Elite Clearing and Forwarding (Pty) Ltd

Elite Clearing and Forwarding do business in bad faith

I appointed Elite Clearing to act as my customs clearing and forwarding agent and requested that they arrange delivery of my equipment to my site. Before delivery, I was informed that I had four hours to offload the equipment, after which standing time charges would become applicable. Unfortunately, the delivery truck arrived approximately two hours later than scheduled. During the attempted offloading, it became apparent that the lifting equipment we had hired was incapable of safely unloading the cargo due to its weight. Elite Clearing subsequently charged me R12,000 for standing time. Following discussions with their office, I was requested to allow the truck to leave, with the understanding that once I had secured suitable unloading equipment, they would return the truck for offloading. Importantly, I had been informed that the freight company had granted nine free container days. Based on the information provided by Elite Clearing, I had no reason to believe that allowing the truck to leave would result in costs escalating dramatically within a matter of days. Had I been advised that the charges would increase to approximately R78,000 within seven days, I would never have agreed to the truck leaving and would instead have continued paying standing time. As a gesture of good faith, I offered to pay R6,000 immediately towards the R12,000 standing time invoice and settle the balance on the following Monday. On Monday, I made a payment of R8,000. Shortly thereafter, I received an invoice of approximately R39,000, which I immediately queried. I subsequently located a telehandler capable of unloading the equipment and instructed Elite Clearing to return the truck. I had already arranged and paid for the telehandler. Instead of following my instruction, I received an email from a representative of Elite Clearing, Candice, specifically instructing me not to book any unloading equipment because they were looking for a cheaper alternative. Elite Clearing therefore chose to disregard my express instructions as the owner of the goods and proceeded with arrangements of their own choosing. Following this, I received further invoices that increased to approximately R46,000 and ultimately R78,000 within approximately seven days.