Vpost? Borderlinx? Comgateway?

[touchme]

Is cgw system still rounded upwards to nearest 0.5 kg?
And any deals to break vpost 30% shipping discount?

 

[jcml10588]

How safe is CGW when shipping electronics?

should i ship my 3ds xl, earphone now since they are almost 400 dollars. or take a risk and try squeeze in my jeans?

sucks that there is no promo code

I had a 3ds xl delivered at CGW last wednesday Nov 27 and up to now still not available for shipping in my US address... its been a week since they got it less all holiday and weekends so 4 days and still not documented... i dont know what the hell is wrong they cant give me a straight answer...

 

[jcml10588]

How do i know my item has reached com gateway? just order today and i think will reach them by wed

even though it reached them according to them they need to document it before it appears on your US address then they will email you that your package arrived... but based on my experience it took a week and up to now my package still not documented!

 

[jcml10588]

QUESTION!!!

Aside from CGW and Borderlinx and Vpost, what other freight forwarder is available for us to use?

 

[BlackLab]

As someone who has done A LOT of overseas shipping before, here's my experience with the local freight forwarding services.

Reading other posts describing personal experiences with the 3 services, I can see that everyone has different opinions about each, so maybe this will just confuse those who are new to this, but I hope some will find it useful anyway.

vPost
Used them for a very very long time, like since they first showed up years ago. Probably done about 30+ shipments (not packages) total with them, each usually at least 5 packages, sometimes over 10.
Especially before Amazon offered free global shipping, I used them like almost every other month.

Contrary to a lot of users here, in ALL my many shipments with them, they have not lost a single package. Not one at all. Across over 30 shipments, that's about 200+ packages.
Maybe it's just my neighbourhood post office workers were more competent or something, or I've been lucky all this while, but I've never had a single problem with lost packages with vPost.

I actually find the fact they're under SingPost quite convenient cause the post office is nearby and I'm usually not home when they deliver at office hours, so I can always collect the next day. Even moreso now with their locker service, can just collect after office hours.

The one and only bad experience I had in all my years using vPost was when they once miscalculated a package's dimensions and I ended up paying a lot more for shipping of that small package, and when I went back to them with the error after receiving the package, I had to jump through a lot of hoops just to get a refund back, cause the aunties at the post office front desk had no idea how to handle such a case.

Last time I would say one general negative of vPost was the time it took to process packages and enter them into the system for you to identify, especially years ago when it was all manual e-mailing of invoices, but these days that's less an issue since they have a new interface which is pretty easy to use. (Just select goods type and enter value, done.)

Shipping from the time you consolidate and check out your packages is usually around 1½-2 weeks, and they almost always have 10% promo codes with whatever card you use to pay.

comGateway
Tried their concierge service once cause I heard they had good rates, but they messed up a single order BIG TIME and even blamed me for the problem initially, until I showed them definitive proof (which I got off my account on their site, so they were either in denial or too lazy to get it themselves) that the error was on their end, so I never went back.

Even lost a bit on the cost of shipping the item here cause I insisted I did not want to keep the one they wrongly ordered for me, and they agreed to ship it back at their cost but I would only get refund for the initial cost of the item, not the shipping cost.

Either way, I never managed to get the item I had originally wanted them to order cause it sold out after they missed the boat with their cock up.
No apology, no compensation, no nothing. Terrible customer service, will never consider them again.

Borderlinx
Actually giving them a shot now, cause their free repackaging service sounds useful (had to pay a lot of useless "volumetric shipping" fees with vPost), and they offer a longer holding period to consolidate multiple orders (1 month as opposed to vPost's 3 weeks) so will report back with how it goes soon.

One minor drawback I've noticed so far is that their forwarding address is in Ohio, and some of the sites I shop on charge taxes to that state, whereas vPost's address is in Oregon and avoided those, so that might be something to take note of.

 

[EddyVlad]

As someone who has done A LOT of overseas shipping before, here's my experience with the local freight forwarding services.

Reading other posts describing personal experiences with the 3 services, I can see that everyone has different opinions about each, so maybe this will just confuse those who are new to this, but I hope some will find it useful anyway.

vPost
Used them for a very very long time, like since they first showed up years ago. Probably done about 30+ shipments (not packages) total with them, each usually at least 5 packages, sometimes over 10.
Especially before Amazon offered free global shipping, I used them like almost every other month.

Contrary to a lot of users here, in ALL my many shipments with them, they have not lost a single package. Not one at all. Across over 30 shipments, that's about 200+ packages.
Maybe it's just my neighbourhood post office workers were more competent or something, or I've been lucky all this while, but I've never had a single problem with lost packages with vPost.

I actually find the fact they're under SingPost quite convenient cause the post office is nearby and I'm usually not home when they deliver at office hours, so I can always collect the next day. Even moreso now with their locker service, can just collect after office hours.

The one and only bad experience I had in all my years using vPost was when they once miscalculated a package's dimensions and I ended up paying a lot more for shipping of that small package, and when I went back to them with the error after receiving the package, I had to jump through a lot of hoops just to get a refund back, cause the aunties at the post office front desk had no idea how to handle such a case.

Last time I would say one general negative of vPost was the time it took to process packages and enter them into the system for you to identify, especially years ago when it was all manual e-mailing of invoices, but these days that's less an issue since they have a new interface which is pretty easy to use. (Just select goods type and enter value, done.)

Shipping from the time you consolidate and check out your packages is usually around 1½-2 weeks, and they almost always have 10% promo codes with whatever card you use to pay.

comGateway
Tried their concierge service once cause I heard they had good rates, but they messed up a single order BIG TIME and even blamed me for the problem initially, until I showed them definitive proof (which I got off my account on their site, so they were either in denial or too lazy to get it themselves) that the error was on their end, so I never went back.

Even lost a bit on the cost of shipping the item here cause I insisted I did not want to keep the one they wrongly ordered for me, and they agreed to ship it back at their cost but I would only get refund for the initial cost of the item, not the shipping cost.

Either way, I never managed to get the item I had originally wanted them to order cause it sold out after they missed the boat with their cock up.
No apology, no compensation, no nothing. Terrible customer service, will never consider them again.

Borderlinx
Actually giving them a shot now, cause their free repackaging service sounds useful (had to pay a lot of useless "volumetric shipping" fees with vPost), and they offer a longer holding period to consolidate multiple orders (1 month as opposed to vPost's 3 weeks) so will report back with how it goes soon.

One minor drawback I've noticed so far is that their forwarding address is in Ohio, and some of the sites I shop on charge taxes to that state, whereas vPost's address is in Oregon and avoided those, so that might be something to take note of.

I'm curious to your vPost's miscalculation. Because right now I'm puzzled. I bought 3 items from Amazon and use the single packaging option. That means they will put all 3 items into 1 box. When it reached vPost, they then repack the box (for god knows why). This repacking makes the box from 1.9kg to 2.6 kg now. Then vPost then charge me $12 for the repacking.

Seems like a red flag to me. See attached.

Oh and worst part about vPost is their customer service. So I emailed them to ask why is my packaged being repacked, it gained 0.7kg and I'm being charged $12 for this?

See the reply by this Jerna Bustamante :-

 

[BlackLab]

I'm curious to your vPost's miscalculation. Because right now I'm puzzled. I bought 3 items from Amazon and use the single packaging option. That means they will put all 3 items into 1 box. When it reached vPost, they then repack the box (for god knows why). This repacking makes the box from 1.9kg to 2.6 kg now. Then vPost then charge me $12 for the repacking.

Seems like a red flag to me. See attached.

To be honest I've only ever used their repackaging service like only 2-3 times ever, and usually for individual packages that had their items shipped in huge boxes with a lot of empty space within, not for repacking multiple shipments into a single box.

Bearing in mind that they charge packages at about under $10 per kg (weight or volumetric), the difference must be huge (over 1kg) for repackaging to be worth the $12 fee, hence my limited use of that service.

That said, looks like there's some error there. You might wanna check with them. Could it be that their interface is not clear, and 1.9kg is actually the weight of just 1 of your 3 original packages, and not the total for all 3?

Otherwise, best to clarify with them how they can justify packing it to a higher weight value and charging you further for it.

Have found vPost's customer service to be the typical tedious but reliable sort, i.e. they will find a solution for you but can be quite frustrating trying to explain to them the situation.

 

[EddyVlad]

To be honest I've only ever used their repackaging service like only 2-3 times ever, and usually for individual packages that had their items shipped in huge boxes with a lot of empty space within, not for repacking multiple shipments into a single box.

Bearing in mind that they charge packages at about under $10 per kg (weight or volumetric), the difference must be huge (over 1kg) for repackaging to be worth the $12 fee, hence my limited use of that service.

That said, looks like there's some error there. You might wanna check with them. Could it be that their interface is not clear, and 1.9kg is actually the weight of just 1 of your 3 original packages, and not the total for all 3?

Otherwise, best to clarify with them how they can justify packing it to a higher weight value and charging you further for it.

Have found vPost's customer service to be the typical tedious but reliable sort, i.e. they will find a solution for you but can be quite frustrating trying to explain to them the situation.

My items are packed in a single package by Amazon. So there's no point in repacking but vPost did it anyway so they can charge me the repacking fees.

The templated email I received from vPost did state that they will repack at their discretion.

I did wrote a reply asking for further clarifications 2 days ago and yesterday. Nobody replied to my email. So I guess I just have to suck thumb and pay before they charge me for storage as well.

I've used their service like 5 times already. This will be the last time I'm using vPost.

 

[BlackLab]

My items are packed in a single package by Amazon. So there's no point in repacking but vPost did it anyway so they can charge me the repacking fees.

Sounds ridiculous for them to be doing that. Best to call and check, don't go through e-mail.

 

[BlackLab]

Anyway, anyone here familiar with Borderlinx?
Giving them a shot now to see how their service is like compared to vPost.

One thing that I don't quite like is I don't know the actual shipping cost per package, and have to use their cost calculator which seems random as hell (at least I hope it is, cause they're charging me way more for a particular item than vPost does).

Also, do they open EVERY package they receive? I can understand if they do so to repack stuff, but if they just open for the sake of it or to inspect goods then I'm less inclined to keep using them...

 

[Jirachi]

Zzz.

My shoes weigh 1.22 kg.

But my whole shoe package weighs 2.66 kg.

I am charged with 3.00 kg shipping.

Wtf? I am shipping 1.4 kg of air.

 

[NsR]

Comgateway any discounts?

Was slap with a 3.5kg volume weight and not allowed for repacking.

Actual weight for 2 Levis jeans $1.82kg

 

[Menifest]

Hi, i've never use a forwarder before,

but if i use amazon + cgw, and if there's defect in the product, do i contact cgw or amazon?

 

[lazy666]

hi guys need some advice on FF.

I have been charged by vpost SGD111 on my items purchased at amazon for USD75.

I went back to amazon and found out their international shipping costs USD42 -->cheaper than SGD111.

1. Is it possible to return back my items from vpost to amazon and then ship from there again?

2. i visited sgtips.com and they have certain credit card promotions. can i enter Maybank's promo code but use citibank CC? ( i know it sounds stupid but i want to maximize the promotion value).

please help, i feel its real pathetic paying the shipping cost more than the item i purchased...

 

[Mancunian2]

hi guys need some advice on FF.

I have been charged by vpost SGD111 on my items purchased at amazon for USD75.

I went back to amazon and found out their international shipping costs USD42 -->cheaper than SGD111.

1. Is it possible to return back my items from vpost to amazon and then ship from there again?

2. i visited sgtips.com and they have certain credit card promotions. can i enter Maybank's promo code but use citibank CC? ( i know it sounds stupid but i want to maximize the promotion value).

please help, i feel its real pathetic paying the shipping cost more than the item i purchased...

vpost
enough said

 

[liburan_natal]

Hi, i've never use a forwarder before,

but if i use amazon + cgw, and if there's defect in the product, do i contact cgw or amazon?

CGW will inspect your item upon arrival in their warehouse. If there is defect detected at this point, CGW will inform you and you have to contact Amazon. If amazon provides a return shipping label, CGW can help you return for free. However if amazon does not provide a return shipping label, you need to pay USD5 (admin fee) + return shipping fee (CGW will use dimensional weight in their calculation).

If item is defective when you receive it in Singapore, you can make claim to CGW directly. (I presume CGW only ships ok item.. so if arrived here damaged, it happens during US-Singapore shipping).

NB: Based on my experience with item whose damage are obvious with plain eyes. If you are talking about electronic products (you only know it is defective after you try it), I am not sure how.

 

[qisheng01]

How safe is CGW when shipping electronics?

should i ship my 3ds xl, earphone now since they are almost 400 dollars. or take a risk and try squeeze in my jeans?

sucks that there is no promo code

yep its safe. I shipped my camera from amazon with CGW. no issues and the service is awesome. Just tried shipping my audio stuff with vpost. Vpost is super screw up. More than 48hours still haven process my item. Poor service. Second time kena from them already. Really regret. Ship with CGW better. A little more ex but its more efficient and service is better. Vpost give you discounts also useless. It seems like they will delay your items at the processing/sorting plant then by the time you want to use discount voucher, its too late. Expired.

 

[runningman123]

why cant i track my package? its been given me this morning by com gateway.
it says No result found for your DHL query. Please try again

 

[kieranyio]

hello everyone, I need some advice. is it wise to ship a bag that cost 900 usd through comgateway? I have some fear that the bag might get missing or whatever. But it's having a discount now.

 

[liburan_natal]

hello everyone, I need some advice. is it wise to ship a bag that cost 900 usd through comgateway? I have some fear that the bag might get missing or whatever. But it's having a discount now.

I find that comgateway+DHL is reliable enough. Never experienced loss item with them yet but I have experienced damaged items. Insurance claiming with them is quite straight forward and hassle-free (as compared to vPOST).

However, it is risky if something goes wrong during the shipping from your merchant to comgateway warehouse. I bought a fragile item before and arrived damaged. comgateway said that since I did not use Buy-For-Me service, they could not help with the damage and I had to speak to the merchant directly bla bla bla.. It is quite bulls**t to me because when I used their Buy-For-Me service for fragile item, they refused to place an order because item is fragile and their insurance cannot cover. Pui..