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skeets kelly wrote:cost me $11 to free it.

Wait, what? Do I have to actually contact customs or something. I just thought they did an automatic charge.

knives wrote:Wait, what? Do I have to actually contact customs or something. I just thought they did an automatic charge.

I'm wondering as well. I've had two orders from Amazon UK and one from Amazon France stuck in customs (according to their vague tracking alerts) on their way to the US since the first week of December and can't find anyone to clarify how to rescue them.

knives wrote:

skeets kelly wrote:cost me $11 to free it.

Wait, what? Do I have to actually contact customs or something. I just thought they did an automatic charge.

they tracked me down some how, i have no idea how they got my phone number. then they told me i could have it, i just needed to give them the $11. it was really weird. like i said, hasn't happened since.

um, yeah, if they haven't contacted you yet, i'm pretty sure have to get ahold of them.

There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to US customs delays: my MoC order (Tokyo Sonata Blu) placed on 1/28 arrived today in upstate NY, as did a small book from Spain postmarked 1/29. However, I'm still waiting for a cd from the UK mailed the week of 1/24; previous packages from this record label have never experienced any real delays.

Just luck of the draw, I guess.

Something strange is happening for sure. I have not received my order from MOC placed on Jan.2 and still waiting for the replacement shipped on Jan.26, after I've contacted MOC about missing original order (thank you, Kevin!).
My order from Amazon.uk with a bunch of Ozu blues, dispatched on Jan 15 has gone missing too.
None of my previous orders from Amazon.uk or MOC would have taken more than 10 days to get here (NJ, USA).
I am thinking about putting all my future ordering from UK on hold until I find out what causes these delays.

I've had a similar problem, still waiting for deliveries from Amazon.uk dispatched on January 3 and 15.

subliminac wrote:I've had a similar problem, still waiting for deliveries from Amazon.uk dispatched on January 3 and 15.

I think it must be random. Amazon UK shipped the latest two Ozu Blus to me on 15 January and they arrived in the post of 22 January here in Tennessee. Before Christmas I had an Amazon UK order that shipped in early December arrive in 7-10 days. OTOH, I had an order placed with Amazon France shortly after Thanksgiving go missing while a second order placed a day or so later arrived in 6 days. The replacement for the missing order was shipped mid-December and didn't arrive until early January. As far as I can tell, US customs didn't play a part in any of it.

If not customs, the only other explanation I can think of is that Bermuda Triangle is acting up again, swallowing shipfulls of our DVDs.

Yakushima wrote:If not customs, the only other explanation I can think of is that Bermuda Triangle is acting up again, swallowing shipfulls of our DVDs.

DHL Global Mail was the culprit for the lost shipment from Amazon France. Shipment left France for Germany (?) and was never heard of again. Around the same time, DHL Global Mail lost two domestic shipments from B&N as well. I think all of the vendors try to find the cheapest courier available at the time of the order. Sometimes it works out OK; other not so much.

Having said that, I think that Amazon UK has always used the Royal Mail for DVD shipments to the States. I had a couple of shipments take an inordinately long time last year when the Royal Mail was on strike in the UK but the rest of the time things have stay close to form. You want fast order from Amazon Japan. Every order I've made has been two days from placing the order to delivery to my door via FedEx.

Even Amazon Japan is taking a couple of days longer these days (but is still usually the fastest supplier around -- albeit at a huge cost).

Well, if you order multiple titles at once ( IIRC a minimum of three depending on price), cost per title including shipping still works out to be a little less than Yes Asia with "free international shipping".

Well here's something to lighten the mood. My package from the most recent sale just came in, but still no Lubitsch. The randomness of it all is too funny. Guess I will be e-mailing Eureka today after all.

All these problems must cost Eureka a lot of dough.

My Metropolis pre-order came a few weeks ago, after I already requested a replacement from amazon uk. Not sure if the original order came extremely late, or if both the original and the replacement came late.

Still waiting on my Mizoguchi box set and some other orders from the UK. Strange indeed.

still haven't heard back from eureka about my order, which is strange.

Kevin's off this week. Please hang in there.

peerpee wrote:Kevin's off this week. Please hang in there.

never mind! arrived today! whoo hoo!

Der Spieler wrote:All these problems must cost Eureka a lot of dough.

Yes.

skeets kelly wrote:never mind! arrived today! whoo hoo!

Eventually they usually do. Whoo hoo!

My MOC order arrived today, but I can't tell if it's the replacement or the original package that's been missing, since there is no invoice inside and no shipping date on the postmark. Anyway, very happy to finally get my hands on the DVDs - two Viscontis, Edvard Munch and Murnau's Phantom \:D/ Thank you, Kevin & Co!

Is all the hassle going to discourage MoC from doing sales in the coming months?

I'd imagine most people do get their packages okay, I know my last one took about three days and that was directly after christmas.

Der Spieler wrote:Is all the hassle going to discourage MoC from doing sales in the coming months?

or ship with tracking.

I hope MOC keeps the sales going. I know the free shipping probably wouldn't be cost effective for them if they had to ship everything with tracking. Maybe this is just a US problem, because I have pretty regular shipments coming from the UK (both Amazon UK and Eureka), and they've all come within 7 or 8 business days of dispatch, and none were help up at Customs.

(that sound you here is me jinxing myself)

I think it's just been a thing over the last two months or so. Over the past week things have improved back to what they were.

I'm happy to report that my January 'price blitz' order has finally arrived. Glad now that I decided to wait before contacting Kevin about it. Anyone else still waiting may want to consider holding out a bit longer.