Sadly, it's not just an India thing.
To AGS's credit, Scott Willis, the manager in Beijing, was proactive in making sure we were kept informed on the status of our move and what we could expect every step of the way. The moving team was on time and what was predicted by the company to be a six hour job took only four!
When the container arrived in Malaysia, that's when it all turned to rot. We were told that the container arrived, and our contents would be ready for delivery just as soon as we had the keys to our new flat. The day we signed our lease, we contacted AGS to set a delivery time. We were told it would be there sometime next week. When we explained that this would be a problem, and that it was contrary to what we were promised, the office in KK said, "Maybe tomorrow." It didn't happen. What developed was a long game of cat and mouse, where we were calling the office several times a day (not them calling us, of course) to follow up on commitments they were unwilling or unable to deliver on. Sheldon Pereira, the manager of the main office in KL, would not return our calls.
Only when we contacted Scott in Beijing did anything happen. The KK office finally said they could deliver it in a reasonable time frame, explaining that there had been delays because of the Ramadan holiday -- never mind that a large percentage of people in KK are not Muslim, never mind AGS's pledge to deliver 365 days a year, weekends and holidays. AGS did get our stuff delivered finally, and while Scott issued a formal apology and as an act of good faith, a partial refund for lackluster services, we never did hear from Sheldon.
When we relocated once again, this time from Malaysia to New Zealand, we went with AGS a second time. I had apprehensions, but the move was very last minute and given that Scott had done his best to make things right, I was willing to overlook a few hiccups for what I thought would make our move more streamlined (not having to research and establish a relationship with a whole new moving company). I was wrong.
To their credit, AGS did pack up our apartment at the appointed time and date. They said our container would be en route about 3 weeks from the move out date. But once more, we had to hound Sheldon to find out when we could expect the container to arrive in NZ and how much we should expect to pay. Weeks went by, and when he finally got back to us, explaining away the delay by telling us it was Christmas (yes, apparently he celebrates all of the holidays), he was still lax to answer many of our questions. When there were delays sending the crate out of Malaysia, he told us it was because of the Chinese New Year. To summarize, the KK-NZ move became a four month nightmare.
Now I realize that MY is a multicultural nation, full of national and religious holidays. But Sheldon should have taken a minute to check his calendar before presenting us with unrealistic itineraries. Not surprisingly, it was also us who informed him of the dock strike in Auckland, not the other way around.
Lesson learned: AGS is not the worst company, so long as you're only dealing with the office in Beijing. I would not go with them again.
