Tech: LugLess Luggage Shipping

LugLess

Baggage. It’s the worst part about traveling (besides the jetlag) and regardless of your destination, dragging a large beat-up bag with a broken wheel through 2-3 airports is never fun. If only there was a better way…enter LugLess!

What if you could have someone come pick up your bags at your house, before you leave for the airport and then have them dropped off to you, once you reached your destination? No bag checking – no extra charges – no dragging around heavy bags – nothing but you and your carry-on. LugLess is a new service based on that very idea:

LugLess is a pretty simple concept and service. We leverage our deep discounts and volume with major couriers like FedEx, UPS, DHL and thousands of local couriers worldwide, pass the savings onto our customers, and fulfill service in over 235 countries. We offer precise pick up and delivery options, standard service with flat rate pricing for as low as $39 a bag anywhere in the US, and international and express shipping that is typically 20-40 percent less than all major couriers like FedEx, UPS, and DHL….

Kind of sounds amazing! Additionally, there’s the added incentive that you can use LugLess to ship stuff as well, not just to transfer your travel luggage. If anyone has used the service, I’d be interested to hear your review – leave comments below.

Source: LugLess

Be Sociable, Share!

  • Former Lugless Customer

    We’re all familiar with the phrase “too good to be true.” Lugless is a prime example. Lugless will show up, pick up your luggage, and deliver it right to your door so you can avoid baggage fees and the hassle of dragging your junk through multiple airports. Sounds great, right? I thought so too, which is why I used Lugless to move four suitcases internationally from the U.S. to the U.K. for a graduate program.
    They make it very easy for you to select the pick up dates and also give your credit card information. After that it is a complete disaster. Something you must know about Lugless is this – your junk is getting shipped by UPS or Fedex. Lugless simply sends the Fedex tags and provides a discount because of their business partnership with the shipping provider. That’s it. They provide minimal and snarky customer service, and fail to manage the actual completion of services. Here is a breakdown of the multiple issues I faced:

    - PREPARATION: I received detailed instructions explaining how to place the shipping tags Lugless provided on my luggage. These instructions state numerous times you must follow their instructions or your luggage might not be picked up or delivered. But my instructions don’t match what’s provided by Lugless…

    I contact customer support by email detailing what their instructions say, and what was provided in the package to get some clarification. After all, my things are being picked up in the morning and I’d really like them to make it to their destination. To my amusement, I receive the following email from “support” (their co-founder Brian) saying “We are changing [the instructions].  What we sent is all you need.  we can follow up with photo in am. It’s 12 am here in new York.”

    So they send the wrong instructions (which, if you fail to follow correctly, may lead to Lugless losing your things) and then get exasperated that you “bothered them” through a general support email address late at night. Should have been the red flag. But no…we continue.

    - PICK UP: This is supposed to be the great part. I leave my luggage at the hotel, they come during the specified window and take it out of your hair. You get to track it online all the way to your door, hurray! My bags were scheduled for pick up by 6pm on the day of my choosing. Upon arriving back to my hotel I discovered they were still, in fact, sitting in the hotel storage unit. I placed one call to support after hours and was told someone would contact me as soon as possible, I heard nothing. I placed another call an hour later, no calls back. I placed one more, nothing.

    I took it upon myself to type in my tracking number in a few Lugless partner shipping providers. Turns out my pick up was with FedEx. I called FedEx in hopes their team would be able to provide better information on my shipment. FedEx said I would have to call in the morning to see if and when they would be able to come pick up my shipment.

    Now at this point I’m becoming slightly concerned. Lugless wasn’t aware my things weren’t picked up, and Fedex won’t reschedule since I’m using a third party. I send an email to customer support and actually hear back in the morning. Now my case is in the hands of a support representative from their parent company, MadTravelers. They are very apologetic and promise to work hard to make sure it gets all figured out. But, if I wanted my luggage picked up before I left overseas, I had to pay (!!!) an additional $15 fee. So they fail to manage the pick up of the things, then I have to pay an added fee to make sure they deliver their service.

    What? I don’t know either….

    The bags weren’t picked up in the morning (as promised by support), then they weren’t picked up in the afternoon. They were, in fact, picked up just two hours before I boarded a flight overseas. 

    So to recap, the pick up process led to hours on the phone for me, several emails, calls to Fedex, negotiating with hotel staff, checking the tracking number every hour at work and an additional fee since their chosen shipping provider failed to pick up my luggage and they take no responsibility for this gap.

    - PAYMENT: My bags arrived safely in London. I would applaud Lugless but it seems I should actually be applauding Fedex. The luggage is here but the games aren’t over yet. I look at the charge to my credit card bill and its $130 more than I authorized. Well that’s strange. I go back to my order confirmation and see that the email doesn’t actually include a receipt or total amount paid for services.

    I shoot an email letting support know the bags arrived and thanking them. I then ask for a receipt for the services. I receive the following (again, from the co-founder) – “We do not typically send invoices (as the email confirmation serves as the receipt). We will have to prepare one and currently we are busy with all our orders for the day. We will try and get an invoice to you by mid week.”

    Interesting….I respond and politely explain the email confirmation doesn’t actually have the total. I receive another response “Upon check out you were given the exact price you were going to be charged. We did not charge anything accept what you agreed to. With that said, you will receive an invoice with detailed charges in a few days.”

    Now I’m ticked. After explaining the charges I saw at checkout were in fact different than what was charged, I receive a rushed and rude estimated breakdown and the following message “When we have a bit more free time we will send you an email on our letterhead with the charges listed out,  as above.”

    A bit more free time. Right, okay. Can’t bend over backwards (provide an invoice) to a customer you basically screwed through the whole process. Makes sense.

    Still waiting on a detailed invoice.

    ————————————————————————-

    In the end I did get my bags. But would I go through the hassle and abuse of dealing with the seemingly out of touch and completely disinterested individual/s running this joint? No, never. 

    Loyalty and customer service is everything. It’s too bad the individuals at Lugless haven’t realized this…

    For the record: Lugless will blame all other parties involved before taking responsibility to fix their own service. “Hotel staff sometimes don’t point the Fedex person in the right direction”, “if it isn’t delivered on time it’s because of customs or tags you didn’t attach properly”, “you should know your itemized list of charges from the one check out page on the website you saw once”. The customer is always wrong.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=746947812 Michelle Haska Subrizi

      I’m in the middle of the same thing. DO NOT USE this company, they are terrible. 

    • Brian

      The below customer, Brittany, was promptly contacted after reviewing
      this complaint and the founder provided a full refund and explained the
      details that lead up to her unfortunate first experience with LugLess.
      Brittany was very understanding and realized she was a little upset,
      hence her very long complaint below. She requested that this be taken
      down but was unable to receive a response from the webmaster. LugLess
      has an excellent track record and we invite you to experience what it
      feels like to ‘travel without the baggage’ and “LugLess” on your next
      trip!

      Brian
      Co-Founder of LugLess

      • http://www.TechedOn.com/ Achilles Stravoravdis

        Brian: I would be more than happy to take this away if this is what Brittany desires but have not received any email from her. She can easily contact me at info(at)techedon.com or write another post bellow her previous one.

    • Brittany

      Oh hi Brian. We meet again. I kindly agreed to remove these reviews after receiving an offer of a *partial* refund. If you provided a full refund (as noted below in your comment) it was never received. I also never received any consolation AT ALL (even a partial refund) for my troubles, although you had promised this in our discussion.

      I stand by my review. And it stays.