Vanguard Logistics Services

Misleading quote – I used this company for my LCL personal effects shipping overseas, they over charged me like I'm shipping a 20ft FCL. I found out from other freight company that the fee I was charged for I shouldn't be charged.

Look Elsewhere for a Freight Forwarding Service – U-Haul International in the U.S. assigned Vanguard Logistics to handle my storage container box arriving from the U.S. into Port of Melbourne. As cargo agents, Vanguard were provided with all of my info and container details (size dimensions, weight, etc) weeks ahead of time in order to process it through port, customs, then have it delivered to me. The container box arrived and I was contacted by Vanguard with a quote for the cost of services I'd need to pay in order to receive the container. The portion that was for truck delivery was quoted at $321.03 + GST. This seemed a bit expensive, but for convenience sake, I thought fine. The container was processed and cleared from port and customs after 1 1/2 weeks. It sat at Vanguard depot for a day (Tuesday). I paid the invoice on that same day as expected. Next step was to schedule the truck delivery for the following day. Then was told "Our delivery operator has finished for the day so they wont be able to book for tomorrow but they will be able to book for Thursday delivery." Next day, waiting for notification that delivery had been scheduled for Thursday (Very important side note: the container is now on its 2nd day in the Vanguard depot, after 3 days, STORAGE is billed at a cost of $526.68 per day + GST) Christine, who has been organising this with me for a month and provided the initial quote, says my container box is too heavy and too long for the truck she quoted me for and which I have already paid for. "the length of cargo is 2.5 metres and will not fit onto a tail lift truck as quoted." She tells me I now need to pay $950 + GST for another type of truck in order to book delivery for the following day. Basically, I now 'immediately' have to pay 3x as much as the initial quote (of $321.03 + GST) in order to get it out on the 3rd day. I would have booked a different truck delivery company altogether, for sure, had they been forthcoming on the price. At no point does she apologise for having provided a bad quote. It's now end of the day, 3 o'clock. I'm short on time to find an alternative truck service for the following afternoon. And she's mentioning the $526.68 per day + GST storage fee that I will need to pay if I can't get the box out of their depot the next day! This is extortion. Plain and simple. A bait-and-switch tactic. Under the pressure and time constraint, I paid this exorbitant new amount in order to get our stuff the following day. We are considering filing a complaint with the ACCC as Vanguard appears to be an unapologetically super dodgy company.