Seven Seas Worldwide

Seven Seas collected the bike from Xining and told me they would expertly package it before shipping it home to the UK. I then received the bike 30 days after they said it would arrive as the ship was late and the local delivery arrangements were inflexible. The bike was damaged in transit as the packaging was completely inadequate . The forks had protruded from the box and the dropouts were bent. The bike needs new forks and will cost over £300 to repair. A terrible service and on top of that poor customer care which was slow and did not read my emails correctly.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £400

After living in China for 10 years and accumulating SO many things.. the thought of having to pack, move and ship boxes was something that had STRESSED! ?

Seven seas were super organised, made the whole process easy, affordable and super quick!

The process was all online and you can chat with an agent who are all beyond helpful!

They send you all the materials for shippping (boxes, markers and tape)

All you have to is pack, note down your belongings, tape the boxes up and jot down your details on each box~ YES that easy!

Boxes were in PERFECT condition when they arrived in the UK ~ no delays, no custom issues and also the tracking system on the website was FANTASTIC and very accurate!✨

Highly recommend using seven seas! moving your belongings should be a stress free task and with them it definitely ticks that one big task off your list as they have it under control from start to finish. ??

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: 9000CNY

My wife and I recently moved from London to Los Angeles and used Seven Seas Worldwide.
We used this company to ship our most valuable items as we wanted them in our new home within 2 weeks.
Our 10 boxes full of wedding gifts, honeymoon purchases from aournd the world,items given to my wife from her mother and grandfather who have both past away from Cancer..
The boxes arrived, CRUSHED, TORN, SQUASHED,ITEMS SHATTERED TO PIECES!! Not just 1 box but over 7 out of 10 of them, all clearly marked FRAGILE wrapped in bubble wrap, extra padding and put into solid double ply cardboard.
My wife was in tears for days.. memories destroyed forever, items that were irreplaceable were completely destroyed!
We contacted Seven Seas Worldwide and I was Given Jane Elwell's e mail address as she was the manager of customer services.
She asked for pictures and evidence.
A couple of weeks ago my wife's grandmother got diagnosed with cancer.. we understandably had a little delay of a couple of weeks providing pictures to Jane as we were dealing with this tragic news.
After putting all the pictures together ( and there are MANY) my wife sent them off.
The response and I quote:

" You have stated below the additional images of the boxes, as they appeared on arrival, would be provided but I regret not to have received these and a period has now passed since the delivery was performed that it it will subsequently be unlikely for liability upon the courier to be accepted"

Jane Elwell NEVER mentioned that there was a time limit in ANY of her e mails. Of course Jane doesn't have a direct contact to discuss the matter.. instead I keep getting redirected to Malaysia. How convenient!

Seven Seas Worldwide thank you for destroying our most valuable personal belongings and memories.
Thank you for dealing with things the way you have, a true disgrace to how a company and customer services should operate.

To all those that have taken the time read thank you, and please find attached all pictures on Seven Seas Worldwide's Facebook page.

I truly hope that such a terrible and deeply wounding experience never has to happen to anyone else!

Marlow Warrington.

Service cost: $1000

STAY AWAY. My items were handled extremely roughly and sustained multiple forceful impacts. Everything was packed and wrapped with care, using their boxes, and every box was nearly split open when it arrived. Multiple electronics items inside were damaged heavily, as the boxes looked like they were THROWN from the container ship onto the docks.

https://puu.sh/EQrNZ/1ef1fd311b.jpg

Every item was wrapped and placed inside the box. What kind of force did the box take to sustain enough damage to a metal appliance inside that the metal was crushed and plastics utterly shattered?

You have just lost a repeat customer and I would warn people to stay away.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1000

TERRIBLE. They deliver with UPS! Hidden fees hiding around every corner. Save money and just use UPS. Or a reputable mover. I never leave bad reviews but this was a terrible experience, terrible service, and ruse sarcastic customer service.

The salespeople will promise the world. I have an injured shoulder and asked to be guaranteed door to door delivery.

After some time when wondering about my belongings I called. The very rude lady said she couldn't tell me when my items would arrive. She said UPS will deliver them in a month or so. This was the first time I heard UPS was delivering.

Meanwhile, I am getting fee on top of fee. They confiscated my masks. The list of prohibited items did not say masks were prohibited. This detail is buried on their website. Meanwhile, I FedExed masks to relatives multiple times. So whose rule is this? They wouldn't say. But they did charge my a large 1050HKD fee. This on top of numerous other hidden fees.

Moving on when my goods did arrive they were carelessly thrown downstairs and most definitely not door to door.

Look how many times on their site they say door to door. They also claim all over the site they use their own network all the way. they also make this claim when you re on hold. Which you will be many times I assure you waiting to find out where your goods are.

So they DO NOT use their own network. They use UPS. SO what is the point? Why pay this premium for them to use UPS?

The kicker is their sarcastic customer service rep who after numerous emails will finally get back to you and sarcastically claim that they deeply regret how wrong I was and should have dug through their pages of terms and exceptions. These terms basically negate all of their sales claims. Thank you Jane Elwell of customer service for your late sarcastic reply after numerous emails.

Use a better service or just use UPS. You will have tracking and save thousands of USD.

Avoid this scam service.

Move size: Studio flat Service cost: $3270

For the quick, WORST COMPANY I have ever dealt with. Now the long version: First, I had paid in my deposit in 2017 for half the US version of it, which was half before pickup on the box shipment. Long and short is 2.5 years later when I was ready to actually ship, the amount had more than doubled. I was in CONSTANT email contact during that period of time, so they had ample time to tell me during that the price was doubling due to their Chicago warehouse closing. Ok, I will leave that one alone, there really is not much I can dispute there after finding this out but I should've known there was worse to come. Next, I arrange to have a family member to take a DAY off work since :

Your Collect Full has been scheduled for 09:00 to 18:00 on 20-Jan-2020.This is a guided time and subject to traffic conditions.

Seven Seas Worldwide Inc

Well, this day comes..and starts to go so I frantically begin calling to find out what the problem is. Seven Seas is unable to find out why it hasn't been picked up and claim they cannot get any information since their contact in their other office isn't there due to what time it is. This is sad enough, BUT I phoned UPS myself since I understand how to get information, and was able to speak directly with Seven Seas account manager at UPS who told me that there had been NO pickups scheduled for Illinois that day, and there were 3 total. So clearly Seven Seas did NOT call in the pickup. Then I told them it would have to be on Saturday which I was told by seven seas they were unable to do weekend pickups. I again told them that I worked for UPS (which I did in the past) and that they most certainly do have Saturday pickups. Then I was told I WOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR THE PICKUP PRICE DIFFERENCE. I refused this and finally that was dropped and they paid for it. Then for their mistake (they called it, I call it neglect) they gave me $40 off. Fine, at this point I can't say anything until I get my boxes anyway.

Well, now I have received my boxes, finally. One of the 3 boxes was utterly destroyed with pictures of the damage sent in to show that they were mishandled and damage to my goods was shown. Even though I also had basic insurance (paid for the amount of $230) on the shipment, I received from JANE in customer service the following (brief snippet).

"However in regard to the insurance claim that you wish to make Justin, I have discussed the issue with our insurance desk whom have obtained your shipment information and they have advised me that Basic Insurance was selected to cover your shipment and regrettably the Basic Insurance policy does not offer any coverage for damage or breakage. Basic Insurance is a Total Loss policy and extends cover to the loss of the entire box during its transit and therefore its subsequent non-delivery to you."

So after trying to screw me over on every step of the process, the last and final piece to this is they refuse to even pay for the mere $230 worth of items that were damaged, which of course was worth quite a bit more than that. I am reasonable and would be happy with that slight amount, but this company could not even do that. If you ever think of shipping anything internationally, please for your own sanity, do NOT use this company.

(any and all email correspondence is available if you would like further proof)

Justin (j_whippo@sbcglobal.net).

Move size: Studio flat Service cost: $640

TLDR: If you're sending clothes and tough durable items you'll probably be okay but you're taking a massive risk if you send anything valuable with this firm and the insurance is a waste of money and shouldn't even be offered given the sneaky small print clauses. Long version: I'll start by saying that I've used Seven Seas multiple times and had reasonably good experiences. I usually send tea chests with clothing, books and miscellaneous small items of furniture etc and after a few months my stuff turns up uneventfully. My recent shipment is the first time I ever sent fragile high value items (desktop computer and monitor) and as such took extra care to package them and took out premium insurance. Standard insurance only covers total loss where as premium covers for damage. When I received my unpacked monitor it looked ok but when I turned it on the screen was cracked and totally unusable. The damage is most likely the result of crushing or bending. I put in a claim which was rejected based on this small print: “Evidence of damage to outer packaging must be provided if applicable” and there is an exclusion for damage “To individual items packed by the owner unless there is damage to the outer packaging”. Now I got caught out, this is probably legal but very unethical and sneaky. If a company is going to offer to transport fragile items and offer expensive premium insurance this get-out clause should be front a centre. They effectively don't actually offer insurance for damage unless the whole box gets completely mangled, it's deliberately misleading and I'm going to the insurance regulator and ombudsman regarding how they offer and word these policies.

I'll also note that my computer show signs of damage to the case from crushing or bashing confirming the consignment was stressed but luckily it still works as the cardboard box looked ok so any claim here would have been rejected too.

Fully expecting the reply from seven seas saying they are bound by the insurers decision etc etc. The issue here is ethics and how they offer and word insurance products. I would of been happier if they contacted me and said you know what, we don't want to offer you insurance for these high value goods it's your risk.

Move size: Studio flat Service cost: $1200

“Instead of ‘have a nice day,’ I think I’ll start saying, ‘have the day you deserve.’ You know, let karma sort things out.”

And 7 Seas was rebounding EXCELLENT KARMA as usual!

Many thanks to Matt for the Ashford Self Collection pick - up slot on the 7th between 1pm-3pm.

Once again, great service and will continue to be a loyal customer, have been one since they day 7 Seas started in Cape Town 25 years ago !

PS.

BEFORE CLIENTS SHIPPING TO AND FROM ASIA COMPLAIN THEY SHOULD MAKE SURE THEY CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THE RULES AND REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY THEIR COUNTRY - NOT CONTROLLED BY 7 SEAS !

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £381

It's simple: they LIE and are simply DISHONEST. Here are a few reasons:

I added UPDATES following their reply to my review on Trustpilot (see 2nd APPENDIX)

1) UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICE - I booked a shipment from the UK to Switzerland. They imported my stuff to Belgium (EU) for storage instead, so now I have to pay import duty ON MY OWN STUFF to get it to Switzerland (because the 2-year grace period has now expired). I found an easy solution: they could just ship my stuff the my parents' in France. They quoted me 1203.99 EUR to change the delivery address. For context, that's the same as the original shipping from the UK to Switzerland. They outsource final delivery from Antwerp to the final destination to UPS (by their own admission) so the price for them to ship to me in Zurich or to Lyon is equal or close to equal. Changing the address that a 3rd party shipping provider will be forwarding to is an admin or service task and should be billed as such. They are unethical, unfair, and dishonest.

UPDATE: I have now given up on all this and requested my stuff to be delivered to Zurich as planned but was told my stuff isn't ready for shipping yet, despite having passed customs and having been stored in their facility in Antwerp since Oct 2nd. It is now Oct 30th and "they will get back to me" about when my stuff will be available. They suggest the delay mentioned later on in this review is my fault for not making my mind up but that's not the case as you can see from their email I copied at the very bottom of this review (see APPENDIX, dated 30th October).

2) CUSTOMER SERVICE MAKES FUN OF YOU - When I called to explain my position above the attendant proceeded to give me a bunch of unreasonable explanations such as "you already paid for this stuff to end up in Zurich so now if we have to change address it's a whole new shipping agreement and we cannot refund the old one". Of course you can "refund the old one" because you haven't yet outsourced the delivery to UPS from the depot in Antwerp to Zurich, so you can simply decide to tell UPS to deliver to Lyon when you book that transit instead. That's how 3PL works. When I interrupted the attendant to tell them I wasn't interested in how they justified not doing something entirely feasible, he told me he had "nothing to say".

UPDATE: THEY NOW CLAIM THEY DON'T USE UPS BUT I HAVE AN EMAIL FROM THEM ON 27/10/23 STATING: "Our depot is located in Belgium. Delivery to your address in Switzerland will be with our third party agent called UPS Mondays to Fridays". See? ONLY LIES.

UPDATE: After digging a hole for themselves, they seem to have finally "made my stuff available" for shipping out from storage (31st Oct). Note that I had to call to find out: they didn't let me know, of course. What's funny is that a few minutes after I called to set up the delivery, I got 14 emails from UPS (one for each box in my shipment) stating that the box was due to be delivered from Antwerp to Zurich next week. SEE THEIR REPLY BELOW: THEY WILL LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH. Save yourself money, and save the world from this parasitic company: just book shipping directly through UPS!

[point 3 redacted]

APPENDIX:

As per their email I copy below, my stuff has cleared customs in Belgium (despite what they say in their misleading reply) AND THIS HAPPENED 4 WEEK AGO YET FOR SOME REASON AS OF 30/10 THEY STILL CAN'T RELEASE MY STUFF.

"Dear Enrico,

Job Number: [redacted]

We understand that your items have cleared custom about 4 weeks ago and currently located in Antwerp.

We are currently checking with the warehouse to see whether items are ready for delivery.

Please bear with us while we check.

For further clarification, please do not hesitate to give us a ring at 0333 733 7337 (UK) or +44 333 733 7337 (EU).

Thank you and take care.

Regards,

Wan Yi Ho

Business Centre Advisor

Seven Seas Worldwide"

APPENDIX 2 -- MISSLEADING reply from Seven Seas Worldwide

Thank you for posting your review, Niceone, we will take each point you have listed in term:

1. You wish to move your possession from the UK to Switzerland, this move is between two customs areas and requires customs clearance which, in your case, resulted in taxes and duties to be paid in Switzerland. You then wanted to explore an alternative to deliver in France, which you correctly quoted in your posting. These are the charges for moving your shipment of approximately 1.4 cubic metres within the EU.

We could not act until you confirmed which option you wished to select: to Switzerland or to France, you have now decided to resume the shipment to Switzerland.

2. We will investigate your claim that our Advisors made "fun of you" but, for your information, we do not use UPS to deliver to Switzerland except at the very last stage once within the country. You had incurred costs with your original UK - Switzerland job so this was not a straight swap as you suggest.

[point 3 redacted]

Regards, Seven Seas Worldwide

"

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: £1444

I thought all shipping options may not be great to begin with, but with Seven Seas not even honoring the insurance to pay for the damages, this represents a new low.

My order / route: Shipped personal articles from Asia to USA for family relocation

- INSURANCE: even PREMIUM insurance option does NOT actually pay for the damages unless Seven Seas are shown clear damages to the outer boxes, even when all boxes are marked FRAGILE but was clearly thrown around causing said damages. I wrapped a wooden box with a blanket and packing materials to put inside the cardboard shipping box, and the wooden box inside still fell apart, and they won't pay for this. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Should not provide Premium Insurance as an option if it’s not Premium.

- DEALING WITH DAMAGES: somewhat expected with so many different handlers in between, boxes aren’t handled with care and we ended up with some broken glasses etc. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Seven Seas should select intermediaries more carefully.

- SHIPPING TIME: more than DOUBLED TRANSIT TIME, with the quotation states 37-45 days for transit, when in reality exactly 80 calendar days from pickup date to delivery of all boxes; that’s over 200% margin of error. Before I selected Seven Seas I asked them twice how good is the 37-45 days estimate and whether that means I should get the boxes by certain date range on the calendar, and they would say yes; with my actual experience now, I find that to be a gross misrepresentation. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Give honest representation of shipping time.

- COMMUNICATIONS (or general lack of): yes, there are system email updates, but I still had to chase multiple times for whenever the process is “stuck”, such as when the shipments are on the vessel but missed they estimated arrival date, they only replied me after I emailed them TWICE. Seven Seas did not even provide tracking for UPS (last mile delivery) until after UPS had already showed up to deliver the first batch of boxes. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Train your agents to be proactive in communications especially when there are missed deadlines, and incorporate needed tracking numbers such as UPS into your system.

- SHIPPING FORMS: the red flag that came too late for me, as they contacted me four separate times in the span of over a week, to tell me I had to make various changes to the insurance form that weren’t indicated on their instructions. (and of course they say this caused more delays even though it’s their issue) Had there been a person or team that actually reviewed documents competently in one sitting, there would be no need to contact me four separate times for all the changes on one single form. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Train your team to review with a simple form with care and provide timely updates.

- SELF PACKING: for similar pricing, other companies send their teams to do the packing. I selected Seven Seas because I thought they would ship faster. They did NOT even provide enough bubble wrap to protect all the fragile goods, and asked me to purchased more on my own (which I’m glad I did), since at least my heavily wrapped dinnerware sets are in one piece. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Customers are shipping things they care about (otherwise why ship them) so Seven Seas should care about packing and shipping too, to provide enough packing material like bubble wrap.

- CALL CENTER: Most of the call center agents in the Asia time-zone who handled my order are well-trained and friendly, despite it was them who provided the misrepresentation of the shipping time. CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Either build the internal processes to be more understandable to your agents or train them to be honest about estimates, as to not misrepresent what your service can actually deliver.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6644