[swen1200]

I’ll add my horror story to the list of bad shipping tales.

Bought a bike at a reputable dealer on the West Coast and arranged through the dealer to have it shipped to NM. Declined the first opportunity to ship on an open truck. A couple days later the bike shipped in an enclosed trailer to the local BMW dealer, it arrived without issue. I paid the driver cash he gave me the shipping paperwork and all was good, or so I thought.

A couple days passed when I got a call from the shipping agent demanding payment, the driver told him I did not pay. Several angry phone calls and text messages, threats of liens against the bike, threats against me followed.

The back story...

The sales manager arranged through a shipping agent to sent the bike, the shipping agent arranged with a trucking company to deliver the bike. The truck driver kept my money, quit after his last delivery and left the truck parked somewhere in Texas.

The driver told the trucking company he hadn’t gotten any money, they didn’t get paid, the booking agent didn’t get paid and everyone wanted money from me.

When I took delivery of the bike I was given all the copies of the shipping invoice. The documents contained only my name and phone number. The bike was listed as a BMW, no model, no VIN. And it was delivered to dealership in NM. The general manager of the dealership was present when I collected the bike.

There was no way the booking agent or the trucking company could find me or the BMW, calls to both dealerships ensured they did not share customer information with third parties. Confident all the threats were groundless I stopped answering the phone and sent a letter, no emails, to the shipping agent explaining what had happened. I never heard from anyone again.

The lesson is simple. If you are shipping a bike YOU arrange the shipping with a recognized, reputable company.