India Forum

Dwighthowie
Joined 2020
Posts: 2

4 years ago

How to avoid relocation scam in India for expats!

4 years ago

Hey there, I am Dwight and I shall be your guide to avoid being scammed in India and especially in the capital of India , New Delhi.

Many expats reside in India and may stay at a city for duration which may be upto 5-6 or even a year . But I have already moved to 3 cities in the short span I have been here and my first experience moving from a city to another was disastrous, which is partially why I am giving my fellow expats a heads up!
The following is based on my 2 experiences of hopping from one city to another.

Here come the problems!

Firstly, Foreigners are subject to being charged at the very least, 5 times more than normal!
Secondly, Its tough to select a trusted agency in a foreign land, believe me I thought it was under control ,but I was in for a surprise.
Combine these two and it spells trouble, it really does. Disaster awaits us expats or even foreign tourists who rely on such services and make uninformed choices or informed choices from unreliable sources.

The first time I trusted an agent that approached me and offered help, big mistake ! Always ask for identification of not just the person but also the company and it's listing.
I was scammed of expenses and "lost" an entire suitcase.

So how do we go about this ?

Again, the answer is simple. Recently, quite a few reliable online suggesting websites have emerged and are the solution to your problem. I shall illustrate it with a particular example but this applies to many in the industry on a broad spectrum: Let us scrutinize Assureshift for this particular instance,
it a company that provides this feature. They have a list of almost all the major cities and the best moving company located in that city. Here is an example of city specific list of companies : https://www.assureshift.in/packers-and-movers-south-delhi
The beauty of the list is not the list it self, but the verification process that the companies that are listed go through.
Hereby eliminating the second problem we were facing, that is access to a reliable and verified source!
And the other golden egg of the basket is that all the listed companies exercise fixed prices no matter which part of the world you hail from!
There are other similar directories as well which are pretty decent, but you must refrain from individual agents who approach you, because it is most likely shady.
I hope this alleviates your logistics worry and allows you to focus on exploring and thriving and have a pleasant stay in India !

Regards
DwightHowie

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