Sorry--normal readers! I want to post a review so that others can find it on the web.
In March or April of 2012 we hired Links Moving Asia to ship our household items (a full container load) from Singapore to Qingdao, China. A very professional person came, gave a quote, and gave almost immediate feedback when e-mailed. However, when we went to set a date for the movers to come, she no longer answered any e-mails. After countless attempts to contact her we went through the main office and were informed that she had "left the company." Nobody ever said a word to us. We had put down a hefty deposit and couldn't communicate with the company. The person we talked with next had no idea of our situation and had us pack our things over a month too early. The packers were friendly Indonesians who had all our things ready to go in a day and a half. (The list of items in the box was really poorly done. Sometimes they would list one our two things in a box that had 40-50 different objects.) When the day came to load our things, the truck did not come. THIS WAS A MISTAKE!
Watch all your items being put in the container. Some of our things went missing. We think it was at this point. All our things sat in the humidity and extreme heat for an extra month. (We think this led to our Clavinova piano malfunctioning and a large crack in our leather chair.) When we finally got all the paperwork necessary, they were not ready to ship our container. It sat in Singapore for another three weeks. At this point we were beyond frustrated. Communication with the local staff was awful. They almost never responded to e-mails. And if they did it gave little or no information.
When our container arrived, they had two young Chinese that did speak some English unpack the things. They had a checklist and were supposed to help me remove all items. After it became clear that there would not be time to unpack everything, they left. I had to rate them and sign a form saying that everything was there. I really couldn't do this as 1/4 of the items were still boxed and/or wrapped up. They accidentally left behind their checklist which showed three items not checked off. They never told me that items were missing. Because I hadn't unpacked everything I had no idea what was not here. (They also left a horrible mess of boxes, bubble wrap, and paper outside our apartment. While they did removed it from our apartment, they literally dumped it right outside the door. Poor service!) When we e-mailed the staff about what was missing they had us fill out insurance forms and said they would look into it. I honestly believe they never did. (I've read other reviews online that say the same thing--they couldn't be bothered to look for lost boxes.) Our boxes contained scrapbook paper, scrapbook dies and cases, China's handmade quilt (I figure I spent at least 50 hours quilting it), a teak chair, and other misc. items. A few months after we filed the claim and then they told us they would pay us a whopping
2 US dollars! Unbelievable.
PLEASE avoid this shipping company. They have poor communication, could care less about the things they are shipping, are extremely slow about getting your container on a boat, not completely honest when they lose something, and the insurance is the biggest joke I have ever seen. Seriously, how can you e-mail some and ask them where they would like their two dollar check sent to? Matt had it sent to Links Movers for all their services rendered. :)
