Why Excess Luggage Co.
Luggage shipping looks simple until something goes wrong. The right company has seen every scenario and knows how to handle it. Here is what separates a specialist from a generalist parcel courier.
📅Collection hours — UK mainland: Within M25: Mon–Fri 09:30–16:00 • Outside M25: Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00. Weekend collections applicable within Greater London only, subject to availability and surcharge. No weekend collections outside Greater London.
🛒Barrels & oversized items: Barrel shipments — commonly used for Caribbean and West African routes — are subject to a handling surcharge due to their size and weight. Please advise at enquiry stage if shipping barrels so we can confirm the correct charge before booking.
✓Quote before collection, not at the door. Some operators quote low and charge more when they arrive. Our price is confirmed before we collect anything.
✓Clear documentation guidance. The itemised packing list, declared values and import classification for your destination. Getting this wrong causes customs holds and storage charges at the other end.
✓Honest about destination charges. Airport handling fees, government inspection charges and local storage are levied by the destination country — not us. We tell you what to expect at booking.
✓Based next to Heathrow. MetEx House, Hounslow — two miles from Heathrow. Every consignment goes through Heathrow cargo. We know this airport and the carriers operating from it.
✗Parcel couriers are not luggage specialists. DHL, FedEx and UPS are built for commercial parcels. Personal effects — clothing, household items, sports equipment — require specialist handling and import documentation that parcel couriers are not optimised for.
Excess Luggage Co. • Est. 1998
“We started Excess Luggage Co. in 1998 because we saw a gap: people needed to ship their personal belongings internationally, and the options were either overpriced couriers treating bags like commercial freight, or airlines charging extortionate excess fees at check-in.
Twenty-five years later we have processed to 185 countries. We know what Australia customs wants on a packing list. We know why shipments get held in Lagos. We know which destinations need additional insurance and which routes have reliable transit times. That knowledge does not come from a website. It comes from 28 years of doing it from MetEx House, Hounslow.”