AlpineRAM

I have to vent!



Last week I ordered some parts at a US based warehouse and they deducted the $$ from my credit card- on the website they had the option "shipment to Austria" so well, it's more $$$ to gt it shipped here, but I need that stuff so let's bite the bullet.
(Naturally I didn't order the stuff anywhere else, customer's vehicle is out of service as long as the parts and the repair manual aren't here customer is angry etc)
Now I receive an e-mail saying that they do not ship to Austria and they did refund my $$ on my credit card.
Stuff like that is happening all the time. I'm really fed up with the ethics of those companies- in the internet age it is perfectly possible that some international orders will come in and if you do state shiping internationally the probability rises.
I think it would not be too much to ask to put up some text like -will ship to US only or the like. But stating that you do ship to Austria and then simply not doing it is driving me nuts.
A lot of companies will also just promise sending pricing info and availability info for some parts if asked, an won't do it then. Or they'll send you the info and the order gets lost somewhere and you never hear from them again.
In the last months I tried to purchase Dodge and GM performance and repair parts for about 12 k $ in the US- even paying up front and all that- but still I do not have all the parts together, most suppliers do err to the low side on the shipping quotes and then bill some pretty steep amount for shipping (quote for 150 US$ and actual bill 370 US$) or simply do not ship all the parts.
So if anybody here is in the parts business and will care for shipping over to Austria you are welcome to PM me.
Most of the vendors here that I did contact will not carry a competitors product- but if I need eg a turbo and a trackbar and a box I would really prefer to get it all in one package to save on shipping and customs handling costs - anything under 25k US$ is tha same customs handling fee over here, which is almost 100 US$ per shipment- so buying 2k$ parts in 10 shipments is not a clever idea!



Sorry, but I had to vent a bit..

AlpineRAM

edwinsmith

What are the requirements for a company to ship a product into Austria? Maybe it's just to complicated or expensive. Perhaps the problem is closer to home.

I agree however that the company should have checked the requirements for your location before making the sale and perhaps a disclaimer should be posted to the effect that the shipping is subject to the government regulations for the particular country. But nobody should expect a U.S. company to ship something to Cuba no matter what their website says.

Edwin

BigBlue

If they have to ship through the USPS then it gets very complicated. You have 200 forms, 30 signatures, a blood test, drug dogs, finger printing, retinal scanning to go through before they tell you that your package isn't properly packaged and they won't ship it until it's done right (aka their way) and that you must step out of line to repackage it and then wait in line once again before you can ship it.

Lary Ellis (Top)

Ok I had to do a little reading between the lines and I admit some assumption on my part here as well BUT........Me thinks somebody must be running low on peanut butter again

Smkndzl

the other big thing over there for my family is pancake mix , they love that stuff over there along with peanut butter. I use to help out a guy over in GB with airplane parts , he would pay direct to the supplier and I would go pick it up and remove the billing and ship it UPS as recondition parts and mail him the billings. worked for him , if I can help you in that way , give me a shout.

AlpineRAM

Lary, hmmm I think you've discovered my motives

What really makes me mad with those companies is that on the website you have the option to enter your address inside US- or outside US, with dropdown menu to select Austria (and even Cuba- I've verified that) and then as a result you get a shipping quote to a certain address in Austria. It's not as if it had been my assumption that they would do it. They had Austria in their shipment forms and they even gave me a shipping quote. Then I accepted the quote and entered my credit card number and clicked on "order" and after some seconds I got a form that said "thank you for your order shipment to destinations outside USA allow 3-7 days and my address and the article I ordered on it- and within minutes my credit card gets billed. After about a week they send an e-mail that they do not ship to Austria, inside US only- so why do they list a load of countries they will ship to on their websites if they want only inside US business?
The government regulations for shipping from the USA to Austria are very simple on the European side. A list of the contents, an invoice if applicable and a personal (no PO box) address for the customs duties. All the taxes and duties are to be paid by the receiver.
John that is a really good idea, and I'll contact you via PM.

Thanks!

Markus