[guyverl]

Sorry, I just really need to rant.

I bought a PSP from a headfi member here and without telling me he ships the PSP from Canada to the UK via International surface mail???? Who uses surface mail these days?? Now i've got to wait 4-6 weeks for this, not to mention I paid extra for shipping to UK when now his cost of sending it will be similar to the shipping in the US.

Sorry for ranting guys but I'm really quite upset about this. I would have paid EVEN MORE shipping costs for the airmail if he really wanted it. I guess this is the dangers of buying on a place like this but this is the worst transaction i've ever had...

Basically, i'm just asking whether any of you have EVER shipped anything by international surface mail.

Lee

 

[Silfer]

Didn't you discuss the shipping when making the deal?

 

[guyverl]

I tried to discuss shipping with him - I paid him $25 to ship to UK.

I gave him my address and then sent him another PM which he didn't reply to. He claimed that he emailed me but I never received the email so the communication was off to verify all this stuff. You're right, in a way it's my fault that I wasn't totally EXPLICIT in that I wanted airmail - I just presumed so seeing as i'd paid him $25 for shipping........

 

[Glod]

I really hope the package won't get stuck in the UK customs on top of it all

 

[guyverl]

I bet it will. Not only that, but there's no tracking number, or anything. I have to start wondering whether he actually sent it and will run away with my money.

 

[AlanY]

Believe it or not, Canada Post doesn't offer a standard "International Air" parcel service to Britain. There is only "International Surface Parcel"!

If you want air to Britain, you have to go up to "Xpresspost International", which is too expensive for most people (you'd be looking at about $80 shipping).

There is one exception: if the package is small enough, they do offer "International Small Packet Air", but to qualify for this service the item has to weigh less than 2kg and have length+width+height < 90cm. It's quite possible that a properly packed PSP wouldn't meet those requirements.

Yes, it seems nuts. Canada Post is a huge scam. Poor service, high prices, and ridiculous policies like this (don't get me started on their dishonest "volumetric weight" scheme to bleed more money out of most of their unsuspecting parcel customers).

If anyone thinks I'm making any of this up, see here:
http://www.canadapost.ca/personal/to...nual/d06-e.asp
"International Air Parcels service is available only to countries not served by Xpresspost-International service."
Xpresspost International is a six business days guaranteed service. There is no normal, non-time-guaranteed air parcel service to Britain. So your sender didn't have much choice.

 

[Silfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyverl I bet it will. Not only that, but there's no tracking number, or anything. I have to start wondering whether he actually sent it and will run away with my money.

I don't think you should jump to conclusions and worry for nothing. Don't make yourself feel worse!

But yeah, customs can delay it even more. And you just have to be patient I guess...


AlanY,
Isn't there a way to send it with something else than Canada post? UPS, Fedex etc?
(And 90x90x90cm 2kg should fit a PSP IMO. That's rather a big parcel.)

 

[AlanY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silfer AlanY, Isn't there a way to send it with something else than Canada post? UPS, Fedex etc? (And 90x90x90cm 2kg should fit a PSP IMO. That's rather a big parcel.)

Sure, he could have done that. He probably should have at least given the buyer the option of UPS or FedEx. They're not cheap though to Britain. A 3lb package from BC to London via UPS costs $77.

BTW, it's not 90x90x90cm... it's length+width+height total < 90cm. For example, a decently packed DVD player wouldn't meet these requirements. It probably would have been possible to get the PSP into a box of this size, but if the sender didn't know this, he could have easily packed the PSP in a larger box surrounded by packing material, and not have been presented with the option of "Small Packets" shipping when he went to the post office (Canada Post agents are not exactly forthright about telling customers about size limits like this because -- unlike the US postal service -- here they make more money when customers use larger boxes, even if the weight stays the same; few customers know about this, because the post office writes a bogus invented number they call "volumetric weight" on the packing sticker where it says "weight").

 

[guyverl]

Ah ok... I feel a bit better now. I'd got used to sending things to and from the states and it's never been this big a deal.

But actually Length+Width+Height < 90cm can still be a rather large parcel. You're not talking about volume are you? i.e. lengthxwidthxheight? in which case that would be a much smaller parcel!

I had no idea that Canada post was so bad... and here I was thinking the royalmail were pretty rubbish. At least sending things via airsure to the states is pretty quick and not toooo expensive..

I'm still worried about the PSP though... I was actually going to buy one in HK when I go there in 2 weeks... now I don't know what to do

 

[AlanY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyverl Ah ok... I feel a bit better now. I'd got used to sending things to and from the states and it's never been this big a deal.

The US Postal Service is much better than Canada Post. Better service, much better prices, and honest policies.

Quote:

But actually Length+Width+Height < 90cm can still be a rather large parcel. You're not talking about volume are you? i.e. lengthxwidthxheight? in which case that would be a much smaller parcel!

No, I'm not talking about volume. Length+width+height isn't always quite as large as it seems. Looking at a couple pictures online, it looks like the PSP box measures about 6 inches by 6 inches by 11 inches. If the shipper put the PSP box inside another box with only 2.5 inches of shipping material on all sides, you'd have a total length+width+height of 96.5 cm.

This is why, when I ship things that I sell on eBay to Europe, I don't put the object inside another box. Rather, I wrap the object in several layers of corrugated cardboard. This is the most efficient way to ship via Canada Post, since the "container" hugs the object as tightly as possible, keeping the size and volume down. If your PSP had been packed this way, it would probably have been eligible for the "Small Packets Air" service, but I wouldn't crucify the seller -- most regular folks have no idea about Canada Post's crazy shipping policies. It's absolutely reasonable to expect to be able to put the item you're shipping in a reasonably sized box, surrounded by packing material for safety, and be able to send it without any hassles. Sadly, that's not the way the system in Canada works.

I only found out about all this myself when I brought a package to be mailed to the post office that obviously weighed less than 1kg, and the lady told me it "weighed" 8 kg! I thought that was nuts, so I brought it home, weighed it, and sure enough it was less than 1kg. I then did some reading and found out about all this nonsense.