I've been a patron of Manila forwarder's Balikbayan Box service ever since I started collecting. I've been very satisfied with their service until lately, i.e. very late notices regarding my new items; charging my card for boxes that has not left MF yet and lately, blisters/boxes of items that were crushed/damaged during transit.

I was also surprised to know that their ratio of agent to client is 1:50, not counting clients for their ticketing service.

Can anyone suggest a BB service better than MF?

Sorry to hear that you're having problems with them lately. I know that they got more load during the last Christmas season than they can handle. Hopefully, things normalize soon.

You can probably consider the forwarder owned/operated by Carthut's cousin. It's something I would also be interested to look into as an alternative

Thanks for the suggestion Pete, Problem is I still have some boxes at MF....so that means I'm still stuck with them till I get all my boxes. Might also ask Buffy about his cousin's forwarding service.

having the same problem as yam. I really thought it was an isolated case, with my previous "problems" with my handler (misplacing my items, not giving me confirmation emails, etc), then I heard from yam that it was happening to him na rin and he has a different handler ha!

I still have an item that they "can't find" since December 29, 2006, I have forwarded the delivery confirmation to my handler and she always sidesteps it, in one email it was the holiday seasons, then it was a wrong shipping address (the ebay seller did not put my name on the shipping address, only as MANILA FORWARDER), or the one in charge of receiving is a new employee, etc.

Emails are also not answered, if answered naman, not answered CORRECTLY. Example is this... I emailed my handler, asking her about a package with a supplier name that is not on my list, I asked her for confirmation if it was from HK... and the answer that I got? THE PACKAGE FROM THAT SUPPLIER IS HERE.

I'm having the same dilemma as yam, I have a couple of items still in MF, still waiting for some items to arrive so I can fill it up and ask them to send it to me na ASAP... I will not be using there service muna after it, until everything's BACK TO NORMAL (whatever NORMAL means to them).

Other than two items that were 'lost' and a lot of tape on my items, I can't say I'm unhappy with their service. I think the first one was the seller's fault(I won't know for sure anymore since I ordered two and received only one) and I believe the second item was misplaced since they received a package from the seller. Then there is the issue of placing too much tape on the items with the bubble wrap... really really really really hate removing them. Oh and did I say that I really hate removing tape!!!

"THE PACKAGE FROM THAT SUPPLIER IS HERE."

Yeah, I get that same message as well. I believe they can't open a package without your expressed permission/instruction to do so. What I do is I just email them back until I get a clear cut answer. No problem on my part but they seem to be getting the message... I think that the level of communication is better now.

Hey, I just got my package from them 30 minutes ago!!

Degs is also offering this service. Haven't tried it yet. But knowing degs, he handles toys quite good. Bought much of my stuff from him and almost all are in mint condition.

nino, does Degs have a forwarding service or he has a US address where you can order online and send it to him for shipping?

yam and jen.. maybe you could ask MF to consolidate your items into one box, doing so you could easily fill up one box and immediately ship the items. just a suggestion