charic Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Been asked to ship my cab abroad. Paid by bank transfer, using MBE (mail boxes etc) Has anyone got any experience? Anything to be wary of here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 They offered me an MBE but I turned it down. It's too expensive parking up in London just for a garden party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MoJo Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1508959739' post='3395684'] They offered me an MBE but I turned it down. It's too expensive parking up in London just for a garden party. [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted October 26, 2017 Author Share Posted October 26, 2017 Maybe I should try rephrasing I've been asked to ship my bass cab into Europe, paid by bank transfer shipped by MBE Am I open to any obvious scams or the like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Sorry for making light of your situation. I've never heard of MBE. Why would a buyer ever have the final say in what carrier gets used? My guess is, if (s)he lives right near a drop-off point for M.B.Etc, then it could be very convenient. If it were me, I'd tell the buyer, "regretfully, I have no experience of using M.B.Etc,. My preference would be to use UPS(?) I promise I will take every precaution to make sure it all goes well, but I trust you're happy to accept the risk in the unfortunate event that things don't work out as we would both wish." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Mail Boxes Etc. seems to be a legit company: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03107457 I have no experience of it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 I don't know what MBE is. I have always bank transferred from my bank. I then use Interparcel and usually choose UPS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted October 26, 2017 Author Share Posted October 26, 2017 Hmm... I'm thinking I might back away. I didn't want to ship within the UK, let alone internationally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 I've used MBE to ship stuff (and for those that don't know, they're just a high street shop who do postal stuff, like offer a mailbox address for businesses, pack your stuff up, book couriers, sell stationary and stamps, etc). But my experience is that they are just booking agents - they don't actually ship it themselves, they just look up the shipping rates on their computer and ask which company you'd like to use. Works best if you need someone to pack it all for you, or if you can't be bothered to spend a morning on Google looking at different rates and Ts & Cs. they then sent it via UPS/Royal Mail/whoever. So it seems odd to me that someone would specify using them for just the courier bit rather than saying to just use UPS/whoever. Do they want them to do the packing (perhaps because they know they understand how to do it securely) or perhaps because they know which carriers have the right level of cover and can avoid the pesky "no cover for musical instruments" clauses. Or do they have a business account with them, so they pay the shipping costs directly? So I wouldn't have any concerns over MBE, if you have doubts that there may be some sort of con then it's more likely to be around the bank transfer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 I just went through the motions of sending a bass to myself. It's odd. You fill the form, then you get a page that tells me that you'll be contacted with a quote. And now I'm waiting.... I'd rather do the Interparcel, Parcel2Go thing and see the prices and choose the service that I like the look of. Add to this that it seems if I want to send it, I've got to take it to Chelmsford, which is 20 miles from me. Give me Interparcel any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1509023429' post='3396105'] I just went through the motions of sending a bass to myself. It's odd. You fill the form, then you get a page that tells me that you'll be contacted with a quote. And now I'm waiting.... I'd rather do the Interparcel, Parcel2Go thing and see the prices and choose the service that I like the look of. Add to this that it seems if I want to send it, I've got to take it to Chelmsford, which is 20 miles from me. Give me Interparcel any day. [/quote] yeah, the website is rubbish for that. Why can't they understand that if we wanted a personal quote from our local shop we'd ring them, we just want a basic idea of the price. In my experience they are actually much better in person. Admittedly that's from only ever using one shop, but they were very helpful, explain exactly what the pros and cons of each service are, whether insurance is appropriate, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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