Just be thankfull your Bike wasn't on THAT plane!
your Blood pressure must be reaching dangerous Levels by now though...


Martyn

I managed to do various bits of the Trans Am Trail, not all of it though.

Did Tennessee, Mississippi and a bit of Arkansas, a bit of Oklahoma, some of Colorado and some of Utah. It was all good but Colorado and Utah were definitely the highlights.

Some of the bits I missed were due to the lost time at the start, it kind of used up all the spare time and money budgets.

It was my first big trip and I've got a pretty long list of things that I'd do differently but I think that's normal!

Last week I received a copy of the air waybill and after some discussion it looked like my bike would be arriving in the UK on Sunday 27th Jan and that I should have taken possession of it the following Monday afternoon or Tuesday.

Of course, that's not what happened. Monday morning I got a 'phone call. The bike was still in US Customs (22nd to 28th?). Now booked on 31st January flight. Might get to UK 2nd Feb.

I leave the UK on 1st Feb.

What a saga Doug!

What's your confidence in the new delivery date? (Supposed to be back in the UK by the end of the month, wasn't it?).

__________________
Dave

Doug, sounds like about 70 years worth of bad luck has dropped on you from a great height! what did you do wrong as a kid.... smash up a 'Hall of Mirrors' at the Fairground? hope things are sorted in a satisfactory manner soon.

Malc

Hi Doug,

Fingers crossed for the bike collection. I trust you won't be paying for this diabolical service. I would try to present them with a bill for a replacement bike/car rental for the period that the shippers failed to deliver.

Hope you are going to name and shame soon.

Good luck.

Matt

Well it's the 1st February - have you got your bike back? You have always refrained from mentioning the shippers by name but I won't be so reticent. Would they be Wallenius Wilhelmsen Line based in Southampton by any chance? I say this as I used them in 2006 as did Keith last year and for me at least everything went pretty well. I dealt with Tony White and he was on the ball with everything, keeping me informed either by phone or email during the weeks before I had to drop the bike off at the docks. I flew out and a few days later collected the bike at Port Newark. The dock handlers at Port Newark are VERY union minded and won't work a minute passed their allotted time - 4pm. I got there at 3.30pm and was read the riot act so had to scurry around finding difficult-to-find people with big chips on their shoulders. Then the security man on the gate decided that the last digit on the frame numbre wa a '9' and not an '8' so I couldn't have the bike. More arguments ensued before I was able to ride off at 4pm.

Whilst it only took ten days to ship the bike to Port Newark, it took a MONTH for the bike to get back. This is because the ship had to visit about five ports all along the East Coast before crossing the Atlantic. When the bike arrived, the battery was flat and a handler had roughly pulled a side panel off to get his jump leads onto the battery terminals. But at least I had my bike bike.

The biggest problems we have is that most of us only do this once or twice ever and the collosal paperwork is mind blowing. Even the shippers/agents on both sides can't seem to agree with each other on procedures.

I was puzzled to read that the bike was getting shuffled about the country by road and that it was initially to be collected by you from the BMW dealers. How does that work out? Why didn't the bike get delivered to the docks and you collect it from their? What has the BMW dealer got to do with the price of onions? For your return trip, why didn't you take it to the docks and just hand it over? (as I did) I don't get that.

I hope it all works out for you though.

Must be quick since I'm on the way to the airport.

The company I'm dealing with is NOT Wallenius Wilhelmsen Line.

To be honest I wish I had used them, reports of their competence speak far more highly than of the company I'm involved with.

No, no sign of bike. Reported to be stuck in US Customs in LAX. Have been told that Customs officer who stopped it is not at work today (or yesterday).

I'd rather not let this end up being a guessing game trying to work out which company has my bike. I'm still trying to get guidance on whether I should reveal the name at this stage.

Dougx, have just read the whole saga from your first to last post only to discover no ending as yet ( like reading a book only to discover the last page is missing). Would love to hear if you got your bike.

Hi Dougxr

Any news yet???

Hope the silence means the bike is home safe and well. I have heard that the USA has a container shortage, and that this is resulting in delays with shipping, particularly out of Houston.

Graham

Bike has made it to the UK!!

On 13th February I received some emailed photos of it being delivered to my parents house.

Whilst it looks pretty much as I left it I haven't had a chance to actually look over the bike since I've been in Africa since 2nd February.

BMW have extended (free of charge) the warranty on the three items I felt had failed whilst under the warranty period - to recap the warranty period expired before I could get the bike to a BMW service agent due to the shipping delay.

So it all seems as if things might work out. I need to inspect the bike when I next return to the UK in April/May and then consider my next steps.


I must admit that the relief of getting the bike back has made me feel less litigious but I may still pursue depending on the state of the bike.

Sounds like good progress then Doug - perhaps your parents can tell you enough about the bikes' condition to reassure you even more?

__________________
Dave

Good to see it finally made it back..

Graham

Now you've got your bike back name and shame em!

Hi all

I see that this thread has been followed with some interest and many of you are wondering who the shipping agent was in this instance. I am not a person to bury my head but instead I do like to tackle problems and overcome them. We, James Cargo, shipped the bike. Not without difficulty. Shipping isn’t always easy and most of the time requires that everything be in the right place at the right time. On this occasion it wasn’t.
I will not elaborate on the forum as being a forumite myself, I believe that they are for information but should stop before things could become head butting.
Being a overland biker myself, I am the first to appreciate what biking is all about. Many of the companies staff are bikers as well. And 100% of the staff who are involved with bike shipping at James Cargo are bikers. With this in mind please appreciate that we don’t enjoy having a bike in our warehouse that we are restrained from moving but unfortunately in this one instance our hands were tied by circumstances beyond our control- .
Best to all
Roddy Warriner (on behalf of James Cargo Services Ltd)