Another bike damaged by Girag

[CheckerdD]

If you ship your bike between Panama and Columbia, be sure to take a couple of pictures of it in the Girag terminal. Some idiot tried to pick mine up by the license plate light and broke the whole attachment off along with the shield over the brake fluid reservoir. Lucky me I had a good by Panama photo with both unbroken items showing. Dave

[bananaman]

Originally Posted by CheckerdD

If you ship your bike between Panama and Columbia, be sure to take a couple of pictures of it in the Girag terminal. Some idiot tried to pick mine up by the license plate light and broke the whole attachment off along with the shield over the brake fluid reservoir. Lucky me I had a good by Panama photo with both unbroken items showing. Dave

Yes, shipping by Girag sucks. Unfortunately, of all the ways (all the way? there are other ways?), Girag sucks the least.

[GastonUSAChile]

Originally Posted by bananaman

Yes, shipping by Girag sucks. Unfortunately, of all the ways (all the way? there are other ways?), Girag sucks the least.

On top of that there still offering a really bad service. as complain by an Australian just a week ago, on which I was directly involved. Girag deserve to apologize and give us (me and Brian ) a good explanation because the service was serviced in such unprofessional way.
It is been said on the shipping section that the main purpose of the forum other than helping and sharing, is to inform which providers really 'sucks' on service. This is one of them! Never Again I will offer or recommend GIRAG , unless they give me a 'professional' good explanation.

In response to Bman comment below:

I don't care not mad about the payment really, it was the service of Girag what really bother us. Very simple, I don't provide clients to Girag anymore because they are not professionals running their business. I am just notifying everybody about the issue and it is up to them to use them or not in the future. From my side, not anymore.
Why I put the comment here? well this is the only thread about Girag that I found. See your previous comments above and figure out, 'it sucks' , for me too, 'it sucks'
Now, about reservations with Girag, probably they don't accept reservations (new for me and really don't care) but I got in contact with them and send them all Brian's information, thats the principle of logistics. They were waiting for him as notified by the General Manager to me.
I did not give Brian the wrong address . They 've been working there for long time and it is not the first time we use them. Now it will be.
I think your comments are totally out of knowledge and competence.

[bananaman]

Originally Posted by GastonUSAChile

On top of that there still offering a really bad service. as complain by an Australian just a week ago, on which I was directly involved. Girag deserve to apologize and give us (me and Brian ) a good explanation because the service was serviced in such unprofessional way.
It is been said on the shipping section that the main purpose of the forum other than helping and sharing, is to inform which providers really 'sucks' on service. This is one of them! Never Again I will offer or recommend GIRAG , unless they give me a 'professional' good explanation.

Seriously, Gaston? Didn't you get warned about spamming? Now you're digging up old, old threads, to accomplish what? You're mad because Girag didn't pay you for services you didn't provide. You gave Brian the wrong address and you ignored Girag's policy of not taking reservations for motorcycles.

What does it take to get banned? Shut- I've been banned for much, much less!

[Lone Rider]

Originally Posted by bananaman

Seriously, Gaston? Didn't you get warned about spamming? Now you're digging up old, old threads, to accomplish what? You're mad because Girag didn't pay you for services you didn't provide. You gave Brian the wrong address and you ignored Girag's policy of not taking reservations for motorcycles.

What does it take to get banned? Shut- I've been banned for much, much less!

Gaston does what he does. That's a known.
He's not always right, obviously, about many things.

IMO, the greatest threat to this very cool and open forum is the weak Mod who recently inserted himself into this forum - The Misery, whose track record can be followed and found.

This forum has always been self-policed, because most all of the participants are open to ideas, but still, and always, focused on relaying good info to other riders.

That's my opinion. Gaston is not a problem.

[crashmaster]

Gaston has been posting here for a few years. Since he started his shipping agent business he occasionally posts a plug for his services. Not exactly within the rules, but not a big deal IMO, we know where he is coming from, and he actually does contribute good information to the forum from time to time, so I dont get too worked up about it.

Like you said, this forum is fairly self policing, which seems to work very well.

If the Goat is the problem, I must admit that I dont really see it. He basically told Gaston not to spam the forum.

My bike was damaged by Girag as well. They ripped off the license plate and bent the rear sub frame. Shit happens in air cargo. Luckily, since I have been in the air cargo business for quite a while, I knew what could happen so I thought to take pictures of my bike before I left the terminal. Girag paid the going rate for parts and repairs and it only took about 2 hours out of my day to collect. But, if I didnt take the photos before hand, I would have had to eat it. Es la vida. The times that I have flown cargo in and out of Bogota, I noticed that Girag loads the cookie sheets (the platform that the bike is strapped to) into the aircraft with a forklift rather than a K-loader. Pretty common to see that with the Latin American air cargo operators. If I had a peso for every time I saw a pallet or a cookie sheet fall off the fork lift or the side of the jet, I would be able to retire.

I'm not defending girag by any stetch of the imagination, but contrary to what Gaston implies, it is the quickest way by far to get your bike over the gap. Sure, it may take a day or day and half of your time to get things squared away, but the same goes for container shipping, dealing with the ports, port fees, etc.

I hope this ferry comes to be as it will make things quite a bit cheaper, but not necessarily faster, nor easier. Vamos a ver.

[bananaman]

Lone Rider: I'd agree with you if I wasn't concerned about being banned again. Oh, wait- I decided a year ago that I didn't care if I was banned again. That doesn't mean I want to get banned. It just means I'm not going to insult a mod.

Vinnie: this post of yours kinda looks like the one I posted in March, 2008, except that I was a pissed-off customer instead of a take-it-as-it-comes customer. My thread was pretty much like this one, even titled almost the same.

Originally Posted by crashmaster

Gaston has been posting here for a few years. Since he started his shipping agent business he occasionally posts a plug for his services. Not exactly within the rules, but not a big deal IMO, we know where he is coming from, and he actually does contribute good information to the forum from time to time, so I dont get too worked up about it.

Like you said, this forum is fairly self policing, which seems to work very well.

If the Goat is the problem, I must admit that I dont really see it. He basically told Gaston not to spam the forum.

My bike was damaged by Girag as well. They ripped off the license plate and bent the rear sub frame. Shit happens in air cargo. Luckily, since I have been in the air cargo business for quite a while, I knew what could happen so I thought to take pictures of my bike before I left the terminal. Girag paid the going rate for parts and repairs and it only took about 2 hours out of my day to collect. But, if I didnt take the photos before hand, I would have had to eat it. Es la vida. The times that I have flown cargo in and out of Bogota, I noticed that Girag loads the cookie sheets (the platform that the bike is strapped to) into the aircraft with a forklift rather than a K-loader. Pretty common to see that with the Latin American air cargo operators. If I had a peso for every time I saw a pallet or a cookie sheet fall off the fork lift or the side of the jet, I would be able to retire.

I'm not defending girag by any stetch of the imagination, but contrary to what Gaston implies, it is the quickest way by far to get your bike over the gap. Sure, it may take a day or day and half of your time to get things squared away, but the same goes for container shipping, dealing with the ports, port fees, etc.

I hope this ferry comes to be as it will make things quite a bit cheaper, but not necessarily faster, nor easier. Vamos a ver.

Originally Posted by bananaman

Of course I know that there are going to be unknown delays. But this one was a flat-out lie. At least that´s how it feels. They told me the plane they fly is a DC-10. That plane is HUGE!

I took it to them yesterday based on their own advice. I didn´t hastle them or give them any reason to not ship the bike on time. They promised me, a week ago, that if I brought it yesterday, they would ship it overnight, and I could pick it up at 8 the next morning.

It´s only an hour flight. It´s not a great distance. There aren´t any difficult logistics involved. You drain the fuel from the tank. They strap the bike to a pallet. They use a forklift to put it on the plane.

Catso and Marie did the same trip on Tuesday last week. No problems at all.

The general manager here in Colombia said they don´t make much money on bikes. Then he said he really didn´t care. He said he was going to be honest with me. Then he said he didn´t care if they never had to ship another bike. He had a nice office but he didn´t give me his name. This was on the 2nd floor of the Girag offices at the Carga terminal here in Bogota, at about 11 this morning.

btw, it was easy to get the vests, and the letters for the helmets. I went with Brian and Marie to 17th and Caracas. Every shop for two blocks sells the vests. 17,000 pesos, or just under $10.

[moto-treks]

Hey, Gaston at least keeps this form lively.

For the record, my experience with Girag was great. I showed up at their office in Panama in the late afternoon and was riding my bike in Colombia by the afternoon. Nothing was damaged on the it either. The Canadian fellow I was riding with had a broken driving light which Girag offered to pay for.

It's all part of the experience

[GastonUSAChile]

Originally Posted by moto-treks

Hey, Gaston at least keeps this form lively.

For the record, my experience with Girag was great. I showed up at their office in Panama in the late afternoon and was riding my bike in Colombia by the afternoon. Nothing was damaged on the it either. The Canadian fellow I was riding with had a broken driving light which Girag offered to pay for.

It's all part of the experience

Moto-Trek

It might be your case from Panama to Colombia, the other way is the problem. And I am not worried anymore because we don't work with companies that have bad performance anyway. If I rely on another company is for their benefit and I expect a good service.
Mrs.Achaure (Gerente General Bogota) is the one to give the reasons why this happens. I 'll be happy to transcript her letter here then.
In the world of business , the bad ones are always condemn to die, sooner or later.

Let's hope for that ferry one day and finish mediocrity.

[Lone Rider]

Originally Posted by crashmaster

....
Like you said, this forum is fairly self policing, which seems to work very well.

If the Goat is the problem, I must admit that I dont really see it. He basically told Gaston not to spam the forum. .....

The people in this forum, in general, have a clue - able to separate BS from fact and logic. What a pleasure, and solid info is shared.
Sometimes there's emtional stuff, both good and bad. In the end, it's always all on the the next topic.

I know The Misery's history. I see him as a problem. The first instance was his controlling the emotional typing about Gaston - closing that thread. There was no such need. These threads here always run their course, naturally, because of the type of people/riders/posters here.

Then another thread shuffled away/closed, because he didn't like it- exercising his power - because he's inserted himself and his own personal view on what is now posted here. He is not, an any way shape or form, a person you would want in your foxhole, IMO. I don't care where he's been, and on whose dime he did whatever.

I typed more than I thought I would...

Somebody is now here to help....give me a f'ing break....

[Lone Rider]

Originally Posted by moto-treks

Hey, Gaston at least keeps this form lively.

...

No kidding......and he really does have some good info.
Probably has good campfire kinda talk, too.

[Lone Rider]

Never met you. Hopefully, some day, I will.
You've posted some weird stuff ove the years.
Hey, we all do, at times.
You've been a true benefit to this forum.

No babysitter needed here....
And nobody asked for one.

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by Lone Rider

I know The Misery's history. I see him as a problem. The first instance was his controlling the emotional typing about Gaston - closing that thread. There was no such need. These threads here always run their course, naturally, because of the type of people/riders/posters here.

Wow I totally missed that ... that sucks IMHO. No wonder this thread got dug up. Oh well, it too will pass

[crashmaster]

Originally Posted by Lone Rider

his controlling the emotional typing about Gaston - closing that thread. There was no such need.

Didnt realize the thread was closed until you mentioned it. I agree that there was no need to close it. It would have run its course and died within a week or so. If it could have been some kind of liability or libel issue for the site, then you do what you have to do.

In any case, Latin America is not JoMomma, we do a pretty good job of letting the bullshit die on its own.

Originally Posted by Lone Rider

Never met you. Hopefully, some day, I will.
You've posted some weird stuff ove the years.
Hey, we all do, at times.

Its ok bman, we still love ya. Usually I delete my weird shit before any one notices, but it all depends on that night's Tequila intake.

[Lone Rider]

Originally Posted by crashmaster

.... but it all depends on that night's Tequila intake.

Ever wake up in the mornng and wonder what you posted the night before?

No harm, no foul...

Honestly, the people here are great.