Send My Bag Review
Written by Jaillan Yehia
I’ve been a bit quiet of late on the blog – and that’s because I’ve been busy making a big move: giving up my base in BC, Canada and deciding to spend all of my time (or most of it at least) back in Europe – as well as bringing my Canadian fiancé home to Blighty with me full-time. Yikes.
Anyone who has been through the process of any kind of expat move will know just how all-consuming it can be when you change the status quo.
At times like this we all want any help available to take tasks and problems off our plate and make life easier. So I enlisted the help of Send My Bag to transport luggage for me – and this is what I thought of the service…
In moving myself, my fiancé and our cat – the ultimate precious cargo – permanently to England I have dealt with a lot of different companies, some of whom made my life far easier, and others which complicated things no end. I’m happy to report that Send My Bag falls firmly into the former category.
The cat – with all the money needed for his own flight. I just wish Send My Bag would start sending cats.
Send My Bag Review – Why Did I Use a Luggage Transportation Company?
When I decided that the hand-picked selection of clothes, handbags and shoes which had slowly crept across the Atlantic with me on various scheduled flights over the last few years needed to be repatriated to my full-time wardrobe in the UK, I was faced with decisions as to how to tackle transporting my beloved items of clothing.
I had looked into baggage shipping options previously for other trips but had usually given up (I’m very impatient!) once I reached a quote page or at any point where I had to measure or weigh things as I just couldn’t face it and would rather drag the suitcase to the airport than fill in too many forms.
Looking For A Send My Bag Review? Read on…
If you’re reading this review I imagine you’re interested to know how the Send My Bag service works in practice and whether it’s right for you, especially if you’re allergic to a lot of paperwork.
So here’s my experience in detail – it’s not often I write anything in the first person like this but I am hoping it will help you, as I know I wasn’t sure about the procedure before I started but now I’ve done it once it seems easy.
So if you’ve perhaps Googled ‘Send My Bag review‘ you’re undoubtedly wondering if using Send My Bag will be one of those experiences that leaves you to rue the day you decided to complicate your life with an external company (no!) or whether you’ll end up with an ongoing alternative to keep in your back pocket for the next time you need to travel light, move overseas or just don’t want to cart your bag round (yes!).
Of course all companies have good days and bad days, and so I can only share my own experience and hope every one of their customers finds it as smooth and straightforward as this.
The thorough tracking made me feel reassured
Send My Bag Review – My Experience
I only transported a suitcase not boxes so although the process is exactly the same for both types of item I can only share the suitcase side of things.
The first thing to note is that because your suitcase is travelling without you there are some rules about what you can and can’t put in it.
I was mainly interested in sending my bulky winter boots, coats, and other clothing items which I knew I wouldn’t need immediately after landing. But you do need to be careful if you want to send liquids, toiletries or electronic items as they can’t send that type of thing without you for obvious reasons so check in advance.
As it turned out one huge suitcase (all my suitcases are big, because I always shop on trips) was the ideal candidate for the service. I wish I was one of those people who could travel everywhere with just carry-on bags like my friend Marianne Cantwell, but I’m just not and I’ve made my peace with that.
I used an ultra light i.t. luggage four-wheeler which I’d recently bought in Manchester when my trusty Animal suitcase finally gave up on me, and which was big enough for all the things I needed to send.
This suitcase came *everywhere* with me. I still miss it.
I did need to measure and weigh my case to make sure it was within the Send My Bag limits (they offered 2 weight classes – 15 kg or 30 kg) and it was fine. Because the suitcase is ultra light to start with I was able to cram a lot of items into it without breaking my 30 kg maximum.
So I simply booked a collection online for the day before I was planning to fly myself, as I knew I’d be home all day packing and tying up loose ends anyway – collection slots are all day at the moment, but they are going to be more specific in future as this is obviously a little awkward.
I did use the chat feature to ask some basic questions about whether I could pack certain items and check delivery times and dates, and they were usually answered quickly.
The chat is only open during UK working hours (being a UK company), and not always when I was awake in Canada so it pays to book a few days in advance if you can. I personally left it to the last minute to book (a few days beforehand only) in case I wanted to add additional luggage items, and had no issue.
The only real paperwork you need to fill in is a packing list with values, which is a little tedious of course but I just kept a tally as I packed. It’s just so UK customs can see what you’re bringing in and as long as it’s not 100 Rolex watches worth a vast sum and it’s your stuff already it seemed fairly reasonable.
Bound for London – perhaps I should have bought this luggage?
So you don’t have to work out how much a second hand pair of knickers is worth the website helpfully includes guide values and auto-adjusts the value of everything to make sure your items all add up to the right amount.
You do have to attach this packing list to the outside of the item, and a copy inside, so you will need access to a printer, and the same goes for the courier label. Send My Bag sell a luggage wallet you can attach to make sure this important paperwork isn’t lost but this is sent to you by post and I didn’t have time to wait for it.
The solution I found was by chance – I went to Staples to try to buy something similar and they simply gave me a handful of those clear plastic wallets with one sticky side which are used to stick on packages to slot the paperwork into. Because of my material suitcase I then further secured this with gaffer tape going all the way around the entire suitcase because you can’t be too careful.
I happened to be waiting for something to be delivered via DHL on the pick up day too, and when the chap turned up to drop off my documents I mentioned I was also waiting for a pick up and he said he could simply take my case there and then rather than come back later as was marked on his pick up sheet. So by 1pm all my courier tasks were done and I was able to go out and get lunch.
When you book online with Send My Bag you’re given an estimated delivery date, which in my case was for the day I was landing. I was a little worried the bag would get to my house before me! I then got an email saying the bag would probably be delivered the following day after all.
I knew I’d be jet lagged and would not want to go anywhere the day of landing so I concluded that if the bag turned up that afternoon it would be ideal – but it would be safer to wait in the following day – I asked Send My Bag and they said no problem if I’m not home on the first attempt they will redeliver.
The bag turned up just a couple of hours after I got home, and the nice man from DHL carried it up the four flights of stairs to where I needed it to go – so I was delighted.
The bag on arrival, everything intact!
In case your situation isn’t that fluid I would point out that the bag was tracked the entire journey, and I knew where it was every step of the way, and I was also getting SMS updates. I felt very reassured and I never once felt that my bag was AWOL.
I had so much going on the day I flew and to have a large heavy suitcase magically appear at my house was one of the few aspects of my trip which went totally smoothly and made my life easier, I honestly was over the moon with the service and would love to use it again.
For more info visit SendMyBag.com
Tags: Send My Bag
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