[SSteve F]

I noticed Nashbar had a killer deal on SRAM 990 cassettes, so I ordered two. As I live in Canada, I sent to a US address, so I could pick up in a couple of weeks and bring back with me (I declare at the border, but do not have to pay taxes).

Unfortunately, Nashbar sent it directly to my house in Canada. I ended up paying an extra $20 for taxes/admin, therefore making a killer deal an OK deal.

I e-mailed Nashbar to tell them they screwed up, and didn't follow my shipping instructions. "Sorry, we only ship to the address on your account" (funny.....as I have had them ship to US addresses before). There was no mention at time of order, or no-one bothered to call me to clarify when my order was processed. I asked them to cover these additional costs..........total silence.

I have bought from Pricepoint/Speedgoat/Jenson/Cambria as well as Nashbar, and never had this happen before.

I guess they will recover from loosing me as a customer, but eventually crappy service will catch up with them.

 

[Mr.Bob]

So...

Is it a use tax you were trying to avoid?

 

[bigduddy]

He can ship to whatever address he wants so long as the merchant allows you to ship to a different addy than your billing address. How did Nashbar's checkout work? Did you put the US addy as the ship to address and they still shipped to your billing address? Maybe they have to do that with Canadian orders?

 

[SSteve F]

Is it a use tax you were trying to avoid?

In Ontario we pay a provincial tax, as well as a federal tax. If an item is shipped (and depending on who is doing the collecting) we also get charged a "fee" to collect these taxes. USPS transfers to Canada post, who usually charge around $5. The regular couriers charge a lot more $25, $35+. UPS once billed me $62 for a pair of pedals that that were replace at no-charge.

If you are out of the country for any length of time, you are allowed to bring items back, upto a certain value, without paying taxes. This is what I do (or was trying to do).

I received an e-mail this morning from Nashbar to advise me the have had a change of heart, and will refund the excess I have paid. A bit slow, but at least they have corrected the situation.

 

[SSteve F]

He can ship to whatever address he wants so long as the merchant allows you to ship to a different addy than your billing address. How did Nashbar's checkout work? Did you put the US addy as the ship to address and they still shipped to your billing address? Maybe they have to do that with Canadian orders?

When you get to the check-out, you list both your billing and "ship to" address (most web retailers do this). Plus, in your customer profile, you have these sections completed also. So it should have been a no-brainer.

As I mentioned I have used Nashar before, and shipped to US addresses without any problems. I think this time, someone was not paying attention. Per my other post, they have now corrected their error.

 

[szedhr]

Maybe not in the US...

On my orders they've always sent it to my shipping address, (and it's usually different from my billing address) but I live the US, so maybe it's different.

 

[Rthur2sheds]

They did something similar to an order of mine:

I bought a pair of tires as a gift for my nephew... I did everything correctly, incluiding checking the box indicating "ship to another address" and they STILL sent it to me.

I caught their mixup the day I ordered by reviewing the confirmation and I called them to tell them of the error... This was within 6 hours of placing the order. They told me "the item is already being shipped"... I questioned that and demanded thay they provide me with a tracking number, which they could not... Turns out "already being shipped" means the order was processed electronically to their warehouse where they either do not have the ability or the motivation to stop/amend the order.

The long and short of it is, a simple problem was compounded by their reluctance to make it good. After several rounds of emails, they refunded the shipping (which was my original suggestion)...two days, two agents and asupervisor later, they acquiesed

I am no longer a customer