Banker Trust - Great Experience!

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
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dr1.com
Early last week I needed to work out the best and most economical way to move a bunch of household furniture from Puerto Plata to Santo Domingo at short notice and on a Sunday. No easy task :)

I called around a few of the professional moving companies, priced out a rental van and posted on the message board, asked friends etc.

The cheapest professional moving quote I received was RD$32,000, plus an additional fee for a Sunday pickup.

Honda Rental wanted RD$4,800 per day for a box truck, this included taxes and full insurance.
When you add in the cost of gas, the hassle of driving, getting friends to help you move the furniture, the professional movers started to look good.

I received a few leads from friends, but nothing I was 100% comfortable with.

Looks like it's time to move to Plan B.

I decided to shoot Michael at Baker Trust an email, to see if he could point me in the right direction. Although they are better known for safe deposit boxes, in recent times they have branched out into the transport and shipping business.

I received a replay back from Michael in a couple of hours with a price of RD$15,000. 60% cheaper than the professional movers I found in the yellow pages, what's the catch?

I sent Michael another email with a few questions and I received a reply straight back.

- Your sure you can pick up on a Sunday morning and deliver in Santo Domingo that afternoon? No problem.
- Do your guys know what they are doing? Yes.
- Do they have rope, packing material etc? Yes.
- RD$15,000, no hidden costs? That's the price, that's all you need to pay. 50% on pick up, 50% on happy and safe delivery.

All very reassuring, the deal was done.

Sunday morning at 9 am I met the truck and the moving team outside the Banker Trust office in Sosua. They actually arrived before me, very prompt. Juan the team boss is a real nice guy and speaks excellent English.

To cut a long story short, they did an excellent job of fitting the furniture on the truck, protecting it, tying it down and generally making it safe and secure. It was an open bed truck and they covered the furniture with a couple of heavy tarps, to keep out any rain and generally protect the furniture.

They followed me to Santo Domingo, unloaded the furniture, made sure everything was ok and reassembled what needed reassembling etc. No problems, everything arrived in one piece without anything damaged, I was very happy!

It was along day, even longer for the Banker Trust team, they ended up getting back to Sosua just before midnight!

Summing up my experience.

Very professional, nice group of guys, great price and I would have no hesitation in recommending Banker Trust to anyone that needs to move furniture, freight etc around the Dominican republic.

Check out their site: Safe Deposit Box, Shipping & Cargo in the Dominican Republic
 

dreamsource

New member
Jul 29, 2007
93
6
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Thanks for the report!

Have been wondering about utilizing Banker Trust, thanks for the review!
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
83
dr1.com
Wow, great marketing ploy Robert. You must have taken a few courses,eh?

Nope. Just posting my experience.

If you care to read some of my previous posts over the last 10 years, you'll find I post good and bad reviews.

I have lost count how many times advertisers have threatened to close their accounts due to bad reviews on DR1.

This is the power of DR1 and the 1,000s of people that visit us everyday. It can make you or break you in some cases.

Never in 10 years have we ever deleted a bad review due to advertiser pressure.
 

gringosabroso

New member
Oct 16, 2004
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Heartening! A new forum?? Why not?

I'm an American who has been living in POP for 12, satisfying years.
* It's great to read very positive, detailed reviews like this; well done!
* So many of us are repeatedly taken advangtage by DRs [ & occasionally by ExPats!]; it's upsetting. Much more rewarding to hear of positive experiences.
* Suggestion; Food for Thought: I've often thought that the 1,000s of foreigners in the DR would benefit from a DR "Consumers Reports ["CR"] type operation. "CR is an American monthly magazine, web site, & annual paper back book that rates 1,000s of products; it's widely sold & widely used, mostly I suspect by Americans.
* How about a permanent DR1 forum, named "Consumers' Corner", or some such, where consumers like Robert could write intelligent positive or negative reviews @ specific DR service & materials providers? Worth a sniff. Any supporters?
 

jrhartley

Gold
Sep 10, 2008
8,190
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im afraid it wouldnt work -people have tried to give bad reviews to people that dont deserve it in the past and likewise the other way round, one still has to decipher truth from fiction in a lot of cases
 

J D Sauser

Silver
Nov 20, 2004
2,940
390
83
www.hispanosuizainvest.com
Well, since we all hijack this thread, I'll join in.
I was on the board of an HOA of a brand new development in Southern Florida in the late '90's.
People buying their homes there all were from anywhere but Florida, and most had just move to the region, so nobody really new anybody... contractors and services like gardeners, plumbers etc included.
So, I suggested the creation of a feedback Forum.
What happened, was exactly what JR is warning us about here... people just love to be negative, and if they have the most insignificant complaint, some love to just trash a business or service provider.
So, we came up with an other idea. Have a POSITIVE ONLY board. Meaning you can only post something positive, the rest would be deleted immediately. Yeah, you will get a few compulsive would-be endorsers... but then, one can see thru them pretty soon to.

Yep, it would be nice to find a compilation of Doctors, builders, contractors, stores and restaurants organized by groups of interest, which would allow us to share and find businesses and people of trade we may find of interest.


Back to the original subject: I have been pleasantly surprised recently to find that Banker Trust has adjusted their pricing for their mail shipments to match some of the competition . In other words, they've lowered it.
:)
... J-D.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
83
dr1.com
J D Sauser, that's a pretty good idea.

It could be a moderated review board.

Let me take a closer look at the idea and see what we can do.

I love feedback and ideas, good or bad. It what help's DR1 grow and provide and better resource for all to utilize.

Thanks.
 

trabajadora

New member
Aug 29, 2007
301
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MY BankerTrust Experience

I just wanted to take a minute out to post about MY great experience using BankerTrust.

It started out a little bit shaky, mostly due to the fact that I was running out of time to find someone to provide the service I was in need of. But in the end, everything worked out fantastic, if not a bit pricey for me (but you do what you gotta do to get what you want).

In looking for a trustworthy, secure way to ship my three Large oil paintings (which were painted on a very hard canvas by my Dad), which could not be rolled or folded up in any way, BankerTrust came through for me. I was being told repeatedly by UPS, FedEx, etc. that I could not ship them due to ridiculous customs issues (they insisted that hard canvas was the same as wood even though it isn't), but with BankerTrust being licensed to ship such items, it was a breeze. My paintings left the DR on a Monday afternoon. Although I was assured I would receive them at my doorstep via UPS in 3-4 days, the UPS delivery man was rining my doorbell just two days later! What a surprise! I was very happy to see that BankerTrust made sure to package these large items in a way that they were well protected, and I'm very, very happy with the service they provided. I also want to add that between the time the paintings left the DR and the day they arrived here in the U.S., BankerTrust (Brenda) kept in touch with me to give me updates.

The alternative would have been to lose my Dad's precious artworks for life. They are all that I have (tangible) of his memory and his legacy as an internationally-known artist. I would recommend this company to anyone in need of shipping services.

Happy to be back in the U.S and happy holidays to all of you guys in the DR!
 

Yayow

New member
Sep 4, 2007
389
47
0
My 2 pesos

I haven't used their services for the purposes of moving (so I can't speak about that aspect of the business), but when I used to live in Sosua, I did use their services as far as mail pickup, without a problem. As a matter of fact I have lived in Santo Domingo for over 10 months, and hadn't returned to Sosua during that time and they held mail for me until I returned for a visit earlier this month. I happen to know Michael (an ex-pat American) and his employee Brenda (an ex-pat Canadian), and they have always seemed trust worthy to me.