From Balaji

A good friend's (R.Balaji, IITM 92 Chem) bad experience with a mover, would like to spread this information widely. I 100% vouch for the veracity of the story below.

Customer service in India is absymal -- I am fighting with HDFC Bank Credit Cards currently.

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Dear Friends,

I have recently moved over from Mumbai to Kolkata and engaged M/s Caravan Packers & Movers (CPM), http://www.caravanpackers.com for Door To Door shifting of my House hold Items and Maruthi Zen car on 25th Dec'08. I had a very bad and traumatic experience with them and could recover my belongings only after approaching the local Police. I am sharing my experience here below for the benefit of all of you. Request your HR Department to Black List this particular Transporter from your company's list. Also advise your friends and relatives to avoid such rouge Transporters to avoid loss of property and mental trauma.

This was one of the transporters (ISO 9001:200 & IBA Approved Company and claim to be in this business since 1971) who contacted me after I registered for my requirements in the website "Sulekha.com" (advise you to avoid using this site too). They have shown attractive catalogues, Brochures and references.

The terms of contract agreed were that they would engage a 17 feet exclusive truck from door to door for house hold items and a car career for transporting my car. The final contract price negotiated was Rs. 50,000/-, that includes insurance for Rs. 1,50,000/- worth and service Tax etc. 70% of the amount to be paid by cheque at the time of loading and the balance 30% to be paid by cheque after the delivery of the last item (car) at my residence in Kolkata.

After handing over my goods to them in Mumbai, the attitude and behavior of the transporter has completely changed. They have unilaterally changed all the terms of contract agreed upon earlier. It was the worst kind of service I had ever received from a transporter and a brief summary of my experience is recollected here:


1. The truck was unloaded in between and moved over into a different container.
2. The goods were not delivered at my residence and instead unloaded at an unknown destination in the outskirts of Kolkata.
3. M/S CPM demanded for the balance payment in cash even before delivering my goods.
4. All my items were ransacked, searched for valuables, some items were stolen, and others were damaged.
5. After getting the involvement of local police, they have repacked the loose items in haphazard manner and dispatched.
6. Almost all the 32 cartons were in open position and they even tried to put the tape and seal them while unloading from the truck.
7. I tried to contact their offices at Delhi, Mumbai as well as Kolkata but the response was never positive and they all talked the same language.
8. None of their offices could provide me the phone number of their C&MD.
9. They have a website, where there is no provision for customer feed back or complaint.
10. Though I have paid for insurance coverage and reported the damages, there was no response from them after receiving the balance amount.
11. They never responded to any of my emails and subsequent reminders.

Request all of you to learn from my bad experience and avoid this particular transporter and be wiser before you engage any other transporter. They are real cheats and can cause a lot of headache. They do not understand the meaning of the word – Service.

Thank you for your co-operation and support.

Best Regards
Balaji Raparti