Hague mini Stabilizer order experience

PaPa

PaPa

Major Contributor
First off, let me just say that I own and have been operating a glidecam for years now, shooting everything from weddings to narrative content, so when I found that there was this little stabilizer for about $100 dollars, worked well from what i could see on the demo videos, and was small enough to easily bring on any trip with my little DSLR, i was really really excited.

I went to Ebay.com, ordered one. It was $110 bucks with around another $25 for shipping to Canada. Estimated delivery was around 7-10 business days. All of my order information and address were correctly submitted via ebay.

I receive an e-mail from both the company via e-bay as well as the shipping company "Deltec International Shipping" with my tracking information.

A week goes by, nothing shows up. I check the tracking on the website only to see that my package is being delivered to the right street number, right street name, in the right city, but on the other side of the world... Australia.. Hiccup 1

As soon as i see the error on the tracking, and the failed delivery attempt, i contact Hague and received a fast response from one of the employees ( perhaps even a small family business ). I was happy to know that they were contacting the shipping courier to correct the information.

I get home today, this is 2 weeks later now, and i receive a message on my machine at home. It's from UPS in customs saying that they have my package and would require me to pay them.... Get this... $50.19 over the phone via credit card for the duty, taxes, and most likely brokerage ( maybe not brokerage since it came in over a plane or something of that nature ) regardless. I'm having to pay 50, excuse my language F&(*ing dollars to get this thing in the country.

Here is my beef.. I SPECIFICALLY avoid ANY company that ships via UPS. BH doesn't, and Hague made no mention of it in their information as them beign a third party for Canadian delivery. Had i know this, i would have never ordered the unit in the first place, or perhaps would have spoken to someone there to make a special request to have it shipped via purolator or even Canada post.

So, unit = $110,
Shipping = $26
Duty and taxes = $50.19

That makes a total of 186.19 for the unit. Not what i was expecting. Unless they offer some kind of reimbursement I will leave a very unhappy customer.

Anywho, my 2 cents.
 
I wonder if it is worthwhile to file a complain to the better business bureau? The problem is the shipping company that charge phony fees and so the complaint should be against UPS not the manufacturer in my opinion.
 
I understand what you're saying but i disagree with you. You can't be a company, exchange the goods for cash send it off and say "it's not my problem" It should be the responsibility of the company to make sure that they are using appropriate methods for their clients to get the products.
 
PaPa said:
It's from UPS in customs saying that they have my package and would require me to pay them.... Get this... $50.19 over the phone via credit card for the duty, taxes, and most likely brokerage ( maybe not brokerage since it came in over a plane or something of that nature ) regardless. I'm having to pay 50, excuse my language F&(*ing dollars to get this thing in the country.
Here is my beef.. I SPECIFICALLY avoid ANY company that ships via UPS. BH doesn't...
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1) I already had a bad experience using UPS when I purchased something from the US too. Too bad, for a 100$ piece of gear, cost me nearly 60$ of customs duties...Same with DHL when I bought my 9" DSLR cage from an indian ebay seller. Didn't cost as much, but still, it's been held at the DHL office untill I pay the fees...not so funny.
2) That's a good reason why I now (mostly) order my stuff directly from B&H: ships with purolator and they calculate the taxes&duties directly when ordering, so you pay once for all and it arrives quite fast...usually within 4 buisness days.

That being said, the seller can check for the estimated duties fees when he ships the package (according to the clerk at DHL) but they usually don't care and prefer to write that it's the customer's responsability! (check at the bottom of the page, in BIG BRIGHT PINK. It wasn't there when I originally bought mine...)
 
Hardly Hagues fault; they use a shipping company to deliver their goods (after all you should have known that when you noticed the tracking info stating it was going to Australia). I recently had a slider delivered to me from Hague, and it was obvious from the invoice that they were sending it via a delivery company.

I get what you mean though; I have been burned with UPS before as well (importing from the US to EU), but in fact they are just following the letter of the law. When you import new items purchased in one country into any other country you are meant to pay import duties. If you bring them in by regular post then technically you are meant to declare the goods and pay as well, though few people bother.
 
At the end of the day, this is what i'm warning.

Price advertised is not what you'll pay. If you're budget is the item, plus shipping plus taxes, buy elsewhere.
 
Was the item made in the US? If so there might be a free trade treaty that you can use to get the 'duty' back from UPS - Just a thought.
 
Just got mine in yesterday along the extra weight set, a car suction cup and two sets of quick release plates. Shipping to Japan was $61 and I paid about $11 in duty. Amazing since Japan usually has incredible tariffs on imported stuff. Sounds like US Customs went out of control on that. I understand your anger.
 
dannyjl said:
Sounds like US Customs went out of control on that. I understand your anger.
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I believe he said it came from the UK.... the US wouldn't have anything to do with it...

I feel your pain, there was another thread like this no too long ago. Shipping in general is a real PITA for both parties involved.
I remember shipping you a slider from upstate NY via USPS and it took 10 days (as I recall)....you live 4.5 hours from me!
I could have driven it there faster!
 
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