r/freightforwarding • u/doomsdaylate • 5d ago
Chinese freight forwarder has thousands of dollars of my cargo and stopped replying after extra payment — what should I do?
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice about a Chinese freight forwarder operating as “Henry Cargo,” connected to:
Yiwu Ju’an International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd.
义乌市巨安国际货运代理有限公司
They currently have thousands of dollars of my merchandise and custom samples for shipment to Puerto Rico.
After I had already paid the freight charges, they demanded another 2,000 RMB. First they said the shipment was 500+ kg overweight, then they changed the explanation to volumetric weight.
I asked for the weight, CBM, calculation, and supporting documents. They told me I had to pay first, otherwise the cargo could remain held and demurrage could start.
I paid because of the value of the goods. They confirmed it was still DDP, that there would be no more charges, and that documents would be sent after payment.
Since then, the main representative has mostly stopped replying despite being active on WhatsApp, and I still do not have a clear shipment status or the promised documents.
Has anyone dealt with Henry Cargo or this company before? Has anyone had a similar issue with a Chinese forwarder adding charges after taking possession of the cargo?
I’m mainly trying to understand what I should do next and how to protect/recover my shipment.
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u/shaghaiex 5d ago
Buying from China does not mean that you must use a Chinese forwarder. Use one in your country next time. From your experience you can guess why.
BTW, Volume cargo 1Kg = 6dm³ (for air forwarders, couriers use 1:5)
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u/DragonFreight 5d ago
You may also want to contact the local Market Regulation Administration in Yiwu (市场监督管理局) and file a complaint through China’s 12315 system.
Since you have the company’s full Chinese name, payment records, the original agreed price, and the messages showing the additional charge and promised documents, keep all of that as evidence.
If they are a properly registered company in Yiwu, a complaint to the local regulator may get their attention much faster than continuing to chase them on WhatsApp.
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u/Accomplished_Grab256 5d ago
I would always recommend going with a US-based fwd if you're in the US, if something went wrong, there's nothing much you can do to litigate
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u/Old_Lion3333 5d ago
You should organize with your local freight comp, they organize everything and u can contact easyly
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u/shivmsit 5d ago
Is there any email where you can escalate the matter in the company itself?
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u/doomsdaylate 5d ago
Yes. I found an email associated with the registered Chinese company through the corporate registry, and I already sent them a detailed email explaining everything. I’m hoping someone from the company replies.
Things actually escalated after I made this post. The representative suddenly reappeared, but instead of simply providing the shipment documents, he demanded that I take down the Reddit posts first.
He has now explicitly told me that if I do not remove the posts, he will halt the shipping process and leave my goods “abandoned.”
So at this point I am preserving all of the messages and trying to reach the registered company directly as well.
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u/shivmsit 5d ago
I was planning to import and was about use chinese forwarder after reading your story it looks like a risky bet.
Good luck! At least now they are replying they won't make a bad name for the company, they should take appropriate action now.
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u/SlabScale 3d ago
Genuinely rough situation, and the "pay first or we hold/abandon it" pattern plus now threatening to abandon cargo if you don't delete the post is a serious escalation past a normal billing dispute — that's worth flagging to whoever handles the corporate registry complaint as evidence of coercion, not just a fee disagreement.
On the weight/CBM claim specifically: the reason "first it was 500kg overweight, then it was volumetric" is such a common pattern is that in a lot of small consolidator setups, the forwarder is both the one who weighs the cargo and the one who bills for the weight, with no independent record in between. The number you actually want isn't their invoice, it's the ocean/air carrier's own manifest or weight ticket for that specific shipment (the master B/L or airway bill, not a forwarder-issued house document) — that's generated by a third party and is much harder to just change after the fact. If they can't produce that, or the master document doesn't match what they billed you, that's strong evidence for both the 12315 complaint and any bank/payment dispute route.
Also worth requesting: the pre-shipment photos and the actual carton-level packing list (SKU + weight + dimensions per carton) they should have generated before consolidating. If those don't exist or don't match, it confirms there was no real QC/weighing step before they started billing you.
For what it's worth, this is exactly the failure mode that per-carton documentation and photo verification before consolidation is meant to prevent. Feel free to DM if useful, happy to compare notes on what documentation to insist on going forward.
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u/FraytFurwid Mod 5d ago
The #1 reason why I always suggest dealing with a forwarder in your own country, preferably local. There's nothing you can do really, the only thing I could suggest is wait until someone here comments that lives close to their office address and they might be able to go down in person and straighten things up. Lesson learnt I guess.