I had a terrible experience with Central Cargo Movers and Packer while shifting my household goods and car from Noida to Hyderabad.
They charged higher than other local movers and packers and when I tried to negotiate, they assured me that they are charging for the quality they provide. So I didn’t negotiate further. I was told that other stuff can reach in 5-6 days, while car takes around 8 days to reach. Because they have to wait till they get enough cars to fill the container.
Now the story goes like this...
28th Sept > I got my stuff packed and loaded from Noida. I decided to drop my car myself at the loading point. I left the car at the loading point and noted the meter reading (1597). I had left around 10L petrol in the tank (For loading unloading cum delivering at doorstep in Hyd).
I received my goods in time. They also delivered my bike with goods, but without the rear view mirrors. They said that, they removed mirrors while transporting the bike, because it might have broken, (I thought wow, they are responsible guys) and they promised to deliver the mirrors when they deliver my car.
10th Oct> There were no sign of my car till now. I called their Hyderabad office and asked if my car has reached. They replied in negative. Then I asked if they can tell me where is it(somewhere on the way). They said that they need to ask their Delhi office (as if its a big task) I said, ” Then go ahead and call them, and then notify me". I don’t know if they called Delhi or not, but they didn’t get back to me. By the evening I called them again. Now they said the container is on they way, it left Delhi... but they don’t know where it is. I said don’t u have the number of the truck driver? They said "No".
12th Oct> I again called them and asked the status of the car. This time they assured that the car will reach next day. I was happy to know this. I planned my next day so that I can be at home to receive the car from them. But that didn’t happen. When I called them they said, "Sir it will reach tomorrow morning. I had no choice but to believe them.
13th Oct >I called them in the morning, and they said, it will reach by evening. Again my whole day's plan was modified to receive my Darling car, which didn’t arrive that day either.
14th Oct >It was 16th day after loading(double the time they promised) I again called them to confirm where the container has reached. Again it seemed that they relied on pigeon flying like communication devices rather than mobile phones. They have no idea where the car container has reached. But they promised that it will reach by evening. Again I made my evening plans accordingly and it was again wasted.
16th Oct >It was the same story... till 16th Oct when they declared that their driver is ready to drive the car to my residence. The driver also called me and told that the tank is almost dry and they are getting Rs 100/- of petrol which I need to pay while receiving the car. I was surprised as where did the 10L petrol go?
Following things I noticed when my car arrived.
It had run around 175 Kms after I left it in Gurgaon.
Fuel tank was empty.
It was terribly dirty from out side and inside. As if it was driven on village roads with windows kept open.
They hadn’t come with mirrors of my Bike(as they had promised).
I was shocked to see the car in this condition. I asked the explanation why the fuel tank was dry and why the car covered 175 Kms. I talked to many people of central cargo and their car transport partner. The excuses they gave were...
1)While loading the car in the container, it has to remain start for hours. It doesn’t explain why it covered 175 Kms.
2)Some body said that they had to load the car at a place near Rajasthan border, but that was 90 Km, still 80 Kms running was to be explained.
3)One person said, "Sir, 8-10 Liters of petrol is a small thing for you, please forget it."
4)One person said, ”It became dirty because it came in an open container” While I was told that car would come in state of the art hydraulic (closed) container.
5)One said "if a car stands idle for 15 days, 10L of petrol will evaporate. If u find a mechanic who says no petrol evaporates then I will refund the amount of 10 L." I said "give me a mechanic who says 10 Ltr petrol can evaporate in 15 days, even then how would you explain running the car around 175 Kms"
I was in discussion for around 1 hour, then I said that I want refund of at least 8 Ltr of petrol and compensation for dirty car. Without this I won’t sign the receiving. Now after a lot of hassles, they said that they will refund 5 Ltr petrol (Rs 250) + Rs 150 for car wash = Rs.400
They promised to give the money and mirrors of my bike next day. I signed the receiving and wrote my comment on the slip, quoting about the promise of refund of Rs 400.
Next day when I called them they forgot all the rules of business ethics and plainly refused to have made any promise for refund. I had heated discussion with them on phone and they repeatedly kept cutting/ignoring the phone calls. All they agreed was to deliver the mirrors. Even for the mirrors they took good 4-5 days to send their man. During those 4-5 days, each day they will promise to deliver the mirror and by the evening, they would make some excuse or other and postpone it to next day. Everyday I will get irritated on them.
One day one of them said “Don’t we have any other work except delivering your mirrors?" Then I had to remind them that it was because of their ignorance, that the mirrors were still lying with them, and now its their duty to deliver those. Finally 5th day, they called and told that their employee was coming with bike mirrors. Again I waited for 4-5 hours patiently for their person to come across the tough mountains and tidy rivers lying between 20 Kms distance from their office and my flat.
And he called only to tell me that the mirrors are broken, because he accidentally dropped the mirrors and a vehicle run over them. I asked him to come to me with the remains of the mirrors (because I actually doubt if he has dropped) I believe that they missed those long time back. I asked for the refund of mirrors or get the new ones delivered to me. This time they only took 1.5 days to give me the refund. But he couldn’t show me the pieces of those rear view mirror.
The important lessons I learnt from this episode.
1.Don’t pay full advance to the local transporters. Keep at least 40% of money with you to pay on delivery.
2.Don’t keep fuel in your vehicle tank that will vanish anyway.
3.Take note of meter reading and tell them loud and clear.
4.Stay away from Central Cargo, they are big cheats and thoroughly lack any business ethics and commitment.
