SWR Luggage Buddy FAQs

SWR has teamed up with luggage delivery specialists Sherpr to launch SWR Luggage Buddy, a no-hassle, door-to-door service for shipping your luggage and boxes. Sherpr collects your luggage from home ahead of time and delivers them directly to your destination, allowing you to travel luggage-free.

SWR Luggage Buddy offers door-to-door service for shipping your luggage and boxes. Our Standard service is the most popular, but it is also possible to book Express depending on your travel route. For international shipments that require customs clearance, please leave a few extra days Sherpr's transit times for the customs clearance process.

Sherpr does not ship your items. Sherpr works with renowned couriers to transport your items. Both companies have pledges towards a more sustainable future and it is important that all our suppliers align with our own commitments to sustainability.

The SWR Luggage Buddy Customer Service Team are available to answer your queries from 9:00am until 9:00pm Monday to Friday and 1pm until 4pm Sundays. You can contact the team via Live Chat, Email and on the telephone.

We understand the importance of having your luggage arrive safely and on time. Our goal is to remove the hassle of lugging your suitcases, so that you can sit back and enjoy your trip. Our door-to-door delivery means we collect it from your home or office and deliver it to your final destination. We’re often cheaper than airlines too without all of the hassle and stress.

It is possible to book a shipment as far in advance as you require. Collections can be booked until 5pm the day prior to collection. We recommend that you allow sufficient time to print out your labels, as well as customs documentation if you have an international shipment.

We can collect multiple shipments from the same collection address. You can book shipments going to the same delivery address under the same order. Shipments that are going to the different delivery addresses will need to be separate orders.

Flexi cover provides you with the assurance that you can make last minute changes to your booking if they arise. There are 3 different types of cover available: Standard cover allows no changes to be made to your order once payment has been made. Flexi cover gives you the ability to edit address information and your collection date up until 12pm the day before collection date. With Super Flexi Cover you can edit address information and collection date up until 12pm before collection date. Plus you cancel booking for full refund (minus £6) at any time before the collection. If Super Flexi was not purchased, we are unable to provide a refund but will issue a credit to be used toward a future order, valid for 12 months. No refunds will be processed for any order after 4pm (local time) the day prior to planned ship date, any order cancellations after this time will receive a credit regardless of the presence of Super Flexi.

SWR Luggage Buddy services include standard insurance cover of £100 per order. It is possible to add additional insurance cover during the booking process up to the value of £1200. The insurance cover will protect your shipment against potential loss and damages during transit.

It is possible to send luggage or boxes via SWR Luggage Buddy. You cannot send duffel bags or rucksacks. Our services allow you to book items up to 20kg or up to 30kg. The prices on the website are for the following maximum dimensions: 20kg Luggage: 70cm x 50cm x 38cm 30kg Luggage: 80cm x 56cm x 33cm 20kg Box: 46cm x 46cm x 46cm 30kg Box: 60cm X 50cm X 50cm.

If your shipment exceeds these weight and dimensions, our customer services team may be able to offer you a bespoke quote. If your item(s) weigh more than 30kg volumetrically then you will be charged £12 per kilo in addition to the quoted price.

SWR Luggage Buddy currently offers import and export services to and from the UK, USA or Netherlands to over 100+ countries worldwide. If your country isn’t listed it means that SWR Luggage Buddy is not yet available there.

SWR Luggage Buddy can service almost all residential or business addresses for collections and deliveries in the UK.

If your collection or delivery address is a residential or office address with a reception then we recommend alerting the receptionist that you have a collection or delivery due on the collection/delivery date to prevent any confusion when the driver arrives. We can not accept an order where the collection or delivery address is an airport, port terminal, train station, hospital, any type of military base/installations and/or any location that requires pre-clearance for gaining access.

You will need to pay for your booking at the end of the booking process, to allow us to book your collection with the courier and generate your shipping documents. Payments will be debited from your account immediately.

We accept all methods of debit and credit card payments, including American Express.

In general no, we offer a flat fee service, however, anything outside of Sherpr's standard T&C’s will incur charges. Overweight items: If an item is more than 30kg, we will charge you £12 for every 1kg above 30kg. We do this to make sure that your contents are safe ‐ the contents of heavy boxes are more likely to get damaged during transport. Oversized items: If an item is larger than our set dimensions we will charge you accordingly. This can range from £12 – £50 per item so please make sure that they fall within our maximum dimensions. Please note that a suitcase or box over 1 meter in length will be charged £40. Repacking bags: If your bag is not suitable for a shipping e.g holdall or backpack then we will charge you £10 to pack the item in a suitable box. We does this to make sure that the labels don’t fall off in transit and that your contents are safe. General Repacking: If your box is not suitable for shipping then we will charge you £10 per box for repacking. Anything that is not in a double walled box is not suitable for shipping e.g single walled box, crisps boxes etc. Resolved wrong address/details: If your address and/or contact details on your booking is incorrect then we will charge you £10 to amend and reprint all of the relevant paperwork to ensure your shipment arrives in its destination safely.

We have recently needed to introduce a temporary fuel & Brexit surcharge on our services. As a business facilitating transport, one of our largest costs is the fuel charges we pay our couriers. Recently fuel prices have increased dramatically. We have been absorbing as much of the price increase as possible, however we now need to pass a small portion of that cost on. We have introduced a temporary surcharge for this. Sherpr has done this as a surcharge rather than increasing their base prices as this will allow us to increase and decrease the surcharge on a monthly basis and Sherpr does hope that in the future they will be able to remove this completely. Please note that Sherpr does not profit from any surcharge.

If you have Super Flexi, you can cancel via your dashboard. If you don’t have Super Flexi and need to cancel your order, you will need to contact us directly. If you have opted for anything other than the Super Flexi fare Sherpr are unable to process a refund. However they will add the amount of the order as a credit to your account for a future booking. Any added credit for a cancellation of a booking will not expire. The price paid for the Super Flexi Cover during the booking will be deducted from your refund. Please contact Customer Services here to discuss your cancellation.

In the event of a train cancellation, which results in the cancellation of your trip, you will be entitled to a full refund in all cases, provided your luggage hasn’t yet been collected. You will be asked to provide evidence of your train cancellation. If your luggage has already been collected when your train is cancelled, no refund will be issued. If you need to have your luggage returned to you using the Luggage Buddy service, please contact swrluggagebuddy@sherpr.com to amend your return shipment date. If you have not booked a return shipment and need to do so, this will be at your own expense.

All of Sherpr's services at SWR Luggage Buddy require a shipping label to be printed and attached to the shipment. International shipments will also require customs documents to be attached as well as a label. Once your labels and customs documents have been generated, they will be available to download from your SWR Luggage Buddy account the day before your required collection. If you need to receive these earlier to allow time to print them, please contact Sherpr's Customer Services team here to arrange this. For luggage shipments Sherpr recommends labels are affixed to your luggage handles using a luggage tag. Please take a look on our important instructions page to view packaging and label instructions for both luggage and box shipments.

SWR All Luggage Buddy shipments will need labels attached to your items prior to the driver’s arrival. To prevent any in transit delays on international shipments, it is also important to ensure you have the customs documents printed and attached ready for your collection. If you do not have a printer then Sherpr recommends checking with a friend or neighbour to see if they can do it for you. Or to visit your local library or internet cafe who will charge you a small fee to print documents. Sherpr do also offer a Print My Labels service - available to add during the booking process, where they will print and post your labels, along with purpose-built luggage label holders, provided your collection is booked at least a week in advance. Customers who have added Standard or Super Flexi cover to their order will be able to contact Sherpr's customer services team here to arrange and delay their collection date to a later date if they need extra time to print their labels and documents.

If your shipment is travelling domestically then Sherpr recommends using a lock to ensure that your items are secure at all times whilst in transit. Shipments that are travelling internationally will need to go through customs clearance and using a lock may cause a delay or damage in the event your shipment requires customs inspection. If you’d like to secure your international luggage shipment then Sherpr recommend using cable ties which can easily be broken by customs agents without delay. Sherpr recommend all box shipments are sealed using parcel tape.

Items that are dangerous or hazardous commodities cannot be sent on SWR Luggage Buddy services. You can see a full list of these items on our Prohibited items list Please note that there may be other prohibited items not specified on this list relating to a particular country of origin/destination. To find out if any country specific restricted items apply to your items, we recommend speaking to customs in the country of origin/destination. You are responsible for what your shipment contains. Never send a shipment on behalf of someone else without inspecting it yourself as you will be responsible for its contents and charges if required. It is essential that you do not risk sending prohibited items. Every item is subject to x-ray and security searches at every depot on its way to its destination. If you include prohibited items in your shipment, your shipment will be stopped and the courier will return it to you. In this circumstance no refund will be given and we will need to collect a security processing charge of £25 from your payment card before returning your shipment back to you. In certain cases, Customs may seize your shipment and action taken against you by the relevant authorities.

Yes, please do make the receiving address aware that a shipment will be arriving and what name they should expect it in. Sherpr recommend you also inform the receiving address of the estimated delivery date.

Sherpr do not accept rucksacks or holdalls/duffel bags. All shipments must be packaged in either a box or suitcase.

During the booking process it is possible to add additional instructions that will be provided to the driver ready for the collection. Please note that drivers do not carry mobile phones, therefore Sherpr cannot guarantee or request that the driver will call you prior to collection. Sherpr recommends that you include instructions that will assist the driver in finding your address as an alternative to using the collection instructions space to request the driver call. Students: Please make sure that your items are left in your student reception. Couriers will not collect directly from your room in student halls.

Yes. All collections need to be accompanied or Sherpr cannot guarantee that the driver will collect your shipment. The person at the collection address does not need to be the same person as a listed sender.

Collections are between 9am-6pm. If you are booking an international shipment with collection from a London postcode, and would like to select a 2 hour time window between the times of 8am – 3pm, please contact our customer service team to quote this additional service.

If your shipment has not been collected then Sherpr recommends contacting Customer Services here as soon as possible to rearrange for the next available date. Please include in your email the new date you would like your collection to take place. If Sherpr's Customer Services Team has already finished for the day when you get in touch then please send an email and someone will come back to you the following morning. If collection is needed the following day then this will still be possible to arrange when the Customer Service Team come back to you.

You will receive your tracking number by email with your shipping documents. The email will also contain a link to where you’re able to track your shipment in your dashboard. Tracking multiple items in the same shipment If your shipment contains multiple items, they will travel using the same tracking number. If the shipment items split during the delivery then you will see separate tracking logs.

Some courier’s tracking will not begin until the shipment is received into the collection depot and in some cases the courier’s hub. In the event your shipment is not tracking on the same day as collection then Sherpr recommends tracking it again the next morning where you should see more up to date tracking. If the next morning your shipment is still not tracking then Sherpr recommends you contact Customer Services here.

Deliveries take place between 9am-6pm. Tracking will indicate that your shipment is out for delivery, you only need to wait in for the delivery if you see such tracking scan.

International shipments may be transported to the courier’s continental hub between the collection and delivery country. You should expect to see your shipment transport onto the delivery country over the next working day, customs clearance permitting.

Sherpr expect that shipments will track every 24 hours Monday to Friday. Over the weekend, your shipment may not track between Friday and Monday. Even if your shipment remains in the same depot for a number of days, it is usual to see it scan in at that depot each day. If your shipment has not scanned for 24 hours between Monday and Friday then please contact Customer Services here who can investigate this for you.

Yes a signature will be required, therefore someone will need to be present on delivery and your shipment cannot be left unattended.

During the booking process it is possible to add additional instructions that will be provided to the driver ready for the delivery. Please note that drivers do not carry mobile phones, therefore Sherpr cannot guarantee or request that the driver will call you prior to delivery. We recommend that you include instructions that will assist the driver in finding your address as an alternative to using the delivery instructions space to request the driver call. The courier will still require a contact number for the receiver in the event there are any customs queries that will need to be resolved before delivery can take place.

If your shipment has not been delivered then please contact Customer Services here. Please be aware that Sherpr's delivery time frames are an estimated time frame.

If tracking indicates that your shipment is delivered but has not been received then check tracking to see if a delivery name and or signature is available. Please also check with your neighbours to see if your shipment has been left at a nearby address. If you have completed these checks and are still unable to locate your shipment then please contact Customer Services here.

We’re very sorry your shipment has arrived damaged. It is possible to make a claim for damages under the following conditions: Sherpr are notified within 24 hours of delivery that there are damages. There are no items which are on our Prohibited items list Sherpr will require photographs of the damage to the shipment and the packaging used as part of the claims process.

When sending within the same country, or between countries that are members of the European Union, your shipment will not require customs clearance. If you are sending internationally between countries that are not both member states of the European Union your shipment will be subject to customs clearance and you will be required to complete a pro forma invoice detailing the contents and estimated used value of your goods for customs purposes. You will be asked to fill this out once you have placed your booking. To avoid delays, customs documentation should also be attached securely to your luggage or box so that it is clearly visible to the customs authority.

As the UK has now left the EU, shipments travelling between the UK and Europe are now subject to customs clearance procedures. Sherpr's courier partners are accounting for the additional cost of administration for this by charging Sherpr, in turn Sherpr must pass the cost onto their customers – Sherpr does not profit from this surcharge. The charge is only applied to shipments travelling between the UK and Europe. Please note this is only an administration charge and does not cover the cost of any applicable duties and taxes applied by customs. If at any point the couriers remove the charge, then Sherpr will also remove this for their customers.

It is possible to use a non-residential address such as a hotel or business as the delivery address. If you are sending a personal shipment to a hotel or business, please ensure you address this to yourself or the intended recipient and use c/o in the company line to help the customs authority see it is a personal shipment travelling to a hotel or business and that it is not a commercial shipment.

If your shipment is held for customs clearance this is usually due to an increased volume of shipments at customs or that further information is required to assist with clearing your shipment. This could be missing or incomplete paperwork, customs needing to physically inspect the shipment, or the shipment being on hold pending payment of any duty, taxes, customs storage or handling fees. In some rare cases you may be required to present a passport at a local office, or if a customs authority has removed the item from Sherpr’s care you may also be required to pay the authority an additional delivery fee or to collect the item. Please be aware that processing times vary greatly from country to country, as customs are a government agency outside of Sherpr's control; Sherpr would encourage you to cooperate with customs as quickly as possible to ensure quick processing of anything that may be held.

While most countries have generous duties and tax allowances for personal effects, when you book an international delivery via Sherpr, you are only paying for the cost to ship the items. Sherpr is not liable for any customs charges – whilst Sherpr aims to provide general customs advice, customs are a government agency and they are the ones to determine the charges for duties and taxes. Some countries may also have a restriction on the weight or amount of packages you can receive before customs may be owed. Sherpr therefore recommends checking customs regulations for your chosen destination with that country’s official customs website.

In the event there are duties and taxes applied, it is the responsibility of the recipient to pay these charges.

All customs charges are payable to the local customs authority however, Sherpr's courier partner may contact you on their behalf to receive the charges.