as in all things in life, shipping sometimes goes wrong, even with (or maybe, especially with) the big boys like Fedex, UPS and DHL.

I've found though, that using small, country specific couriers works rather well.

Last week I researched couriers in Miami to send a small package to Ecuador for El Forko. search turned up www.macobcourier.com. they have an adress and phone number in miami, so i gave them a ring to very details, transit time and price. lady on the phone answered all my questions, so off i went to drop off the box.

i should've known something wasn't right when i noticed they had no signage at all. however, they did have a decent sized warehouse full of shipments of all sizes and both fedex and ups were there unloading tons of boxes. one of the warehouse guys told me that it was all being shipped to ecuador. being the foolish, trusting type, i went ahead with it.

they processed the box, took all the paperwork (purchase receipt for the merchandise, copy of recipient's passport and delivery info) and informed me that payment of $36.00 would be made in ecuador when the box was picked up. transit time would be 5-10 days, depending on customs in ecuador. they also told me their local office in ecuador would call when the package was ready for pickup. Fantastic! that was easy.

7 days go by and nothing. El Forko sends me a note that he hasn't heard anything. I send him the local telephone number in ecuador. he gets back to me that the box never left miami since i allegedly never gave them a copy of his passport. BS!

i call the office in miami. same lady (bitch) now tells me that it didn't get sent because i never told them "which courier to send it with" WTF?!??!?

i drive over there to retrieve the box. now the bitch tells me i have to pay to get the box back because they stored it for a week. right! i say fine, just give me a minute to call the police.

she then starts yelling for someone to come out. next thing you know, some ~65 year old dude comes out and starts telling me "**** you, cal the police." he then pushes/punches me in the shoulder and tells me to get out. mind you, i had never actually entered their office and was standing on the sidewalk/parking area.

so i called the police. of course, no one gets arrested (this is miami after all). the bitch tells the cop it's not their fault because i never told them "which courier to send it with." i show him their webpage with their address and phone number as well as the receipt they gave me. in the end he says to them give him his box back no charge and the matter ends here. if not.... they gave me the box back and i left--thanking the po po

anyway, some of you will say, serves me right for not using a more reputable service like fedex or dhl. sure, you can use them if you like but the cost is insane.

i've used other small couriers without an issue and they charge about 1/3 of what the big guys do.

suffice to say that no one should use these assholes: www.macobcourier.com

__________________
'07 DL1000 '08 DR650