OFTENTIMES companies, in particular those operating in a very competitive business arena, offer an array of grandiose promises in their marketing pitch to customers so as to lure them. But sometimes mere months after, a litany of woes would surface with those same companies from persons whom they would have inconvenienced, at best at very critical times.
I have personally heard complaints, and have myself thought that some of the complainants are a bit too harsh on the companies for not delivering as promised.
But I now have cause to pay greater attention to the old parlance,  ‘ You will never know the pinch of a tight shoe unless you wear one,’ on account of a personal experience I am having with a reputable freight company, which has not lived up to a promise .
My disgust is with Laparkan’s Freight Forwarding Division in New York where I am now led to believe that the employees there are only concerned about ensuring there is a lucrative business, but do not care whether customers  are inconvenienced afterwards.
I can empathise with those manning the Lombard Street office whose job is to appease dissatisfied customers.
A box was posted at the Laparkan office in New York on Saturday May 21, after all assurances were given that it will arrive by May 25.  Mind you, there was an option to use another company, but the vote went to Laparkan.
A check on Wednesday revealed that the box was down on the manifest to arrive in Guyana on Friday May 27, but to my dismay, when I called the Lombard Street office yesterday, I was told the date of arrival is not May 27 but June 1.
A call placed to the New York office (718-287-774) did nothing to appease the situation, as all I was given was a long list of excuses, including there have been no flights bringing freight to Guyana from Saturday.
The latter excuse I found to be untrue, because the Georgetown office had indicated that freight had arrived Thursday night and they had checked to see whether my stuff was among the lot.
I queried from the individual (a female) on the other side of the line in New York, why it is the item and money were accepted despite being told of the urgency, when they fully well knew that the agreement could not have been fulfilled.
What took the cake was when the female, on being told why all the fuss to receive the box, said: “Madam, if I want to get something to Guyana from New York on time for an occasion, I post it two and three weeks ahead of time because it has to go to Miami first before coming to Guyana.”
A colleague in the office said she has had to endure a similar embarrassment with the said company.
I dare ask: “Why then does Laparkan have this special offer in place which carries an additional charge? Is it a way of fleecing money from unsuspecting persons? And why aren’t customers told of all this moving of freight from NY to Miami when they visit the NY office so the choice of whether they still want to use the service is theirs?”