Good grief...this is shocking behavior on their part. If they had planned properly, they would have been able to tell you in advance that there was insufficient space. If it were a 20ft container, they should have suggested that you go with a 40ft. The price would not have been less than £2.000 additional plus you would have had an opportunity to ship more goods or share your container to reduce your costs.
Anyway, what is done is done. It will be difficult for you to prove that it was their fault because they can say that you were supposed to measure the volume of your items and that you would have known it could not all fit in a single container. That's just horrific service from that company.
There are a couple of options. For example, if we can send the pallet by road to another port where Cape Verdeans send barrels and pallets to Cape Verde, you will be able to get a pallet sent very cheaply. The issue will be the cost of trucking it over land. I can get you a quote for trucking to Rotterdam and then on to Mindelo.
Another alternative is to see if you cannot find another Expat who is shipping to Sal and you can share the container with them (at presumably a very low cost since you've only got one pallet). From sal, I can easily get your pallet to Mindelo (but you will need to pay your share of the despatch fees in Sal). I can ask around about any other Expats going from England to Sal. And I'll let you know about how much it will cost to go from Sal to Mindelo.
Send me a private message if you would like me to proceed.
Regards,
Angelo
Hi Angelo
Thank you for your reply.they left the goods behind. They came to our house packed everything in to a lorry over 2 days then took them to their warehouse. On december 21 they loaded the container they rang us and left a message to say they were over by 12 to 15 boxes but they would be in touch they then closed for Christmas. Finally on 2nd January they replied to my several frantic messages and gave me a list of the goods they left behind they have since avoided any contact with us refusing to answer calls or emails except to supply me with pallet dimensions