This is a rundown of my experiences with a USA VW supplier. What you will read is not someones opinion, but transcripts of kept emails and factual events. It acts as a simple warning for the Australian VW community when thinking about importing parts from America from this specific company.
Firstly I placed my order on the 16/02/05
I then received an email titled "XXXXXXXX Order Confirmation". ( the company name was on the title but I have witheld it at this stage)
The confirmation listed everything that I had ordered, shipping costs with DHL and then the total cost oweing, it included info as stated:
Thank you for your order. Your order number is 29809, placed 2/17/05 at 2:51AM.
Bill to: Patrick XXXXXXXXXXX
Ship to: Patrick XXXXXXXXXXXX
Payment Info: Credit card, MasterCard Patrick XXXXXX
Shipping Method: DHL - 10 Business Days
This was fine. (note the agreed shipping method was listed, the total cost including shipping was also listed but is not shown)
On the same day I received an email titled Credit Card Form for order 29809, this requested a scanned copy of my credit card and drivers license be sent to Amanda at XXXXXX. I sent these details via email the same day, no problem.
Then 5 days later, I received another email from Amanda stating:
Unfortunately the size and weight of this order is too large for DHL to handle,
therefore to ship this AIR freight we must have a additional $240.00.
As u can imagine I was shocked and rang my credit card company straight away, to find that the original cost of the order ($1680aus) had already been withdrawn. At this stage the order had been approved a week, I had an order confirmation stating the total cost and DHL 10 day door to door shipping guarantee, and they after 7days were suddenly asking for $240 american more.
I emailed asking an explanation and received an email from the manager, Kris, stating:
Unfortunately the size and weight of this order is too large for DHL to handle,
therefore we would gladly ship this Ocean freight as the invoice stands, but to ship this order AIR freight we must have a additional 240.00. Overseas orders are estimated on our web site and I apologize for this added freight, but we cannot ship this AIR for the freight already paid. Our AUS customers are very important to us and I hope you understand my position..
I then replied with this:
Kris,
As the transaction has already been approved, legally you are obliged to honour the transaction as agreed upon. I have been in contact with previous users of XXXXX in Australia and have been assured that orders of similar size and larger have been completed by DHL. This is however beside the point, the transaction was approved and I would expect XXXXXXX to honour the agreement.
The vw community is a large but tight one in Australia, the only reason I am actually using XXXXXXX is because of a positive referral, which I received from a user of the vw website and forum that I am a member.
If DHL has problems with an order of that size, then they should not have been listed as a shipping option during the transaction, however they were and the transaction is complete it is now your legal responsibility to honour that transaction.
The fact that this transaction was approved almost a week ago and I am still speaking to XXXXXXX is of a great concern to me.
As I said previously the Australian vw community is tight, I would feel it my duty to inform fellow veedubbers of XXXXXX handling of this matter if it is not resolved very promptly. There are other online vw part distributors who I am sure would not be as presumptuous as to ask for additional money after the completion of a transaction.
I hope you understand my position.
He then wrote back this:
Sorry Patrick, I cannot ship your order DHL, Ocean freight only. please let me know if you would like me to ship this Ocean freight or if you would like me to cancel the order. Again I am sorry for the inconvenience. Please remember that we are one of the only companies that will actually ship to AUS, and we definitely try to provide the best service and the best prices and freight rates. Thank you
After this I wrote this on the 25/02/05:
Kris,
Ok, what if the set of empi 5 wheels are removed from the order? would that be a small enough order to access DHL? Obviously the cost of shipping quoted by DHL would be less and the cost of the wheels would not be charged or reimbursed, as with the saving on the shipping.
Could you please let me know ASAP as to whether this option is possible and whether the order can be adjusted or whether the original order needs to be cancelled and a new order produced.
even though this was thier stuff up I received no response, this is with them already having taken close to $1700 off my credit card well over a week ago.
So I sent this on the 2/03/05:
Now I am writing again, I am very annoyed that after XXXXXX has made an error with an order, they have not made every effort to resolve the problem. I note that you have charged my credit card yet I have no response from you when I, not you, try to figure out a solution for your error. I am waiting for your response
At this point kris said that;
he was unable to do the transaction and unwilling to remove the empi 5's fromthe order. He said do the order as it is by ship, pay the extra money and get DHL or cancel. He then offered me two free t-shirts for my troubles and apologised for any inconvenience.
I then asked him to cancel my order and return my money to my account, which was done.
That is it for me, I was out but Steve thought if he put just his section of the order thru (half the size it would be ok)
So this is what happened:
Steve put the order thru, it was a great deal smaller than the previous order of mine and there was less than half the size of the previous order (about 600aus). Steve chose DHL as his choice of shipping, confirmed the order, received his order confirmation with the type of shipping and total cost the next day no probs. He then received an email from Amanda requesting a copy of his credit card and license the same day, he sent it that day no probs.
Two days later Steve gets an email requesting an additional $110 US for shipping from Amanda, when he questions this he receives this email from Kris the manager:
Hello Steve,
due to the size and weight and the distance you are from us, we have found your parcel to be too large and heavy to ship to you VIA air freight. I will give you the same option to I gave to Patrick. I would be glad to ship this product ocean freight to you today as the freight you have already paid will cover this shipment. Our overseas rates on our website are calculated by weight but sometimes and in this case oversize and overweight charges apply, therefore I am giving you the option to choose. Ocean freight as is or DHL for a additional 110.00. The total freight to your door is costing us 307.00 . You have paid 132. So if you pay the additional 110.00 we will be able to ship air today. Sorry for the inconvenience, please let me know today, thank you. Please remember that we ship to AUS everyday and 95% of the order ship without delay or oversize charges.
Steve then wrote back this the same day:
I have heard on the www.aussieveedubbers.com that some Australian customers have successfully ordered a set of wheels with other parts from you, using DHL with no problems and no additional charges. Why am I (or Patrick) any different?
You state "due to the size and weight and the distance you are from us, we have found your parcel to be too large and heavy to ship to you VIA air freight" yet further in your same email you state "or DHL for a additional 110.00".
One minute you tell me DHL cannot ship due to package size and further on you tell me that they can at an additional cost. What is going on?
Furthermore, you state that "Our overseas rates on our website are calculated by weight but sometimes and in this case oversize and overweight charges apply". How can you justify charging extra for shipping after your website has already calculated shipping charges based on the collective weight of the items that I have just ordered. Surely the magnitude of my order isn't unusual.
And lastly you proudly boast that "Please remember that we ship to AUS everyday and 95% of the order ship without delay or oversize charges." Now from my experience 2 out of 2 is looking fairly ordinary in my opinion.
In the first order with Patrick which consisted of 2 sets of wheels, some panels and body rubbers etc, you had confirmed the order, deducted the money and then notified Patrick 4 or 5 days after the money had been debited that he would be liable for additional costs. This is highly unnacceptable business practise. However he graciously accepted your error and reasons for the mistake. You told Patrick that the size of the order was the main issue. Now I have halved the order, and gone through the similar process of ordering, confirming the credit card details via a seperate form etc and again am being told of a miscalculation in shipping a couple of days after the order has been confirmed. You can well imgaine I am getting very frustrated.
I repeat I am not willing to pay additional shipping costs (nor should I have to) and should this matter not be resolved immediately I will refer the matter to the Consumer Protection Board of Australia. I don't like having to do this, however I feel forced to do so. Please let me know of your final decision before I go to this extreme.
Strong words I know but from a very frustrated customer who has now been trying to get an order done for parts for over 20 days.
the next day kris wrote:
Yes I have heard of them and we do send allot of the members parts daily. I would be glad to ship this order Ocean freight today at the price you have paid. Or the best I can do on the DHL freight is a additional 100.00 US. I
never said that DHL could not ship the product, I told you that there would be a additional charge to ship this order due to the size and weight. Believe me, I do not want to spend my time pissing off customers, so at no time is XXXX breaking any rules or regulations as far as doing business. Our web site and print catalog states that prices are subject to change without notice. Also our website also states that we reserves the right to change or cancel shipping at any time. These wheels are not available to you at any better deal anywhere, I am trying to make this work for you. Please let me know if you would like me to ship or cancel this order
today..
Interesting that Kris says that his prices are subject to change without notice, but adding additional shipping costs after the order confirmation has been sent is crazy. He also says, "... I never said that DHL could not ship the product" mmm thats funny cuz in a previous email he says this "...due to the size and weight and the distance you are from us, we have found your parcel to be too large and heavy to ship to you VIA air freight". Wow someone needs to get their facts straight!
So Steve feeling quite battered and bruised wrote this:
Kris,
I have decided that I would like the items shipped via DHL for the extra $100 US as required. I am not at all happy about the situation however I need the items ASAP and cancelling the order will not help my situation.
Please be aware that I have kept copies of all correspondance and I will be posting on the AVD website for other forum members, so that they are aware of what may happen when they place an order with XXXXX. I am interested to see other people's reactions to what has happened.
You mention that XXXXX reserves the right to change or cancell shipping at your discretion, however I still cannot fatham how you could deduct the amount from Patrick's credit account, and then request additional payment
days later. In both our opinions the debiting of the Patrick's card completed the transaction and agreement to ship everything at the agreed rate as per your website. You have failed to offer us a satisfactory
explanation on this so I would like to get other's opinions to see if I'm being unreasonable.
At this point Steve at the advice of myself checked his credit card balance, the company in question had already withdrawn the original cost of the order days before, and now they were asking for more days later!!!
At this point Kris sent an email offering a discount on future transactions, yeah right!
And to end this long affair, XXXX has withdrawn the extra money from Steve's account already and we wait for the order to arrive and additional taxes to be added!
So lets have some opinions on this, and who wants to know who the supplier is?
[Edited on 12-3-2005 by Paddo]
Paddo Officially Full-On Dubber
268 posts · joined Aug 2004 ·
