[bln]

Just recently I made my first real "Head-Fi" purchase, a pair of Sony MDR-V6's from Hogwild.com. At the time, I was away from college on break, and I didn't trust the vendor to ship my headphones before I returned to school, so I had them sent to my dorm building. Now, after miraculously arriving back in Chicago despite a blinding snowstorm that crippled O'Hare, I rush back here to find out that since no one was staffing my building the last few weeks, my package was sent to another dorm's mail room. Apparently, there's nothing for me to do but wait "a few days" for an e-mail that will allow me to claim my 'phones, currently residing in a storeroom that's only a ten-minute walk away. If I'm not careful this disappointment will lead me to cheer myself up by ordering a pair of Alessandro's (or, more prudently, Senn MX500s). Sorry to waste everyone's time reading this, but I felt sure that other Head-Fi members would feel my pain (in a way the mail room lady clearly did not).

 

[lindrone]

I feel your pain alright. I had problems with shipping many times, and regardless of what the item is, it's always painful watching them not showing up where they were supposed to.

The only difference is, my bad experiences has primarily been with UPS. I had been forced to pick up "2nd-day" delivery on the 3rd day myself before, caused by the UPS man being lost (which is ridiculous, since there's scheduled UPS pick-up at my office every day... needless to say, there was no pick-up that day either), then having to hold the package for an extra day because they couldn't get a dispatch out or something.

FedEx is the way to go... then USPS...

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I'm in a similar situation, waiting for m new PC power supply and TV card to be delivered, but since my Univ has been "closed" for the better part of the last week and a half, I haven't been able to get them

But I will be able to get them tomorrow morning

 

[slunk007]

Quote:

Originally posted by lindrone The only difference is, my bad experiences has primarily been with UPS.

Oh don't get me started on UPS. I HATE UPS. I live in Canada, and had my iMP-550 shipped via UPS ground from the states. When it arrived, the guy came to my door asking for $74 in handling fees. I told them to keep it and I would figure out what to do later.

So the majority of the fees were this hidden fee called "brokerage". Basically, UPS has decided that they can charge a ridiculous sum to do their customs clearance papers "as a service for you". It is a simple rubber stamp procedure that takes 3 minutes tops to do. So of the $74 bucks, $50 of it was brokerage fees, and the rest was taxes. I called and complained about the brokerage fees and then I proceeded to get them to allow me to do my own brokerage (cost is $0 to do it yourself). It took a little bit of running around, but I saved myself $50 bucks since all I had to pay was the tax.

Moral of the story is: Don't get screwed by UPS. If you're Canadian, avoid UPS completely. But if you can't avoid it, make sure you specify that you want to do your own brokerage to the sender. This only applies to UPS ground deliveries if I am correct. Since the brokerage fees are included in all other means of delivery.

 

[lindrone]

Whoa.. that's absolutely horrible... I didn't know about that before, but I'll keep that in mind. When I sell things to Canada, I'll make sure to use some other shipping methods.

 

[Demolition]

Quote:

Originally posted by lindrone When I sell things to Canada, I'll make sure to use some other shipping methods.

At the very least, avoid the UPS Standard To Canada option. If I recall correctly, all other UPS international shipping methods include brokerage fees rolled into their rates, but UPS Standard does not. Brokerage feess are passed onto the recipient unless you specifically ask for a third-party customs broker.

The worst case scenario occurs when a heavily-insured parcel is sent via UPS Standard to Canada and no third-party broker is specified. In that case, the brokerage fees and taxes are often very close to (and sometimes exceed) what you paid for the item. It happened to me when I bought a $60 US printer on eBay from a U.S.-based seller. The replacement cost was $499 US, so he insured it for $500. Shipping plus insurance was $46 US. Initial total outlay for me was $106 US. When it arrived at my door, the UPS driver gave me an invoice for an additional $97 CDN (about $65 US at the time) to cover brokerage and taxes. As slunk007 did, I rejected the package and complained to UPS. However, instead of giving me the option of a third-party broker, they sent it back to the seller The seller was very good about it. He re-sent the parcel via UPS Air (now called Worldwide Express?) and ate the additional shipping costs.

That pretty well soured me from ever using UPS again, and to shy away from sellers who insist on shipping via UPS.

In my experience, USPS and FedEx seem to work best for shipments from the U.S. to Canada. For instance, I often receive parcels from the U.S. via USPS and when they reach my door, the only fees added on are a $5 handling charge and 7% duty. I can live with that.

D.


Edit: fixed my sloppy math

 

[FrostyMMB]

I waited six weeks for my RS-1, RA-1, and Grado Signatures to arrive this summer. I waited over six weeks for my MS Pros to arrive. I waited two months before my Music Timbre ICs arrived. The DT 880s took over two weeks longer than the expected one week to ship.

Get used to waiting for your equipment, it might be a longer wait or more of a hassle in the future.

 

[scottder]

To join in, my new digital camera was delivered today by UPS, TO MY NEIGHBOR! Ugh! Good thing we're on good terms with our neighbor. Sheesh

 

[Geek]

Take this opportunity to order a nice little mini amp for your V6s

Congrats on your first head-fi related purchase. The V6 are great cans for the money, and I'm sure you will get many hours of listening time on them!

Cheers,
Geek

 

[pbirkett]

Quote:

Originally posted by FrostyMMB I waited six weeks for my RS-1, RA-1, and Grado Signatures to arrive this summer. I waited over six weeks for my MS Pros to arrive. I waited two months before my Music Timbre ICs arrived. The DT 880s took over two weeks longer than the expected one week to ship. Get used to waiting for your equipment, it might be a longer wait or more of a hassle in the future.

I've been very lucky in that respect.

The longest I've had to wait was less than a fortnight for the CD3000 from Japan to the UK.

I got my DT531, DT880, DT931, HD650 instantly (went into a shop, demoed and bought).

I had to wait just 5 days for my Corda HA-1 from Jan Meier.

Got both of the X-Can straight away.

Waiting for audio components is luckily something I never had to do. Good job, cos I'm impatient.

I do however have 3 months to wait for my new motor

 

[scottder]

Oh and welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet. The support group is Friday nights at 6pm

Scott

 

[realmz]

I've had my fair share of horrible UPS experiences. I do alot of CD trading through mail and so I use pretty extensive packaging and have fragile stamped on the envelope.

Well a buddy of mine used the same packaging and mailed me about a dozen CDs. The CDs arrive to my doorstep and the package looked like it was shipped through a war zone. I mean it was dirty and torn and the bubble wrap was sticking out.

I had a bad feeling about it, but i had (misguided) faith in UPS so I let the delievery guy go and I went inside to open up the package. The CDs inside were completely destroyed. Tons of CD shards all over the place. The most undamaged one was broken into about 3 pieces. To this day, I have no idea how they managed to mutilate the CDs so badly.

I usually stick to USPS now and do pretty well. Oh well, at least I learned my lesson on a package that was replaceable.

 

[Demolition]

I've had a few packages delivered by UPS that arrived damaged. One was a titanium MTB frame that arrived with a bent chainstay/rear hanger and cracked bottom bracket shell. The shipping container had tire tracks on it, so the only logical thing to assume is that they drove the truck over it.

By the way, check out the damage inflicted on these computers by UPS. Ouch.

D.

 

[dstyslpr]

Who would you guys recommend for cheap and reliable interntaional delivery from the US?

Any ideas what an intternational delivery will cost?

I'm thinking of getting some stuff of the trading board at some point in the future...

 

[Demolition]

Quote:

Originally posted by dstyslpr Who would you guys recommend for cheap and reliable interntaional delivery from the US?[/i]

I prefer USPS and FedEx. I avoid UPS at all costs.

Quote:

Originally posted by dstyslpr Any ideas what an intternational delivery will cost?[/i]

I recently received a package sent by USPS Airmail Parcel Post insured for $400 US. Sender is in South Carolina, I'm in B.C., Canada. Total postage = $22 US. No Customs duties/taxes since it was sent as a "gift" (

nudge nudge wink wink).

Quote:

Originally posted by dstyslpr I'm thinking of getting some stuff of the trading board at some point in the future...

Lots of goodies show up in there. Wish I had more money.

D.