Kites Relocation review: Cheated by Kites Relocation

My husband was living in Dubai for almost 8 years and I was living in Dubai for 4 1/2 years. In August 2012, we moved permanently from Dubai to Brisbane. We used a relocation company called Kites Relocation to ship all our personal items (furniture, clothing, kitchen items, etc.) from Dubai to Brisbane. The Shipment was packaged and taken by them on 11th August 2012. (which they said would reach us in 30 - 45 days). They had partnered with a local shipping company in Australia called Australian Vanlines Pvt Ltd to clear the goods and deliver and reassemble the items to our home in Brisbane. We kept following up with Kites Relocation regarding the status of the Shipment and they told us it is on the way. The latest update we received from them by email was on 3rd October 2012 where they said that the container has reached Brisbane and will unpack today. They also said that they would tell their destination agent to call us back on priority and update us about the present status. We then followed up with the Partner company for many days but didn't receive any update from them. On 15th October 2012 my husband received a call from the partner company Australian Vanlines saying that Kites Relocation has gone bankrupt on 6th Oct 2012 and we need to make all the payments (duties, taxes, storage charges(for 10+ days), delivery charges etc.) amounting to over 7000 Australian dollars plus we need to run around ourselves to release our goods which have arrived in Brisbane port. Also we have to run around to do all the quarantine formalities as well. These payments were supposed to be paid by Kites Relocation. Also Australian Vanlines refused to help us out in any way since they hadnt got any payment from Kites Relocation.We were totally shocked and this caused us so much of inconvenience. We have tried desperately to get in touch with Kites by email and by calling them on their contact numbers but no one responded to our emails and also we were not able to get through to their numbers.

Finally after countless calls and emails going back and forth with the 3rd party Shipping company which was used to ship the goods from Dubai to Brisbane, my husband had to run around to make the payments for the freight, get the quarantine done, look for a delivery company to deliver the goods home. Also the furniture was not reassembled and we had to do all that ourselves. Kites Relocation CHEATED US. And we have no way of contacting them.

Below is a list of payments we had to undergo in addition to the distress, discomfort and trouble.

International Freight Charges : 2, 737.92 AUD (10, 377 AED)
Storage Charges : 500 AUD (1, 895 AED) [This was actually 3, 323 AUD, but the storage company felt sad for our situation and reduced this fee to 500 AUD which was a big relief.
Delivery Charges : 550 AUD (2, 085 AED)

Total: 3787 AUD (13, 872 AED) had to be additionally paid by us to get our goods home.

Below I've provided information about the contact people.

Address of Company:
Kites Relocation LLC
Office #21, 1st floor,
Nasser Lootah Building,
Airport Road,
Al Garhoud,
Dubai
(next to Jackys Electronics)
Telephone: +[protected]

http://www.localsearch.ae/en/profile/kites-relocations-llc/dubai/94292693290941948927959/

1)Mr Nazem Mundock.
Business Development Manager
Kites Relocations LLC
Dubai, UAE
Tel: [protected]
Fax:[protected]
Mob: [protected]
Email: [protected]@kitesrelo.com
http://ae.linkedin.com/pub/nazeem-mundock/47/29b/54

2)Vinitha Sreejith
Relocation Consultant
Kites Relocations LLC
Dubai, UAE
Tel: [protected] / 645
Fax: [protected]
Email: [protected]@kitesrelo.com
www.kitesrelocations.com

3)Sikha Udaykumar
Operations Executive
Kites Relocations LLC
Dubai, UAE
Tel: [protected] / 658
Fax:[protected]
Email: [protected]@kitesrelo.com
www.kitesrelocations.com

Kites Relocation have not shown any responsibility for their actions and we want justice. We have emailed Dubai Police, Dubai Consumer Complaints as well as 7 days news. But no response so far. We have noticed that another person has gone through a similar ordeal as us. Link is below:
http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=192266