This a rant of my experience of buying from robotdigg. If you do not like to hear a rant or negativity of a buying experience then move on.
I purchased 4 Nema 17 heaysinks , MKL belt and 5 Nema 17 steppers. But the items could be anything, the story is not about any specific item.
I had requested the items be sent EMS or China Post. All other shippers will charge me $50 extra for shipping, FedEX,TNT ect with the exception of DHL. They will charge me an extra $12 so that is my second choice. The post office is my first choice and there standard charge is $1.13, so you can see why i use it. I had requested robotdigg to use the post office because the other shippers will charge extra as i have already explained. Get a call from the shipper TNT. This was kind of weird, the first thing they ask is about the $50 payment I said no i will not pay an extra $50 for a $38 part. The Philippines vat is only 12%. I told them to send it back. I notified robotdigg and the first thing they said is don’t send it back we will have to pay shipping again. So what it came down to after many emails is they were stuck on the this answer. They said i did not ask them again that i wanted the post office. I only asked one time. Maybe there is some international rule i do not know about that states if you do not ask 2 or more time then the asking is null and void. Clearly if they didn’t use this excuse they would of used some other stupid one. Anything to pass the blame.
They also said they can not control other countries VAT. This i agreed with and is correct, they can’t. It is the shipping instructions that were not followed that has this thing all screwed up. So unless something else changes i am out my parts and shipping i paid to robotdigg. It will be cheaper to reorder from a different shipper than to pay that extra $50. So be specific when ordering from overseas or from anywhere for that matter. But especially from over seas, things can get mixed up in the translations and you may just loose.
Did you agree with them before ordering that they would use non standard shipping? Was there a place for order notes where you could’ve left this info and did you?
Companies have many different staff and deal with 100s or 1000s of parcels a day, if it was important to me that mine was dealt with differently I would’ve put it in every box I saw (order notes, delivery instructions, PayPal notes to seller etc). As you don’t know that the person who agreed on sending it differently is the same person dispatching your order.
I would offer to split the cost of the extra postage to re-dispatch it using the preferred postage method, since it seems like a communication breakdown, not them disregarding your request. And that seems the cheapest way to get your stuff.
So to answer your question, yes, if you want a company to deal with you differently, remind them as many times as possible.
I’ve gotta agree with @Liam_Jackson on this one. Talking to 1 person, 1 time, at a place that handles many many transactions and shipments a day is asking for trouble. You’ve gotta put that crap in every possible text box imaginable so that you have something to point to when you tell them you asked for it to be shipped in the method it was.
It seams more obvious now that you have stated this. My lack of experience in international trade and what ever else got me stung on this one. I certainly will have more due diligence in the future. Thanks for the comments.
@Wayne_Friedt it’s easy to expect the same kind of customer service you’d expect from a local store or hobby trader, but these are unfortunately the exception, not the rule!
I’m going to throw my hat in here and say that I, personally, have had a series of good experiences with Robot Digg.
Not saying that @Wayne_Friedt is wrong, but that I have used this supplier many many times without issues. So perhaps don’t write them off as “bad” if you’re considering ordering from them.
@Liam_Jackson@ThantiK@Sanjay_Mortimer
Update. Bobotdigg sent an email with a $20 coupon offer on my next purchase to help offset with the shipping cost. I accepted this and have had my parts delivered already. Live and learn. Next time i shall consider buying there again. thanks for all the input.