I am in a bad mood now. I ordered MT couplers and some rolling stock on oktober 15. The order supposed to be a Christmass gift from my brothers and sisters in law. Mark (4nscale.com) dropped an e-mail on oktober 30 that the order was shipped. On december 20 still nothing arrived and contacted Mark. He ensured the order was shipped on oktober 30 with Global Priority. He passed the package express number to check the local customs. Did a check and local customs told me nothing has arrived. Contacted local Post office and they traced the package, US postal services replied that the package arrived in Louisville december 23. On december 26 Mark e-mailed that the order arrived at his place because it was sent back from Europe by General Logistics Services. He will send it to my adress again next week with no extra costs. Did a Google search on this compagny and their logo is "Quality Counts". Dropped an e-mail to "GLS" that they are of great quality to ruine someones Christmass and told them they are a bunch of meatheads. Not clever, but better than a hart attack. All orders i have made were posted with Global Priority, this is my experience: first order it took 3 months and 3 weeks second 2 weeks third 2 weeks fourth 4 weeks fifth 1 week less than 2 moths sixth still not arrived after 2 moths Maybe I should start another hobby. Paul
Paul, Sorry to hear that. My girlfriend and I are in business (non-train) and we are regularly asked to ship from the U.S. to various countries. Unfortunately, many times things do not work out as planned and we usually decline to ship because the chances of the goods arriving at their destination are not always high. I know that doesn't help but you are not alone. Charlie
I have had good results with USPS Express Mail. They will airmail a good size package for $18.25, and you should get it in 4-6 business days.
Thanks Charlie, good to hear I am not alone with this one. Pray59, Global Priority = USPS express mail and that didn't work at all.
I've had many deliveries from the US and (to date) none has been adrift. But I have not usually specified special delivery (too mean ). US to UK by ordinary mail (meaning it may go by sea) is quoted as 6 to 8 weeks, but quite a lot of the time lighter packages seem to get thrown on an airliner or fast ship anyway and arrive in a couple of weeks. The spread of your deliveries looks much like my experience (only your first order is way out of line), so I wonder if you have actually been getting the delivery you think (and perhaps are paying for). (That said, our Christmas presents from my sister in New York haven't arrived yet . Maybe the recent terrorist alerts mean they are checking packages more thoroughly.) Getting returned to sender is unfortunate, but probably just a good old foul-up. If you really want/need guaranteed delivery you probably have to cut out national post offices (sorry) and use UPS, FedEx or similar. Like choosing Kato or Athearn 'blue' locos . You shouldn't give it up anyway. Just kitbash your expectations a bit .
I am shipping stuff in from the US almost weekly, and THE most reliable and easily the fastest form of delivery is, believe it or not, the US postal service priority mail. We had 200 CD's and 2 PC games sent...quotes from Fed-Ex and UPS were in the region of $300 US. US postal service was $76. Delivery was 4 days.... not bad for an 9000 mile delivery from Texas to Australia. This is the sort of time frame that ALL deliveries arrive in. I recommend the US Parcel service every time...they even insure.
Paul, I also have never had a problem and I do buy regularly from Mark. I always prefer to use airmail as it is faster and more reliable.
Thanks guys. I don't think Mark (4nscale.com) is the problem, it is shipping to Europe that seems to cause the problem. Like Mike said maybe shipping by Fedex or similar should help, but that will give extra cost. Forgot to tell in the first post that when the packet arrives in Belgium I have to pay 25% income taxes, with no LHS in the neighborhood one must be a sort of Rockefeller to stay in the hobby. Paul
Like you said, the problem is with those meatheads you mentioned earlier. It seems that you may have to order in July so you get it by xmas. I feel for ya.
I guess i'm lucky! I've had lots of shipments from the US and Canada, and all have come through with no trouble, either air (about 1 week) or ground (6-8 weeks), all sent using standard "post office" services. We also get stung for tax though (17.5%) if it's above a certain value...
Additional thought. The trader I use mostly in this country is a Walthers dealer, and has a facility where I can order on the Walthers site, and have it dealt with by the local store. I then get it shipped when they have it, and pay once in £GBP, no tax, and a small shipping charge. It works out about the same as a "direct from Walthers" order in price, but I don't have to bother paying the tax separately...
Can I ask who that is? I often want odd bits that aren't really worth ordering separately / individually. (Reply off list if you don't want to blow his cover too much )
Sure Model Motors, Bourne End, Berks. I used to be fairly local to the shop there, but I still use them to pre-order any upcoming items i want or get hold of bits due to me not having a local shop here in Exeter (that does US stuff, Bachmann excepting.) If you're doing an order via the Walthers site, go to Checkout, click "local hobby shop", then Great Britain, and there he is, it gives terms & conditions etc. Shipping is £3 per order. Like I say, it doesn't work out any cheaper than direct, but you get billed in local currency and you don't have to keep a bundle of cash for paying the tax to the postman!
Thanks Martyn. I'll have a look at them. I too lack a LHS for US - but that's not so unusual in the UK . Robert: We pay taxes on almost ALL items (the only exception I can think of offhand is cold food (don't ask )), so we get used to it. Martyn said 17.5% but he's a bit optimistic . We pay 17.5% VAT (Value Added Tax, which is like a sales tax) on most things that are in the UK already. When imported there is usually a customs duty (import tax) too, which for model trains is about 4% I think. The "rip off" is that the government add up the item value plus the carriage fees and charge us 4% of that. Then they add the 4% on and charge us 17.5% of that total in VAT. (So a $90 engine with $10 carriage fee will cost us about $122.) We get taxed on the tax . OTOH, if the order is small (about $20 or less) it gets passed through with no charges at all. And I have had at least one package of $50+ come with no tax charge , so I can't complain too much.
When I was a lad, the Canadian $ was worth US $ 1.15, but the Lionel list price in Canada was 150% of the US price.
You need to hook up with someone in the USA that can send you stuff. Could that be taxed too? Like if I sent ya a package? I am curious about that cold food tax break...
I get regular packages from the US and all are sent Global Priority. They arrive between 4 and 7 days after posting, and I have never had one take a long time. Also I tend to order in small amounts to keep below the tax liability limit £18 I think. It is cheaper to pay extra postage than get stung for tax!
Part of the tax thing is that vat is only on certain things, and is related to the stated value of the item on the customs note. "Model Trains" are a vatable item. "Spare Parts" are not. "Gifts" (as from a private person to another) are not unless declared at a high value. All of which throws more variables into the mix, plus as Mike says, occasionally they just miss one! (Don't know wether it's because they have a busy day & don't check them all, or wether they only catch a certain percentage?)
Well, when VAT replaced Purchase Tax it didn't apply to food unless eaten in a restaurant (I think - someone correct me if I'm wrong). But then the Golden Arches grew big and there developed the anomaly of whether food was 'to go' or not. So now (I think) we pay tax on all food eaten in, and hot food to go. So a burger costs the same either way, but a chocolate shake is cheaper to go . The logic is that if I go to the corner shop and buy a bottle of milk and a tin of beans I shouldn't pay tax on them. One of the upsides of all this tax is that I can fall ill or have an accident anytime I like and not have to worry about paying the medicare . And of course we have a wonderful public transport system. Oh, no, that's private now. Except for the several billion a year the government pays in. Er ... help me someone .
