[mattfenne]

Hi Ladies and Gents....

I've been neglecting my National Service by not posting on the UK formus before, so greetings from the East of England....

Just wondering if anyone else has had problems ordering stuff from abroad...:

On 3rd April - put in an order for a new set of wheels to a company in the states as I'd damaged mine and couldn't find a company in the UK that supplied them so delt with the US vendor directly from the forums. On April 6th my card was charged.... Today I received a letter saying my wheels had arrived at UK customs 26th MAY and were waiting for me to call up the British Handling company to discuss storage, handling, VAT and customs charges.

I'd been following my 'order status' with google and hadn't had any updates since the sixth of April and had sent a few emails to get an update - with no joy. I'm relieved they're here, but.... From what the bloke on the phone said, it's going to cost best part of £300 to get them from the buggers at customs and delivered.

WTF - I may be niaive, but I thought the price I paid would get the wheels delivered to my door - assuming the vendor would be dealling with all that. If I hadn't already paid my credit card bill a month ago, I'd tell the buggers to keep 'em....

Most of this is bloody customs, the charges and the delay since the 26th - typical - and I know now the Gov's gotta get its (300) pound(s) of flesh, but it took seven weeks to get here - I could have sailed over and picked them up myself in less time....

I noticed a thread of someone else that had seemed to have had issues with wheels over an 18 month period.... Bloody hellll.... so I suppose my 2 months is nothing....

It's just US vendors seem to have lots of choice for mods - probably becuase of the larger market and more demand, but I'm wondering if:

Anyone has had any other BAD stories/cautionary tales of ordering items from abroad....

Anyone has any Good stories of ordering from abroad, with good contacts....

..... Oh, and thinking of getting some black exhaust tips for my car as the stock chrome one on the right always gets dirty (but left one stays pretty clean - not michanically minded so don't know why....) - anybody delt with the cyber chap on here (don't wanna wait anothr 2 months and pay 3 times the price....)

Well, it's a shame my first UK post is a bit of a moan - if my wheels ever get here, I've got a couple more small mods to add with them and I'll post some pics up....

Anywho - Cheers all - take care

Matt

[dxb335d]

Sorry to here of your woes.

Finally you have said hello here. Ive tried to say hello to you before.

Welcome to E90post UK and also hope you get yoir problem resolved ASAP.

[mattfenne]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

Sorry to here of your woes.

Finally you have said hello here. Ive tried to say hello to you before.

Welcome to E90post UK and also hope you get yoir problem resolved ASAP.

Cheers! I'll get it sorted - although it'll cost me....

Apologies for not getting in contact before.... I've had all sorts of trouble accessing my account and sending/receiving emails -- mostly of my own doing, but I think I've got it sorted now

Nice to hear from you - hope to be part of the UK community now

[E92Fan]

All US vendors sell products with the terms that all customs duty and other associated charges are paid for by the purchaser, at the point of delivery or where the goods enter the country. US vendors and other overseas vendors will never take responsibility of paying the customs duty. Neither are they expected to advise of the cost of customs duty, as this will vary from country to country. The handling charges for getting your parcel through customs will also vary, depending on which carrier or agent is being used. For instance, DB Schenker is more expensive in terms of its customs handling charges than ParcelForce...

Sorry you've found out the hard way... it's not really the US vendor's fault however!! And yes, you're lucky that your wheels arrived in two months, as opposed to eighteen..!!!

[mattfenne]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

All US vendors sell products with the terms that all customs duty and other associated charges are paid for by the purchaser, at the point of delivery or where the goods enter the country. US vendors and other overseas vendors will never take responsibility of paying the customs duty. Neither are they expected to advise of the cost of customs duty, as this will vary from country to country. The handling charges for getting your parcel through customs will also vary, depending on which carrier or agent is being used. For instance, DB Schenker is more expensive in terms of its customs handling charges than ParcelForce...

Sorry you've found out the hard way... it's not really the US vendor's fault however!! And yes, you're lucky that your wheels arrived in two months, as opposed to eighteen..!!!

Cheers.... Yes, I did find out the hard (and expensive) way - and just my luck DB Schenker is the carrier so - greeeat

7 weeks is not 18 months - so I've been 'lucky' in that respect - however, working on a military base as I do, a colleague in the US forces ordered the exact same wheels from the exact same vendor the exact same way and recieved his wheels in 10 days with no charges! Guess I'll join up!

Heheh, perhaps I should have gone with the VMRs a UK orders in batch..., but, I'm my own worst enemy - if you want something you can't get any other way - I suppose you'll go above and beyond.... You don't have to like it though

[Dr Dave]

Buy an SUV in the States and stash the wheel in the loadspace - no taxes and fairly quick!

A mate of mine did that - bought a Dodge Ram (!!) and loaded a £6000 exhaust tube bending machine in the loadspace! Way to go!

[Serjames]

yep figure on upto 25% on top for VAT and import / handling charges.

Oh, if it's DB shenker it's worth while offering to pick up direct from their dopot as this will save you 40 odd quid.

SJ

[creepy coupe]

I was recently quoted a price for a set of alloys from a US company, who wanted to ship them 80 miles from my home address, which meant a 160 mile round trip to collect,

Although I understood I would have to pay the import duty on the wheels, as the same is true of order we send to the US

[Steve748]

I have dealt with Derek aka Cyba and his products are excellent and the service is quick.

I have managed to avoid import duty by getting the seller to mark the goods as second hand/used.

It's not suprising the wheels can take a while to get here if they use surface, Air will be quicker but expensive

[mattfenne]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

Buy an SUV in the States and stash the wheel in the loadspace - no taxes and fairly quick!

A mate of mine did that - bought a Dodge Ram (!!) and loaded a £6000 exhaust tube bending machine in the loadspace! Way to go!

Haha! That's the way to go Anything not to let customs and excise get their grubby fingers on more tax....

Originally Posted by Serjames

yep figure on upto 25% on top for VAT and import / handling charges.

Oh, if it's DB shenker it's worth while offering to pick up direct from their dopot as this will save you 40 odd quid.
SJ

Yes, cheers for the tip -- I'll be factoring that in if I ever order from the US again.... I would go and pick up the wheels at heathrow, it would only be 120 mile round-trip, but they're being delivered tomorrow so..., wheel see what they look like (okay, bad pun, but I gotta laugh about it....)

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

I was recently quoted a price for a set of alloys from a US company, who wanted to ship them 80 miles from my home address, which meant a 160 mile round trip to collect,

Although I understood I would have to pay the import duty on the wheels, as the same is true of order we send to the US

Did you go ahead with the order??

Yes, I was definately niaive - but this was my first order to the states.... should have looked into it though.... It's such a shame as there just seems to be a lot more variety and larger shops in the states - becuase of their huge markets I suppose.... It's the same with sporting goods - google sports equipment using .com and then .co.uk and you will see the differences in choices although, we do have the monopoly on footie stuff

Originally Posted by Steve748

I have dealt with Derek aka Cyba and his products are excellent and the service is quick.

I have managed to avoid import duty by getting the seller to mark the goods as second hand/used.

It's not suprising the wheels can take a while to get here if they use surface, Air will be quicker but expensive

Yes, that's a good point -- either way it was going to take a while....

Thanks for the info on Cyber -- I'll check out his stuff -- looking at the black chrome exhaust tips as it drives me crazy having one of the tips blackened after a couple of days of washing....

[Steve748]

I went for the blue tips but I would go for plain if there is a next time.

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by mattfenne

Did you go ahead with the order??

No I didn't

[MO_1]

Originally Posted by Steve748

I have managed to avoid import duty by getting the seller to mark the goods as second hand/used.

Can you avoid import duty by getting the seller to mark goods as a gift

[G33]

apparently u cud a few moons ago but theyre not as dumb as they used to be... so ive been told

[mattfenne]

Well.... My 'tainted' wheels arrived this Thursday - I opened them and they look good, but I'm still smarting from not doing my research....

I'm having them put on next Friday with a couple other bits at my bmw dealership

So, I'm hoping to put a few pics up after that....

Thanks for the feedback, fellas

Matt