A customer alleged that a courier refused to deliver his newly bought clothes to the doorstep after they paid S$600 for a freight service to ship 1,300kg of Taobao bags to Singapore. The Taobao bags were instead left at the HDB void deck.
The Singapore courier, Ocean Pearl Shipping & Services Pte Ltd, said it was unable to bring the clothes up due to concerns over their weight. The clothes were divided into 14 bags, each weighing at least 130kg.
Even though the agent in China told Ocean Pearl to leave the goods at the void deck, the customer continued to demand that they bring them to his doorstep.
Since then, media reports by Shin Min Daily News and Mothership implied that the “delivery fee” was paid to Ocean Pearl, which they said is untrue.
Instead, the freight service fee was paid to the forwarder based in China, while Ocean Pearl was only involved in the logistics in Singapore, they said.
Ocean Pearl also asserted that there had been no declaration regarding the shipment’s weight, which caused a delay in the delivery process.
Ocean Pearl told MS News the details of what transpired.
The container with the goods had reached Singapore on the night of 27 Sep. Ocean Pearl arranged for delivery on the 29th after opening the cargo on 28 Sep.
For large cargo, free storage lasts three days starting from the day the container opens.
When they opened the container, they realised the lorry they had prepared wasn’t sufficient to carry the heavy load.
Documents Ocean Pearl provided to MS News showed there was no declaration regarding the weight of the goods in the shipment.
They thus relayed the information about the goods being too heavy to the customer. They asked to change the delivery date to 30 Sep to facilitate a larger lorry and manpower for delivery.
However, in text messages, the customer insisted the goods had to be sent upstairs that very day, 29 Sep.
Image provided by Ocean Pearl
When the delivery personnel said, “We’ll arrange to deliver tomorrow”, the customer appeared agitated and started typing in caps. “CAN’T LEAVE DOWNSTAIRS. MUST SEND TO UPSTAIRS… UNDERSTAND?!!!!!!”
Image provided by Ocean Pearl
“Please send it to me by today,” a message from the customer read. “Any damage caused, one day S$100 including GST, will be billed back to you . . . thanks.”
The customer also forwarded an SMS stating the cargo will be delivered on 29 Sep. Ocean Pearl told MS News the SMS was sent before they discovered the cargo was too heavy.
Image provided by Ocean Pearl
But the customer continued to insist, in all caps, that the goods must be delivered that day and sent to their doorstep.
Ocean Pearl also stood their ground and said that the forwarder in China had agreed that the goods could be left downstairs.
“Don’t need to be so rude,” Ocean Pearl replied. “Any claim you go refer to China.”
Image provided by Ocean Pearl
By 1pm, the issue had still not been resolved.
The Ocean Pearl staff shared with MS News their WeChat correspondences with the forwarder from Lian Xing International Logistic, proving that the latter had agreed to leave the goods downstairs.
“Don’t pay attention to the person on the phone,” he said.
After confirming things with the forwarder, the delivery personnel left the goods at the void deck and took pictures of them.
Image provided by Ocean Pearl
The forwarder also noted at one point that the customer had apparently refused to talk to him or anyone else.
Image provided by Ocean Pearl
The order was thus completed on 29 Sep.
Image provided by Ocean Pearl
Ocean Pearl said it had signed a contract with Lian Xing International Logistic to deliver items in Singapore and was not paid by the customer.
This contract was seen by MS News.
In other words, the customer had not paid the S$600 to them, but to the goods forwarder in China.
They also noted that the customer told Shin Min Daily News it took almost three hours for him and his wife to bring everything up.
“We don’t have the manpower or time to do that, and he refused to pay further charges,” Ocean Pearl said.
Referring to the customer threatening to report the company to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), Ocean Pearl said he is welcome to do that.
“If he could make the report and he was in the right, he could have already done so,” the spokesperson said.
Ocean Pearl said it can provide the evidence they have to any authorities should it come to that.
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Featured image courtesy of Ocean Pearl.
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