Any thoughts/experiences with "Universal Reloactions" shipping company?

[Knightrider]

Hello

We just R2Id from Ohio to Secunderabad, AP India and used Universal Relocations. We had a very very good experience using Universal - at first i was skeptical and took quotes from 3-4 shipping companies. The response and professional approach UniRelo, Sai Dattani's personal handling had made me choose them. I read some very good reviews from R2I forum and then choose to go by Uni Relo. here is a gist
When did you ship - 27th Dec 2010
From City, Country - Dayton, Ohio
To City, country - Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Shipper used - Universal Relocations
Shipping mode ( air, sea, road etc), - Sea
Size: container size, LCL, Crates, boxes, etc., - 50 cubic feet
Approx Cost - 1100$
Did you take insurance or not ? YES
Experience with packers /movers - we packed our stuff ourselves and i was surprised when unirelo has take tie up with fedex for pickup from home to their warehouse. Fedex handled it well
Any delay in arrival of goods - not really, as expected
Experience with customs officials, bribe ? - no
Any damages in shipping - yes, very few, perhaps we did not pack the delicate items well.
Quality of service, response to queries, customer service, experience - very very good.
Would you recommend their service ? yes for sure
tips, dos and donts for shipping - use strong boxes and not too deep ( 12" ) max we used 12x12x18
lessons learned in shipping process - since Univeral Relocations clear the goods from chennai, they asked me to send their passport thru blue dart courier and assured me that it will be handled well, but since i was apprehensive i decided to personally go to chennai and hand over my passport and take it back. But after i went there i saw their office, work atmosphere Sai's personal involvment in handling shipment was very commendable. Now i am convinced that we can saftely send the passport to them if you are not able to make it physically.

Our goods reached our home safely, i was surprised when universal relocations staff were at my door step, personally delivery the stuff. I had a LCD TV, and Receiver etc., all of them were delivered without a scratch. Excellent handling by Uni Relo. If anyone has any questions feel free to reach out to me.

Regards
Jude

[bagur]

We shipped last year from Bay Area. I am very unhappy with their service. I lost a lot of items and they could recover only one of them and
did not deliver the rest. I would suggest to chose someone else even if you pay more

[mallikac7]

Hello Jude, I shipment is similar to yours. But concerned about the charges that are not quoted in the estimate (additinal palletization charges, 20-30% additional bump after palletizing from the original volume, and the fact that they can't give an estimate of the volume when they pick up, even a rough one, until it goes in to warehouse (without your presence) is bothering me.) any thoughts and advice? How did you know your Cuft is only 50? You did your own measurement or did they do it? was the estimate change a lot from the original estimate to the final? By doing your own packing did you run into trouble with customs opening each and every box? what sort of insurance did you get since you packed it yourself? Please help me with your answers, many thanks in advance.