Lost items shipped to Australia? Sorry Canada!

[azygoustoyou]

Hi all,
I shipped a set of seat belt guides to Canada. The post office specified they couldn't be tracked past the border. The purchaser says he never received them. Now wants another set or his money back.
Here is my situation.
I sent the guides and did what they asked by shipping cheapest way possible. If I send another set, who says that set doesn't end up at the same place. LOST
If I send another set, I'm totally out the money for a set and my time. Should it be my sole responsibility for the lost item?
What is the fair thing to do here? The purchaser is feeling the same way I am.

[narfire]

Brady, did you send them via ups or mail (usps)? Ups to Canada is an absolute rip off (I am dealing with them now with a ecu I lent peter. They want $186.00 for a little ecu I had LENT Peter-not bought) UPS also was really slow...about 2+weeks However the postal service is usually good especially if the additional few bucks is spent where you get a tracking number(In my opinion well worth the few extra bucks). On our end here I get a notice in the mail box when the package has arrived,goto the mail counter at the local store,pay the taxes and good to go.
What was the cheapest way to send to Canada you found? Craig mailed an injector back to me and I think the postage on the package was about $3.00
If the customer absolutly wanted the cheapest way, ie no tracking type insurance, then they I believe, take responsability,
I recieved the guides and screen in good order from you a number of months ago. Love them by the way.
Perhaps they are still in transit. If UPS, then I'd wait 3 weeks for it to cross the line and the customer better sit down when they get the bill.
Chris

[NJFIAT1981]

Hey Brady, When the buyer wants it sent the cheapest way possible, without insurance and no tracking I think the buyer takes the bullet on this one. Did you keep your shipping receipt? If so send him a copy of it as proof you shipped.
Due to the amount of items lost when shipping outside the USA I'm considering not shipping outside our country. While it might cut down on sales it surely eliminates these lost/never arrived issues. See you at your house

[So Cal Mark]

I've had the same situation a few times now with items lost to Canada. After I ate the first couple I won't ship the cheapest way unless the customer assumes all responsibility. But even that isn't a guarantee. I've had a couple of buyers still insist I take the hit even though they agreed to forgo insurance.
The other situation is if they use paypal for the purchase. Paypal will make the seller refund the amount no matter what arrangements were made.
The best thing is to insist on shipping your own way to cover your self.
Now, even with insurance don't expect miracles. The first item that was lost to Canada I insured took 13 months to get reimbursed for. After that one, I've yet to get a settlement in less than 3 months. I even had USPS fail to honor insurance I'd bought for an item going to Malta. It never arrived and USPS said there is such a high loss rate there that they wouldn't honor the insurance, nor give me a refund for the amount I paid. This was even after it was proven the item never left the US!

[Foster48x]

Brady,
Tough call. Do you suck it up and ship the guy another set? Or tell him he's SOL for going cheap on the shipping?

I think Mark made a good point when he said "After I ate the first couple". Not to put words in his mouth but I'm pretty sure he did it to maintain the great reputation he has with his customers until a system was put in place to cover both buyer and seller (not shipping without ins and trk# unless the buyer assumes responsibility). With a strong system in place if the product doesn't show up there's no grey area on where it went wrong. In my opinion, sometimes regardless of the buyers negligence its more important to keep your good status as a seller and go that extra mile if you can afford to for future business.

Just my 2 cents.
Rick

[pooldoctorstl]

Sounds like you just have to make a decision and do what you think is right. As a business owner, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and eat things that you should probably get paid for. I do work at my customers pools a lot that we can't bill for, or we do things when we build a pool that isn't in our scope of work but it is the right thing to do. There are always gray areas in business and unfortunately, the business owner usually gets the short end of the stick in the interest of good will. This is similar to the position Mark took with his customers. Maybe you can meet him half way, like ask him to cover the freight for the replacement set.

Good luck,
Jeff

[azygoustoyou]

I feel if I send him another set. He could say the same. So I think I'll just reimburse him and end it. Why take a chance with sending another set. Who knows if he got it. He might not have and I can understand. But I hate loosing money for working hard trying to get ahead.

[azygoustoyou]

I would like to specify I made a mistake on talking about where I shipped the seat belt guides. It was suppose to be Australia that we are talking about. Yes that's where I sent them . Still they didn't get there. My apologies to the Canadians.
I do remember the item was sent the Friday before July 4th. With the holiday and up to ten days delivery. They should have gotten there.

[Foster48x]

That explains everything! The dingos had to have eaten them

[courtenay]

Brady,
The seat belt guides you sent to me in Canada took about 3 weeks to arrive - I suspect clearing customs can create a significant delay - and probably why it is difficult/expensive to have the shipment tracked. I wouldn't be at all suprised if shipping to Australia was even more complex.
In terms of what you should do from the business angle - probably the same thing you would do if you shipped the items to California and they didn't arrive - in other words - take the country out of the equation and develop a clear policy so your customers know what to expect if they use the cheapest possible shipping method.
Cheers,
Bruce

[narfire]

That explains everything! The dingos had to have eaten them

Perhaps slipped out of a joey's pouch

[So Cal Mark]

did they go first class, priority or express mail? You should be able to track them with the customs number, but as you stated anything past the US border is a definite maybe. Have your customer check with AUS customs using the number on the customs form. If you sent them priority mail, they should automatically be covered for about $75 of insurance

[azygoustoyou]

If it took you three weeks to get yours. It definitely would take longer to get to Australia. Especially the weekend of July 4th. I sent it out on the 2nd. I bet he gets them in a week or two. Now getting him to be patient is the issue. I'm sure he thinks I didn't send them. If I would send him another set. I would definitely be out of not just the shipping but a set of guides. He specified he got other shipments quicker.

[azygoustoyou]

I try to help people out and ship the cheapest way possible. These went out parcel post. I won't ship anything from here out without tracking and sig confirmation.

[pooldoctorstl]

Tell him to read the feedback in this thread and relax. It is just a set of seat belt guides, not like you were shipping diamonds