Anyone who’ve tried SendMyBag shipping services? How was it? Do I just pack and declare the stuff in the box or wait for their courier to check then pack?
Posted by Impressive_Beyond289@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 20 comments
I need to know since I am planning to move to another country (Philippines to Sweden) and boxing the items before I fly seems a better idea than making my relative do it. So, how does it go with SendMyBag? Any insight helps. Thanks.
UseFar8210@reddit
I recently used Send My Bag and I was not at all satisfied with the services. I shipped my bag on 12/30, paid express shipping and was given a delivery date of 1/2. Given that I was going to be staying in different cities and countries during my trip, I had it shipped to where I’d be on 1/2. We weren’t scheduled to leave that city until 1/5 so I had a couple of days of leeway in case the delivery was late by a day or two. Once the bag was picked up the date changed by FIVE DAYS to 1/7. This created an absolute logistical nightmare. I spent my entire trip trying to figure out how to recover my bag and the items inside. In the end I had to pay additional money to have my bag returned to me in the US. My bag was picked up on 12/30, sat in Rome for over two weeks and was just shipped back to me on 12/16 and arrived on 12/22. Had I been given an accurate delivery date I would have opted not to send the bag or may have sent it to a different location based on where I’d be on that date. My email is full of correspondence back and forth between myself and Send My Bag trying to work out how to retrieve my bag. The entire experience was completely unacceptable.
Global-Ostrich2008@reddit
For anyone stumbling upon this thread, as others have said, this is a company that works well when there are no issues and is awful at problem-solving when there are hiccups.
Somehow, Send My Bag linked my send-ahead suitcases to another customer on a different continent. My labels were correct, but the barcodes were batched with someone else’s order, stupidly. Resolution took eight weeks, as Send My Bag would not admit to their own error (despite multiple UPS supervisors confirming this is definitely what happened) and had no B2B contacts at UPS to fix it. My bags went back and forth to the other side of the world FOUR times before I myself fixed the problem through a lot of time, effort, and begging with UPS.
I’m horribly out of pocket from their mistake and they’ve now “missed” issuing me my promised refund and I had to follow up twice. Next time, I’ll use a shipping company directly or just pay for extra bags at the airport. Total disaster.
Curious_Bedroom_8035@reddit
I lost my bags and an expensive bike with this company. Raging! I paid to have things shipped from Qatar - UK, and after 6 months of failed attempts to pick up the bike I discovered that everything had been disposed of by the property management of the school compound where I’d been staying with my kids. My son was distraught having lost his new racer bike. I had help to try to prepare packaging for the bike again and again in Qatar after we left, but it was never PERFECT enough for this diabolical company, who seemed to want it hermetically sealed in an iron clad box, that was why our bags were never returned to us . I lost years of work/teaching resources and materials I‘d painstakingly made myself, not to mention personal items and clothing. I begged them to at least allow a partial return of my order, and to leave the bike but they refused. So, I lost it all! This has added to an already extremely difficult and distressing situation. In the end I got a partial refund but it was nothing in comparison to the value of our belongings. Do NOT trust this company. It has caused so much stress to me and to those who had assisted me, not to mention the cost of extra packaging, time and extensive communication across international borders. A United Nations Treaty could not have resolved things with this company as they were extremely high maintenance, dealing with untrustworthy third party delivery companies who were totally useless. A bunch of thieves and eventually found myself being gaslighted by Mirage property who lied through thier teeth, saying they’d had no contact from me either, having taken all my things to apparently dispose of them. I was taken for a ride and sadly my little kids and me will never see our possessions again as they’re lost forever, enjoyed by the creeps who set this up so that I would never get my things back again, no matter how hard myself or my colleagues had tried to get them sent back over. Disgusted.
Anxious-Ocelot-712@reddit
We've used them a few times to ship things from the US to France. Essentially, once you select the shipping location on their website, it will walk you through the steps required. For us, we had to itemize the things in the boxes, print out the customs forms provided, print the shipping labels, and package everything up. The box/bag should be sealed and have all paperwork attached when the courier picks it up. But as I said, the website walks you through everything, from what to print, how to seal it up, and what forms to print. Great service, and our stuff arrived in just a few days after pickup.
Lcs_chn@reddit
hello! may I ask how much (weight and cost) it was for you? thank you!
Anxious-Ocelot-712@reddit
It was around $170 per big box (we used the boxes from buying suitcases) - no idea honestly on weight. You can go to their website for an estimate from your location to your projected location without an account. We were very happy with the service!
OnTopOfAMtn@reddit
I used them in 2019 moving from U.K. to USA. It was great! Fair price and quick service. They shipped via dhl. I recently checked again to send some things from my family in the U.K. to USA, and the price had really jumped up, for that large box it was cheaper to go direct and book with dhl.
As other folks have said, always thoroughly check the prohibited items when packing your boxes and use strong double wall cardboard boxes. I also over applied tape to my boxes as they can get bashed up in transit. Good luck!
Lcs_chn@reddit
hello! may I ask how much (weight and cost) it was for you? thank you!
ihavenosisters@reddit
Also used them from the US and Canada to Europe. Worked well, no problems at all.
Lcs_chn@reddit
hello! may I ask how much (weight and cost) it was for you? thank you!
Salt-Parsley4971@reddit
When I’ve used them they contract out to DHL. Just make sure to read their prohibited list. And to weigh and measure your boxes (and preferably take a photo of the measurements). Twice they tried to charge me after delivery claiming the package was larger than I said but the first time I still had the box so could take the photo to send them and the second time I had preemptively taken photos.
Impressive_Beyond289@reddit (OP)
Thank you for the tips
Octopianblurp@reddit
What was the tip?
Neat_Alternative5365@reddit
Do NOT use this company, they are expensive, slow and have terrible customer service. Despite their business model being set up around shipping your personal belongings they provide very generic information when booking so you are open to exorbitant customs charges in many cases. When questioned about this they at first play dumb about the issue and then blame their customer when probed further, as if anyone would use their service knowing the hidden charges. You are much better off using an established courier service like FedEx (which was who actually shipped by stuff when using this service) alternatively if you are traveling to the same place as your shipment just pay for an extra bag it will be much more convenient and cheaper than this trash company
jjvaleri@reddit
Second time using them. First time Italy to US worked well. This time US to Italy has been a disaster. It is 16 days after swe shipped the bags to Italy and they have no arrived and, to make matters worse, their customer service has gone from ok to horrible and gets worse each day. They are now incredibly obnoxious when we ask each day where the bags are. They are stuck in customs, which is not their fault, but had they told us that customs takes weeks this time of year, we would not have used them. So they lied to get our business and now want no part of helping us get updates. Just a horrible experience and we may never see these bags again.
beforeyoureyes@reddit
I used them last year for a move from Sydney to Philly. I had zero issues, and I would use them again.
Just make sure you follow the packing guidelines extremely carefully, especially when it comes to the prohibited list.
Maybird56@reddit
It worked fine for me, I’ve done it from two countries so far and not had any problems. Both times it was just DHL picking up the boxes. It has clear instructions online, just make a list as you pack.
Make sure to package everything really well and tape your box up along every seam and edge and don’t use a cheap box. Fragile items are at your own risk.
Impressive_Beyond289@reddit (OP)
Aha ok. I have yet to book their service but I would want to know beforehand. Does the list have to be specific? Like the brand and color and make of an item? Like “used H&M cotton shirt” or can it be just “used clothes”?
SomeKindOfWondeful@reddit
Used them multiple times to the UK. Excellent service.
RublesAfoot@reddit
I read a rant about this service recently - I’d do some research just in case.