Hola all,
Lads & Ladies I have been trying to contact Hellmann shipping in BA have sent them about 6 emails but no responce, they are recommended in the shipping pages. Has anybody used them lately ? If so is this the usual responce from them ? Id phone but my spanish is not up to a detailed phonecall.
thanks
jose

Unfortunately... Hellman is Hell to deal with. I shipped my bike from BA to Seattle in August of 2003 and it was a very complicated process.

We ended up arriving on a thursday, haggling with them all day friday with the help of a local Argentine friend who spent hours on the phone arguing with them over the shipping cost. Our flight left on monday night and we ended up leaving the bike in one of the local garages, arranged a local company to ship it to the airport where it would arrive on tuesday (We couldn't ship the bike on monday because it was a holiday). I would suggest that you beware of the following when dealing with Hellman.

-Get a PRINTED quote, not just an over the phone quote.

We received a quote from the seattle office for about $900 US max, got to the BA office and got a quote for $1200 max. They denied any prior notice/contact by the seattle office and all efforts to have them honor the "seattle phone quote" were fruitless.

Final price: $1800 upon arrival in Seattle. The BA office charges the Seattle office and by that time you can't do anything about it.

-The BA office lied to us (myself, Andrea(my BA friend), and Jim (who i was traveling with))

-The Seattle office also lied to us. They tried to play the hero but they too were up to their necks in empty efforts to "try" and resolve the issue.

-ARRIVE EARLY
-TRY AND SHIP WITH ANOTHER COMPANY
I have no idea what options are out there but if you have time and some connections (locals that can vehemently argue over the phone) do some research when you get to the city... you could save yourself $500-1000.

Good luck, you'll need all the help you can get.

Regards, Steve

http://www.bikerswithoutborders.org

Details:
Seattle air quote: $900
BA air quote: $1200
Final cost: $1800

Seattle Sea quote: $500
Final cost: $1200

HI Jose,

Depends if you want to fly or ship your bike by cargo ship. Regarding Hellmanns, have heard bad things about the airfreight dept, but only good things about sea cargo.

We are using them to ship our bikes to Melbourne.
The contact is Gabriela Villafañe
email gvillafa@ar.hellmann.net
She is very professional and speaks good english.

Would definately recommend arriving in BsAs at least 2 weeks before you want to ship, arrange an appointment by email and get a quote in writing.
If you need more info, we are in BsAs at the weekend, send us a mail.
Sian..

Hi All,
Thanks for the replies this is a great site, I will be the shipping the bike back thanks Sian for the info will arrive 2weeks early, in Brazil at moment heading south.
thanks again
jose