Rant on shipping

[California]

The mig knurled drive roller arrived from China in 12 days. I learned a couple of things:

SpeedPAK shipping is an affiliate of Ebay. Choose the vendor who uses them! They apparently fill an air cargo pod to send over every couple of days. Their tracking reports are real. I see my package arrived in San Francisco addressed to their US branch then was handed to USPS for 'final mile'.

Ebay seller chnsalescom seems to specialize in welding accessories and actually stocks what they sell. They have 100% positive feedback which is rare among China vendors. Recommended!

That is in contrast to other sellers, who drop-ship, ie accept your order then have another vendor send it to you. If your industrial stuff is listed among womens clothing and Christmas decorations (example!) that's likely a drop-shipper. A seller's feedback can reveal what else he's selling - and whether it ever arrived.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Beat this...ordered bayor bug killer. They shipped wrong product. 2 days to get permission to return it thank you which involved 3 hours printing and shipping, $40, I had to pay.

I was desperate, as soon as the wrong stuff was delivered I reordered the original bayor product from another amazon vender.

The 2nd vendor sent THE SAME WRONG STUFF.! An obvious problem on their end. Thank goodness I refused shipment the 2nd. Time.

Now they are fighting me re the $40 return postage that I was forced to pay. Classic Catch 22.

I continue to receive these computer generated e mails from amazon that you can’t respond to. They just gave me permission, again, to return the product I returned 10 days ago.....Artificial Intelligence?.....Artificial Stupidity!

All the time I’ve heard about the amazing amazon customer service. Not as far as I’m concerned.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^^

You must be buying quite a bit of it, to make it worth paying $40 to return the stuff. The worst return that I ever did was a portable battery operated hot shower from Cabelas it had a bad pump so I sent it back using their return label. That took almost all of my refund, for an item which was defective. I didn't do business with them for a long time after that, but started again when my employer started giving us Cabela's gift certificates for Christmas.

 

[Arthur Douglas]

My rant on shipping concerns tax on shipping. Never heard of such a thing. Apparently some recent federal case, now it's on a state-by-state basis. And plenty do. When you're talking about an attachment that's pretty expensive (and heavy!), and then you're charged tax on shipping to boot, feels like a boot in the pants. :shocked:IMO, fwiw, etc.

 

[Jstpssng]

My rant on shipping concerns tax on shipping. Never heard of such a thing. Apparently some recent federal case, now it's on a state-by-state basis. And plenty do. When you're talking about an attachment that's pretty expensive (and heavy!), and then you're charged tax on shipping to boot, feels like a boot in the pants. :shocked:IMO, fwiw, etc.

We don't have tax on shipping yet, but when I ordered my wheel weights they gave me a price "plus shipping" which turned out to be around $150. When they wrote the slip up they rolled it all together, so I had to pay an extra $8.25 in sales tax.

 

[Doofy]

Cabelas went in the crapper the minute they merged with Bass Pro Shops. I will no longer support them after they totally screwed up a $250 Gift Certificate that I had given to my Father-in-Law for Christmas. It took four tries to find a jacket they would mail to AK, only to receive one that didn't fit. Returns were a total nightmare too. For a span of about 30 years, I was spending about 1K a year with not one problem. Sad when a Great company fades to mediocrity.

 

[California]

I just prepared an Amazon return today for my daughter. A dress that looked ok on a skinny little model was like a tent, so back it went. No argument. Free return if you take it to a UPS shipping center within 30 days but we paid $6 (subtracted from the refund) for UPS to come pick it up here. Assuming UPS arrives tomorrow as scheduled, [update - they did], a painless process.


And - the $5 LED flashlight from Hong Kong finally arrived on 64th day after I paid. The bar code had a caption 'Delivery scan not required'. They must have chosen China Post's cheapest option. Online tracking still says this is in Singapore and never went through outbound Customs or the next step, 'hand to airline'.

Next time I'll choose a vendor that uses SpeedPAK shipping. They got the mig wire roller here in 12 days.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've never warmed to online shipping without a nearby return location...

Years ago I did buy a lot from Sears and returns were as easy as dropping off at any Sears store... Grainger is excellent too.

Ordering things from Tractor Supply, Northern Tool and any of another dozen places and it is crap shoot... either goes amazingly well or one problem after another.

Recently bought some Jackson Perkins Roses for Mom's garden... she is in California and the Rose stock shipped from California... 10 days underway and I called concerned about plant damage... 3 of the 4 Roses to my surprise are doing well... one, the large one is a Zero... been 30 days and no sign of life... although I was told it takes time...

 

[ultrarunner]

One more thing...

The clinic at the Hospital has been getting after hour deliveries, signature required... medical drugs and devices, just left at the front door on weekends...

I guess the big delivery companies figure lost drug claims are just a cost of doing business?

Signature Required doesn't mean much today and the same for Certified Mail Return Receipt.

There was a time when real ID was needed to accept delivery for Drugs.

 

[dragoneggs]

I've maybe said this before but I have had pretty much zero issues with Amazon shipping/returning and I do a bunch of online purchasing for business and personal needs/wants. The few times there was an issue, the return or exchange was painless. I should probably look for some wood to knock on I guess, listening to some stories here.

One thing I don't buy online are clothes unless I have physically seen/tried them... sizes vary. I alway try something on first, if buying locally sometimes my wife will 'outfit' me but she fully expects to return the item if it doesn't fit or I don't like it. Online clothing seems a crap shoot.