WARNING about shipping company Amber Worldwide Peru in Lima, Peru

[moto_girl]

If you are thinking of shipping your bike and your belongings back to wherever from Lima, Peru, do NOT use Amber Worldwide Peru (i.e. Edwin Pinedo). Why do I say that? Because that's the shipping company I used and I got screwed! So pick another company!

Here's my Peruvian Shipping Tale in case you are interested:

Me and my friend have recently returned from an absolutely amazing motorcycle trip from the USA to Peru, which took us through 11 Central and South American countries. At the end of the trip I decided to ship my motorcycle back to Miami from Lima, Peru. I hired a local shipping company (“Amber Worldwide Peru”, co-owned by Edwin Pinedo), who said it wouldn’t be a problem to ship my bike & luggage (which could stay on the bike, so their words) back to the USA. “We do it all the time, it’s standard procedure”, were the famous last words.

I handed my motorcycle & luggage over to the shipping company, along with a power of attorney, notarized copies of my motorcycle title, temporary import permit, passport, driver’s license and a list of accompanying personal belongings. It all seemed to be going according to plan. I was quoted $1,850 + $100 for customs charges in Miami.

When I arrived in Miami my bike was nowhere to be seen. The shipping company told me that there were problems with Peruvian customs. Apparently my personal belongings could not be shipped with the bike because the customs agent at the port of entry in Tumbes, Peru, gave me the necessary temporary import permit for my Beemer, but not for my personal belongings. My luggage needed an import permit? We’ve traveled through 11 countries on this trip and my luggage never needed a permit to enter and/or leave a country. The shipping company, who deals with customs on a regular basis didn’t know that either. Unfortunately they also didn’t feel obligated to step up to the plate and fix the sticky situation. Peruvian customs had messed up on one end or the other and I had lost my personal belongings. What did the shipping company do to help? Nada. “Customs is at fault and we can’t do anything for you”, I was told. They could mail my stuff to the USA for an additional $600-700. They clearly did not feel responsible for the “mishap”. I was further told insurance wouldn’t cover my loss because it happened at customs and not during shipping. What? Isn’t going through customs part of the shipping ordeal? It shouldn’t matter during what stage of the process things go wrong. I signed over my power of attorney to the shipping company and legally, the person/company who holds the property is required by law to deliver my belongings to me and to take care of them in my best interest.

After 2 months of more and more aggravated emails back and forth between Lima and Florida, and still no resolution in sight, I found a fellow HUBBer who heard out about my situation and who offered to take my belongings with him to the USA! Wow! That was absolutely amazing. So after almost three months I was reunited with most of my belongings. Of course customs agents and people from the shipping business had gone through my stuff and had decided that they liked certain items. Not everything made it back to me. Did the shipping company care? Nope, apparently they don’t consider it their responsibility to keep your belongings safe while in their “care”.

Besides their inability to deal with customs, they gave me the wrong information about US customs fees where the estimated $100 turned into $700! Maybe they did not know about the actual cost, but I’d say it’s their job to know. Not knowing is no excuse if you’re running a business. The quote of $1,950 turned into a bill of $2,700! Ouch.

My advice: avoid “Amber Worldwide Peru”. It is an unprofessional shipping business and NOT fit for international customers. Beware!