PHOENIX PHIL
AH ambassador
I've been meaning to get this thread going for a week now and finally just found some time to do so. I finally had my shipment clear all gov't agencies a week ago this past Wednesday and was able to pick up my crate of taxidermy.
Mostly all went well, but there was a bit of a hiccup with Logwin Logistics. Logwin is a world wide company that handles international shipments of all kinds, not just taxidermy. Logwin picked up my crate from the taxidermist and took it to Johannesburg. They contacted me in short order with the shipping cost. A few questions and a delay due to an expired CITES permite ensued, but no big deal. Once the CITES permit was renewed, I wired the funds to Logwin to ship. This is where things broke down a bit.
For whatever reason, the wire was supposedly delayed. After waiting an extra couple of days for the funds to show up, it was time for action. Apparently only action on my part. After providing some initial documentation to show the wire was ordered, I asked for some support on Logwin's part to contact their bank, HSBC. No response for a day or so. Finally it came back that the wire had not shown up and that was it. It did not appear from any emails that any action on Logwin's part was taking place.
I then had the wire service that I use start taking further action. Of course this took time out of my day as well as adding a bit of stress to me. After getting definitive proof that the money had been sent to HSBC, Logwin finally acknowledged the money had shown up and the shipment was then scheduled.
Now, if I was the only one who had this experience that would be one thing. Perhaps just a one time occurrence, these things happen sort of deal. However, one of our other members here, BnC 04, who hunted with HartzView last year and used the same taxidermist had the same thing happen. BnC's wife works at the bank that they did the transfer through. She had to go through the same trouble of tracking the wire and once she provided the additional documentation, voila, the wire had shown up.
Now if it were only twice.....but no I know of a third occurrence. As in 2011 after my first safari I utilized the services of Hunter International to clear my trophies. I discussed this issue with Maria Felix who is one of the owners of Hunter Int'l and she relayed a story to me of another one of her clients who went through the same delay in the wire.
So is it Logwin holding your money for a couple of days or is it a problem with HSBC? Don't know, don't care. I did not care for the lack of any sense of urgency to find out where the money was. And my guess is the money was there when it was expected.
Whatever the case, there are other choices. I think I'll be going back to Safari Cargo Systems who handled my first shipment and did not give any of these problems.
In the end my crate got here and everything worked out, but why have the extra stress of thinking your wire transfer may have gone to the wrong place?
Mostly all went well, but there was a bit of a hiccup with Logwin Logistics. Logwin is a world wide company that handles international shipments of all kinds, not just taxidermy. Logwin picked up my crate from the taxidermist and took it to Johannesburg. They contacted me in short order with the shipping cost. A few questions and a delay due to an expired CITES permite ensued, but no big deal. Once the CITES permit was renewed, I wired the funds to Logwin to ship. This is where things broke down a bit.
For whatever reason, the wire was supposedly delayed. After waiting an extra couple of days for the funds to show up, it was time for action. Apparently only action on my part. After providing some initial documentation to show the wire was ordered, I asked for some support on Logwin's part to contact their bank, HSBC. No response for a day or so. Finally it came back that the wire had not shown up and that was it. It did not appear from any emails that any action on Logwin's part was taking place.
I then had the wire service that I use start taking further action. Of course this took time out of my day as well as adding a bit of stress to me. After getting definitive proof that the money had been sent to HSBC, Logwin finally acknowledged the money had shown up and the shipment was then scheduled.
Now, if I was the only one who had this experience that would be one thing. Perhaps just a one time occurrence, these things happen sort of deal. However, one of our other members here, BnC 04, who hunted with HartzView last year and used the same taxidermist had the same thing happen. BnC's wife works at the bank that they did the transfer through. She had to go through the same trouble of tracking the wire and once she provided the additional documentation, voila, the wire had shown up.
Now if it were only twice.....but no I know of a third occurrence. As in 2011 after my first safari I utilized the services of Hunter International to clear my trophies. I discussed this issue with Maria Felix who is one of the owners of Hunter Int'l and she relayed a story to me of another one of her clients who went through the same delay in the wire.
So is it Logwin holding your money for a couple of days or is it a problem with HSBC? Don't know, don't care. I did not care for the lack of any sense of urgency to find out where the money was. And my guess is the money was there when it was expected.
Whatever the case, there are other choices. I think I'll be going back to Safari Cargo Systems who handled my first shipment and did not give any of these problems.
In the end my crate got here and everything worked out, but why have the extra stress of thinking your wire transfer may have gone to the wrong place?
