The Shipment Story

Perth, Dec 2009- we boxed our personal things, ready to be shipped back to Kota Kinabalu. I remember those few days of packing very well. I remember how difficult it was to choose what to bring and what to give away. I remember the kids tearful arguments on things they think important that we had to leave behind. Most of all I remember worrying whether the things would arrive safely or not.

After surveying a few moving companies, we decided on Inter Trans Holding (ITH) mainly because they offer the so called "cheapest rate". We paid AUD$5000.00 for 20 ft of container. Besides, since they are our fellow countrymen, we thought, why not help their business grow.

I now realized that those are really bad reasons to choose a shipping company. We should have looked at their reputation most of all, which unfortunately we didn't think of doing. The day they came to pick up our things, they were one hour later than they promised. I rushed back from the children's assembly at school, didn't even get to finish watching my children's show, because somebody had to be at home and hubby had to go to the university. Empty promises- hubby came back home earlier than they came to pick up the things.

We helped load our things into the moving truck (I'd say other companies wouldn't expect their clients to do that). And I said good bye to all the things I love, praying that they would arrive safely in 2 to 3 weeks, as promised. They said the ship was leaving the port on 17th Dec, so 3 weeks would have to be some time in the middle of January. Trusting their words, I waited for the most important things to arrive on time- my references and data for my thesis. Not having them on time means a major delay in the submission of my writings.

Alas, alas. Empty promises indeed. 2-3 weeks turned to a month. Still they didn't arrive. I was getting quite stressed for not having my most needed thesis materials. My children were unhappy waiting for their toys and clothes, for most of the clothes were sent in the shipment. When January ended and still no shipment arrived, I was getting really upset. But I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubts. Yes, my thesis writeup was affected. My children's moods were affected. But we still waited patiently, trusting their explanation that the shipment was delayed because of the many holidays at the end of 2009 to the beginning of 2010.

At long last, the shipment arrived. Exactly 2 months and 10 days after they were shipped. And the boxes arrived in a sorry state. All of them dusty, some torns, and what puzzled me the most was the large numbers on them. I wondered why they had to have different numberings than our labels? Could it be that contrary to the promise of ITH to ship them in a container, they had been shipped loosely in batches so that ITH didn't have to pay the actual price?

The first thing I checked was of course my thesis materials. Thank God, they are safe. The first thing the children excitedly checked were their roller blades. Two pairs of brand new roller blades as their Christmas presents. And they were missing! A bike wheel was also missing. Then I realized that my knife set, BBQ brush and scrapper sets, Christmas decos and some little household things were also missing! Two boxes went missing. How could it be when the company promised that they shipped in a container? What possible explanations do they have?

When hubby told them, they promised to find those boxes or compensate us for the loss. But when hubby itemized the things and told them the costs, they asked for receipts of those things, as if we are trying to falsify the loss so that we can make money. I feel so humiliated. Of course roller blades are not cheap. And it is very sad that the children hadn't even used them, thinking that they could play with them once they are in KK. One Malay word came to mind- kempunan-. The children never got to use them at all. But now that ITH is treating us as if we are liars, I refuse to have anything to do with the company at all. Following my culture, I can only say I consider all those missing things as 'buang sial' (to get rid of bad luck) and let the people who are responsible get the bad luck. It is especially because those loss had caused great sadness to little children.

ITH is a GREAT DISSAPOINTMENT. Or should I say ITH SUCKS?

UPDATE 1:
We paid AUD$5000.00 (about RM15k) CASH to ensure safety and smooth delivery and efficient service. We were promised 2-3 weeks, which was what we expected. Other service providers used by friends before do it exactly in 2-3 weeks (Grace Removals - 2 weeks, Peter Poon-15 days), with everything delivered safely. I am getting sick of ITH putting the blame on custom procedures. My husband has worked in the government sector for years. He has experience in dealing with moving and he knows for sure what happened to our shipment was due to INEFFICIENCY.

UPDATE ii:

(an email I sent in reply to ITH Perth rep. who sent an email to everyone in the mailing list that my husband shared this story earlier. They deleted my husband from the list but forgot to delete me, so I accidently got to know that they call his 'sharing' tohmahan 'slander')

Dear ITH,

I am surprised that you didn't send the email to Josh, my husband. He wouldn't have known that now he is grandly labelled the 'pentohmah' if I hadn't received this message.
I am dissapointed at you. In the first place you didn't show us any documentation. Now you do, after you feel threatened by my blog, which was just an expression of dissapointment. Well if you read through my blog, you'd know that I blog about my experience, not because I want to SLANDER anyone as you alleged. And it is me that blog, not my husband, so it is wrong of you to accuse my husband of slandering in MY BLOG. Come on guys, MY BLOG, MY RIGHTS! I don't lie...I write from the heart. I think my husband linked my blog to his messages because he feels what I feel, or maybe because he WANTS TO SHOW OFF HOW GOOD HIS WIFE IS????
But I do have problems with the way you guys work. Take this as a constructive critiscsm if you want to improve:
1. You are not transparent. You are reluctant to show the documents from the beginning.
2. You give too many excuses. E.g- when asked about the delay, you said 'due to the holidays lah', 'custom procedures lah'...
3. You try to shirk responsibility- when we complained about the missing boxes, and itemised the missing items, instead of feeling sorry for us, you ask for receipts. Have you no common sense at all? Who on earth would keep receipts for things we intend to keep for ourselves? If you say for guarantee purposes, you know we are moving back to Malaysia. You do not respect the customers' trust and rights.
4. I also wonder why there are 3 different pallet numbers written on some boxes. Even if you show those documentations in the attachment, I can actually easily imagine that you belatedly MADE THEM UP = FAKE. Well that's my imagination, incited by your horrible work procedures.
Finally, I do not expect any compensation for the loss anymore. It is the sentimental values of the things that saddened me, not the monetary values. Whatever it is your sub-standard service had made my children cry (they lost their Christmas presents, darlings) and I am very very dissapointed.
I sincerely hope that you will improve in the future. Remember, you are operating internationally now. Why not do your little part to make Malaysia proud of you?

Regards,

Veronica Atin, wife of Josh, mom of Sandra, Arielle and Isaac, friend of many and writer of the blog that scared you witless.

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