BLATANT CHEATERS. Review on Sahara Packers

This is Narayanan here, writing this to share the rather sad experience that I have had dealing with these packers & movers called Sahara. Anybody reading this, please take note of the same & do not ever do any business with these people. They are theives.

I should say that I made the biggest mistake of my life in entrusting my goods – goods that had been purchased by me over the last decade spending my hard earned money – with these people in an attempt to ship them to Dubai (from Bangalore), where I was relocating as part of my work. The experience that I have had has been really sad. I was told that there would be charge of Rs. 310 per kilogram of material at the time of discussion prior to deciding to go ahead with these people.

I was never informed of any other charges – which was put for over Rs. 25, 000/- subsequently in the bill. The company – their Zonal Marketing Head, Manoj Jain being the main culprit – also cheated me by over charging me by giving a hugely inflated weight. By this time, these hooligans had already kept my goods in their godown & being helpless I was really forced to go along.

Also, after taking the goods from me, these people told me that the delivery will happen only after I submit my boarding pass - which in effect meant that the transportation would happen only post my travel to Dubai. I now understand that this was one of the steps these people took to ensure that I will not be able to follow up beyond a limit, when I realize that I have been duped

During the billing process, it was indicated on the invoice that a certain amount was towards insurance. It was told to me that their company was having a tie-up with TATA AIG and that the papers for the insurance would be send to me by email within a day. I had to leave for Trivandrum the next day after loading and when I figured out after a week that I still had not received the insurance papers, I tried following up with Manoj & another person called Gowri Shankar for the same. After a point, it reached a stage where Manoj started refusing to take my calls – so much for customer service for a Zonal Marketing Head. Even till date, I haven’t received the papers of the insurance. Going by the behavior of these people over the past few days, I take it that there never was ANY insurance done for my consignment in the first place – and that this was just another way in which I have been cheated during this whole shipment

After reaching Dubai, I send all the material that  was required on the 29th of May, 2008. In line with the earlier assurances, I was then told that the delivery of the goods would take place within 3-4 days by the Tuesday of the next week. However, the delivery did not happen on the mentioned date, and that the service provided by these people was really pathetic when I was calling to check the status. Each of them – Sunil, Jitesh & Manoj – refused to answer any calls. After a point I was so exasperated that I was forced to ask my friend in Bangalore to do the necessary follow up. These people initially took his call. However after a point, they started refusing to answer even his calls. I have sent countless mails & SMS messages & also made some 20-30 calls each day for the next 5-6 days; these people did not show the basic courtesy to reply to even one of them. All that I was asking was to inform me the status of my consignment & the contact details of the local person who would make the delivery. I really don’t know why these people could not have parted with this information

Finally I received the consignment yesterday (9th June). I was shocked to see that the delivery of my goods was being made by a courier company. I was even more shocked to find out that ONLY a little over half the goods that I had deposited with these people was handed over to this company – of the 12 cartons of materials that your invoice & consignment note mentions, the courier company has ONLY given me 7 cartons. Of the 310 kilograms that theirconsignment note to me specified, only 187 kilograms of materials have been delivered by the courier company here

Specifically, the following items have NOT been delivered to me: Music system, Mixer Grinder, More than 3/4th of the crockery items, Deodorants & other toiletries, A travel bag, More than half the kitchen items, Show case items, mobile phone memory card, data cable & warranty card which was there inside the mobile phone box – one of Nokia & another of Sony

Over and above this, I should say that half the goods that have been delivered to me have been damaged beyond repair & have virtually become useless to me now. They are in that condition. Even the pictures of Gods & family photos which had been framed have been completed damaged – all the frames have their glasses broken. This shows the total lack of professionalism on the part of these people and the lack of competence in the work that they have done

These people would have stolen from me since they were sure that I am not in a position to take you & your team to the police & the Indian law, which I would surely have done if I had been placed in India itself. I only want you readers to know of the trouble that I have had and would like to warn you against using the services of this company ever