USPS to Australia
My children are forever buying stuff from the USA on eBay.
Not only does USPS provide tracking with their "Priority Mail International " service they get their purchases delivered within a 4 to 7 day period.
we sort of think of it as a miracle service
Second the motion....I had the brown company deliver a very expensive 7ch sound amplifier that had been double boxed and double padded. It had a very bad dent in the box and I tried to refuse delivery....They did everything but call the cops on me...Ended up the manufacturer who shipped it said it had been "abused" and therefore not covered by warranty, and the brown said if the manufacturer wanted insurance it should have bought some.. I called the repair person who looked it over and he said it looked as if it had been dropped "at least 20 feet"..... The amp was unrepairable, broken by the shipper ( Brown) who denied any responsibility. Net result I lost $2400 bucks on an amp that I never even got to see...and I no longer do business with brown or Outlaw..
Fedex has their flaws, but they're basically honest people.
pat_c wrote:
I've had several bad experiences with the Big Brown, and now will always pay a little extra for FedEx--especially when my 5D is involved.
UPS has been notorious for damaging or losing shipments over the years. I would highly recommend not using them for anything of high value or subject-able to shock damage. I never use them for camera gear and I've never had a damaged shipment as a result. FedX does a pretty good job. I've found the USPS to be fairly reliable as well. If I'm shipping camera gear, I go with FexX.
I order most of my Canon stuff from B&H and only a few things from Amazon, but from my friends' experiences, Amazon has been dealing with returns for any reason very very well... though I've never had any real problem with B&H. B&H is very professional NY and Amazon has been "friendlier"... friendly isn't a bad thing.
I've had great experiences with Amazon. Most recently I ordered a filter from Adorama and was notified that it had shipped. Weeks after their claimed shipping date, and long after the official expected date of delivery, I still had no filter. Emails and calls to Adorama got nothing but "wait longer, it will probably show up." When I finally gave up on Adorama and got in touch with Amazon by email they responded very promptly, and quickly refunded my credit card. The filter never appeared, but Amazon won my confidence.
I ordered from B&H Photo, but I went and picked up my UPS parcel at their Melbourne, Australia depot because I wasn't at home. Everything was great, though I had to carry it home on the train To UPS's credit arranging for a pick up was very simple.
B&H Photo forgot to include a freebie with my 400D, so I emailed them and without any denial or complaint they sent me that item for free. UPS decided to leave it under my door mat even though I was at home but all's well that end's well, I have had a positive experience with UPS and B&H Photo
Tim Ashton wrote:
USPS to Australia
My children are forever buying stuff from the USA on eBay.
Not only does USPS provide tracking with their "Priority Mail International " service they get their purchases delivered within a 4 to 7 day period.
we sort of think of it as a miracle service
From what I've heard USPS is a much better route to go when accepting parcels. Unlike UPS or Fedex they don't have a tendency to leave things on the porch.. So why don't more vendors use them?
I love the title of this thread! That advertising has begged for this response since its inception... That being said, I have never experianced any of the horror stories recounted by posters above from any carrier. I have always felt UPS service to be inferior to Fed-EX and other non-USPS carriers (at least in my area).
I hate UPS! Here is one for you. I work in the pro audio business and receive UPS and FEDEX daily. One of my vendors that normally uses FEDEX shipped me a $2500 Soundcraft mixer via UPS. When it arrived it looked like it had been sitting in a foot of water. The box was destroyed and UPS tried tapeing the end of the box closed and delivering it! That afternoon I discovered the box buried deep under the other packages and called for a pickup claiming water damage. The driver picked up the package and about a week later it shows back up at my store in a different box. They had cut out the shipping label and packing slip and put it on the new box. Inside the box was the water damaged mixer. UPS clearly did not want to pay the damage claim and after several calls and arguements with their customer service agent, I had to resort to calling my field rep for Soundcraft and get him involved. It took over five weeks before they finally agreed and picked up the damaged mixer.
The best thing you can ever do if at all possible is if you suspect the package is damaged, do not sign for it and refuse delivery and contact the vendor. Most vendors require a signature on delivery for high value items so UPS and FEDEX should never leave a $2500 camera on your doorstep without your signature.
jamesf99 wrote:
I'm not sure what this means. Can you explain with examples?
It means that if Amazon orders 10,000,000 items from me every year that I won't be picky if they insist I take back 1000 with no questions asked.
BTW, Walmart does this to manufacturers in a BIG way with pricing. They order such a huge amount that they DEMAND rock bottom pricing or they find another supplier.
Walmart also demands like 90 days or more before they have to pay for their
goods..meaning the goods are bought and paid for by the consumer in most cases before Walmart even sees the bill...Good to be the 8000 lb gorilla..
BTW, Walmart does this to manufacturers in a BIG way with pricing. They order such a huge amount that they DEMAND rock bottom pricing or they find another supplier.
Out of curiosity, I took out the 5d and tested it. Seems to work fine. I'm still waiting for the exchange, though. Water and cameras don't make for good longevity.
As far as shipping goes I pull loads for all the major shipping firms. If you could see how they are loaded in my trailer it would make you wonder how anything ever gets anywhere in one piece. It's no wonder they don't allow me to take photos of it. The home equivalent of it would be if you took your groceries out of the bags and just tossed everything in the trunk of your car from five feet away and slammed the lid.
Gary Petersen wrote:
As far as shipping goes I pull loads for all the major shipping firms. If you could see how they are loaded in my trailer it would make you wonder how anything ever gets anywhere in one piece. It's no wonder they don't allow me to take photos of it. The home equivalent of it would be if you took your groceries out of the bags and just tossed everything in the trunk of your car from five feet away and slammed the lid.
To UPS's credit arranging for a pick up was very simple.