Elecraft Sales service goes from bad to worse

[W8ZN]

The last 6 messages in my inbox was about this subject. I am sorry Julian had delivery issues but this should be taken up with Elecraft or the local delivery folks DIRECTLY. It adds NOTHING to a technical discussion group.

PLEASE stop posting about this!!! My delete key is starting to smoke.......
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[Terry Schieler]

G4ILO wrote:


I am sorry, this is going to be a rant, but exactly what do they think they
are playing at in Elecraft Sales?

Nearly 3 weeks ago I ordered a KXV3 and a couple of hardware upgrades for my
K3. I paid using PayPal, accepting the USPS charge which was nearly half the
cost of the actual order. When nothing was received for such a long time I
obtained at the end of last week the tracking number from Elecraft Sales and
was able to determine that the package had been stuck in customs for several
days and had just been released. When nothing was delivered again today I
used the tracking number again and was informed that they had attempted to
deliver at 12:28 today. Except that my wife and I had been in all day and
no-one had tried to deliver anything.

I contacted Sales again to find out if they had given me the right tracking
number, and eventually received a reply containing the details they had
given for shipment. One vital line of the address (house number, street
name) was missing, the phone number given bore only a 60% correlation with
mine, and the email address was an old one with one letter missing so it
wouldn't have worked even if it had still been available.

I really don't know how much clearer I could make my order than to send it
via PayPal which includes my confirmed shipping address as part of the
standard email.

Once upon a time you could order something from Elecraft and it was here in
a few days. It seems to be becoming increasingly slow, expensive and error
prone (last year I had to remind sales twice before they sent back-ordered
items.) I'm afraid this is the last time I order anything from Elecraft.

-----
Julian, G4ILO. K2 #392  K3 #222.
http://www.g4ilo.com/ G4ILO's Shack    http://www.g4ilo.com/kcomm.html KComm
for Elecraft K2 and K3   http://www.wota.org.uk/ Wainwrights On The Air

_________________________________________________________________

I ordered the K3IO remote upgrade board via the Elecraft website on Sunday,
March 8.  On Monday, March 9th, I received an email informing me that the
order had shipped via USPS and it included a tracking number.  Shipping
charge was $2.30.  Two days later on Wednesday, March 11, the board was in
my mailbox.  I must say that this is pretty typical of the delivery of items
that I've ordered from Elecraft.  I think Julian may have experienced a
shipping "fluke".  Or, Murphy got ya!

73 de Terry, W0FM



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[Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ]

Until recently we were unable to ship more expensive items like K3s via
U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to many countries because the USPS (or the
local postal service in the destination country) would NOT insure above
$500. This is still the case in Germany and a few other countries due to
restrictions on that end.

Fortunately we have recently found a way to use a combination of USPS
insurance and insurance from an on-line shipping company that works with
the USPS (Endicia) to insure K3s shipped via USPS at the full amount to
most Eu and other countries (outside of Germany). For Germany UPS is
still most common shipping method.

The reason UPS appears more expensive than USPS in some cases is because
UPS does not offer the slower USPS style shipment methods for packages
to Europe. All of the UPS shipment options are 'express'. Those prices
are close to the USPS express prices. We also have found that the end to
end tracking on UPS is much better than USPS.

We are always looking for alternate methods of shipping around the
world. Feel free to email [hidden email] directly with any
suggestions. Also, Katie, Lisa and Madelyn are very friendly and
knowledgeable in this area. They work extremely hard to ship via the
best possible method to each customer. Feel free to correspond with them
if you have any questions on your shipping method.

73,
Eric   WA6HHQ
====

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[Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ]

Guys - Time to END this thread.

There was a minor email mis-communication between Julian and Katie and
the package was actually addressed and shipped properly. I believe he
has now received it.

73, Eric  WA6HHQ


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[Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ]

This related thread has ended too :-)

73, Eric  WA6HHQ
Elecraft List Moderator
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[Julian, G4ILO]

Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote

Until recently we were unable to ship more expensive items like K3s via
U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to many countries because the USPS (or the
local postal service in the destination country) would NOT insure above
$500. This is still the case in Germany and a few other countries due to
restrictions on that end.

Fortunately we have recently found a way to use a combination of USPS
insurance and insurance from an on-line shipping company that works with
the USPS (Endicia) to insure K3s shipped via USPS at the full amount to
most Eu and other countries (outside of Germany). For Germany UPS is
still most common shipping method.

The reason UPS appears more expensive than USPS in some cases is because
UPS does not offer the slower USPS style shipment methods for packages
to Europe. All of the UPS shipment options are 'express'. Those prices
are close to the USPS express prices. We also have found that the end to
end tracking on UPS is much better than USPS.

We are always looking for alternate methods of shipping around the
world. Feel free to email [e-mail] directly with any
suggestions. Also, Katie, Lisa and Madelyn are very friendly and
knowledgeable in this area. They work extremely hard to ship via the
best possible method to each customer. Feel free to correspond with them
if you have any questions on your shipping method.

Eric, if Hendricks QRP Kits can ship a Bitx20 kit with metal case to any DX location for 15% of the cost of the item (which is $165, therefore about $25 for shipping, and it is presumably bigger and heavier than a K3 add-in module) why did a KRX3 plus a couple of mod kits requite USPS International Priority Mail at a cost of $42? Are they taking a loss on the shipping, or are they using a method you haven't discovered?

I would just like to add that the sales team are indeed very nice and Lisa has just replied to my apology for my abruptness saying she understood my frustration and would be pretty annoyed if she had thought a company she ordered something from had mis-addressed it. Wayne is even looking in to why outdated contact information keeps on cropping up whenever I order something, so hopefully some good will come of this rather embarrassing episode.

[N5GE]

On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:29:31 -0700 (PDT), "Julian, G4ILO"
<[hidden email]> wrote:

[snip]

>
>The incorrect information from the USPS website that they had tried to
>deliver the package yesterday, together with being led to believe you had
>used an incorrect shipping address, made me come to the conclusion that the
>delivery failure was due to mistakes made by Elecraft Sales. I am glad that
>was not the case and apologize to the individuals concerned, even though the
>information they provided me with was the sole reason I came to that
>conclusion.
>
>It remains true, in my opinion, that it is taking longer and costing more
>for us in Europe to order things from you. The shipping and tax collection
>costs are especially steep for smaller items. It may not be your fault, but
>it is nevertheless a discouragement to further purchases.

Perhaps it would be wise for you folks in Europe to complain to your
government(s) about the tax collection scheme they have burdened you
with.

 I am glad that you found that Elecraft was not responsible for your
pain and I do understand your frustration.

73,

Tom, N5GE

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[AD6XY]

It is not Elecraft  - our once excellent mail service in the UK is now under the control of Parcel Force - if you want to know more just Google Parcel Farce. High prices and terrible customer service provided by exploited and underpaid staff.

Mike