Universal relocations were recommended to me by a friend. I, in turn, had recommended several others about this international courier service. So when my turn came to relocate back to India, I was confident with Universal Relocations - and not at all, hesitant to even courier my Samsung 6400 UHD TV to India through them.
I was given a quote of around 200$ to ship the TV. I had packed the TV in its original box with the exact packaging material of the TV as requested by them.
I got my boxes and my TV within 3 months of shipping. In between, I had to pay duty for the TV which amounted to around Rs.11, 000. I received the boxes and the TV at the given address, one rainy night at 2.30 am (yes, in the early morning hours). The boxes and the TV was re-taped using the Universal relocations tape, which meant that all the boxes and the TV was opened, inspected, and re-packed by Universal Relocations.
The TV box was opened in front of the team from Universal Relocations. We were all shocked to see that the TV screen was badly cracked. We took pictures of the cracked TV in front of them. We were speechless and helpless - not knowing what to do. Nothing visible had happened to the external packaging of the TV, yet the TV inside was badly damaged as if it was hit by something on one side. This shows that the TV was damaged during re-packaging at their warehouse.
I immediately send all the pictures to their team in Chennai, who asked me to send a mail to their claims department. They immediately responded back saying that they are NOT LIABLE.
This is where Universal Relocations has badly let me down. I bought an expensive TV, spent a lot of money on shipping it and paying the duty and port charges for the TV. Everyone knows that the TV is a fragile object which needs to be handled very carefully. We tried to see if repairing the TV would be feasible but we were told that the cost will be that of a new TV. We tried switching on the TV but the screen was completely gone. After writing another email saying that we are absolutely furious at their treatment, we were offered$42 for the grievances caused. As a special case, this amount was rounded off to$100
$100 for a$500 TV! This did not even cover the cost of shipping the TV. I just didn’t know what to reply to them. In short, I am now left with a TV that I can’t either use or dispose of and currently am pursuing legal avenues to recoup my losses. It looks like Universal has been pulled up multiple times by courts for negligence. Read here one such instance consumer courts ordered Universal to pay up. We are also pursuing the same option.
https://newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2019/feb/03/relocation-firm-to-pay-rs-60000-for-damaged-tv-while-shifting-from-us-to-bengaluru-1933679.html
I would request you all to think twice before using Universal Relocations. The team is eager and helpful when it comes to shipping your objects but does not care about what happens to your objects and the extreme distress caused to the client.
Never ever will I recommend Universal relocations.
Please share this with all your friends who are planning to relocate back to India. Help me in ensuring that NRI’s are never cheated out of their hard-earned money.