Whats wrong with this picture

[Michael Carter]

Sometimes there is no choice of shippers. NewEgg shipped the cable UPS. when they could have put it in a padded envelope and mailed it for $2 max.

Idiots.

That really keeps the customers coming back.

[cscotthendry]

In this case the company was Jameco, but they're not the only ones that have done this to me. I once bought some small gears from SDP-SI and the freight cost more than the gears because a) they sent it in a huge box and b) they sent it by TNT. that in itself was a long story.

SDP-SI send by TNT so that the goods are delivered door-to-door by the carrier. They refuse to ship by mail. But I live on an island and TNT don't deliver here. So what did TNT do? Stick it in the mail, but not before they (wrongly) re-addressed it. So my package went missing because of TNT.

It took me two weeks of constant calls to TNT to get them to finally tell me that they had taken it upon themselves to repackage and re-address my shipment. Then I found out that it had been redirected by them twice and had gone to Canberra first (I'm in Queensland) then they re-addressed it to another guy with a similar name but on a neighbouring island. The infuriating part was that when I took off the TNT repackaging, the original package had the correct address on the label, clearly readable.

So I don't do business with SDP-SI anymore, either. I truly can relate to BSW's $3.00 cable and $12 shipping only in my case it was about $20 worth of gears and $70 shipping.

[AndyT]

I used to be the first guy in the boat to start it rocking but now.... I'm always leary of starting something that's not quite right. After all, I am a Minister now.

That being said, Has anyone thought of a class action suit against a few choice companies for excessive shipping charges? I need a $20 part to fix my notebook computer but the shipping on it is $30. Needless to say, I'm without my notebook.

If a class action suit were to win out over a few of the larger companies, then they and the rest would be forced to begin shipping reasonable sized and priced packages.

The great thing about Class action suits? Everyone chips in a small amount and very high priced lawyers can be had for small amounts by everyone. Lets see, 10,000 people join in on the suit. Any really good legal firm would be crazy to pass that one up. (Unless they represent the defendants...)

[zenandzen]

Scott,
I can relate to your woes.
I buy quite a bit on ebay & usually either U.S. or U.K. & I have been burned enough times on postage to NEVER press the BUY button until I have a firm quote on shipping/airmail costs, that I feel is reasonable.
Some sellers must think Australia is in the outer ozone layer by the way they charge.
I have seen many instances where an add on for fs2004/FSX is priced at $46 US postage & as we all know those come in a DVD case & yet if you look at DVD movie postage costs it's around$11-15 US.

I realise ebay is a little different with some sellers factoring a packaging fee into the postal charge but I have bought stuff directly from merchants' web shops & if I cannot get a price on shipping I'm off to find someone else that gives transport costs up front.

Andy has a nice idea about class action but in the meantime maybe vote with your mouse & go to another seller if they(the one your looking at) won't give transport costs up front.
Maybe they will get the message if you send them a note saying you will buy elsewhere until they give transport quotes.

Sorry if that was a rant!

Good luck
Cheers
Gerry

[cscotthendry]

Whoa! I wasn't thinking of anything as drastic as legal action, Andy.

But I have had an idea of creating a "name N Shame" Facebook page. Facebook seems to get a lot of media attention because of it's popularity. A lot of people seem to air grievances on it so it might get a reaction from some companies.

Gerry, don't apologize for a [rant] [/rant]. This whole thread has been a rant from the start.

[AndyT]

I realize that legal action is a bit on the drastic side, but in todays world, it is quite often the only recourse for fairness. I pray it were otherwise.
The 'Name and Shame' is a good idea also.

[fweinrebe]

Would it not be an option to request the courier company to go and fetch the goods and you pay the courier, instead of letting the vendor package it and send it via courier? So you arrange it from your hometown/city courier office.

I wanted to buy EUR13-00 worth of stuff from Europe the other day, but they quoted me EUR80 for the courier charges. Maybe the guy from DHL or Fedex for example could go to the shop, buy the items package it for less and courier it. Then you pay the courier locally. I am wondering if this will be a viable option. Any ideas / comments?

And with componentsonline.com, they force international customers to buy $100 and then UPS charges $190 for the courier. Guess who didn't buy both times.

[cscotthendry]

When the courier and transport companies were trying to steal business from the post office, they used to undercut the post office's prices like anything. Now that they have a big slice of the business, they charge like wounded bulls.

As soon as you say courier or transport company, think two to three times the price no matter how you arrange it. And if you want the courier company to do anything like make payments or do purchases, ther would obviously be a hefty fee for that if they'd be willing to do it at all. My belief is that, these days if it required any effort at all on their part, they'd just refuse.

I may be showing my age, but I remember when profit was a result of doing business not the purpose, Then along came Milton Friedman.

[vpilot]

I may be showing my age, but I remember when profit was a result of doing business not the purpose, Then along came Milton Friedman.

Actually, I think most courier operations are now under the control of the Ferengi.

[skywatch]

A friend of mine bought a chip (IC) from the states to be delivered to the UK. I think the chip cost about £2.50 or so. When he got it it cost him over £80.00 since they packed it in a big box, threw in their thick catalogue for good measure and sent the whole lot as priority!

He was REALLY unhappy about it all!

Skywatch