Freight Factory/ Moto Village/ creative rides

Moto Village/ Creative rides/ Freight Factory.

On 10 August 2022 Henry Wan, the sales manager of Freight Factory, told me to deliver my complete 1942 Harley Davidson U model 1200c motor bike, plus extra spares, to their Johannesburg branch at unit 4, Sterling Road, Samrand business park, Kosmosdal, Centurion. I delivered as instructed. The bike was to be consolidated with other vehicles and shipped to Australia.

The bike had been taken apart, faulty parts had been sourced and replaced, damaged parts thrown away, The parts had been carefully packed in bubble plastic, and in cardboard boxes to protect them. Some were in plastic tubs.

After continued communication trying to find out when my shipment would leave for Australia, on 13-12-22, four months later, Henry told me that they had closed the Johannesburg Branch, and he agreed to deliver the shipment to ROBECK EXPORTS, so that they could ship my bike to me.

On 22 December Henry sent me a WhatsApp telling me that he found out that the roof at the place where my parts were being stored, had been blown away, and the crates had got wet, but the parts themselves had not got wet.

ROBECK sent me an email telling me that they had received the goods, the crates had previously been wet and were mouldy and decomposing, but the boxes inside were dry by now, and looked ok. The cardboard boxes were still sealed and they did not open any boxes to inspect.

Attached please see some pictures of the parts when I bought them, then some pictures of what Freight Factory delivered to ROBECK, followed by some pictures of what I found when I opened the boxes.

You will see that the water had run into the boxes for a long period of time, penetrating into the bubble plastic, and sweated and rusted the parts out. Many parts were in tubs, which filled up with water and the parts lay in a tub of water which rusted out the parts. Although the cardboard boxes were dry, there was still water in some of the tubs and bubble plastic when they arrived in Australia in May 2023, This indicates that this crate was left in the rain for an extended period of time, not just for one storm.

These parts are over 80 years old. They are irreplaceable. Reproduction parts are available, but are expensive, and vastly reduce the value of the bike once it is built. Considering the volume of parts that are destroyed, this bike would not be able to be restored economically.

My total cost for this shipment, including the purchase price of the bike, police clearance, delivery to South African Shipper, freight, clearance, GST, and delivery to me in Brisbane is R171722.88. I have invoices to back this up.

I calculate that at least 35%of the shipment is wrecked. The biggest problem is that I lose the opportunity to restore this highly collectable bike.

Freight factory initially declined to make any payment for the damage saying that I never insured the shipment. After pursuing the matter, they have asked me to list each part separately and supply photographic evidence of every part that was given to them. Basically this is impossible to do. It is totally unreasonable, I have waited four months for them to actually ship my bike, which they could not do, and wasted hours and hours trying to get them to pay for the damage done while my bike was in their care. I will have to take legal action now to try to recoup my losses.

I have given them photographs of the boxes of parts, and of the parts laid out on the floor of a garage, which I took when I purchased the parts. I would not pay good money to ship damaged parts to Australia. I looked carefully at what I purchased. I did not take pictures of each part individually.

Gert, the gentleman who always packs my shipments that go to Australia, bubble packed the parts, and placed them in sealed cardboard boxes to protect the parts. Both he, and the seller can attest to the parts being in good order.

Freight Factory have a duty of care to look after your goods. The pictures speak for themselves. Would you trust them with your motor vehicle?