Just had a bad experience using vPost shipping from USA

[gaiusparx]

I purchased a camera bag from USA and instead of having the merchant ship direct, I used vPost thought of some savings. Ship direct is less than S$40. But vPost's shipping charge is over S$60. The thing about vPost is they are not able to tell you the exact shipping before you decided to use them, as they weight the good when it arrived at their USA rep office.

Then it is about their unbelievable 'customer service'. I called up to verify the shipping charges, the customer service officer told me she will need to recheck the weight and will CALL back after 2-3 days. And she never call back, so on the fourth day I call back the hotline. This time a different officer picked up and told me that the good is on his way from USA to Singapore and will arrive in a week and will recheck the shipping charges then. So one week later I called them, and the officer told me that the good has arrived but they are not able to adjust the shipping charges as the weight is correct as measured in US. So I made a request for some discount, explaining my regret of not shipping direct. And the officer told me that she will submit a request to their operation side for discount, and will CALL me back the next day. But then I did not receive any call. So I called them back after 3 days, that was yesterday. After complaining about them not calling me TWICE with their promises, the lady I spoke to yesterday called this morning, saying that they are giving me 15% discount but she will call back to give me the discount code.

I really worried how many more days will I have to wait to get the discount code, so I made a payment using my UOB card which give me 10% discount. Thinking back it is stupid me to wait as I can afford the shipping charges but just want a fair price for the shipping.

Anyway if you ask me, the obvious answer is avoid using vpost at all cost. For my future shipping, I will use ComGateway.

 

[vince123123]

I think yo uare right; why don't you wait? By waiting, does it mean your shipment gets delayed?

Anywya, my experience is not to use Vpost unless there is no choice wher the merchant only ships in US. THe hassle is not worht the savings (if any).

 

[sinned79]

which merchant u order from in USA? amazon?

actually its not the fault of vpost but cos the way the merchant packed your bag.

vpost dun charge according to the weight of the bag but rather the volumetric of the whole package.

i also incurr $80+ for a USD $75 bagpack when i order from amazon and i kick up a ruckus with amazon and they refunded me USD $60+ in the end.

 

[ndroo]

The charges is based on the vol weight and that's because the store you bought from packed the stuff in bigger box. I ordered from Urban Outfitters and they sent 2 flat bags in a #*(@#*(@&# big box! So LL had to pay vPost lor. Not vPost's fault at all. Your bad experience is not with vPost.

 

[rendition]

Anywya, my experience is not to use Vpost unless there is no choice wher the merchant only ships in US. THe hassle is not worht the savings (if any).

I second you.

 

[Expat yorkshire]

I have always found bordelinx to offer very good service for us deliveries. They have a was to estimate the price as you buy.

Their service is very good they reply in 2 hours to an email on Sunday morning.

I has a bad experience with VPOST Europe, they do do use an accumulation service and will send each item to you individually with a separate base charge each time. 7 items ordered each delivered separately with a base charge for each and a huge $180 charge all together

There website is very misleading on this and I would nver use them again

 

[tunge]

I purchased a camera bag from USA and instead of having the merchant ship direct, I used vPost thought of some savings. Ship direct is less than S$40. But vPost's shipping charge is over S$60. The thing about vPost is they are not able to tell you the exact shipping before you decided to use them, as they weight the good when it arrived at their USA rep office.

Then it is about their unbelievable 'customer service'. I called up to verify the shipping charges, the customer service officer told me she will need to recheck the weight and will CALL back after 2-3 days. And she never call back, so on the fourth day I call back the hotline. This time a different officer picked up and told me that the good is on his way from USA to Singapore and will arrive in a week and will recheck the shipping charges then. So one week later I called them, and the officer told me that the good has arrived but they are not able to adjust the shipping charges as the weight is correct as measured in US. So I made a request for some discount, explaining my regret of not shipping direct. And the officer told me that she will submit a request to their operation side for discount, and will CALL me back the next day. But then I did not receive any call. So I called them back after 3 days, that was yesterday. After complaining about them not calling me TWICE with their promises, the lady I spoke to yesterday called this morning, saying that they are giving me 15% discount but she will call back to give me the discount code.

I really worried how many more days will I have to wait to get the discount code, so I made a payment using my UOB card which give me 10% discount. Thinking back it is stupid me to wait as I can afford the shipping charges but just want a fair price for the shipping.

Anyway if you ask me, the obvious answer is avoid using vpost at all cost. For my future shipping, I will use ComGateway.

i use borderlinx for shipping from USA... but hor if they offer direct shipping it's usually cheaper and faster

 

[techfreak]

I have always found bordelinx to offer very good service for us deliveries. They have a was to estimate the price as you buy.

Their service is very good they reply in 2 hours to an email on Sunday morning.

I second that! Been using Borderlinx and totally shun away from vPost. The hassle with Customer Service from vPost can just drive you crazy.

 

[vince123123]

I'm surprised that Amazon will refund anything to you because it is not their responsibility (unless you specifically requested for tight packing) to pack small small for you.

Their responsibility is to ship the purchase you made, to the address you designated, at the fee you paid. If they pack big big and incurr S$100 of shipping to the USA address, but you only paid S$50 to ship to US, then they can't get the excess from you since its their fault.

However, once it is delivered to the US address, unless you specifically instructed tight packing, they actually have no responsibility to do so.

However, as with most if not all US based companies, their customer service is really good, hence we get things more than we bargained for. As a general observation, Singapore retail companies can't even deliver the minimum level required.

which merchant u order from in USA? amazon?

actually its not the fault of vpost but cos the way the merchant packed your bag.

vpost dun charge according to the weight of the bag but rather the volumetric of the whole package.

i also incurr $80+ for a USD $75 bagpack when i order from amazon and i kick up a ruckus with amazon and they refunded me USD $60+ in the end.

 

[spheredome]

It is a learning process of using consolidator and concierge for TS. Don't speak your decision too fast as you will need other consolidator as well when you encounter merchant that do not ship to that region.

I use vpost when merchant do not ship direct or when incur import tax. Other concierge when oversea purchase is not accepted.

Amazon do make mistake, once I bought a small case with sn original box the size of a tissue box. They end up packing in an amazon box that can house 16 boxes. You cannot imagine the shock of my life. Amazon admitted is their logistic mistake as is not logical to waste resources and offered discount coupon.
Next time if you are buying, remark it that you are an oversea buyer, use an appropriate size box.

 

[iMac08]

surprise to hear this. i have shipped books via vpost a couple of times. no such problems. only think i don't like is the process. very troublesome

 

[Rangefinder_fan]

Actually, if I read the post right, one of the key things that the TS is unhappy with Vpost is due to their inability to keep their promises of updating him.

I've shipped stuff using Vpost before, and I do agree with the TS that their customer service is extremely lacking. Slow delivery, even slower responses to enquiries..
I use them only when I dont have a choice, and if I do not need the items by a certain date.

The charges is based on the vol weight and that's because the store you bought from packed the stuff in bigger box. I ordered from Urban Outfitters and they sent 2 flat bags in a #*(@#*(@&# big box! So LL had to pay vPost lor. Not vPost's fault at all. Your bad experience is not with vPost.

 

[vince123123]

I second the bad review on customer service. I also encounterd before.

 

[Rangefinder_fan]

Agree with Vince, why is it Amazon's fault that you paid a higer shipping charge AFTER they've delivered the item to you*? Their responsibility is to deliver their products to you. What you do with it after that is logically not their responsibility.

And, yes, Amazon's customer service rocks.

* Am assuming that the $80 that you mentioned was the shipping from US to Spore from your own shipper, not Amazon.

which merchant u order from in USA? amazon?

actually its not the fault of vpost but cos the way the merchant packed your bag.

vpost dun charge according to the weight of the bag but rather the volumetric of the whole package.

i also incurr $80+ for a USD $75 bagpack when i order from amazon and i kick up a ruckus with amazon and they refunded me USD $60+ in the end.

 

[swhyge]

My experience with Vpost has been good and have used them many many times. Have not used many others (other than direct shipping), so can't make real comparison.

one thing I do not understand from TS, as long as you do not pay, they will not ship. But once you paid, it is deem you have agreed with the terms, and value, etc... U may have a bad experience, but i do not think it is their fault!!

I also have no problem with consolidation of shipping, even when there is case of merchant 'missing' the parcels. So some individual experience, may be just individual.

(BTW, I have quarrelled with merchant on direct shipping before... there are much much more problems with others, if we cannot handle vpost)

 

[sinned79]

I'm surprised that Amazon will refund anything to you because it is not their responsibility (unless you specifically requested for tight packing) to pack small small for you.

Their responsibility is to ship the purchase you made, to the address you designated, at the fee you paid. If they pack big big and incurr S$100 of shipping to the USA address, but you only paid S$50 to ship to US, then they can't get the excess from you since its their fault.

However, once it is delivered to the US address, unless you specifically instructed tight packing, they actually have no responsibility to do so.

However, as with most if not all US based companies, their customer service is really good, hence we get things more than we bargained for. As a general observation, Singapore retail companies can't even deliver the minimum level required.

not surprising. Previously long way before i buy a bag from them, i bought dvd from them and never had such packaging problems.

the question i pose to them was, the bag was only less then 1 kg but why do they pack the bag like a big carton (the volumetric weight was 8kg plus! so you can imagine how big the box was) and incur unnecessary shipping cost to me? and i ask if all their recycling packaging was like that. as it seems to me they are using a 'new' method of packaging.

 

[sinned79]

Agree with Vince, why is it Amazon's fault that you paid a higer shipping charge AFTER they've delivered the item to you*? Their responsibility is to deliver their products to you. What you do with it after that is logically not their responsibility.

And, yes, Amazon's customer service rocks.

* Am assuming that the $80 that you mentioned was the shipping from US to Spore from your own shipper, not Amazon.

its the way they pack my bag, so why not its their fault?

My bag wasn't big to begin with but they packed like a big carton. They did not give me an option to specify to pack compactly in the first place. Who knows they dun have common sense.

btw the shipping isn't charged by amazon but Vpost which charges by volumetric weight.

So if amazon decides to pack a small item into a big carton, you will incur heavy shipping fees by Vpost as result. So whose fault? My fault? Neh. Its brainless amazon. Of cos they had to take the blame for not having the common sense to pack an item correctly and proportionate to the item size.

 

[spheredome]

I have once wrote in this forum a very detail step by step of what to do when shipping thru VpostUSA. If you follow it, will unlikely to have problem. Nevertheless when there is hicup, write to them (with proper subject + vp number) and give them a call the next day.

VpostUSA won't response email to you in the daytime, takes 2 business days to reply.

Once the package reaches VPost US address, there is little for you to bargain out as their charges are charted, sending back to merchant will incur additional cost. So you must ensure all comms are work out during purchase. What I do is to email the merchant after purchase that I am using consolidator, so pack economically and at the same time ask them to check the product prior sending.

One more thing, one can specify in their profile to send to post office for self collect. But must do so before paying vpost.

 

[vince123123]

Because their legal responsibility is just to deliver the bag to your US address and however they pack, they made the delivery at the agreed shipping cost.

And you can put special remarks in the speical remarks box. I believe most online merchants have a special remarks box. Or else, you can always email them.

If it is an obvious case of say, 10x the size, then I guess you can pin it on them. But when it is a case of say 1.5x the optimal size, you will not succeed so easily.

One question: when you say shipping is by Amazon, are you talking about shopping by Vpost vai Amazon? or are you talking about the traditional method where merchant ships to Vpost and Vpost ships to you? There's a big difference here.

its the way they pack my bag, so why not its their fault?

My bag wasn't big to begin with but they packed like a big carton. They did not give me an option to specify to pack compactly in the first place. Who knows they dun have common sense.

btw the shipping isn't charged by amazon but Vpost which charges by volumetric weight.

So if amazon decides to pack a small item into a big carton, you will incur heavy shipping fees by Vpost as result. So whose fault? My fault? Neh. Its brainless amazon. Of cos they had to take the blame for not having the common sense to pack an item correctly and proportionate to the item size.

 

[vince123123]

Well wait till you are in a three corner fight with the merchant and Vpost; then you will appreciate that it is much easier to quarrel with a single merchant on direct shipping.

(BTW, I have quarrelled with merchant on direct shipping before... there are much much more problems with others, if we cannot handle vpost)