Kessler Crane: the good and the bad...

Tata Steva

Tata Steva

Well-known member
I just received Kessler Crane Cineslider in mail from somebody who was selling it here on DVX forum.
The complete deal went like this:
$845 for Cineslider and soft bag including shipping by USPS to Toronto, Canada (great deal, don't you think?)...
$113 for ALL duties, taxes, brokerage fees to Canada Post upon delivery ( sender declared proper value on the package and appropriate insurance as well...

I received the slider in MINT condition, like it never been used... I used the product before, so I was familiar with all. So, I decided to order some accessories direct from Kessler Crane. That's where my troubles started! The minute I saw they ship by UPS, I chocked... Here we go! For a single item, outrigger feet for Cineslider I would have to pay $250 plus $25 for standard ups shipping, than when it comes to my door I would have to pay another $60 in brokerage fees PLUS taxes(!!!). If I want to use "faster" ups option, Kessler web site gives me more than $80 for shipping upfront ( and apparently brokerage fees are included...). So suddenly, $250 item becomes almost $400 item.....

I called Kessler and explained all above only to get no help from the gentleman on the other side.... Meaning , ups is the ONLY WAY for them to send it. He said they had bad experience with USPS??? Comme on! They don't realize that their prices suddenly become much higher for anybody living outside US... Do they care? Obviously no... They should...

So, Kessler Crane: great products! Lousy customer service! Period!
 
OK let me get this straight; The only thing that Kessler has done is choose UPS as a shipper and the cost is $25 to ship something to Canada from the US. Would you feel better if you saved $5 by going USPS? Are you blaming Kessler for the brokerage fee and or taxes they have no control over? What?

I like Kessler products and own a bunch of their stuff. If you want to gripe about something Kessler, maybe running short on inventory would be a better place to start.

Grant
 
I understand your frustrations.
This isn't Kesslers fault...shipping to other countries is expensive & a royal PITA.
 
so what you're saying is, you'd rather complain to kessler than to UPS or to canada or the US? jeez man, kessler is passing along costs that are incurred by factors other than themselves, not cool to give them a bad rap for it.
 
Living in Germany is even more fun.

Just wanted to buy Flag Kits from Digital Juice. We are talking about a super light weight nylon bag with some wire frames and silk/nets.
The kit is $299 - shipping was $328!

I ask the if something went wrong with that.
No, the price was correct and - same attitude - they only ship by FEDEX (which is obscene expensive if you ship to Germany).
USPS would have charged $28 ....just saying.

Also I have to pay tax and customs on the shipping. That would be an other $200
So more than $800 for a $299 flag kit? Come on.

For the record: I ended up, buying the same kit in the UK for 230 pound - no tax no customs and shipping was 21 pound.

I really like some of the Digital Juice gear, there greencreen popp-up is the best I ever saw and their slider is also great.
I would buy them in a second if they would ship by USPS.

Frank
 
Ye, the shipping prices are insane. I cant afford to buy half the products i want too, only because of insane shipping prices.
I have to find other solutions because of this very reason, e-bay, chinese markets, amazon U.K, locally...
but...Its not something I could blame the companies for, if they choose a shipping method... then there wont be much flexibility for you, but thats business. They have some business agreement with particular companies that allows them to ship cheaper to their main market...which happens to be, most of N. America. Im am assuming here, but thats kinda how some biz. models go.
I am american, so i usually have relatives ship stuff out, with my own carrier of choice.
For others though, and you, I'm afraid all you can do is complain....Unless they E.U. changes it's policies, your gonna pay insane taxes and shipping costs on most of their particular products. But they probably wont shift carriers.
 
FYI... USPS is a crap-shoot. I shipped a slider via USPS Priority International to the Netherlands (which I have many other times and it took on average 8 days to get there) Dec. 19th.... just arrived on Jan. 23rd! That was Priority International. You never know with customs....they can hold an item as long as they like...and tack on taxes & duty...it's crazy.

Shipping seems to be the business to be in with the sharp increase of internet sales!
 
I don´t get the relations ether.

The are charging $328 for this 4 lbs flag kit - a friend of mine just had a car(!) shipped from the US for $1800.

Frank
 
That's why it's better for outside US buyers to do business with China. It's fast, it's cheap. Often if you buy directly from a person and via USPS the shipping cost is okay. I've sent to someone within the US first a couple of times and then abroad to keep shipping and import duties low. There is a limit around $25-35 when customs starts to add tax and import duties so it's often best to declare value below that threshold.
 
Also, whilst you'll be stuffed if you want to get insurance on anything, dealers from Hong Kong generally declare their stuff at cost or wholesale if you ask them.
Of course you need to consider that buying something from Asia is a bit like Russian roulette; if you ever have to send it back, unless it's a well-known, reputable dealer, they're likely to claim that they never received it for repair.

Here in Oz I get 90% of my stuff shipped from Asia (specifically, HK) without any problems.
Heck, I can generally have large items sent from the UK (!) cheaper than it costs to send the same within Oz.
 
I lived on th etiny Caribbean island of Antigua for a few years. you want to talk about cost to get items to the island.

ussualy personal electronics would be approximately about an extra 80% by the time you payed for duty, shipping and whatever other fees the government or parcel company would charge.

but blaming the manufacturer for things that they neither control nor have any say so in, that is kind of weak.Its not Kesslers fault that you live where you live.
 
not to mention it would take an extra month or so from when the vendor shipped it before it got in my hands. Fed Ex over night was 1 week at best, and about 2x the cost of item on top of the heavy duties.
 
As a person that ships international out of the US on a regular basis:
The problem is that USPS does not offer any reliable tracking or delivery confirmation on First class or Priority parcels. The
only thing that we can do through the USPS that is tracked is USPS Express Guaranteed which is actually executed by
Fedex. I ship DVDs by USPS and when they don't arrive, I just send another one. I couldn't imagine sending something
of value by USPS.

I believe the Kessler is making a good decision for them, they can't afford the bad customer experience of USPS. If
you really need something and you can't afford to have it shipped to you, have a friend in the U.S. be the middle man.
At least then the problem will be between you and a friend and not you and a small business that has a reputation
to uphold.

To learn more about this problem, see the eBay forums on international shipping. It is a disaster.
 
Sorry that you are unhappy with our shipping option. Unfortunately, as other people mentioned, shipping via USPS to international customers is a crap shoot. Because of the lower cost, we use to offer USPS, but we found, as is true with other things, you get what you pay for. USPS tracking, non-existed. Delivery time, averaged 2 - 4 weeks, if it was not lost. Many times a packages would be held in Customs for several weeks or just go missing. If an issue came up, when you call USPS the response is, we turned the package over to the receiving country delivery service so we are no longer responsible. USPS will open an investigation, but the response time depends on the receiving country and can take over a month to get a response. If it is then determined that the package is lost and a claim needs to be files, that process can take another 3 months.

At that point, what do we do as a company? Our customer is frustrated because they don't have the product they ordered. We can't really ship a "replacement" because we don't know if the package is lost or just delayed. We have no course for escalation with USPS to try to get a resolution.

After having went through this scenario numerous times and having very upset customers, we made the decision to no longer ship via USPS. USPS just cannot deliver the level of service our customers have came to expect from Kessler.

With UPS, yes it is more expensive, but the level of service is much better. Packages are typically delivered anywhere in the world withing 2 - 5 business days with very few reports of any kind of shipping damage. You can track the package online every step of the way. If a package is lost within UPS, they can perform a trace which takes a maximum of 10 days. If the package is determined lost, a claim is filed and check delivered within two weeks or less. If there is a problem along the way, a quick phone call to UPS can usually resolve the issue or get you an accurate update on what is going on. If a problem is encountered and an escalation is needed, we have a UPS Account Executive that can pursue the issue within UPS for us.

So, yes, we made the decision to only use UPS. Not because we do NOT care, but because we DO care about making sure our customers get the best level of service possible when they work with us.

Thanks
Chris
 
I've been using UPS for deliveries between USA and Canada for more than 20 years now, and have been very happy with the price and the service.

UPS WorldWide Saver service will usually get a package to Toronto in 2 days or less, which is fantastic in my books.
 
Chris Beller said:
Sorry that you are unhappy with our shipping option.....
Click to expand...

I don't know what you are sorry about. You have made a solid business decision to provide your customers with assured delivery and tracking from a reliable company. The fact that you've made sensible decisions to provide your customers good service, is nothing to be sorry about.
 
So your mad erik didn't open his wallet and offer to cover your shipping or lower the shipping price, because you chose to to live in a country that charges extra for shipments. Move to the USA, PROBLEM SOLVED!

Just a reminder, the internet is forever. So when people bad mouth a company for NO GOOD REASON. people will see it forever. I'm no mod, but if I were, I would remove this thread. Kessler has done amazing work for the film community, been more than generous to many filmmakers, and has time and time again proven to be a great stand up company. Granted, your entitled to your opinion, but the reason behind this thread is so absurd, it's not worthy of a thread. sorry.
 
"I love you Man" was not from a Budweiser commercial, it Actually and Factually started as a Comment to Eric Kessler, as a thank you from a Very Happy Customer.
Now I'm not sure if that customer was drunk at the time...But if He or She was, I'm sure it was not Budweiser's fault.

Now are you getting the message?? or do I need to write a novel?
 
You might also consider using a forwarding service for your country. That way you get your wares shipped to an address in the US, and then the forwarder buys bulkspace on a plane to ship it to your country, where they then divide it up again and use your local post service.

I have started doing this, and it does save a lot of money - but do shop around for the different services offered.

For the Norwegians amongst you, I can recommend http://www.jetcarrier.com/ with very fair prices and fast turnaround. They even bundle multiple shipments that you received into one, and have decent toll declaration fees.
 
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