(Text by our resident guest writer – AJ De Leon. Pictures by yours truly.)
I really wanted that bowling ball, for the fact that it looks so cool and different. That it’s unavailable to purchase from bowling pro shops here in our country added to its desirability factor. Plus, we were thinking that shipping a heavy item like this ball is one good way to measure how LBC would perform. We’ve tried Johnny Air previously and while the experience was satisfying, there weren’t enough updates about the item’s status and there’s the added inconvenience of going to their office and paying by cash the additional applicable duties charges.
The ball was on sale at Amazon, and it was really attractive compared to the prices of similar medium performance balls you’d find here. So after purchasing it we started marking our calendar – I could hardly wait! Amazon said the item will reach the US address in under a week or so, and afterwards we had to wait for LBC’s notification that the item is ready to ship after payment of shipping and duties charges.
The item arrived at LBC’s US address in less than a week, and a couple of days afterwards LBC notified us that the item has been inventoried, complete with a picture of the item, and will be shipped after we choose the shipping method and paid the fees. However, shipping that 16-pound package by plane would cost P3,500 so I settled for sea freight at P600++ only (no additional duties or taxes apply). Naturally sea freight would take from 30 to 45 days but at that price for a 16-pound package, I figured that’s already a steal since I wasn’t in any hurry anyway.
Things began to get a bit busy at work for both Leah and me, and even though the calendar’s been marked we quickly lost track of the days that passed, haha! I guess that worked fine for me since there was hardly any room for me to be impatient anyway. I couldn’t even devote time to practice playing with the current ball I have. One day we were surprised to find an LBC small balikbayan box delivered to our doorstep, and it was indeed the bowling ball woohoo!
I think it took just over 30 days for the package to arrive, and I actually thought it would take a lot longer especially after the port congestion issue from last year. So we were quite impressed that it was quicker than we expected. I’d say our expectations were exceeded by the swift arrival of the package.
Since the package travelled by sea, I was concerned about physical damage when the item got bounced around, and about heat damage since I know the container vans sometimes get exposed to high temperatures during travel. Upon unboxing, I found the bowling ball’s box surrounded by a sort of bubble packaging. This one looked different, although the concept is the same: protecting the item from bumps with a cushion of air enclosed in plastic. After checking the contents of the package for physical damage, I was convinced that the air bubble cushion did its job – there we no visible physical damages. I next checked the plastic wrapping on the bowling ball itself – if it was exposed to too much heat, the plastic could melt and stick to the ball’s surface. However, the plastic bag checked out fine – there weren’t any portions that melted into the ball’s surface. Now I understand that things do get beyond LBC’s control at certain points in the package’s journey, such as the events on the ship it’s travelling on, but I’ll say I’m satisfied with the experience. The package arrived without traces of physical damages.
So overall, the LBC transaction was smooth and we were very happy. We were kept updated constantly via email, the fees were reasonable, the package arrived at our doorstep earlier than expected, and there were no visible physical damages whatsoever. We did not encounter any surprising or unreasonable fees as well. It’s a free service so there’s no subscription fee to pay – you fork over your money only when you enter into a transaction. You can pay online via Paypal, Visa or Mastercard, or over-the-counter at any LBC branch too. Given the chance, we’d ship our Amazon purchases through LBC again. And again. And again.We’d also recommend it to our family and friends.
Now we’re looking forward to the Black Friday sale! And next time we’ll try the air ship option as well.
An alternative for JA! What I love about LBC (although i have yet to try) is the consolidation. In JA kasi I think they removed that service already. With LBC, they can contain multiple packages in one shipment.
LBC has now changed their rates. Whereas before you pay for actual item weight x 5.04, it’s now dimensional weight x 5.04. If your item is light but huge, the shipping cost will be VERRY expensive.
I was able to compare the difference between the 2 with my package, it was double the rate now! I was really impressed with the service of LBC, but with these revised rates, I might not use them anymore. Mahal!
hello,
may I know what kind of credit card you used in purchasing in US websites? I wanted to purchase sana make ups from Sephora but they didn’t accept PH issued card.
BPI Mastercard. I think lately naghigpit na nga mga online sites abroad. But my PH-credit card worked at Amazon. Sa Cath Kidston ayaw na, unless PH rin ang delivery address.
I have been a JAC client for almost 4 yrs and no complaints. Within a week after they sent it, you can pick-up at their branch. Fastest that i got it was 4 days. They are doing consolidations also but for airfreight. I have not tried LBC cart yet. I have been planning to as i have a lot of items to buy this Black Friday but i am hesitant as there are a lot of negative reviews. I might stick with JAC maybe. But appreciate this review.
By the way, you can pay JAC using your credit card. That is what i have been doing since I started using their services. They have wonderful staffs in their NY Branch especially 🙂
I’m glad that your experience was good. I wish my latest one went as well as yours.
I hope you don’t mind but I’m posting this here so that other consumers can see both sides of the LBC Shipping Cart experience.
The Shipping Cart–unfortunately–doesn’t live up to its claim because it’s neither fast nor reliable. Super sad with my latest experience (my sixth package in three months, mind you.) They always say they “attempt” delivery (three days in a row) but claim I’m always “out” or that the “house was closed”–making it my fault. First off, the delivery address isn’t a house (they would’ve known that if they had actually gone there). The delivery address is open 24/7–even on holidays. It never closes. Second, I left an authorization letter, which means that–technically–it shouldn’t matter if I’m there or not (but I was there, btw). Third, guard/receptionist said that there were actually no delivery attempts made. As a die-hard eBayer, finding out that LBC Shipping Cart lies and is generally unreliable is heartbreaking. LBC Shipping Cart has lost a fan. I hope they at least get that package to me before Chrissy *like they promised they would* (Remember that “ship on or before December 10 and get it before Christmas e-mail” they sent?). Everybody else, be warned. Don’t use this service if you have a time frame you’d like to stick to.
I’m sad to hear about your “heartbreaking” experience with LBC. I’m posting this in the hope that someone from their office will read this and improve their process.
Thanks, Leah.
Lol. Maybe “heartbreaking” was a tad too dramatic–but it was super disappointing for sure.
I also noticed that they’ve jacked up their rates (from $5.05/lb to $5.99/lb) and are now “rounding up” to the nearest pound. Sigh. All good things must come to an end. If LBC didn’t “consolidate”packages, I would’ve gone back to Johnny Air in a heartbeat. Oh, well.
Happy New Year to you.
Hi Leah. Have you tried my-shoppingbox.com? Which one’s cheaper?
Hi Rei! I haven’t tried my-shoppingbox.com yet =)
Good day!
I hope someone can answer this. I’m planning to use LBC shipping Cart to purchase a blu-ray at Amazon. I trued computing the shipping rates thru the LBC website. Since Amazon dimension and weight of the disc, I just put an estimated measurement. The computed rate is almost P800.00 via air cargo. Is that a reasonable amount for a single blue-ray disc.
Thank you and hoping someone can answer me.
Hope somebody can answer me regarding my shipping cart experience.its been a week since they accepted my packaged but until now my cart is still empty.everyday im checking my cart but still its empty.3 lahat yung packaged at hindi sabay2 na dumating sa kanila.pero hangang ngayon wala pa rin sa cart ko.i emaied them but still no answer.ano kaya ang dapat kung gawin? thanks