Schumacher Cargo Logistics

38 Reviews: Add Review

1. Terrible Service, Don't Do It

   I had previously read a good review of Schumarcher and when I spoke to the agent Mark Neville he seemed really nice and helpful. Alas, it has been six months since I shipped my stuff (20 boxes only) and it should have taken three. The invoice is over double what I was actually quoted for the same amount of stuff, additional charges that were not my fault and now it's been impossible to actually get a hold of them to resolve! Don't add this stress to your list when you're already dealing with a stressful international move.

2. Complaint/queja

   The worst experience ever. Case never resolved. See attached link.
   
   https://sanjose.app.bbb.org/complaint/view/880852/c/y6ac8n
   
   SPARBER group envió el correo diciendo que ellos no habían recibido todo el embarque.

3. Stole my white wall tires during transportation

   Scumbags and thieves,stole my white wall tires from the car which they transported for me,and gave some different.Disgusting

   

4. This company is S.H.A.D.Y. - avoid at all costs

   What a horrific experience. Held our shipment hostage until we coughed up $2000 of added 'fees' that mysteriously weren't part of the agreement.
   
   Absolutely incompetent and shady. I'm astonished they are in business at all.

5. Bait and Switch Company. STAY AWAY!

   This company is the classic case of bait and switch. They tell you what you want to hear to earn your business and then hold your stuff hostage. I was told my car would take 8 weeks to ship from US to Europe. I was advised that if there was a port congestion to allow a 9th and potential 10th week for a buffer. Okay cool!
   
   WRONG! They sat on my car for 11 weeks at origin waiting to consolidate it and as I'm writing this review, my car still has not shipped as of today. When I called for a refund and to cancel, the passive aggressive service rep named Christian had the nerve to tell me that I would need to pay their cancellation fee and never even said sorry or apologized in any way.
   
   Use my experience as a warning. Don't take the bait. Leave it for other oblivious fish.

6. Worst packing ever

   We have a lot of experience with moving and movers. But Schumacher had the worst packing I have ever seen. Too many damages (I counted around 40 or more.)
   
   1 one star is far too much!

7. Horrible Customer Service

   Avoid these people at all costs. I moved from the US to Germany, and had a horrible and expensive experience.
   
   The only time they were responsive is at the beginning, when pestering me to sign a contract for > $10K. I chose to go with them on the advice of some friends who used them a few years ago. What a difference a few years makes.
   
   I paid for a full service move, "including all agent's fees". I was still charged by their german partner, ITO, who are so clueless that they don't even know what form to ask for for customs. In order to get my stuff, I had to pay additional agent fees for customs clearance.
   
   These people will take your money, and never respond to you. You have to know what to ask for, and when to push for it. They will give you nothing, and their international partners are incompetent. They will cause you a great deal of stress at a very high price.
   
   They are terrible.

8. Los Angeles to Switzerland - 15 Weeks

   We moved from LA to Geneva in 2018. I was told in email, by phone, and in person that the move would take "7-8 weeks, door to door." Our stuff was picked up Aug 14, delivered 15 weeks later on Nov 29. That's double the time they told us it would take. Why a review now? I'm moving back, and looking at all these moving companies brought memories of the experience. I feel that 3 stars is being generous.

9. They are not even licensed! STAY AWAY

   Please do not use this company. I could write a very lengthy review but let me sum this up by saying I lodged a complaint with the Better Business Bureau after Schumacher forced me to pay an additional $1325 for insurance that I declined (and were going to hold my items at ransom if I didn't pay). They still did not directly respond to the complaint and when I spoke to BBB, they said there were many complaints against this company within their system and Schumacher had not been responding to any of them. BBB suggested I escalate the complaint which I now have. I have just received the following email back:
   
   "The Bureau of Household Goods and Services has received your complaint. The Bureau has forwarded the complaint to the Investigation Unit as the company you contracted with does not have a license to operate as a moving company in California. The Bureau regulates moves and moving companies within California.Since you contracted with an unlicensed moving company, under California’s Business & Professions Code, Section 19237, subdivision (b), you can pursue the company civilly to recover all money paid to them."
   
   Do NOT believe the reviews on their website. They are most likely falsified reviews. They have a great 'front line' service that makes you think you're in excellent hands and these people really understand what's going on. Its a CON. We paid more than $10k for our move and then we were advised that Customs had decided to take our container for an "invasive inspection". We then got an additional bill for $2350 but we received NO paperwork whatsoever to verify that US Customs had actually taken our container, and no reason for why this might have happened. Frankly, we believe this is part of their 'racket' and we have no evidence at all that Customs actually did take the container. Whether they did or not is almost irrelevant because the whole operation was so shonky and questionable and BBB has confirmed they get a ton of complaints, and now the Dept of Household Goods has informed they aren't even licensed. Stay as far away from them as possible!

10. Incompetent movers and horrible customer service

    We hired Schumacher to move us from Denver, Colorado to Sydney Australia
    
    What started out positive went downhill quickly as soon as the subcontracted movers arrived at our home to pack. We paid for an entire container and a 2 day pack. The movers arrived and proceeded to pack our entire house, including open containers of food, vitamins, medication and anything that wasn't nailed down. Our contact at Schumacher - Mark Neville disappeared and didn't return emails as to where our container was until we arrived in Sydney 1 week later.
    
    Things have progressively gotten worse as our shipment was clearly not in one container and we are missing 1 section of our couch, an entire box of kitchen items and just about every piece of furniture is scratched or chipped. My entire set of dishes were smashed, glasses were broken, and items were also missing from boxes.\
    
    The level of service has been the worst I have ever experienced and don't think that the boxes and couch will ever be found. In fact, I seriously doubt that Schumacher is actually searching for them.
    
    DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!

    

11. Unprofessional Staff From California to Valencia, Spain

    MUST READ. The complaint involves a damaged vehicle, numerous missing household items (The estimated value of the items that turned up missing is approximately $10,150.00), and excessive fees (above 60% of original quote) which were not disclosed by Schumacher Cargo & Logistics Inc. I was charged an additional $4,698 fee for services provided by Hamburg Sud Singapore Express (Voyage 004E). I was never informed that a separate transport fee was to be charged for transport services by Hamburg Sud. Although, it was one 40-foot overseas exclusive freight container, Schumacher Cargo & Logistics, Inc., created two different invoices (HBLs) LGB007286 and LGB007288. However, they did not notify us that by creating two different invoices, this would consequently affect us because we would incur duplicate charges for one 40-foot freight container at each port of inspection to its final destination, Valencia, Spain. On January 30, 2020, we received an email message our container was picked by US Customs for a random inspection. However, on February 5, 2020, we received another email we were required to pay the amount of $146.46 USD for a "release charge by mistake". We contacted Schumacher Cargo Logistics, Inc. by phone and email requesting an explanation for this additional charge. They never replied by phone nor email but we only received threats indicating that if we did not pay this additional amount, they would leave our items at the present port and not continue to ship our items to its destination. The only reply by Schumacher Cargo & Logistics was "shipment On Hold". At the present time, we do not know why Schumacher Cargo Logistics, Inc., charged us for this amount because they never had the courtesy to return our calls and emails. Furthermore, on March 11, 2020, they billed us for additional charges of $4,698 USD ($2588.40 and $2,110) for CUSTOMS INSPECTION AND DEMURRAGE HAMBURG SUD (CARRIER) FEES. Similarly, I called and emailed Schumacher Cargo Logistics to inquire of these additional charges. The only reply was threats on their behalf that if we did not pay the additional fees our belongings would not arrive to the destination. Consequently, due to the coronavirus travel restrictions, we were unable to pick up the shipment until September 26, 2020. Henceforth, we were required to pay storage ($4,331.17) starting March 25, 2020, to the date when the container arrived to its destination-Valencia, Spain. After travel restrictions were lifted, we were finally able to pick up our shipment at the storage site. Upon taking inventory of the items, the following items were missing. In addition to the missing items, one of vehicles was damaged. The BMW passenger mirror was broken and the door paint, dented, and scratched.
    
    Nevertheless, on October 8, 2020, we received an email reply from the following sales representative:
    
    "Hello, I have emailed the warehouse staff in Gardena I
    
    hope they will reply soon about missing cargo."
    
    Kind Regards,
    
    Ron Turnage - Sales Representative, Automobile Shipping
    
    Up to the present time we have not heard back from anyone in Gardena or any other Schumacher Cargo Logistics, Inc. office. As has been noted, Schumacher Cargo Logistics, Inc., charged us an additional $5,245 USD from the original quote of $3,115.00 USD--60% more than the original quote. This amount does not include additional $4367.67 for unloading, taxes, customs, storage, and duplicate billing for one 40-foot exclusive container of which two HBL invoices (LGB77286 and LGB77288) were paid to Sparber Líneas Marítimas in Spain. In addition, we had to pay an additional $1,100 USD for a storage space for the missing cargo never arrived to its destination. Total expenses and hidden costs $29,647 dollars

    

12. Final stage from Australia

    Moved from Australia to USA, Schumacher Cargo Logistics, was the company in the USA that received my items, they waited a month after receiving items before they scheduled delivery to me, then rented a uhaul with an excessive charge when they could have park the large semi outside my house and unloaded (there is a semi truck company two doors up the street on the opposite side, so they lied in saying that trucks could not use our road. They said nothing about the cost until two weeks after they delivered my items, then they sent me a bill on Dec. 16th that had a due date of Dec. 16th. When I questioned the cost of the Uhaul they claimed the semi could not come down my street and that if I did not pay the bill by the next day they would send it to collection. Scammers and dishonest. The $350 was on top of the $4000 + that I paid initially in Australia

13. Difficult communication, took months to refund my security deposit, ca

    I did a small shipment of 21 carton boxes (1 bedroom apartment) (no furniture) from New York City to Switzerland via freight. I got a very good price (1400 SUD), since I was not in a rush and didn’t mind to do freight shipment (delivery time: 3 months). Initially the communication was good with my contact person Christopher, but as soon as I paid for the shipment, they stopped answering my emails. I was not able to update important changes in the delivery address or on the insurance that they made mistakes on (I paid for it, but they didn't seem to acknowledge that in the online portal). Ultimately, it seems I did have insurance – according to a phone conversation I had with them, but I am unsure it would have been easy to activate it there was a problem. I was able to change delivery address at the end too. It was only when the cartons were taken over by their correspondent in Europe (ITO) that things got better again with respect to communication (ITO did a fine job). Pick up in New York by Schumacher was on time and staff was friendly and professional and everyone wore masks (Covid times). My cartons arrived in Switzerland, pretty much on time (3 months 1 week, i.e. 1 week late, but there was Christmas in the middle) and in good condition. Delivery staff (ITO, from the German correspondent) were good too. Importantly, I made a mistake: I was supposed to pay only the announced price (1400 USD) but remove the security deposit (250 USD) that I had already paid in advance. This was stated in an email but not clearly visible and my bill was not updated so I missed it. So I paid 250 USD too much. It took them 4 months to pay me back after endless (dozens) emails and phone calls, and ultimately having to post bad reviews online for them to finally pay me back (which they did – the same day I posted the bad reviews; now that they paid I updated my review).

14. Move from Bay Area to Sydney.

    They messed up our container as it never showed up and they never communicated. From then it went down hill! They were dishonest and horrible customer service. First crew was nice because we managed them well and had a nice, professional attitude but the second crew that came to get the remaining boxes had the worst attitude! Do not recommend.

15. I recommend Schumacher and would use it again.

    Overall, the whole service and experience were great. The team who packed our things in NY did everything in two hours and left our place empty and clean. Considering we ended up moving in the middle of the pandemic our shipment has arrived in Singapore before us.
    
    The delivery was also great - nothing to complain about.
    
    The designated company to do our delivery in Singapore also did everything in less than 2 hours, dismantled the boxes and left our place clean ;).