Hello Everyone,
This post is about my ill experience with Sahara Packers & Movers, Bangalore.
Before
I go into details, I would like to give a word of caution to all of you
working professionals about this organization. I find it is important
because our household items are bought with hard earned money and it
should be in trusted hands whenever we move them.
I was working
in Bangalore and had to shift to Trivandrum because of a shift in Job.
I rang up a telephone directory service to get a list of
packers & movers near my area. They immediately gave a list of services.
Sahara was the first to respond, After briefing them about the list the agent(His name Manoj Jain) wanted to visit my house and have a look at
the
items to give me a quote. He arrived at home took the list of things
and gave me a quote of 11, 000 which was fairly OK when compared to
others. He said I have to pay 10% advance and rest 90% on delivery. I
agreed.
I did some research about the company on their website https://saharapackers.com
and they appeared genuine. I thought they were part of the Sahara
airline group, But later I found out the hard way that they are NOT!
. But I did not know that I was committing a mistake by trying to save money .
On
the day of the shift, bunch of guys came with the truck and started
packing. To my dis belief they did not have any packing equipment like
others had(cartons, tapes, protective shields etc). I managed to buy
some cartons and used news papers for shield and most of the stuff was
packed by me, my wife and my mother as those people were very careless
and were throwing stuff around.
And after 3 hours of packing, one guy who appeared like supervisor asked me to pay the entire amount then and there. I was surprised and I called up Manoj who I had met before, and I was shocked by his response.
He threatened
"YOUR STUFF WILL NOT MOVE AN INCH IF YOU DONT PAY THE FULL AMOUNT"
I was in total confusion and frustration because the people
wouldn’t let me take my stuff back from the truck and I had no one to
help. I had
to take a decision and I decided to give the amount and to let
things proceed. I paid the full amount and the truck left, they told me
I will
get the delivery after 3 days. I was relieved for the time being.
We(My mother wife and 1.5 year old baby) left to trivandrum after a
visit to Thirupathi and we were waiting for the truck to arrive. The
truck didnt arrive on the said date, I called up Manoj and he said the
truck is on its way and would arrive the next morning that was 15 - Aug
-2006.
It did not arrive the next morning, I called and he said it has
reached Coimbatore and would reach by night. I observed that the guys
tone has
changed and he sounded like he was doing me a favor. I had no option but to wait.
It did not arrive that day. or the next day.
or the Next week.
All my hard earned stuff was somewhere abandoned and I couldnt stand it.
I would call them 40 to 50 times a day, They wouldst pick up the
call, This continued and finally one day one person gave me a number of
Coimbatore office and said my stuff is there. I called this number and they said they don’t have anything there.
Again the same thing happened, I was back with no clue, I missed my
date on joining the new firm.
I called up my friends in Bangalore to follow up with them in
Bangalore. But was not very fruitful and they told its a place full of
hooligans.
I sent emails to their customer care email. no response.
I filed a complaint but no use. They would give different reasons all the time.
I pressured them everyday. I tried all, plead, beg, threaten. nothing worked, they were sarcastic.
Finally they told me its stuck at the Valayar checkpost because they had put some untaxed stuff along with my consignment.
I was relieved, atleast my stuff has not evaporated, it is somewhere!
They gave me a truck number and told me
IF YOU WANT YOUR STUFF, YOU SHOULD GET IT OUT OF THE CHECKPOST
and I have to pay Tax for some glass items which they had put along
with my consignment. I was not at all surprised, because I was sure
that they are capable of even more injustice.
I called up my friend who is a lawyer and he gave me the contact of
Tax Commisioner in palakkad, under whom the Valayar check post appear.
Finally I was getting clarity. I requested the commissioner to help
my stuff out. I gave him the truck number and he offered to help. He
was like God to me, still is.
20 days had passed since the promised delivery date. and finally I was having hope.
The commissioner called after 1 hour and he said that there was no
truck by that number inspected or caught in the last 30 days.
I was shattered. The commissioner asked me to go to Coimbatore and check.
Sahara stopped attending my calls. The guy in Coimbatore office(Subh Ram) abused me whenever I got the call through.
I knew what to do.
I landed in Coimbatore along with my friends. I got the house
address of sukh ram from the office receptionist. Local police agreed
to help.
They took me to his house, the SI asked him to produce my stuff in
one hour, Sukh ram took me to the warehouse. I saw the heartbreaking
sight of all my favorite household items soaked in the rain and out of
the 31 cartons, only 22 were present. He said that was all that arrived
from Bangalore.
I was not worried about payback to manoj jain or sukh Ram or Sahara.
I wanted to exit from all this and get back to my normal life which I
missed for a month. I booked a truck asked them to load all my stuff,
paid another 10, 000 and I made sure that I was along with the truck on
my way to trivandrum. Arrived in trivandrum after 32 days from the promised delivery date.
I had spent more than 35, 000 RS, countless days of severe strain,
sleepless nights and insecurity, I lost faith and trust on everyone. It
was not about the money or the household items, It was about basic
trust and being kind.
This was almost an year back, When I look back now I feel I should
have done things differently, nevertheless I feel that people at Sahara
are
predators, With an attitude like that, they are not eligible to
be in a society, They should be punished, and I am sure, they will be
After all, thats the LAW OF NATURE
I advise you all to keep away from Sahara, I hope this helps someone.
I would like to know your opinions too.
Thanks for your time
kris