Having shipped a good many things overseas, a few possibilities as to the
real issue:
They tell me that with UPS or FedEx the recipient has to pay as much as $260
in fees to get their item out of customs, that is somehow avoided going
postal. In any event they are right, postal which is normally the worst
deal in the US, is often 1/4 of what FedEx or UPS wants (and both are about
the same when I did quote international with them). The only issue is USPS
no longer offers a ground shipping option for international shipments, so
you're limited to about 70 lbs per package.
FWIW anyone else in this situation in the future can quote shipping via
FedEx, UPS, and postal right from their websites, right from home, as long
as you know roughly what the weight will be and how big the box will be.
It's also possible the items were opened/damaged in customs for their
inspection, I'm not sure what percentage of packages are checked out but
I've heard of people having issues now and then.
Now this is no excuse for them to stiff you guys, they should have left
better instructions... I can see why they don't want to pay, but hell, if
they can afford to come here, buy a car, and bring it home with them, they
can damn well afford the difference in the shipping and also live and learn
themselves.
Bill K.
----- Original Message -----
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:28:46 -0800
From: Eastern Sierra Adjustment Services <esierraadj@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Life's Lessons/The Shipping News
I apologize for this long message, and anyone bored or offended by it
may delete it.
My story involves the following life-lessons, which we all should be
generally aware of, but which
never hurts to reiterate, in case we ever decide to do anyone else a
financial favor:
1) Military: Never volunteer
2) Civilian: No good deed goes un-punished
3) Gambler: Never wager/risk more than you can afford to lose
4) Investor: Never invest/risk more than you can afford to lose
5) Negotiator: Never bargain where your highest outcome is a no-win
situation
6) Conservative: You get what you deserve ; blame the victim ; (almost)
no one is trustworthy
7) Liberal: Forgive-and-forget ; stay on the high-ground ; (almost) no
one is not trustworthy
8) Cynic: Never forget the price of everything, value does not matter ;
what's-in-it-for-ME ?
9) Ebayer: Never ship anything out of the U.S.
10) Faux News: We report, you decide
11) Me: Live and learn
I'm not going to name-names, here, but I'll be glad to provide them, on
a PM basis.
Back in June, my friend Ron Mog, who made the pilgrimage to Tulsa,
allowed a couple
"tourists", who were going-on , to Tulsa, too, to use his home garage's
hydraulic lift, to service their
newly-bought 1961 Newport. Ron provided grease/lube and tools, but also
an idler-arm rebuilding
kit (which service the car really needed).
It was agreed that the 2 men would send Ron another 'kit', after they
returned home.
Never happened.
I PM'ed 'them' several times (Ron having no confuser), but never got any
response ; the last time, Ron had asked me to try to
get a $20.00 bill out of them, in the mail.
Never happened.
Now, the reason that I'm writing all this, is merely this: on 11/13/07 I
paid $422.12 for an actual UPS billing,
that I voluntarily paid, and for which I expected full reimbursement,
on a package of FWDLK parts which
was sent to a Foreign Country.
I had never shipped anything large, to another country, before, by UPS,
or USPS (#9, above)
I have no financial profit in this transaction. ( #2, and #3/#5)
Before this occurrence, I had volunteered (#1; and I was in the Navy) to
help the individual make an order
thru Gary Goers, which, for me, has not been a problem. I even
volunteered to PAY Gary (#1 & #3/#5)
for the parts, and hope to receive reimbursement for that expense (#7)
at a later date. I do not know if
Gary has been paid, as the shipping matter hit-the-fan before I could
write a check to Gary. I am prepared
to pay Gary, if necessary, as it was my order to him (#4 ).
The beneficiary of this matter is, of course, the parts recipient, who,
today tried to make himself the victim
(#6) by saying that I had failed to inspect the trunk panels(about which
I had NO involvement), as well
as saying that I "should have known that the USPS would be cheaper" to
send the stuff, overseas, than
"good old(?)" UPS.
Now, probably no one here has had experience with shipping via UPS, but,
they are an international
package shipping business.
Business competition being what it is, and (in part) because I HAVE
routinely used UPS to
ship packages, and Gary Goers' parts-stash was sent via UPS, and the
trunk-stuff was sent Fed Ex Ground
(iirc) to me (for incorporation with Gary's stuff, for a 1-package
deal ; what-a-guy) , I put the
stuff together & took it to UPS depot, waited in line, got to the
counter, and the nice lady, there, said :
"Oooh, this is going to be expensive".
As I am not poor, but not rich, and as I knew of no other cheaper
means to ship the package (weight:
37 lbs, total) , I gulped and gave the lady my credit card.
Altho I have not done so, I do know of several persons who have shipped
entire cars across the pond
and I know that international shipping is not cheap. That knowledge, as
much as anything (and the hope
of getting reimbursed ; #7) persuaded me to finalize this dope-deal,
which, again, I had no financial
profit, what-so-ever, in contributing-to
So, per #10, and #6, above, I am NOT looking for any sympathy, or (much)
commiseration (#6, after-all!),
but I do want to state, for the possible benefit of anyone who might
be interested in doing anyone else a good-faith
good-samaritan , but possibly-flawed, (financial) favor, please see #8,
and all the other Life Lessons,
before deciding what to do.
So, what have we learned, today?
Ron Mog graciously allows his personal property to be used, and gets
stiffed, over $20.00 retail value of
a idler-arm rebuilding kit.
And I, not knowing any better, rely on UPS to tell me what it wants to
ship a 37 lb package overseas, and
I get stiffed, for $422.12 .
I have no recourse, except for the writing of this message, but, I am
willing to abide by #11, above.
Neil Vedder
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