Global Ocean Freight reviews and complaints

I contracted Trans-Global Move(TGM) & Global-Ocean Freight(GOF) to move packed household furniture on Jun 26, 06. A week before Tom(GOF) called me saying container is not ready. I explained I have business trip on Jun 27-29. We reschedule it to Jun 30 with assurance it will not change. On Jun 28 Tom called to say container is ready but there is a problem he said crew & container are ready but vessel is not ready to accept and if it is brought on Fri it will cost extra to store it at shipping yard, I rejected. I asked if ok to leave container at my house and pick it up Mon Jul 3 Tom said it will cost extra. Finally, Tom said truck can be brought Mon Jul 3 8am with assurance it will be on time. Mon Jul 3 8am nobody showed up. 9am spoke to a rep and inquired about crew. Rep said "loading crew is supposed to come & PACK at 10am and container at 1pm” I said packing was not requested and was not the agreement with Tom. 10:30am TGM told me loading crew will be at 1pm. 12pm I changed my flight to Jul 4 missing 1st day of class in London (paid $200). 1:30pm container came but no crew. 2:30pm I called GOF to inquire about crew I was told to wait. 3:45pm loading crew came. When I asked why they were late, lead man said it was last min. arrangement. After crew left I called GOF about invoice which I was expecting with the crew but I was told it will be emailed. 4 days later I received invoice showing initial balance but a note said if balance is not paid late fees will be applied. I called GOF explaining to CS that pmt will be paid when I return, CS said “OK”. A week later I received invoice with $500 LATE & $500 HOLD fees applied. When I returned home I paid GOF initial balance after Tom indicated that fees maybe waived but they were not. I called GOF and TGM at least 20 times pleading but no avail. Late in Jul after warning Lisa (TGM) to pursue legal actions she called me and said GOF agreed to waive LATE fees only, I accepted. When furniture arrived Sep 27 I had to pay LATE & HOLD fees to release it.

- Trans Global Moving did not care about and did not help about providing good service once they collected their commission.
- Global Ocean Freight did not honor the contract that I had between Trans Global and I.
- The removal date was changed 3 times and charged me $1000 and on top of it their agent overseas charged me about $1500 in order to release the container. On top of all the hardship, frustration and charges they delayed the release of my container by not giving clearance to their agent for 3 weeks which I had to pay 3 weeks of port charges. (I can provide you with full details of what happened and all the extra charges they forced me to pay).

On 27th October 2008 a 40' container was contracted to arrive at our house and escrow closed on 29th October to transport our personal items to Mallorca, Spain. We received an e-mail (not decency of a phone call) on 25th October to inform us that the container was cancelled. GOF could not find a container ship destined for La Palma (Canary Islands) 1, 000 miles away instead of the port of Palma de Mallorca. I gave GOF details of container ships sailing from Houston and San Francisco to Barcelona and advised that the container could clear customs there then be placed on a truck and ferry to Palma de Mallorca. GOF refused and insisted that our personal items be put into storage charging double handling into storage, storage charges and double handling out of storage for an indefinite period. Having seen a complaint re GOF on the internet we cancelled within the 72 hours contracted time and asked for a refund of our deposit. The mental and physical strain was the worst ever experienced. Stephanie was off hand and less than helpful. Fortunately a friend collected some of our items and stored them for us but we had to give away more than $8, 000 of items, including a snooker table, Wurlitzer... Then, not being US residents we had to leave and return in January to oversee the shipping of our items by another shipping agent who was excellent.
We have not received a refund on our deposit, air fares and hotels have cost at least $4, 000 plus the $8, 000 items we had to give away due to the short time we had to empty the house before close of escrow.
The Better Business Bureau were completely useless and a waste of time, I put my case to the Attorney Generals Office 3 times via e-mail without even an acknowledgement. Unfortunately I am very disappointed in Florida's attitude to scam companies and would have expected better. To go to the small claims court would mean flying back to USA incurring flight and hotel costs in order to attend and then possibly more appearances there - ie.another few thousand dollars.
I was advised by Eti (CEO of GOF) that I could claim on their insurance so I rang the insurance company who stated that they had not received the annual premium payment for 2 years and put me in touch with another company - they only insured the office building. I was given the run around.
I believe they are now out of business and hope that they can live with their consciences and are not allowed to start up in business again. Norma Green

GLOBAL OCEAN FREIGHT INC.

Do not use GLOBAL OCEAN FREIGHT INC for shipping. They are deceitful, liars, unresponsive, irresponsible, incompetent, inhumane, distrustful…..

Shipping Summary:
We signed a shipping contract with Global Ocean Freight for $ 7440.00
We were promised “Door to Door Service” (From our home in the USA to South Africa).
Global was 5 days late in delivering the empty container to our home in the USA.
Global was 51 days late in delivering the container to our home in Africa.
The container was delivered to the wrong port (Durban instead of Cape Town).
Global would not take responsibility for this shipping mistake to the wrong harbor.
From this point we had to both pay extra fees and organize the shipment ourselves!
This shipping mistake cost us $5100 extra dollars because Global would not pay it.

In order to complete our shipment, and this is aside from our above extra financial costs - to correct Global’s shipping blunder, I myself (Without Global’s help) had to spend 7 additional weeks (approximately 80 total man hours) dealing with all the following different agencies:

A. The shipper “Sea Shipping” (Warren Majewski).
B. The ship line ““PIL” – Pacific International Liners (Sheila at the Durban port), (Ankia Geldenhuys at the Cape Town Port), (Alexandra Goransson in Phoenix, AZ)

C. The Receiving agent “AGS Frasers” (Lynn Bezuidenhout, Cape Town), (Wahed Shaik, Durban)

All of the above dealings should have been handled by Global, but it was NOT!
To further “rub salt into the wound” – when we tried to contact Global we were passed on and on and on to one person after another with no help from any of them (Dana, Joan, Stephanie, Jane, Keren, Jane….). Aside from this BIG “run around”, which Global gave us and continues to give us, in order for us to complete this shipment ourselves we were forced to deal with all these other agencies as well, which amounted to a full time job for me for all these past several weeks.

In Short:
Global put us through the biggest nightmare we have ever experienced in our life:
Global held our livelihood in their shipping container, which they were responsible for, but they truly “Dropped the ball”, and forced us to retrieve the container for ourselves.

To date Global has NOT reimbursed us for our extra costs, nor our time!

___________________________________________________________________

Long Story:
Our initial introduction to Global was pleasant. We were planning our move from the USA back to South Africa. Our questions were answered promptly and I could always reach Dana (our first contact) when I needed to check on something. We had one issue before our container arrived. Global was supposed to refund a $600 deposit within 2 weeks. 9 weeks later when it was clear that Global had no intention of refunding the money, I forced Global to use this deposit towards the full amount that was owed.

I took all this in stride and continued with the booking of a 40 foot container. 16 hrs before the empty container was supposed to arrive at our front door in the USA, (I booked for door to door service), I received a call from Global to inform me that my container would not be arriving the next day. This was a big blow to us. We have organized friends, neighbors and family to help us with the loading of the container. Everybody’s schedules were interrupted. The family that shared the container with us had their plane tickets booked 7 days after the original delivery date. After allot of fighting and arguing I got the container to be delivered 1 day before their international flight. The stress levels already mounting at this point, we did the only thing we could, we placed our trust in the moving company that promised to help us every step of the way.
The container left our house in America on Oct 18th 2008.

Once we arrived in South Africa, we checked on the progress of the container by tracking the shipment online. The tracking information indicated that our container would arrive in Cape Town on December 20th 2008, this was 4 weeks later than the estimated “4 to 6” weeks originally quoted. A week before this date, I called the forwarding agent in Cape Town to confirm the arrival of the container. It was here that our biggest nightmare ever started. The Agent told me that they had no knowledge of our container but that they would try to track it down and get back to us. A few days later I was told that the container was off-loaded at the Durban port and not the Cape Town port as scheduled. The container arrived in Durban on December 9th 2008. From here on the nightmare grew. I started e-mailing and calling Global to find out when we can expect our container. We did pay for “door to door” service and we were promised that there would be NO HIDDEN COSTS.

Every time I spoke with the staff at Global, I was told that I had nothing to worry about and that I would receive my goods as promised. I gathered more and more information on my own and discovered that the container was incurring storage and demurrage charges. When I confronted Global about this, they told me that they will take care of everything and that I will have my container soon. The more I investigated the reason for the delay, the more I grew concerned about Global’s commitment to us. After numerous phone calls and e-mails, I learned that the shipping line is not releasing the container because they were not paid by Global. Global withheld payment because they were in a dispute with the shipping line. In the meantime, our container was stuck in Durban and the storage and demurrage charges grew with $600 per day.
The shipping line in Durban told me that if the container is not claimed within 40 days, my goods would be auctioned to cover the outstanding balance owed by Global and to pay for storage and demurrage charges. I had no choice but to pay the R51 000. (U$D 5100) This is not including all the phone calls, e-mails and the un-measurable amount of stress that we have suffered.

When Global realized that I grew impatient with them, they started to play games with me. The staff member that I was dealing with suddenly went on a 4 week vacation and my file got passed from one person to the next. First I started with Dana who sold me on Global and promised me the world, then I got Joan who got fired midway through my nightmare, then I was passed to Stephanie who kept telling me that there were nothing wrong and that I should have the container very soon. When Stephanie got tired of me she told me that she is only the accountant and that Keren would take over my file. Keren had no knowledge of what I have been going through and lasted a week before I got passed on to Jane, the general manager (who I still think does not exists) Jane only made promises to talk to me but never did. After 2 weeks of fruitless attempts to talk to Jane, I got passed back to Stephanie who believes that a refund of $600 is a fair re-imbursement.

Our family have been subjected to an enormous amount of stress, anxiety and disappointment. The staff at Global has no compassion or empathy for their customers. At times I pleaded with them to stop lying and to start helping me but it was all in vain. During this time, I “Googled” Global Ocean Freight and found that many others have experienced the exact same treatment as I have. It was then that I wished that I had done proper research on Global. I believe that Global can make right on the mistakes that they are responsible for and that it is criminal for them to walk away from their customers who have, in good faith, entered into an agreement with them.

Neil Erasmus
Marius Meiring (14301)

GOF picked up our goods from Des Moines Iowa in July 2008 for delivery to Cochabamba Bolivia. Numerous delays, excuses until finally the freight started movement a couple of months ago. Today we heard that GOF was going out of business just as our goods are about to reach Arica Chile, the nearest port. The freight forwarder for Arica to Cochabamba called to say that WE are now responsible for landing and transport from Arica even though we had prepaid the entire amount.

I hired Global Ocean Freight in Plantation Florida, to move my furniture from Bend Oregon to Toulouse France.

One week before my departure they could not tell me if they would be able to find a truck to come pick up my shipment. I had to cancel and asked them to send me back my deposit of $1400. They said they would but never did.

I had just enough time to hire a local company who did an excellent job and did the pick up and delivering right on time.

I kept calling from France and sending emails to global ocean but they kept lying in my face and to this day, never received my deposit.

To those who do not know, they have now gone out of business. Thanks God. I hope they are prosecuted for scamming so many people and I hope they all spend a long time in jail!

Unfortunately, I've used Global Ocean Freight for an international move - it was a very bad experience.

My original quote was for $8, 350.00 for a 40 foot high cube container delivered to the destination - door to door. After the container arrived at a customs clearing agent at the destination, Global Ocean Freight billed me in excess of $14, 000.00. Of course, they would not release the container to the final destination until the bill was paid in full. Plus, for every extra day the container stays at the clearing agent while the invoice is contested, there's a hefty surcharge added to the amount owing.

Basically, Global Ocean Freight plays an interesting game. Even though a container will hold 2695 cubic feet as stated in their advertising materials and their web site, they have a clause in their contract that states --> "Please keep in mind that upon packing and loading, your goods will take up more space. Do not exceed the calculated volume of 2200 cubic feet for a 40- Foot H/C container, this will allow room for loading"

Note that the requirement to ship no more than 2200 cubic feet per 40 foot H/C container is not a contractual obligation - the above quoted phrase is only providing advice for loading.

So - even if all of your goods fit into the container, if Global Ocean Freight calculates the volume to be greater than the advised 2200 cubic feet, they charge an additional fee per cubic foot for overflow/excess volume. Also note that the calculation is performed by Global Ocean Freight and there is no recourse to dispute this calculation.

In my case, that additional fee was several thousand dollars...

I gave copies of the contract and invoice to several lawyers and the Federal Maritime Commission. Without exception, all were of the opinion that Global Ocean Freight's contract, calculation methodology and the additional fees added to the invoice would be successfully contested in a court of law.

You may wish to contact the Federal Maritime Commission and several other US Government agencies to enquire about each specific moving company. They will tell you information like the number of complaints, number of resolved complaints, whether the company is licensed, insured, etc... It's a worthwhile inquiry and will help to weed out the dishonest companies... All of these agency's URLS are just a quick google away...

Hope this helps... Good luck with your move...

I used this company twice for international relocation. The first time, they relocated my household effects from NJ to France. It took my shipment 2 months longer than projected to arrive. I was careless enough to use them for my return relocation from France to NY. While my first experience with GOF was moderately unpleasant, the second experience was downright horrible.

To begin with, they could not find a local mover to pick up my shipment.--They found a local agent 5 days before I had to board the plane to leave France for good. In the meantime, I had to live with a lot of stress wondering what my options were. Then, they kept sending me extra-low-res versions of customs forms that I had to complete several times over the span of several days, because their customs broker rejected the forms as unreadable. They finally referred me to the US customs web site, because they (the super-duper experienced international shipper!) did not have the right forms. It didn't end there. They billed me $1000 over the contract for extra "demurrage and storage, " because according to them the customs took an extra 5 days to clear my shipment. I paid. Recently, I contacted the port and found out that my shipment took 1 day to clear customs. You make your conclusions... On top of that, they demanded that I pay the extra charge "immediately." I paid the same day via billpay. They came back then next day and said that because the payment was not by wire, they will hold the shipment in storage at an extra cost of $500. I was trying to reason and complain, but the management of GOF maid itself unavailable. It was braizen. They would not take my calls. They are offensive.

My read of Global Ocean Freight is that they are a highly unethical, even criminal operation. Their business model is to attract customers by lowballing competition. The make money by under-delivering and adding imaginary charges. (Case in point, they also charged me for packing materials that I did not use. I managed to fight off that charge because it was stated in the contract that I would pack myself. They said it was in error.)