Having been delighted with the latest harnesses I had bought for Tikva, and with one of their mini sales coming up I thought I would buy some more - plus a slightly different style - same strong and very well made but in a set with a matching leash, from the same seller on AliExpress. When I received an email from AliExpress telling me that the order would be closed in x number of days, I checked the order tracking details and it said "Still in transit" so I sent a message to the seller requesting another 14 days, to which they agreed. That was this last Tuesday, 19 December. On Thursday I received a letter from the main Post Office for this region, telling me that the order arrived there on 13 NOVEMBER and is waiting to be collected, BUT I have to pay $60.125 customs duty. On an order which only cost $36.46 in the first place? Parcels and small packages up to the value of $70 are not liable for any customs duty, but once in a blue moon they will check one of the thousands of parcels and packages at random, and virtually blackmail the recipient before handing it over. And this was a postage free delivery. I checked the tracking details again and all of a sudden it was marked as waiting for collection, but it should have been delivered to the mail guy on the Moshav, instead of which it had to be paid for before they would deliver it. There was a telephone number and various other numbers on the letter but I could not get through to them so asked Hai at the macolet to please do it for me - which of course he did, and managed to get them to accept payment via my card - all with one quick telephone call. So the package will be delivered to our mail guy tomorrow. Whether he will be delivering any mail to our mail boxes tomorrow waits to be seen, as he sometimes does not deliver every day. Anyhow I contacted the seller to let them know that the order had actually arrived but that it had been caught by customs which was obviously not their fault as I was just unlucky, and received a response asking me how many dogs I had and what were their measurements, as they would like to send me some gifts for being such a good customer. So I told them I have just one small dog and that they would know her size due to the size of the harnesses. And I have just received a message saying they will send a waterproof padded jacket, like the one Gareth @BronsonTheBulldog has for Mr Bronson, a collar with a plate on which they will engrave a name and telephone number, a glitter paw-shaped ID tag which they will engrave name/address/telephone number on [4 lines in total], and a strong plush squeaky toy - as if she does not have enough toys already! I have replied that I would only like the ID tag and the toy for Tikva but if they really want to send all four items and if they will agree, I will give the jacket and the collar to my vet for him to gift to his next two new puppy clients. Talk about customer service - no wonder AliExpress have such a good reputation.
We had that yesterday OH ordered something from America, paid the postage but postman left note saying couldn’t be delivered as all the postage hadn’t been paid, so he had to pay £22 extra.
Carole, they did not have to offer to send anything - I only informed them that the package had actually arrived, which I had not known on Tuesday, hence requesting another 14 days after the expected delivery date. All orders, once registered, give expected delivery dates between first and last possibilities. I blame both the Customs office for charging so much for a small package which had the cost on the normal customs label, and the main local Post Office for waiting over a month to tell me that the package was awaiting payment and collection. AliExpress is the retail section of AliBaba, who are the largest wholesalers in China - quite possibly the world - and they have their own version of Paypal called AliPay so it is so quick and easy to buy and pay for things. I would not buy any fashion clothes from them but I have bought some some Chinese kaftans - the same ones that Amazon sell at four times the price [if not more] plus postage, fabulous summer sandals, some mesh top clog type shoes, and some perfect winter slippers. Oh, and a couple of pairs of ankle-length warm lined winter boots with really thick solid rubber soles. Not all from the same seller, but all excellent quality and rather ridiculously inexpensive. My current spectacle frames also came from AliExpress - the pair I am wearing at the moment costing all of $2.45 - mind you it costs a fortune for the lenses that Amit, my optician puts in them! I know that many people say it is wrong to buy from China [or India/Pakistan] because if they sell things so cheaply how little do they pay their workers? But these same people will buy expensive branded goods which are probably made in exactly the same places by the same workers. But this particular seller did not have to offer me anything - I would have still purchased other things from them as and when wanted. I have yet to have a less than perfect transaction or a faulty/mis-described item from any AliExpress sellers but I cannot say the same for Amazon or some of the sellers on eBay. I apologise for giving prices in US$ but that is how they price things, although of course I use a Universal Currency converter but the $60.125 customs duty is ~£45. For a postage-free order costing £27.277 [today's rate of exchange].
That is really not on, Vee - the postman was not at fault for not delivering the order, I think the blame lies with the vendor in America who did not pay the correct postage, which presumably your OH had paid for together with the cost of the order.
Unbelievable - this morning I received a message from the sellers saying that they were very happy I would be donating things to Ram for him to give as gifts for some new puppy clients, so they are going to send a load of things - in small packages so they cannot be caught by Customs, for me to donate on their behalf. As you all know we do not celebrate Christmas but their oh so generous gifts will mean a lot to the new puppies who Ram gifts to them on their first visit.
