Re: [CR]Slow Shipments from Europe and PayPal polcies

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Campagnolo)

From: "jerrymoos" <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
To: "Fred Rafael Rednor" <fred_rednor@yahoo.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <20040208154158.40265.qmail@web11904.mail.yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Slow Shipments from Europe and PayPal polcies
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 10:39:01 -0600


I've been routinely receiving parcels from UK promptly, even just sent Royal Post, so I don't think this is a fluke. Oddly enough, a couple of eBay purchases from Denmark also arrived promptly. But Germany and Holland have been terrible. I think there is some legitimate terrorism concern at work here, but also some politics. After all UK was our principal ally in the latest Gulf War, while Germany opposed us. As BC has said, the US thinks the Dutch police are lax on drugs, so maybe we think they are lax on terrorism also. I don't know what Denmark's position on the War was, and it seems noone else knows either, so maybe they get a free pass. The odd thing is, I received an eBay purchase from France in about two weeks, which isn't fast, but it was a whole lot better than 6 to 8 weeks from Germany or Holland. Supposedly the US considered France Public Enemy #1 for their opposition to the War, yet we are treating them less badly than Germany. Well, who ever said politics was logical. By the way, at the height of the France-bashing, I bought a bunch of TA Cyclotourist arms and rings from Martin Coopland. Never let anything as trivial as world politics stand in the way of bicycling. I don't drink much French wine, but only because the California Cabernets and Merlots are a better value.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the long shipping time from Germany and Holland puts eBay buyers in a difficult position. You must file a PayPal complaint within 30 days or lose all right to do so. I've already filed one complaint at the deadline, then had the goods arrive two weeks later, so I had to refund the refund that PayPal had extracted from the seller. I called PayPal about this and suggested they extend the deadline, but they said they have no intention of doing so. They claim that allowing more than 30 days for delivery would make recovering payments much more difficult. Their policy is to encourage buyers to file a claim if the goods don't arrive in 29 days, then sort things out later if the goods eventually show up. Of course, this inconveniences both buyer and seller and probably angers a lot sellers, who will be concerned that the buyer may later just receive the goods and keep them free. My experience with PayPal, after my initial dislike of them, is that they clearly favor buyers at the expense of sellers, which is good for me, but I think that they are creating a real problem in connection with the current slow shipping from Europe.

Regards,

Jerry Moos
Houston, TX


----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Rafael Rednor
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2004 9:41 AM
Subject: Re: [CR]Slow Shipments from Europe



> > Lately shipments from Europe have been very slow.
> I think we will find it has a lot do with the country from
> which the item was shipped, city from which the item was
> shipped, destination city in the USA, the carrier chosen to
> transport the goods and a fair bit of chance. This past
> Monday, an entire bicycle was sent to me from England and it
> arrived yesterday.
>
> That's pretty quick. I don't know if this is due to the fact
> that it was shipped from London to D.C., that the port of entry
> is full of Anglophiles, the phase of the moon or that Pete
> Paine sent it via some USPS representative in England. (Pete
> will have to explain how one sends something via USPS from
> England. It any event, it may explain the USPS's continuing
> sponsorship of a cycling team in Europe.)
>
> Since it was sent to my office, I do not as yet know what sort
> of treatment the package received. We shall see tomorrow...
>
> Now, this past Friday, a lifetime's supply of French bottom
> bracket cups was sent to me from the Netherlands. We'll have
> to see how long this one takes to arrive.
> Bon chance,
> Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia
>
>
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