ASKING FOR ADVICE: lifeboatshipping and alternative freight/shipping services.

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asgardianboy

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Hi everybody.

I guess this is addressed exclusively to the Europeans in the room.

I am based in Europe, and for the last couple of years I have been using the shipping service of www.lifeboatshipping.com, sister company of merch online shop www.secretcompassonline.com which I guess you all know. This shipping service allows me to get a USA shipping address for free (which in turn allows me to purchase from sellers that don't ship overseas), to enjoy of some free storage area (as long as my stuff doesn't get beyond a certain limit) and also lets me have all my purchases consolidated into one big shipping box that saves me a lot of money in shipping at cost of spending a lot of money at customs, even though balance is positive and some savings are had.

As time has gone by, I have grown increasingly unsatisfied with certain aspects of what apparently looks like a great, cheap, useful service. To me, the way items are placed in the big, 108"-girth shipper is paramount in terms of items not getting damaged or lost along the way (I have had instances of both, unfortunately). So, even if I carefully write down what I need each time I book a consolidation (the consolidation order form has a field precisely to that aim), keeping it as simple and clear as I can get it, trying to interfere as little as possible with the work of the guy doing the consolidation, just telling the man the order items must be layed down in the shipper (so that he doesn't even have to think), most of the times this guy ends up delivering something that is not what I asked. Of course, when I complain, I get no solutions ("take it or leave it, because we are oh so cheap" etc).

And so, things have gotten to the point where I'd like to switch. Unfortunately, I know of no other freight/shipping service where the people in charge are 1/6- and collectible-savvy, having an understanding of the rules of the game, being able to even inspect items that are suspected to be damaged and having the knowledge for finding out if they are. I even ignore how to find them (several tries have turned out fruitless, with results being shipping services completely detached of the collecting scene, offering services that do not fit me and at prohibitive prices).

Thus, the more I feel the urge to try something else and compare (even if the alternatives are more expensive), the more I am realizing that I am like a prisoner in this whatsoever nice cage.

Any suggestion anybody? Do you know of similar companies that might provide a better service, even if it is more expensive?

Thanks!!
m.
 
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