Vendor Warning for International Orders

[ajh]

I have been ordering parts to restore my 110 for the last 6 months and for the most part vendors have been cooperative in getting things shipped to my freight forwarder and sending me a copy of the invoice so that I can get it processed on the ACI (document required because of anti-terrorism legislation) and getting copies of the invoices to the UK-side broker before things can board.

There have been two notable exceptions who despite many requests have outright refused to send an invoice or just responded with "It is attached to the package", the package 3000 miles away sitting in a shipyard warehouse that I am supposed to fly over and extract just to fill out the paperwork so I can get my parts because that is so much more difficult than using a $200 fax/scanner to make a PDF or JPEG scan of a proper invoice. It seems their laziness far outweighs their customers needs or convenience. I really hate doing this but people need to be warned.

The two vendors are L.R. Series who despite a dozen attempts to get an invoice, including being informed that without a copy I cannot get my parts boarded and they may even be destroyed responded with:

Hello Andrew

Our contract between us and yourself was completed. We did as requested regards the Delivery Instruction

note and also shipped the parcel (order ref #7996) to your provided delivery address, which was delivered

on the 15th July.

Obviously what happens with your goods after delivery is your responsibility.

Taking no responsibility whatsoever for not providing the paperwork required for Export.

The other was Autocraft4x4 Midlands who answered email once stating "It is attached to the roof" then ignored all subsequent requests.

Vendors like this do not deserve our business.

[David Sparkes]

I see you aren't actually asking for advice, which is just as well as we only know you are about 3000 miles away from the UK, and your currency is a $ (which is used in many parts of the world). Your profile is`silent as regards your location.

Perhaps you should be asking forums / user groups with a readership more local to yourself to find out their good experiences.

As you have special requirements, can we ask what steps you took to explain those special requirements to the Vendors before placing an order? Their replies may well have given you a basis on which to judge whether it would be wise to carry on with the order.

HTH

[Les Henson]

Dunno whereabouts you are, but in this country a reciept/invoice is a legal requirement if asked for. Not providing these is an easy way for a company to avoid paying tax on goods.

Les.

[white90]

Autocraft4x4 are a big Ebay seller and sorted me out very well with Freelander stuff and others I know with

all sorts.

[cipx2]

As I understand, the issue was that the two mentioned vendors refused to send him a fax/mail/e-mail copy of the invoice. They both attached an invoice to the parcel, which is no good for preparing export paperwork.

Here's a solution to the problem (for future orders with other vendors):

- contact them by e-mail, tell them your requirements and ask them to send a copy of the invoice BEFORE debiting your card

- use a debit card (or a credit card setting the credit limit to 0 with your bank); keep the balance close to zero all the time - use it for online shopping; as a bonus, it's safer that way

- AFTER you receive the invoice, transfer the required funds to the debit/credit card and instruct the vendor to take his money and send the goods.

The method is tested and it works (with Paddocks, for example - they were not telling me the quote/etc on the carriage).

In my experience with vendors in the UK (and not only UK and not only LR parts vendors), the service is almost always great until the money change hands. After that, it depends on the vendor ...

For the people that can't reply because they don't know where ajh is from, the $s in his whereabouts are coded CAD.

[Lars L]

L.R.Series are known for their poor customer service. I haven't used them myself, but some mates in Norway have. The result from them trying to get their deliveries has resulted in a complete and total ban of any customer from Norway.

Obviously L.R.Series seem to have problems understanding that not all countries in the world are EU members.

[kkk2]

Another vote here for poor service from LR Series, and we live in the EU

however their site is handy for getting landrover part numbers

[BogMonster]

Use Bearmach. Nobody I know is more helpful for export orders, ok we buy a lot from them in a year but they will ship anything down to a jiffy bag and any queries about invoices etc are turned around within 24hrs. They don't very often cock anything up, and on the odd occasions they do (everybody does sometimes if you deal with them on a regular basis), it is sorted out very quickly.

Never used those two companies, not likely to if that is their attitude as I have seen that type before and if you are in another country the novelty of dealing with somebody with that attitude wears off real quick.

[Dave W]

Autocraft4x4 are a big Ebay seller and sorted me out very well with Freelander stuff and others I know with

all sorts.

I've had good experiences with a couple of the autocraft4x4 guys but the midland one is particularly unhelpful. He's really awful at replying to questions and he rarely takes a photo of the item, even if you ask him to. A typical example would be the bulkhead loom he was selling, listed as "td5 bulkhead loom". I asked what the spec was, did it have elec. windows, central locking, air con and so on. The reply was "it's off a 90". It's a shame as he seems to have some good gear but I can't be doing with sellers who can't be bothered to describe or photo what they are selling and then won't answer questions when you ask.

As I say though, I've bought from other autocraft4x4 (Essex ?) and they've been very helpful and communicative.

[GBMUD]

in this country a reciept/invoice is a legal requirement if asked for

No it is not.

Chris

[ajh]

Yeah, I am in Canada though shipping internationally outside the UK across any customs controlled border probably has the same issues. I just think it is very sad how much less work it is for people to sell on-line, yet how difficult they go out of their way to make it for people sometimes. As things stand right now I have about 20,000 CAD worth of restoration parts in a container about to head here and I am sure it is not the last one. It is just depressing that I fully expect the most frustrating part of the rebuild to be locating, dealing with vendors, and shipping the parts here. Once things arrive it is just a matter of putting things together, and considering I'm weaving my own loom and building the dash, gauges, and on-board computer/AV from scratch this is saying something. I really just wanted to share my experience so others could make more informed decisions when trying to find parts. Almost every vendor was difficult to deal with, but these were by far the worst and worth special mention.

[GBMUD]

www.autopost.co.uk ship internationally and, while I have only dealt with them domestically, they seem pretty helpful.

Chris

[Les Henson]

A receipt must be given on demand for any transaction involving VAT,

Les.

[SteveG]

If you bought from autocraft4x4 by ebay did you pay by paypal? If so can't you use paypal receipt?

Steve

[ajh]

Nope, the proof of payment from Paypal is a receipt not an invoice, they do not have all the information required for the import documentation. It was a whole lot less hassle buying the 110 in the first place than getting the parts needed to re-manufacture it. Oh well, off to sandblast the rear door frame before patching it and getting it hot-dip galvanized next week... then the fun of doing patterns to get the new skins cut from galvanized sheet instead of alu.