Hi there! It’s a new week. And if I may borrow a line from Mayor Reynaldo Uy’s speech last Friday, thank God it’s over, I mean the EVRAA meet in Calbayog. Delegates were treated to a party last Friday with the Aegis concert, dancing, free dinner and the grand fireworks display.
So far so good, no acerbic comments from the visitors or delegates. But there should be some snide remarks somewhere. Yup, as expected it came from, (drum rolls) some noisy Calbayogonons who happen to be not in the know as to how things were prepared. Well, as I always say it, es la vida. But one thing though, what Calbayog lacked in medals, the City compensated with the best (EVRAA) hosting and of course the good performance of the local schools during national exams.
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I’ll take a break from EVRAA. I’ll be featuring texts of speeches and other details of the events in my upcoming columns. In the meantime, I would like to share my not-so-good experience with a cargo forwarding company (I hope I’m using the right term).
During the third week of January I bought books from a Cebu-based ebay seller. It was around the same time that I bought book from two Manila-based ebay sellers. To make it short, I did the payments and arranged for shipment. All sellers informed me that they were sending it via 2GO ‘coz it’s cheaper, and that there is only a two-day leadtime (or something to that effect). Well, the low rate was good news to a stingy person like me. The books sent from Manila arrived the day after I made payments. Indeed that was great. Well, not with the ones sent from Cebu.
Like the other credible cargo forwarder, 2GO has got a website with a feature which enables a customer to track his package. And as of February 1, 2011, this is the info I got about my package:
- 1/24/2011 11:33:25 PM, ACCEPTED SHIPMENT FROM CUSTOMER
- 1/25/2011 3:59:40 AM, LOADED SCAT
- 1/31/2011 10:00:00 AM, ARRIVAL TACLOBAN
- 1/31/2011 11:00:00 AM, IN-TRANSIT
A two-day lead time? Let me see, maybe two days travel from Cebu to Ormoc via super cat. Two days stay in Ormoc. Two days travel from Ormoc to Tacloban and I suppose another two days travel from Tacloban to Calbayog.
I checked on January 25, 26 and 30, and the advice I got was “Sir kay waray flight, tingali buwas.” And on Wednesday last week, I was advised “nga narubat an truck nga nag-deliver”. I finally got my books on February 2, 2011 at 4:35 pm. (that’s a few hours after I was told “narubat an truck nga nag-deliver”).
I’m not saying that 2GO is bad, it charges much lower that the other cargo forwarding companies. At 70 pesos, who would have second thoughts about sending stuff through another forwarder? Or maybe it was for the simple reason that they were not going to earn anything from a cargo which paid a paltry 70 pesos. Well, I learned my lesson again and it’s that paying cheap can have its setbacks. But for the headaches it caused me, I think I’d settle for LBC. Nope, let me rephrase that line. 2GO is one of the better companies in the country, no question about it. But their Visayas hub (in my case it reads: Cebu to Calbayog route or sector) is something else. And yes, I have no complains with 2GO Calbayog. They did try to answer my questions. I just don’t know if they made follow-ups.
So you think that the boat trip from Cebu to Calbayog is too long at 10 hours? Well, what would you call the delivery of two pieces of hardbound books from Cebu to Calbayog that took more than a week (that’s January 24, 2011 to February 2, 2011)
Ok, it happens. But even if one is on a vacation, it doesn’t take nine days to travel from Cebu to Calbayog, does it? Well, on foot maybe.
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This is it for now. Let me leave you with a few lines from Mayor Uy’s speech as he thanked the Calbayognons for a successful EVRAA 2011 meet: “I believe that the challenge of hosting EVRAA 2011 brought about the spirit of unity, cooperation and resourcefulness among all Calbayognons. And we hope to see the same spirit as we all move forward to put in place more programs for a more progressive Calbayog.”
Have nice week everyone! Ciao!
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