurers decision etc etc. The issue here is ethics and how they offer and word insurance products. I would of been happier if they contacted me and said you know what, we don't want to offer you insurance for these high value goods it's your risk.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $1200

“Instead of ‘have a nice day,’ I think I’ll start saying, ‘have the day you deserve.’ You know, let karma sort things out.”

And 7 Seas was rebounding EXCELLENT KARMA as usual!

Many thanks to Matt for the Ashford Self Collection pick - up slot on the 7th between 1pm-3pm.

Once again, great service and will continue to be a loyal customer, have been one since they day 7 Seas started in Cape Town 25 years ago !

PS.

BEFORE CLIENTS SHIPPING TO AND FROM ASIA COMPLAIN THEY SHOULD MAKE SURE THEY CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THE RULES AND REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY THEIR COUNTRY - NOT CONTROLLED BY 7 SEAS !

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £381

I thought all shipping options may not be great to begin with, but with Seven Seas not even honoring the insurance to pay for the damages, this represents a new low.

My order / route: Shipped personal articles from Asia to USA for family relocation

- INSURANCE: even PREMIUM insurance option does NOT actually pay for the damages unless Seven Seas are shown clear damages to the outer boxes, even when all boxes are marked FRAGILE but was clearly thrown around causing said damages. I wrapped a wooden box with a blanket and packing materials to put inside the cardboard shipping box, and the wooden box inside still fell apart, and they won't pay for this. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Should not provide Premium Insurance as an option if it’s not Premium.

- DEALING WITH DAMAGES: somewhat expected with so many different handlers in between, boxes aren’t handled with care and we ended up with some broken glasses etc. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Seven Seas should select intermediaries more carefully.

- SHIPPING TIME: more than DOUBLED TRANSIT TIME, with the quotation states 37-45 days for transit, when in reality exactly 80 calendar days from pickup date to delivery of all boxes; that’s over 200% margin of error. Before I selected Seven Seas I asked them twice how good is the 37-45 days estimate and whether that means I should get the boxes by certain date range on the calendar, and they would say yes; with my actual experience now, I find that to be a gross misrepresentation. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Give honest representation of shipping time.

- COMMUNICATIONS (or general lack of): yes, there are system email updates, but I still had to chase multiple times for whenever the process is “stuck”, such as when the shipments are on the vessel but missed they estimated arrival date, they only replied me after I emailed them TWICE. Seven Seas did not even provide tracking for UPS (last mile delivery) until after UPS had already showed up to deliver the first batch of boxes. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Train your agents to be proactive in communications especially when there are missed deadlines, and incorporate needed tracking numbers such as UPS into your system.

- SHIPPING FORMS: the red flag that came too late for me, as they contacted me four separate times in the span of over a week, to tell me I had to make various changes to the insurance form that weren’t indicated on their instructions. (and of course they say this caused more delays even though it’s their issue) Had there been a person or team that actually reviewed documents competently in one sitting, there would be no need to contact me four separate times for all the changes on one single form. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Train your team to review with a simple form with care and provide timely updates.

- SELF PACKING: for similar pricing, other companies send their teams to do the packing. I selected Seven Seas because I thought they would ship faster. They did NOT even provide enough bubble wrap to protect all the fragile goods, and asked me to purchased more on my own (which I’m glad I did), since at least my heavily wrapped dinnerware sets are in one piece. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Customers are shipping things they care about (otherwise why ship them) so Seven Seas should care about packing and shipping too, to provide enough packing material like bubble wrap.

- CALL CENTER: Most of the call center agents in the Asia time-zone who handled my order are well-trained and friendly, despite it was them who provided the misrepresentation of the shipping time. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Either build the internal processes to be more understandable to your agents or train them to be honest about estimates, as to not misrepresent what your service can actually deliver.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6644

It's simple: they LIE and are simply DISHONEST. Here are a few reasons:

I added UPDATES following their reply to my review on Trustpilot (see 2nd APPENDIX)

1) UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICE - I booked a shipment from the UK to Switzerland. They imported my stuff to Belgium (EU) for storage instead, so now I have to pay import duty ON MY OWN STUFF to get it to Switzerland (because the 2-year grace period has now expired). I found an easy solution: they could just ship my stuff the my parents' in France. They quoted me 1203.99 EUR to change the delivery address. For context, that's the same as the original shipping from the UK to Switzerland. They outsource final delivery from Antwerp to the final destination to UPS (by their own admission) so the price for them to ship to me in Zurich or to Lyon is equal or close to equal. Changing the address that a 3rd party shipping provider will be forwarding to is an admin or service task and should be billed as such. They are unethical, unfair, and dishonest.

UPDATE: I have now given up on all this and requested my stuff to be delivered to Zurich as planned but was told my stuff isn't ready for shipping yet, despite having passed customs and having been stored in their facility in Antwerp since Oct 2nd. It is now Oct 30th and "they will get back to me" about when my stuff will be available. They suggest the delay mentioned later on in this review is my fault for not making my mind up but that's not the case as you can see from their email I copied at the very bottom of this review (see APPENDIX, dated 30th October).

2) CUSTOMER SERVICE MAKES FUN OF YOU - When I called to explain my position above the attendant proceeded to give me a bunch of unreasonable explanations such as "you already paid for this stuff to end up in Zurich so now if we have to change address it's a whole new shipping agreement and we cannot refund the old one". Of course you can "refund the old one" because you haven't yet outsourced the delivery to UPS from the depot in Antwerp to Zurich, so you can simply decide to tell UPS to deliver to Lyon when you book that transit instead. That's how 3PL works. When I interrupted the attendant to tell them I wasn't interested in how they justified not doing something entirely feasible, he told me he had "nothing to say".

UPDATE: THEY NOW CLAIM THEY DON'T USE UPS BUT I HAVE AN EMAIL FROM THEM ON 27/10/23 STATING: "Our depot is located in Belgium. Delivery to your address in Switzerland will be with our third party agent called UPS Mondays to Fridays". See? ONLY LIES.

UPDATE: After digging a hole for themselves, they seem to have finally "made my stuff available" for shipping out from storage (31st Oct). Note that I had to call to find out: they didn't let me know, of course. What's funny is that a few minutes after I called to set up the delivery, I got 14 emails from UPS (one for each box in my shipment) stating that the box was due to be delivered from Antwerp to Zurich next week. SEE THEIR REPLY BELOW: THEY WILL LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH. Save yourself money, and save the world from this parasitic company: just book shipping directly through UPS!

[point 3 redacted]

APPENDIX:

As per their email I copy below, my stuff has cleared customs in Belgium (despite what they say in their misleading reply) AND THIS HAPPENED 4 WEEK AGO YET FOR SOME REASON AS OF 30/10 THEY STILL CAN'T RELEASE MY STUFF.

"Dear Enrico,

Job Number: [redacted]

We understand that your items have cleared custom about 4 weeks ago and currently located in Antwerp.

We are currently checking with the warehouse to see whether items are ready for delivery.

Please bear with us while we check.

For further clarification, please do not hesitate to give us a ring at 0333 733 7337 (UK) or +44 333 733 7337 (EU).

Thank you and take care.

Regards,

Wan Yi Ho

Business Centre Advisor

Seven Seas Worldwide"

APPENDIX 2 -- MISSLEADING reply from Seven Seas Worldwide

Thank you for posting your review, Niceone, we will take each point you have listed in term:

1. You wish to move your possession from the UK to Switzerland, this move is between two customs areas and requires customs clearance which, in your case, resulted in taxes and duties to be paid in Switzerland. You then wanted to explore an alternative to deliver in France, which you correctly quoted in your posting. These are the charges for moving your shipment of approximately 1.4 cubic metres within the EU.

We could not act until you confirmed which option you wished to select: to Switzerland or to France, you have now decided to resume the shipment to Switzerland.

2. We will investigate your claim that our Advisors made "fun of you" but, for your information, we do not use UPS to deliver to Switzerland except at the very last stage once within the country. You had incurred costs with your original UK - Switzerland job so this was not a straight swap as you suggest.

[point 3 redacted]

Regards, Seven Seas Worldwide

"

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £1444