I am having problems with the following shipping agent:

Auto Marine Shipping

Proprietor: A B Vandermolen.

Although we have paid for the shipping of our vehicle and goods in full he has withheld the bills of lading until a few days before the stuff arrives and is now refusing to correct details on these bills of lading that are incorrect. He won't even speak to us civilly- he has hung up on my wife 3 times - or fax copies of the documentation to us. Is there anyway we can make a complaint to any professional body over his conduct and is there anyone on the list local to this old ballie that can go round and break his legs for us?

We are starting to stress as two trunks of my tools and overlanding kit are due in Durbs in the next few days and we have documentation that is incorrect in regards to the name of the consignee and description. And this is supposed to be the easy part as my vehicle arrives next month!


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Enzo
Africa
WWW.BUNDUBASHER.COM

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Enzo

That sucks!! Don't know any professional org to report to, but I do know a reall good shipping agent in Durbs who may be able to advise you. Her name is Sheila Ferreira of Seven Seas Freight. Wonderful lady and very helpful. Her email is "ssf" --at -- "wol.co.za"

Hope that helps.

Graham Jackson
www.africaoverland.org

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email address in post obfuscated by Grant - see http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/faq.shtml#notify for why.

[This message has been edited by Grant Johnson (edited 07 November 2004).]

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Graham 'Cracker'
Director: Overland Training
Editor: Overland Journal
Instigator: Africa Overland

Thanks for the contact, I'll try her next vehicle I ship...

Anyway, got my trunks yesterday not much missing...some water bottles and some spares...nothing too valuable.

The truck arrives Wednesday and so does my mum from the UK so I'll have to get someone to bring the vehicle up for me...any takers?

Clearance is another f***ing expense and I've found a reasonably priced agent but I'll wait to I've got the vehicle before I pass judgement.

I'd like to be there to inspect the vehicle as it comes off the ship but "dear old mater" does come first so I'll have to wait until it arrives in Jo'burg.

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Enzo

Good luck on that. And with the family!

I shipped my vehicle from Durbs to USA on August 23rd. Still waiting for it on this end. US customs has been having a field day holding it in Houston. It was supposed to have been put on a train for Denver yesterday, but I have no confirmation of this.

cheers

graham

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Graham 'Cracker'
Director: Overland Training
Editor: Overland Journal
Instigator: Africa Overland

Hope you get your truck OK you must be glad it's coming by train as someone is driving mine up - I hate other people driving my truck when I'm not there!

Just heard that my Durbs agent has finally received the telex release and has started the clearing process so not long now.

By the way, it's 32 degrees C in Jozzie today!

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Enzo

It gets worse: the @rsehole put petrol in my diesel truck...and then did not bother to tell me!

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Enzo

Is your truck okay? Did you find this out when you got it or before? I finally got mine last Friday. 10 weeks in transit and 3 days to pick up. The rail yard wouldn't let me use their ramp so I had to get it trucked to my house and use a tow company to unload. Everything was fine except for some broken straps in the container. Truck didn't suffer any damage thankfully.

cheers

Graham
www.africaoverland.org

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Graham 'Cracker'
Director: Overland Training
Editor: Overland Journal
Instigator: Africa Overland

I didn't find out until I received my truck in Jo'burg - it had been driven 400 miles from Durban, worse, the driver (an incompetant Shona called "Never") drove it all the way in 4WD High Range!

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Enzo

Oh no!! What a litany of woe - you must be feeling a bit frazzled....

I'm about to ship my FZJ80 from the UK to Cape Town (which is proving a pain to arrange, as I'm in Lagos) and wonder if anyone has a tip for a decent shiping agent in CPT.

Also, I still have a few questions about import duty rebates etc, which I'm looking for answers for. Therefore if anyone has recently moved to SA and is picking up Permanent Residency, I'd love the chance to ask a few things off list.

cheers - Andy

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AndyBee
(04 KTM 640 Adv 'Naartjie'/11 KTM 990 Adv 'Tsumeb')

Thanks, here's my first sally (Sp?):

An open letter to Barry Vandermolen, Auto-Marine Shipping (Also trading as "Shippers 2000" & "Shippers 2000 Plus"
( http://www.shippers.dircon.co.uk/ ):

Quote: WE HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF PETROL BEING PUT IN YOUR CAR.

WE HAVE THE RECEIPTS FOR THE DIESEL WHICH WAS PUT IN YOUR CAR. Unquote.

Barrie Vandermolen, 17th November 2004

Sir

Making reference to your reply above, can you therefore explain the receipt, held by ourselves, dated the 26 08 2004, and signed by yourself (AA membership no: 6356 0114 3228 9184), wherein, vehicle license number L598 JVN was diagnosed by the AA as having "petrol in diesel" and "requiring permanent repair as soon as possible".

We would also appreciate a further explanation from you as to why the vehicle was in Stanmore, Middlesex, on the 26 08 2004. We were made to believe that the vehicle was in Southampton Port as per your invoice (billing us for Port storage fees) and as per your letter of 31 08 2004 which states "we decided today to collect your vehicle from the docks and deliver it to the depot in Barking Essex to enable the trunks to be removed" definatively stating that the vehicle was at Southampton Port from 14 08 2004 to 31 08 2004 inclusive.

Jeremy


[This message has been edited by Bundubasher (edited 26 November 2004).]

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Enzo