Fedex from America

thegummy

Has anyone ordered something from America delivered via Fedex recently?

I have ordered nut files that were posted two and a half weeks ago and were received in this country (in Milton Keynes) a week ago today and hasn't moved from there since.

Is this normal or is it lost somehow?

How long should it take?

Jason

thegummy said:

Has anyone ordered something from America delivered via Fedex recently?

I have ordered nut files that were posted two and a half weeks ago and were received in this country (in Milton Keynes) a week ago today and hasn't moved from there since.

Is this normal or is it lost somehow?

How long should it take?

I ordered a pedal that was stuck in the UK for about two weeks, turned up eventually all fine

clarkefan

Stuff gets stuck in Customs and they can take their time.

meltedbuzzbox

clarkefan said:

Stuff gets stuck in Customs and they can take their time.

This

And then they like to come up with random numbers for the import tax

thegummy

Cheers guys.

Really hope it doesn't take much longer I'm dying to get playing this guitar again but it doesn't have a nut at the moment.

pjf

meltedbuzzbox said:

clarkefan said:

Stuff gets stuck in Customs and they can take their time.

This

And then they like to come up with random numbers for the import tax

This... and if you have the same experience as me, they’ll charge you a £12 “processing fee” for the luxury of paying online (without which they won’t release the item for delivery). I emailed their customer service team saying that this additional charge was never agreed to; they fobbed me off with a 10 business day email response time and no way of speaking to a human being. So I paid up, robbing bastards. 

thegummy

I wish I could remember what happened the last time; I have bought these same things from the same supplier before (and regrettably sold them) but I can't remember what happened re: taxes/duty etc.

It's a shame StewMac doesn't have some kind of UK distribution because they sell so many things that are pretty exclusive to them.

thegummy

Annoyingly this still hasn't arrived and the Fedex website still says exactly the same.

So that's been 4 full weeks since it was picked up by Fedex and 3 weeks since it arrived in the UK.

Has anyone waited this kind of time or longer for goods to get through customs?

RaymondLin

I waited about a month once for a pedal from CME.

If you have the tracking you can call up and enquire. 

thegummy

RaymondLin said:

I waited about a month once for a pedal from CME.

If you have the tracking you can call up and enquire. 

There is a tracing number but when I emailed Stewmac they said it's not as good as this different number other shipment methods get and it only gives vague information.

Is it Fedex UK I would call? It's worth a shot.

Whitecat

The last FedEx package I got from the states was despatched on the 13th, delivered on the 19th. Haven’t even seen a customs bill yet... but I’ve previously had the primary invoice show up after the threatening final warning, so we’ll see. What is the latest exact tracking status @thegummy ? (As in, not just the location) - would also guess that Customs/Border Force have decided to have a close look and that they are sorely understaffed at the moment...

thegummy

It just says "Scheduled delivery: Pending" then has "in transit" and "Milton Keynes, BU".

No other info.

Whitecat

thegummy said:

It just says "Scheduled delivery: Pending" then has "in transit" and "Milton Keynes, BU".

No other info.

Grrr. You might wanna ring them in the morning. If it is in the hands of customs there is F all they can do but they should be able to at least tell you that it is. 

thegummy

Whitecat said:

thegummy said:

It just says "Scheduled delivery: Pending" then has "in transit" and "Milton Keynes, BU".

No other info.

Grrr. You might wanna ring them in the morning. If it is in the hands of customs there is F all they can do but they should be able to at least tell you that it is. 

I'll definitely phone and see what they say, cheers.

It's frustrating because I can't play this guitar until I get a nut in it and it's at least jointly my main guitar, if not my actual favourite.

Alterlifeson

I order a fair amount of music merch from the states and the US > UK portion all goes smoothly then it gets stuck in teh system at customs. I've never had anything go wrong however so it's just a waiting game.

thegummy

An update on this:

40 days after it was picked up from the shop I still haven't received it and the web page tracker still says exactly the same thing. So it seems to have gone missing; don't know if it's in Customs or not (is Milton Keynes going to be Customs?)

Very happy with StewMac though; I contacted them and they have sent a replacement order using the fastest shipping method and I've already been contacted by Customs about this one and been told it's being delivered in a couple of days.

Whitecat

thegummy said:

An update on this:

40 days after it was picked up from the shop I still haven't received it and the web page tracker still says exactly the same thing. So it seems to have gone missing; don't know if it's in Customs or not (is Milton Keynes going to be Customs?)

Very happy with StewMac though; I contacted them and they have sent a replacement order using the fastest shipping method and I've already been contacted by Customs about this one and been told it's being delivered in a couple of days.

Yikes. Glad they sorted it out. Packages do get lost. I had a pedal come from the States via USPS/Royal Mail earlier this year and Royal Mail managed to lose it but only *after* I had paid the customs fees... so somewhere in between clearance and delivery it went awol (RM thinks delivered to a wrong address, actually). Was a bit of a pain but I managed to at least get the refund on the charges and Old Blood Noise Endeavours sent a new one out for me ASAP (and helped a lot on the refund) - so big shout to them too for assisting. 

thegummy

Whitecat said:

thegummy said:

An update on this:

40 days after it was picked up from the shop I still haven't received it and the web page tracker still says exactly the same thing. So it seems to have gone missing; don't know if it's in Customs or not (is Milton Keynes going to be Customs?)

Very happy with StewMac though; I contacted them and they have sent a replacement order using the fastest shipping method and I've already been contacted by Customs about this one and been told it's being delivered in a couple of days.

Yikes. Glad they sorted it out. Packages do get lost. I had a pedal come from the States via USPS/Royal Mail earlier this year and Royal Mail managed to lose it but only *after* I had paid the customs fees... so somewhere in between clearance and delivery it went awol (RM thinks delivered to a wrong address, actually). Was a bit of a pain but I managed to at least get the refund on the charges and Old Blood Noise Endeavours sent a new one out for me ASAP (and helped a lot on the refund) - so big shout to them too for assisting. 

Oof I'm glad I hadn't paid anything yet for the last one.

How does the duty thing work? I don't remember having to pay it when I bought from Stewmac before but maybe I did. Will I get my tools delivered on Thursday or will I get a letter telling me I have to pay and then they'll deliver?

Whitecat

Depends how they send it - if it's FedEx again then they *usually* deliver first, bill you up to a week later through the post. Although there have been reports on this forum of them sometimes asking for charges up front. If it's any other method, yeah, you'll get a letter or a fee-to-pay card in the case of RM through the post and they deliver one or two days after you pay up. Depending on the value of the parcel you'll pay VAT, duty (varies depending on what it is and where it was made), and a customs clearance fee which will depend on the carrier and the value of the package. The VAT is calculated on the value of the parcel plus the cost of the shipping which is stupid but it is how it is. It's possible a prior order from Stewmac was worth less than (or declared at less than) £15 - then it wouldn't attract any additional charges.

thegummy

Whitecat said:

Depends how they send it - if it's FedEx again then they *usually* deliver first, bill you up to a week later through the post. Although there have been reports on this forum of them sometimes asking for charges up front. If it's any other method, yeah, you'll get a letter or a fee-to-pay card in the case of RM through the post and they deliver one or two days after you pay up. Depending on the value of the parcel you'll pay VAT, duty (varies depending on what it is and where it was made), and a customs clearance fee which will depend on the carrier and the value of the package. The VAT is calculated on the value of the parcel plus the cost of the shipping which is stupid but it is how it is. It's possible a prior order from Stewmac was worth less than (or declared at less than) £15 - then it wouldn't attract any additional charges.

It's DHL who are delivering it this time. They've told me it's being delivered on Thursday, there wasn't any mention of if that would be the parcel or just a vat receipt but it would be unclear, IMO, if it wasn't the actual package.

When I asked StewMac if I could upgrade to the faster shipping for the re-send (was willing to pay for it cause I've been unable to play this guitar for so long and I'm dying to) they said they'd do that for no extra cost if I wanted but warned me that it may affect how much duty/vat I'd have to pay so asked me if I still wanted to go ahead.

It's way more than £15 quid so I must have paid tax the last time (it's actually the same item I'm buying, I regrettably sold it the first time). Hoping I don't get a shock with the vat bill! Might see if there are calculators online.

Whitecat

I just had a look and I don't think I've ever received a DHL parcel from outside the EU before so not sure what their procedure or clearance fee is... it does look like you will have to pay up front though before they will deliver. With any luck you will get a bill via email or text message as it's in transit (UPS does this now if they have your electronic contact details). Speeds up waiting for a letter that often comes 2nd class. Just pray that Customs doesn't intercept it for a random secondary inspection!