International Sea & Air Shipping

After scrupulously scouring the internet for a reliable shipping company, I came across this specific review page for International Sea & Air Shipping and saw the ratio of good reviews to bad (I wish I would have read all of the not good experiences as they're pretty spot on).

I was in the process of moving to France and had a pretty large instrument (Vibraphone), that needed to be shipped. The men came to my house, gathered my things, and my vibraphone, and communicated to me that due to the size of the vibraphone it would need to be consolidated into a single package at the warehouse.

Having never done this before, I didn't see this as odd.

A few months pass, my boxes arrive in France, I go through each of the boxes and find that the main piece of my instrument is nowhere to be found. The men that international moving co hired to bring my items to the warehouse, collected my things, and did not package the most important part of my instrument.

Meanwhile, everyone at international moving kept reiterating that they did, yet logically, had they shipped it, it would have been with my belongings.

Fortunately I took out the insurance policy, but even still, the insurance deducted $500 from the total of the missing item ($829) to receive the difference of $329. Which means I am still having to pay $500 + international shipping for my missing part.

The company has not offered to make any of this right and refuses to help with international shipping of the missing part, which is honestly the very least they could do for putting their customers through such a headache.

Regarding customer service, Ronnie was mostly great. I feel like he told me what I wanted, but I don't think they actually tore up the entire warehouse looking for my item, as he also reiterated that they swore they shipped it, which doesn't provide much inspiration for a deep search.

Hillary lacked in customer service skills to the point where I asked her to refrain from communication with me. She was rude, short, and often dismissed any questions I had with a, "Thank you."

Jeanine was perhaps the most professional.

Overall, zero accountability for their wrong doing and rather negligent and uncaring with people's belongings.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $4100

There should be a way to give less than 0 stars. My wife have done 3 full-service overseas moves from Everett, WA to Trani, Italy, then back and the most recent moved from Everett, WA to Munich, Germany. The last was done by International Sea & Air Shipping and they were horrible. The packing crew were short-handed, unprofessional, and intimidating to my wife who stayed behind to direct traffic there. I was already in Germany when she called me in tears. Every other move she just raved about how nice the crew was and how efficient and professional. Not this time.

They even downright refused to keep packing with items left in the house and about 20% of the container still empty (see picture)! We had to have a separate shipper come get the rest of it (quite professional btw, shoulda used them, psst it's Schumacher) and incurred additional expense. When the goods got to this side, the German movers even took pictures of the packing job inside the container because they couldn't believe how bad it was. Now, the German side of the move was stellar. So, there's that. I am just steamed at what a debacle it was. Moving internationally during a pandemic is stressful enough without this. Steer clear of this company.

UPDATE: They blame their customer if the company makes a mistake. The crew kept telling my wife that the container was not going to hold everything and forced her to choose what to send. This led to indecision. Then we had to pay $2500 to ship what they left behind...much of which was clearly marked and communicated as going. A $300 "discount" and offering $1k and no apology for being verbally abusive to my wife is far short of adequate. Good companies don't act this way.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $9500

This was, by far, our very best customer service experience ever. International Sea & Air Shipping handled our move with care and excellence from Day One until the last day (today) when our items arrived and were carefully loaded into our storage unit. When another company provided no advance information regarding our upcoming move from the U.S. to Ireland, we went with our gut and tried International Sea & Air Shipping. It was a very last-minute decision, but International Sea & Air was the best choice we could have made. They assigned a person to our move (Jeanine) who helped us every step of the way to answer questions and coordinate with the many other people connected to our move including the movers on the U.S. side, the company that was in charge of clearing our belongings into Ireland (a very complex process which again was handled flawlessly), and the movers in Ireland. My husband and I are so very impressed with International Sea & Air Shipping, and we thank them all for being there for us and providing exceptional service. Relocating to another country is extremely stressful, but this company made the moving part a breeze.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10200

I signed a contract for a 5 week door-to door shipping from Belgium to Knoxville (USA). It took 9 weeks! My furnitures stayed in a container for 4 weeks once they arrived to the USA, while I live at 10 hours by car from the port in New York. I had to threaten them so that someone finally answers my e-mails to know why things were taking so much time. Janice Strianese, which was supposed to be my contact, never answered any e-mails or phone calls. She was just good at sending me bills. This person is rude and absolutely useless. When I finally managed to get into contact with someone, they told me my furnitures were in Knoxville and that they were waiting to have them released by the ECU. 2 days later they told me that actually my furnitures were in Atlanta (real joke). They told me the actual time of delivery at my place 12 hours before it was supposed to happen (really easy when you are working ..) and I was warned that if the delivery could not happen the day they offered it I will have to pay added charges for the storage.

AN ABSOLUTE JOKE! Would not recommend to anyone with a busy schedule, absolutely not reliable.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Flat Service cost: $5000

I am very happy with the support Boaz Aviani's team at International Sea & Air Shipping provided with moving all my furniture from Amsterdam - The Netherlands to West-Hartford in Connecticut USA. The door-to-door process took about 4.5 weeks. The process started with a survey in the Netherlands to assess the size of the container required for the move. A few days later the move got scheduled and a professional team of movers wrapped the complete household on day one and moved all of the items on day two. The 40ft container was fully packed at the end of day two. About 4.5 weeks later at my new home in the USA, another team of movers were unloading the same container and moving my furniture inside the house. The sealing of the container in the Netherlands and cutting that seal in the USA were taken very serious by both teams of movers. I highly recommend using International Sea & Air Shipping for any domestic or international move. THANK YOU BOAZ!

Michael B.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000

Due to the Covid Situation I had to move quickly from NYC back to France and organized a moving with Onternational Sea and Air Shipping. On the day of picking up my belongings, my AirPod disappeared. I was using them 5 minutes before arrival of the moving company. However the moving company agreed to reimburse me with those .

At the arrival of my belonging (after 2 months of waiting) I had the surprise to see that my TV was fully destroyed (even if packed in a TV Box and protected) .

A complete JOKE ! I would not recommend this moving company at all!!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Flat Service cost: $3500

I regret every moment I put any trust on these people. Staring with the owner Boaz Aviani who must be the rudest person, the rest of his staff just follow his example which is rudeness and dishonesty.

If the initial quote attracted you or the many years of experience transporting peoples goods,…. At the end…. ARE NOT the cheapest. As for the many years of doing business in the industry you will be indisbelieve with their dishonesty.

The process involves more than just the people in the NY office. They hired the people to load the container and the people receiving the container and deliver the goods at the final destination. In my case, each one was a reflection of the owner Boaz. Unprofessional unskilled dishonest bullies. They hired a container that was old and filthy dirty, a company that they had no particular skills how to secure the different pieces inside the container and finally in Greece they hired Safeway Transport to receive and deliver the container. Safeway demanded 535 euros additional to what I have paid on my contract and unless I paid them upfront that money, they wouldn’t even had tried to schedule the release of my container. To my questions why they were charging so much more money (when I was told that I will only have to pay a tax no more than 300 euros) their answer was, “I need to collect what NY office is telling me”

When I contact the NY office they answered me that the charges were according to the Greek customs and port.

The fact is that ALL the charges were 243.63 euros in total.

I was there and have the receipt of everything that was to be paid to receive the container. When I requested a receipt for the remaining 347.33 euros, Safeway Transport sent me a receipt that is a general receipt issued by Cosco (the shipping company) and all of the shipping expenses were paid in the total of my contract. The receipt Safeway presented me could have been for another container or something else. No where on that receipt indicates that the charges were for the specific container which actually was recorded with a number. Boaz has failed to explain the additional 347.33 euros and ignore my request to refund the money I paid additional without any explanation. In addition, Safeway Transport charged me another 180 euros to hire a lift to take my furniture to the second floor because they were too heavy or too big for their movers to take them to the second floor. The contract however said that they will take them up to the second floor. I am asking for that 180 euros to be deducted from the total of my contract since the delivery was done in some other ways with additional cost to me. They knew the size and the weight of my furniture well before they loaded them on that container.

As for the damages were unbelievable. They were able to brake, YES BRAKE, a king size 24 inches thick mattress in half. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

They broke the base of my dining table right in front of my eyes and refuse to accept responsibility with some unbelievable excuses and tricks. When I called the lady in charge I got the bulling treatment which was very unwelcome and intimidated in a country where you don’t know everything. Very rude and unprofessional she literally threaten me that they can leave my furniture on the sidewalk if I don’t pay the extra 180 euros.

Dishonest Horrible Bullies. A legal action will be well deserved.

I only have one suggestion for you. Run! Run to another company. Read their insurance policy and coverage before you negotiate anything. Their Insurance coverage is another horrible fiasco to drain thousands of dollars out of you and actually leaving you with no coverage.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $6433

We needed a trustworthy and personable service to handle shipping sentimental family heirlooms from Florida to London in the middle of a pandemic. This was a very emotional transitional period for the MIL living alone and in poor health so not being able to be there to help and oversee the move was very difficult.

We researched extensively using Trustpilot and asked friends for recommendations. We were nervous.

International Movers were excellent throughout. They have a FB page which we liked and Hillary, our liaison manager, contacted us directly and settled our nerves immediately with her confident and straightforward talking. Jeannine handled our fees efficiently and in a timely manner and Daniel handled import and delivery. The whole team made us feel personally cared for and at ease answering every stupid question really quickly and often during holiday periods.

The delivery went smoothly. Every precious item arrived safely.

We can’t recommend these guys enough. Don’t look any further just make contact with Hillary now and relax.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £2000