SMART SEND COURIERS

[just-it]

Has anyone had any dealings for Smartsend Couriers? Two deliveries of mine to ebay buyers arrived damaged. The first case involved FOUR speakers, all four had external damage. Contacted them and they said "sorry you were not insured". Fine

Then last week Smartsend delivered yet another parcel of mine to a buyer (it was a subwoofer which, for some unknow reason, had a sheet of glass adhered to the top of the speaker) which turned up with the corner of the glass top smashed. Contacted smartsend - the parcel was insured - their reply was "we dont accept items with glass" and the insurance will not compensate you. How's that. So ebayers beware of Smartsend Couriers!!

[the_great_she_elephant]

We get 2 kilo packs of coffee sent from Qld to country WA with StarTrak -  order one day, recieve the next,never any hassles. I've never used them for large or fragile items though.

[shineycats]

Smartsend are alot better than Australian post. The only drawback with smartsend is that you can't send mirrors or glass even if packaged extremely well but otherwise alot safer than Australian Post who really just don't care about your item and even if you have insurance they will say you didn't pack well enough even if you use there boxes.

It is really good to have the one on one with the courier with smartsend so you can get fragile sticker put your item and mention to the courier please handle with care and I think they take notice of the fragile sticker unlike Australian Post.

[lyndal1838]

Couriers are no different to Australia Post in their handling of parcels.  You can get Fragile Sticker from AP although it means diddly squat as they do not offer a Fragile service.

Most courier companies handle the parcels the same as AP...your parcel is subject to the same treatment and must be able to withstand being dropped from a great height and having other parcels dropped on it.   Courier parcels do not have the same weight restrictions as AP so your parcel may have something much heavier dropped on it than if it was with AP.

Depending on where your parcel is going it may not be even be transported by the driver who picks it up...it would be taken back to the depot and reassigned to another driver so having a word with the pickup driver is useless.

[110angelo]

hi people, i have just had a very bad experience with smartsend as well.  absolutely ridiculous.  i purchased a hardlid from another ebay user based in brisbane.  the hardlid was in perfect condition in as new condition.  the hardlid arrived on 'Star track express'.  the driver did not want or try to help unload the hardlid. i had to push him to help.  when i saw the condition of the hardlid i was upset and asked what the hell.  he said if i was not happy to contact the office.  i have tried to ring the star track office in Townsville for over a week, every day.  every call gives a busy signal, hour after hour.  good business, have a number advertised and a person cannot get through.  way to go Star Track Express.  i got through to the main office in brisbane finally and put forward my grievences about the condition of the hardlid and was told if would be investigated, this was over two weeks ago.  i have had no responce from them.  i have taken photo's and sent them in.  then hardlid was wrapped in a thick blanket and covered with bubble wrap four times, YELLOW 'FRAGILE' stickers were put all over the hardlid on both sides.  orange 'HANDLE WITH CARE' tape was wrapped around the whole hardlid four times. this was done so that drivers and handlers would be INTELLIGENT enough to be aware that the item was valuable and needed to be 'HANDLED WITH CARE' .  obviously the people in question have very little intelligence or cannot read and/or are colourblind as they bent the two hinges (the hinges are 4 to 5mm thick) and ground down all sides of the hardlid, on the corners the gouge marks are deep enough to put your fingernail into the grooves.  the hardlid is useless to me in the condition it is in.  i paid a lot of money and trusted that the courier 'SmartSend Couriers' and 'Star Track Express' would look after my purchase and was greatly let down and betrayed, ignored and ripped off.  i say to anybody thinking of using smart send or star track express, think again. can you trust them with your valuable purchases, do not think that just because you label your items with fragile or handle with care that they will be cared for.  very dissapointed consumer.  

[lyndal1838]

Your picture shows an item wrapped in a thinnish material, not a thick padded blanket, and several layers of bubblewrap.

What was the outer packaging like?  Was the whole lot in a box?

[mr-bryan]

I know this thread is over 2 years old now, But to add to the point about Smart Send.

I sent an item on a pallet and it's dimensions were 140 x 80 x 80cm with the dead weight of 130kg and paid the $571.34 freight to get it from the NSW mid north coast to Adelaide.

That was 4 weeks ago then on tuesday I receive a secondary invoice from them stating they undercharged me for freight and the total freight charge was $1122.84 not $571.34 so they reckon they've undercharged me by $550.

As there excuse is the package was oversize and instead of being 140 x 80 x 80cm that I had packed it at they claimed it to be 156 x 126 x 127cm at 130kg.

So I rang them just out of the blue asked how much it would cost to get a pallet from my place to south australia with the dimensions and weight they supplied.

Low and behold they gave me a quote over the phone the the dimensions they gave me of $642.80 Door to door instead of door to depot.  So if they quote $642.80 over the phone for that size and weight they gave me it makes you wonder how they came to the conclusion of $1122.84

So Dont trust Smart Send, There smart in ways of ripping you off for things you send

[philip4696]

My experience this week with SmartSend has been appalling. Some weeks ago I uploaded their quoting widget onto one of my eBay listings and used it to base my freight quotes to potential buyers on. Late last week I sold the item and the buyer was to pay for freight as per the quote provided from the SmartSend widget. On Monday I went online to organise the freight, only to find that SmartSend now wanted to charge over $12 more. They said the previous calculation was wrong. The only way you can communicate with them is by email through their "support" ( I use the word advisedly) desk. There is no possibility of contacting them by phone.

Eventually I found I was dealing with Steve Visic, their managing director. Their whole approach all along the line was to try to find out how I got the wrong calculator, and to find a way to blame me for the error.

All this over a lousy $12 !

Suffice to say, I finally put the job through E-Go, despite it costing me a fair bit more.

My advice to anyone out there looking for a freight company, avoid the dumb SmartSend like the plague

[lyndal1838]

I hope it is not a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.

There is a thread about the problems with E-go as well.

[paulsurfing71]

They are crooks ! Stay well away from them trust me I got burnt

[joz*garage]

how come some community members on here don't have a feedback score?

usually there's a (o) next to their name if there's zilch