I am in the midst of a LEVEL 10 unsatisfactory experience so far with two boxes weighing a total of 110 pounds that I shipped from the U.S. to Manila almost 2 months ago. I will write a full post on the service encounter(s) that make me want to reach into my computer and virtually strangle the folks who typed the most inane absurd customer service answers (I kept copies of all of them) to simple queries like “where is my package” and “when is it going to get here” and “why don’t you know if both boxes left or not?” and I can only tell you if using my copper fishpan were legal recourse, I would have smacked someone silly several times.
Once my package does eventually get here (inexplicably more than a month or more just “sitting” in a warehouse somewhere in California), I will write about the the full experience. But for now, for the fewer thousands of readers of marketmanila.com, think several times before you use this service provider, I absolutely don’t recommend it based on my experience thus far.
47 Responses
Thanks for the warning.
Thank your lucky stars your box simply got delayed in shipping. There are horror stories of a shipping agent appropriating himself with the contents of the cargo boxes before shipment, even keeping the advance fees paid. I think this is how I lost some beautiful pina garments and barong I was shipping back to ‘Pins which I kept looking for but could never account until I heard of the dismissed agent .
The delays are sometimes due to a wait period for the large shipping containers to be filled to maximize space and minimize shipment cost especially if the shipping company is small and not as well subscribed.
Make sure you take careful inventory, even pictures of items to be shipped.
Connie, this service specifically does transshipment of on-line orders in the U.S. So from an online vendor like say Saks, or Williams Sonoma or Target, they deliver to shipping cart, then they ship onwards to Manila. So these aren’t balikbayan boxes per se, but mailed, invoiced, fully declared content boxes. Their website is slick, and they promise 45 day delivery for sea cargo, but a month’s wait in their warehouse obviously slows the process. In my case, it was a two box piece, and for some reason, they seemed to have sent one box and not the other. Then they said both are on their way. Then one agent bizarrely told me their systems were basically unreliable, so he couldn’t tell me anything useful… Hello?! Such a poorly run operation based on this experience. And recently, an overnight package from cebu to Manila from the parent LBC Express took 3 days instead… and no explanations or apologies.
Hanjin bankruptcy disrupts shipping at L.A. and Long Beach ports : shippers/cargo owners fret, US retailers seek govt help
https://seafarertimes.com/2015-16/node/2823
I have three sea shipments (via shippingcart) currently enroute. Tracking for two shipments have not been updated (one shipment should have left Taiwan port for Subic on the 30th, the other should have arrived in Taiwan on the same day). Hanjin troubles or shippingcart system problems?
Joey, my 1 or 2 boxes are in the same batch as yours destined for Subic the other day. I don’t think the problems are related to Hanjin, these started months ago. And it has to do with systems that aren’t updated and accurate and people who answer service questions that are equally gormless.
Another cause for shipping delay is a random check done by the US Homeland Security on outbound containers. We’ve had this happen a couple of times, but in both instances, the shipping company informed us of the delay. There’s a news article today about some gun parts being shipped in ballikbayan boxes that was caught due to a tip from Homeland Security.
Monty, I agree, anyone who sends contraband that delays hundreds or thousands of other boxes deserves prison time. Seriously. So inconsiderate.
For the LBC parcel, MM, perhaps it was a question of timing?
I went to LBC in QC late Friday afternoon, the staff asked if the office to whom my letter was addressed would be open Saturday, I said I wasn’t sure. He then warned me that because Monday was a holiday, my letter might be delivered only Tuesday. But they must’ve called the number to check if someone was in, and I got a txt from the tracking service that my letter had been delivered to Mindanao Saturday.
cumin, overnight express package sent from Cebu office Monday before cut off time for Tuesday delivery. Didn’t arrive Tuesday, didn’t arrive Wednesday and finally delivered Thursday morning. No weekends involved. No delivery issues known. They made a lame excuse that they tried to deliver earlier which turned out to be untrue, as the village guards had no record of their coming, and our home is always attended and someone always comes to the door. Even if not human, our 98 year old lab can sign for the envelope. :) That’s actually the second time out of 4 times that we have not gotten next day delivery as promised in the past 4-5 months. That’s not a good batting average.
When Amazon had a Christmas delivery problem a couple of years back, they did the only sensible thing they could – start their own fleet of cargo planes. They’re also experimenting with drone delivery, but there’s a lot of skepticism surrounding that plan.
There are so many of these “shopping cart” services for international shipping these days. Many if not most are unreliable and very shady. All they seem to need is a website full of smoke and mirrors to dazzle. I am in the freight logistics industry and although we only handle commercial events (exhibitions) freight logistics, I am quite aware of these activities that are currently operating without real oversight or regulations. I suppose it is a choice between imposing on family to receive and box the orders for you, or risking all on an unknown entity beyond your reach to seek redress. MM, if your box(es) are still in California limbo, I can try to locate it and if still possible, try to recover it and send it thru a different bbox reputable company. Let me know.
Hi MM!
I’ve heard horror stories about shippingcart, managed by LBC X and affiliate of LBC Express Inc.
I totally avoided this company. By the way, I send my package ( airfreight) to Johnny Air Cargo.
It’s not expensive. Example: 3 lbs. ( 2 Lacoste T-shirts + 3 mini canvas pouch / from JAC New York office, paid using my credit card) they charged me $18.00 / received by my Sister within 7 working days. Not bad at all!
Just recently, Paulina Sotto ( daughter of Vic ) had a very unfortunate experience with Shipping Cart. She expressed her dissatisfaction thru Instagram ( please check her IG paulinavls, July 22 post with Shipping cart photo ) She is mad. :-{
I’m not so sure if she already received her package.
tercer, thank you so much for your offer to help. I have never really used these “address + send” services before, using self-packed balikbayan boxes instead most of the time. But this particular package is seasonal/time sensitive, and very heavy at @120 pounds, and wouldn’t fit a standard bbox size, so i thought to try this service. I did check around and figured that a company associated with LBC, a large courier company locally, might have some cred. They are assuring me now (how reliable that is remains to be seen) that the box(es) in question are already in Taiwan and almost at Subic. But the actual shipping cart folks couldn’t confirm that, saying one box was still in LA. I will give it a few more weeks and though the total turnaround time for delivery will be closer to 10-11 weeks if it gets here, it’s their service/tracking/customer side that really needs improvement. They could easily have mitigated the customer end frustration but instead have exacerbated the annoyances instead…
Can I take a wild guess that the item you sent was kosher salt? Reading your previous posts about your aversion to iodized salt, I’m thinking this might be what you bought. If so, then maybe you can get in touch with a local company called Salinas somewhere in the Morato/Scout area. I think they have a local version of a granulated, non-iodized salt.
Monty, good guess, but it’s bizarrely actually a large Christmas tree in two large boxes. So you can imagine how weird it would be to have the top or the bottom but the other half left on the California coast!? We were recently in China in the heart of Christmas tree manufacturing area where some 60-70% of all Christmas trees are made), but couldn’t find a tree we liked, so we ended up ordering one from BalsamHill.com, thinking that doing it in July was more than enough time to get the tree to Manila. If the first half arrives in Mid September (though they say it’s actually now both boxes) that would be fine, (though very late vs. their published timeframes). But if the second half is still in LA, that would be annoying… Mind you, we don’t put our tree up till early December, but when a company says they will deliver in 45 days, you expect them to deliver in 45 days, not say 60 or 70 or 80 days…
BTW, lots of kosher salt at S&R, and if you order it, they can bring you oodles and oodles of it. And you pay a reasonable price and get an official receipt. Local salt TECHNICALLY must contain iodine, which I understand why they do it, but think it is stupid that you don’t have a choice of non-iodized salt. Locals who make non-iodized salt are technically not following government regulations.
MM, tracking for my shipment shows that it was received at the LBC Manila warehouse yesterday and is now at the Caloocan cargo delivery hub of LBC. If your shipment is indeed in the same batch, you should expect to receive it within the next few days. Fingers crossed.
Yup, Joey, at least one of my boxes is in Pasig. But it’s not totally clear if the second box is with it. The tracking on shipping cart says it is still waiting to be processed in california. Totally wring someone’s neck material. But even if the package arrives next week, it will have taken much longer than they advertise, and that’s with warp speed delivery since it left California…
Hi MM. I tried ShippingCart for the first time last week. Eeee gad…if I had only read your mind sooner then I wouldn’t have done it. I had some green coffee beans (4 premium varieties at that!!) sent to them. The problem is I can’t access my account through their website. I am absolutely sure that my email and password are correct but is still doesn’t work. It won’t even give me a new password because it doesn’t recognize my email (despite the fact that I got an account# after registration). As you described, their customer support via email is totally useless…just copy-pasting lines from their website (as if I didn’t read those already). Aaaaargh!
Btw, do they have a local phone # I can reach so I can give them a piece of my tongue??? :)
Nadia, I ordered a massive Christmas tree and the vendor processed the order and delivered it to Shipping cart in LESS than 3 days. Then it took some 12-15 days for shippingcart to ACKNOWLEDGE it had arrived. Then many more days for them to process it (meaning, confirm they got it and take a photo then ask for payment). At no point in this process could you see where it was at. So if you are at less than 2-3 weeks since it arrived with them, don’t expect to see it on-line. It’s infuriating but that’s my experience. When I finally paid for it by a U.S. credit card, it took many more days before they confirmed payment and processed shipment. Then they NEVER sent me a tracking number. They finally had something on their website that said one box left, and one box was still in California. Up to TODAY, the same tracking process says it is in California. Eventually, I got a response from LBCExpress with the not one, but two tracking numbers and they assured me that both boxes were on a ship to Taiwan. At exactly the same time, shippingcart customer reps told me one box was STILL in california… Totally strangle and squeeze one’s neck material. I never figured out a phone number, but last email from them and check on the website says half or all of my tree is now in a Pasig distribution center, some two months after it arrived in California. The shipping part was warp speed (admittedly the LBD Express part of the equation) but the shippingcart part of the equation was slam dunk into the garbage and I would NEVER RECOMMEND that one use this service…
MM, kudos on the use of the word “gormless” and so sorry for your experience.
It is infuriating living in the outskirts of the civilized world. Over here, in Brazil, I would love to buy me some fast fashion from H&M, but after hours of searching online I figured out that I would pay at least a hundred us dollars for a delivery service plus 100% tax on my shopping for the privilege. Not happening, at all. That is only because I cannot find simple clothes I like at a price point I am willing to pay locally.
Maybe you’ll get half a Christmas tree, heaven forbid…
Sister, my worst fear, half a ginormous artificial tree. Leticia, yes, I like “outskirts of the civilized world”. At least in Manila, we have H&M, Gap, Forever21 and Crate&Barrel now. :)
MM,
I live in the Silicon Valley. If you need any help locating your box or to go to any Shipping Cart / LBC office or warehouse in the Bay Area I would gladly do it. I wouldn’t mind at all. You have my email. :-)
I emphatize with you. I had the same problem in 2014, 2 BB Boxes super delayed and it caused me sleepness nights.
bes
If you only get half of the tree, I hope it isn’t the bottom half.
ami, if it’s the bottom half, it is going to go up someone’s bottom with much pain until the top half arrives… :) I jest, of course. besYS, thanks so much for that, I am hopeful this will all be resolved soon…
I have been using shipping cart since for about a year now, almost since it started I think. The service was amazing at first. I think what happened is they got big too fast, lots of advertising without the personnel to back it up. Had some snafus about three months ago but it got sorted out.
Hi MM,
Thank you for this heads up. I was really tempted to use this service but I’m really skeptical if my orders will be able arrive on time. :D
I had a handbag shipped two years ago (Sept2014!), God knows where it is now. Tried desperately to locate it until the end of the first year, to no avail. Makes my blood boil when I think about it.
MM, had my own shipping mishap this last week…I was out of the house and xxx company delivered a packag that my mother in law signed for after they asked her for 200 peso…no name on the package…how did they know my name? A lot of questions…inside a selfie stick and granny panties…what the heck? I thought one of my friends might be playing a joke, but no one has confessed
Scott, OMG, my first reaction was to laugh, as long as it was a prank, but otherwise, how darned odd and annoying…
Try pinoyboxdelivery.com
Check out http://www.my-shoppingbox.com
I have been using their service for the better part of 2 years without problems. Biggest item I had shipped was a set of Lagostina cookware via sea, 45-days on the dot.
I’ve been hearing a lot of horror stories about LBC. Just ask Lee, I’m sure he has a lot to say about them :-) Like ??? above, I use my-shoppingbox.com. Still no problems after three years and about 25 shipments.
MM, do you still plan on writing about your Shipping Cart snafu? Their service has gone from bad to worse. Before, at least, they would respond to emails/messages even just to say that they have no significant update on your issue but that they were still working on a solution.
I received a shipment nearly a months ago but the contents of the box were not my items. I took photos to document the contents and luckily there was a packing list with the owner’s name & SC acct #. I immediately emailed SC the photos with this information. They said they would look into it and schedule LBC to pick up the wrong shipment from my place.
It has been over two weeks since I last heard from them despite my sending them email/messages every few days. They have not sent LBC to pick up the wrong shipment. BTW, the box contains three (3) pairs of Tory Burch shoes. I googled them to get an estimated value and they were over $200 a pair when they were still in stock.
I wonder if SC has informed the owner that I have their items.
Joey, yes, I just have been so busy. But their service really burned me up. I eventually got my packages, but not until after a whole lot of angst. But OMG, you should just sell the shoes on eBay and get some $300 back, and charge them for insurance on your original shipment. Evil grin. No, I feel badly for the lady who is missing them. SHE should ball the CRAP out of shippingcart.com. Absurd. The head of service even emailed me after I wrote my post, probably worried about PR impact, though the blog has much fewer readers than before, it still has a few thousand of them. They just kept apologizing, but couldn’t explain what went wrong.
Joey, another thought. You should insist that you get your package first before you release the wrong package you received. That way they will endeavor to find yours and everyone knows the shoes are safe, if not “held hostage”. I did that once when some idiot got my luggage at the conveyor belt, and they quickly rushed to our home to bring mine, so they could get theirs…
I’ve already informed them that I will be holding on to the wrong shipment as “collateral” and, if nothing is done about my missing shipment, I will dispose of the items as I see fit to cover cost of my lost items and shipping fees paid to SC.
I was having second thoughts about doing this coz I was thinking about the lady whose shoes I have and how I would feel if I were her. I’m glad that you also think that “holding the items hostage” is the appropriate thing to do in this instance.
The screw-up with the shipment doesn’t bother me as much as their seeming indifference to the matter. They have not gotten back to me in over two weeks. I am not looking for apologies. I want a plan of action from them.
For exmaple:
1) Give us xx days to try and locate missing items.
2) If items are located, they will be packed and will ship out within yy days
3) If items cannot be located after xx days, a claim for reimbursement will be filed
4) Claim will take zz days to process, after which refund/reimbursement will be credited to Paypal account.
I hope you get to write a followup to your SC fiasco soon. Your rants do seem to get the attention of the bigwigs of industry.
I’ve been reading the visitor’s posts on ShippingCart’s FB page and someone posted that Amazon has disallowed shipping orders to ShippingCart’s Hayward CA address.
MM, would you know if ShippingCart is wholly owned/operated by LBC?
Joey, I am not sure if they are wholly owned. I suspect they are different corporate entities, but they are related in some sense. I tried to search for old emails from them so I could get you an address of someone who could do something about your problem. I kept searching my personal folder and couldn’t find the emails I wanted. Then I went to marketmanila.com emails and searched back months and voila, got what I wanted. She had emailed me wanting to know my name, and I replied it wasn’t relevant, the problem was the issue. But when I mentioned that I was going to contact the owners of LBC and named them, she immediately emailed me back and addressed me by my name (horribly misspelled), so they obviously were trying to put a name to an earlier comment/email I had sent their customer representatives where I said the same and put my name. Here is her name and contact details. I nearly laughed when I read her title. Seriously. It should be “Head, Customer Nightmares”.
Allian Marie Sheila dela Cruz
Head, Customer Experience
LBC X
allian@lbcx.ph
M +639278428232
T +632.4774897
MM, thank you so much for the contact details. It is much appreciated.
ShippingCart.com
Registrant Contact
Name: Philips Yu
Organization: LBCX.ph Inc.
Mailing Address: 31-C Obudan St., Quezon City Metro Manila 1115 PH
Phone: +63.9178442238
Ext:
Fax:
Fax Ext:
Email:philips.a.yu@gmail.com
Admin Contact
Name: Philips Yu
Organization: LBCX.ph Inc.
Mailing Address: 31-C Obudan St., Quezon City Metro Manila 1115 PH
Phone: +63.9178442238
Ext:
Fax:
Fax Ext:
Email:philips.a.yu@gmail.com
Tech Contact
Name: Philips Yu
Organization: LBCX.ph Inc.
Mailing Address: 31-C Obudan St., Quezon City Metro Manila 1115 PH
Phone: +63.9178442238
Ext:
Fax:
Fax Ext:
Email:philips.a.yu@gmail.com
I sent around $50.00 of items from Amazon to the Hayward CA. offices they were received and signed by a employee 3 Nov. 2016, it is now 12 Dec. 2016 and LBCShippingcart has not acknowledged receipt. Nothing is in my cart there! I have emailed them only to receive computer generated replies and tried calling, no one picked up. If indeed the Hanjin Bankruptcy affected them then this should not be the cause of their NOT ACKNOWLEDGING THE RECEIPT OF SAID PACKAGES AND PROCESSING THEM SO THAT THEY ARE IN MY CART! No. This is total mismanagement at a grand scale, for I am not the only one encountering this! If they are having problems then they should say so. If they processed and these showed up in my cart and I had the option, I’d send them back to Amazon! But to wait and wait all this time with nothing. Not acknowledging receipt and all I have is Amazon’s receipts to tell me they signed for these; it is like being in LIMBO! I will never trust this company again! I gave them a second chance due to their excuses and now all I have is regrets and a $50 loss!
Hi David! It is very unfortunate to hear of your experience, but in cases like these, there are 2 possible reasons to explain that. Number one would be that USPS(could be ups, fedex or amzl_us) delivered it to a wrong address, this one is particularly very difficult to justify as you are not personally there to attest your claim.(you are not the one receiving the items). Number 2 would be that lbc lost your item before they could even register it into their system thus no possible way of tracking it. If you have received an email from shipping cart stating the receipt of your items then you are most likely to be compensated or etc. but if there is no acknowledgement for the receipt then talking to an amazon representative would be your best last resort. I hope this gets sorted. I am not affiliated with Shipping Cart.
Just received my package via airfreight. And it is missing one item!!!! I emailed LBC + Shipping Cart and have not received a response. If they don’t reply by Tuesday, I’ll be to post bad reviews everywhere. I’ll update this when they resolve the issue.
I don’t recommend Shipping Cart.
This is an old post of yours. But please Im calling everyone you know who was victimized by shipping cart to please let us gather together and file against them through dti. Thank you. They stole of my stuff. I use the word because vendors and couriers have receiptds that they have received the items already but they have the gall to claim it is not with them. Their receptionist have signed received items. Maybe they sell it and run their own ebay shops? I dont know but this is too much hassle and waste of money totalling to almost 1500 usd loss on my part.