Shipping to the U.K.? - Beware of Olytrans

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Jasja
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Shipping to the U.K.? - Beware of Olytrans

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Post by Jasja »

UPDATE: Olytrans now say that their surveyor over estimated our volume by almost 50% but they still charge us for the surveyors original estimate! They ran out of other excuses (after 5 months) for losing 13 of our biggest pieces and would sooner admit to overcharging us than losing our possessions. I wonder how many others they have overcharged? They haven't apologised for that or offered us a refund either. We know that these 13 items were never shipped their own documents (which they sent us) is proof of that!

We used this company (Olytrans) to ship our personal effects back to the UK. Their surveyor came to our villa to assess our volume and then they sent us an email quoting a revised volume and cost for door to door. 3 days later they collected our effects and within a fortnight they were in a container heading home (part load with 3 others). The delivery in the U.K. was to our storage locker with other personal items already there.

The UK delivery was completed by a well known U.K. company (Greens) and we were told the delivery was complete.

We should have had a happy ending to this story but instead were devastated when we went to empty the locker and found that 13 large pieces from the inventory were missing. The UK agent told us that they received and delivered 2 pallets. Agreed that's exactly what they did. But their failure was to go against company procedure by unloading and withholding the paperwork from our daughter in law until everything was stored and only then gave her the paperwork to sign when finished! (she was told they took care of everything!). That was our biggest mistake but having said that we now know our 13 missing pieces never left this island and would have been long gone by the time the delivery was made.

We questioned this shipper, first they insisted everything was delivered - our storage locker must have been broken in to (would you take 3 suitcases and leave an Hitachi SMART TV?).

They sent all their paperwork to us to prove delivery and this is what we found:

Of the 46 pieces collected 13 are missing. Listed on page 2 of their inventory was 16 items. Only 3 of those were in our locker!

We received an email quoting the Volume assessed at 8.5cbm and a price which we paid after they received our effects at their depot! We never received an email or phone call advising us they'd made an error in their calculation.

Their Bill of Lading showing they shipped 2 pallets at a volume of 4.5cbm (not once did anyone from the company call us to advise us of the mistake, apologise or offer a refund). Only now do they say they made a mistake in calculating the volume. That's almost a 50% mistake (impossible to do and confirmed by another shipper).

The shipper included a copy of their spreadsheet identifying what was on each pallet. Pallet 2 had 17 pieces. Pallet 1 however had 29. Only 6 of these were small. The rest were extra large, large pieces. Absolutely not possible! We took the maximum size of a pallet and the maximum height and calculated the stacked volume (even being generous to this shipper there is no way those 29 pieces would fit on to one pallet). But they told us they're expert at stacking pallets!

They sent us customs documents signed which they insist that customs counted the pieces before they were loaded but again I checked with another shipper here who told me that customs don't always watch or count what is loaded it's done on trust!

The Bill of Lading itself doesn't add up (again the shipper sent us an email identifying the volume of each separate part shipment). The email identifies a total of 19.5cbm. The Bill of Lading identifies a total of 24cbm. That a difference of 4.5cbm. The difference in what the shipper assessed we had and now say was wrong is 4cbm??

To give you an idea of what we lost:

We have lost: 3 extra large suitcases full of Linen and blue silk curtains made by Mermaid, bed linens and some clothes.
An extra large plastic container (150ltr) full of craft tools and resources worth over £1000, 3 large containers of commissioned and framed paintings, silk batiks, leaf paintings (very rare Arabic scenes) cross stitch pictures on heirloom Linen and so much more!

3 extra large tool boxes - full of tools
Indonesian large carved wood framed mirror with chicken hutch doors
A Clothes hanging box which among other things contained very large ceramic ginger jars (yellow, green and blue).
A large box of ceramics

The most priceless and devastating loss was a teddy bear. Not a Steif just a falling apart, filled with straw big old (66 years old) brown teddy bear who has been with me from birth....

Yes we made the mistake of not being there to receive our effects, we have paid dearly for that. We put our trust in this shipper but we would never do that again!

This shipper won't even acknowledge they made mistakes and openly admitted that they “OVER CHARGED US”! Because they won’t admit they list our belongings! Basically they don't want to know even though their own paperwork is proof against them!
Last edited by Jasja on Thu 29 Mar 2018 1:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Shipping to the U.K.? - Beware

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Post by tomsteel »

Company name please.

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Re: Shipping to the U.K.? - Beware

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Post by JoandJelly »

How awful for you. Were you insured?

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Post by kayc »

perhaps it would be a good idea to post photos on the internet of the really valuable items (such as the paintings and etchings) in the event someone here on the island will try to peddle them for $. Thieves seldom hold on to stolen goods.

Sorry for you loss. I had a similar situtation happen in the US. Had all my belongings stored with a storage company (reputable I was told) and after about 6 months, my son went to retrieve some items for his use, and much of my things were missing. They assumed I think since I was out of the country, it was easy pickens. Currently in litigation. It haunts me at night when my mind wanders, as many of the things were handed down from my parents and cherished by me.

I hope you can track down your belongings.

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Re: Shipping to the U.K.? - Beware

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Post by pc4854 »

I am also interested in the name of this company but the name does not seem to be forthcoming, which is a litt;e odd!!

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Post by PapaBravo »

So, jasja, you warn us to 'Beware', but do not tell us who to beware of! What is the name of the company?

Jasja
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Post by Jasja »

The name of the shipping company in NC is Olytrans.

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Post by Bullsnil »

pc4854 wrote:I am also interested in the name of this company but the name does not seem to be forthcoming, which is a litt;e odd!!
It's in the first message!

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Post by Cally »

I'm afraid it wasn't Bullsnil, the post has been edited......

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Post by jayceebee »

Jasja wrote:The name of the shipping company in NC is Olytrans.
This company seems to get very mixed reviews/comments.

When I moved to TRNC two years ago they were the company used here to receive, clear and deliver our 86 boxes of personal effects.
Everything went VERY smoothly indeed. I cannot do anything but give the staff from offices in Gazimagusa and Lefkosa and those delivering to our residence anything but the highest praise.

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Post by frontalman »

We used Olaytrans in 2005 and they were brilliant. Most posts on this forum are positive for them, but nobody's perfect. If the first post is genuine, and not a rival mischief-making, then I am sorry for your loss

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Post by paul90 »

We used Olaytrans for two containers in 2008 and 2010.
Excellent service, no problems, they escorted containers to our house with customs officers.
Some items qualified for duty to be paid but Olaytrans got the customs officers to waive the charges.

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Post by Jasja »

This is a genuine post. Definitely not malicious or mischief making by a rival. I’ve posted this to warn others when sending personal effects home as in the UK. Olytrans insist that all our belongings. Now they tell us that the original assessment of our volume was wrong by almost 50% but not once did they contact us to tell us of the mistake or refund us. Effectively admitting they overcharged us! How stupid is that. Even had we personally been there on the day to receive our belongs the missing items would have been long gone. We know that from their own paperwork because they assessed volume at 8.5cbm and shipped 4.5cbm. That’s almost a 50% difference how could any competent person make that kind of mistake? Did they contact us and tell us of the mistake? No not once and I brought the subject of volume up in every email I sent. None of the communication with them has been done verbally it’s all recorded in emails and official documents. I’d also like to point out that most people who have responded have used them to bring their belongings here and not take them back. We personally didn’t have any issues when we brought our possessions here. We were very happy with the company we used. It wasn’t Olytrans.....

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Re: Shipping to the U.K.? - Beware

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Post by puppylover »

This post is definitely not malicious or mischief making as I know Jasja very well and can confirm that I have seen sight of all the correspondence between herself and the company in question.

Sadly, Jasja has resigned herself to the fact that she will probably never see her personal effects again, which I also know has caused a lot of heartache and sleepless nights.

Although most posters have responded with positives for the company, I know Jasja has only posted to warn others that when things do go wrong, they can seriously go wrong as is the case here and the response from the company has been dismal to say the least.

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Post by frontalman »

I didn't really think it was a mischief-making post, but after all the conspiracy theories being banded about, I really am all over the place

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Post by Jasja »

This post purely relates to shipping back to the UK and our personal experience using Olytrans and their UK agent to do that. We have absolutely no experience of using either company to ship our personal effects to NC. I didn't write this thread to be malicious. I wrote it because I've been devastated by our loss. Much of the loss is irreplaceable and to us was priceless. I wouldn't want anyone else to go through what we have gone through in the last 5 months. It's been heartbreaking to say the least! Not once has Olytrans made any effort to locate our belongings. The only thing they have done is send paperwork they say proves it was all delivered but in actual fact it's their own paperwork that shows that it wasn't! At least the Managing Director at Greens investigated our loss and it was him that first mentioned pallets and not the number of pieces. He told me that they count pallets not pieces!

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Post by Jasja »

Bump

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Post by Jasja »

Bump

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Post by gates »

I used olays great Co so friendly & helpful in every way Every body else i know who used them speak the same

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Post by frontalman »

Why do you keep bumping this? Most people I know who have used Olaytrans have had a positive experience. Your experience, unfortunately, was different as you have explained. Being in dispute is one thing but doing what you are is another. I believe most people would still recommend Olaytrans, I certainly would.

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Post by PoshinDevon »

Please do not bump this post.

Topic will be locked if the forum rules are not followed.

Thanks
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Post by tomsteel »

PoshinDevon wrote:Please do not bump this post.

Topic will be locked if the forum rules are not followed.

Thanks
Why not move it into shipping?

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Post by PoshinDevon »

It is in shipping.

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Post by Becker »

We have used Olaytrans twice,once for my grandsons & once for ours,door to door. Both times they did what they said & spot on delivery dates & times. Very helpful & faultless service.

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Post by Muad_dib »

We've just used Olaytrans/Greens for our recent move back to the UK, Olaytrans brought to men up from the south to pack our things and they took great care with wrapping everything in plenty of bubble wrap,they took 3 hours.The next day the loading crew turned up and took everything to our car park to wait for the customs men to arrive,the container was then loaded, closed and sealed.In the UK Greens arrived on time,took 11/2 hours to unload,unwrap the larger items and even tried to find out why we had no water connected.We had nothing go missing and no broken items but we did spend a bit extra and have the whole container.

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