Unfortunately I can't leave a good review and won't be using this company again. They lacked…read moreclarity and direction, and I get a sense they are not very experienced. They definitely weren't in my case as they seemed to know nothing about Florida ports and gave really inaccurate estimates - my shipment was from Port Everglades. First of all, moving my stuff out of my storage and waiting on them to come with a container from Port Everglades was a disaster - the movers had moved all my stuff on the street, and the container never arrived!!! And they kept on saying it will be there soon (they gave me a time window for the container to arrive 11am/1-2pm). The time was 4:30 pm and the guy to pick up the empty container hadn't even gotten through the line in the port to get one yet!!!! It was a disaster, a waste of time, effort and money which cost me almost $600 (LASL offered to take of $200 from the total price in the end). After that I spoke to people who knew Florida ports, and they said it would have been impossible for a container to arrive to the storage place in the time window LASL gave me - it is normal that it takes a whole day to get an empty container, since the lines are big plus the drive from Port Everglades to Miami is another 1.5 hours. So if the port opens at 8/9 am, there would be no way that a container could arrive to Miami in an early afternoon. So LASL had no idea what they're talking about. They gave me an option to pick the container the previous day for an extra cost for a more precise time. But just as much they gave me an option to pick on the same day and arrive in a 2-3 hour time window. Clearly, that was no viable option.
Not to mention they were yelling back at me and not taking responsibility for their mistake. They had given me an option to arrange with their movers which cost more than $1200, just to move stuff out of the storage into the container - that way I wouldn't have to have coordinated with my own. And after the incident they belied me on the phone saying that I had prior complained their moving was more expensive than it actually was (they claimed with assurance I had told them they cost $2000 and that it's too expensive, which I NEVER DID). Long story short - disaster, defensive and not taking responsibility for their mistakes.
Next try. Now they are sure the container needs to be picked from the port the previous day. They do so, arrive in time, my movers are there again, the container is ready to go.
The shipment is supposed to take a month/month and a half - I email them during that time and they never respond. Only when the container arrives at the destination. I am pretty stressed out during the shipment since I don't know what to expect anymore, they just don't respond anything.
The next thing. I thought it was going to be all smooth from now, but complicated continues. They put me in contact with their office in Riga (which is the end destination), and they ask me all the same things they had already asked at the beginning of when we started to plan my shipment - which apartment, what floor, list of items, etc. Then why collect all this information in the first place if you're going to ask it again? There seems to be no proper coordination between the offices. So they start to collect all this information, about my stuff and for customs. And in the end they tell me they actually don't have the resources to do the customs and that I need to look for someone myself!! Really??!
The man in the Riga office is rude on the phone and responds in email in capital letters, saying "WE CANNOT" do this and this. And when I try to call after this email he sent in the morning, his phone is off all day and I need to call several numbers to reach someone in their office, since I had to get the container out of customs the next day the latest because of the holidays.
I got a third party broker which were great, responsive and fast, and it really was a contrast to LASL - both their American and Latvian offices.
I hate to leave bad reviews but this unfortunately deserves it. Not using this company again, one for their service and especially for their attitude - I hope they learn from this situation and improve.
As for shipping, if you can, use a door-to-door shipping company. It will save you a lot of time and effort
