Lesson learned: Cheapskate me loses big (Collector's boxes)

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Kara Brae, Sep 14, 2018.

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  1. Kara Brae

    Kara Brae Avatar

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    It is my fault (slapping my face)
    It is my fault (kicking myself)
    It is my fault (banging my head against the wall)

    I thought I would be a smarty-pants and have my 2 collector's boxes (Benefactor Ancestor account and Founder Edelmann account) sent to my friends' house in Arizona instead of paying the international shipping cost of $30 each to have them sent to me in Germany.

    After all, I planned to visit Arizona in May, and in the summer my friends were coming here to Germany for a visit. I was sure there would be an opportunity to take them to Germany by suitcase.

    Well, my trip to Arizona came and went. My friends' visit to Germany came and went and still no boxes. So I changed my shipping address to California where my son lives. After all, he is coming home for Christmas and can bring the boxes.

    Unfortunately, the vendor had already downloaded the Arizona shipping address, so my boxes were sent to Arizona. My friends sent them to me and they arrived yesterday (thankfully in perfect condition). Results:

    • It cost $70 to ship the boxes to me (only $10 more than I would have had to pay Portalarium originally, but still....)
    • I had to drive to German customs and explain to them for 30 minutes what the collector's boxes are and why I shouldn't have to pay a fortune in customs for them
    • My friends had re-packaged the boxes into one shipment instead of two separate ones. I now have two invoices from Port saying that one is the Edelmann box and the other is the Ancestor box, but the boxes themselves look identical, so I don't know which is which. I had promised another player I would give him the Ancestor box and planned to give it to him unopened, but now I have to open the boxes and compare the contents.

    All this just to save a few bucks.

    If you see me in game, please give me a swift kick.
     
  2. GrayFog

    GrayFog Avatar

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    Ok that was a complicated process :D

    Living in Bavaria as well, shipping can be indeed quite expensive.
    And then there is the "custom clearance"....

    Sucks that you have to open the boxes now :/
     
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  3. Sir_Hemlock

    Sir_Hemlock Avatar

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  4. HogwinHD

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    Where does it tell you that you need to pay Shipping costs?
     
  5. opTi

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    ouch, das ist bitter. Aber ja, hätte auch gutgehen können.
     
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  6. HogwinHD

    HogwinHD Avatar

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    Well.. that would explain why i havnt received mine yet...... Having to pay $30.00 shipping...
     
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  7. Derium

    Derium Avatar

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    Wait, the extra goodies are inside the box? So my signed deed, map and all the other stuff is in there!? I was wondering why I only got the game and none of my other pledge level stuff. That's also sad because I wanted to keep the box sealed, not have to ruin it by opening it to get my signed stuff, ugh.
     
  8. Kara Brae

    Kara Brae Avatar

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    Customers not living in the US were told from the beginning that they had to buy a shipping cost voucher for $30 in the add-on store to receive the physical goods reward. You can find it in the add-on store in the Game Services section. And yes, if you don't live in the U.S. and haven't purchased a shipping voucher, that might prevent the shipment from being sent.
     
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  9. HogwinHD

    HogwinHD Avatar

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    a reminder email would have been nice
     
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  10. Lars vonDrachental

    Lars vonDrachental Avatar

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    Oje, das ist ja nicht so gut gelaufen...aber immer dran denken, es hätte auch schlimmer kommen können. ;)
    *erinnert sich dunkel an einige der Berichte über mir-doch-egal-was-da-drin-ist-Lieferdienste*
     
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  11. Earl Atogrim von Draken

    Earl Atogrim von Draken Avatar

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    Also....eigentlich alle.....auf der ganzen Welt ^^
     
  12. Sindariya

    Sindariya Avatar

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    at least you have your boxes. I'm still waiting.
     
  13. opTi

    opTi Avatar

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    Oh ja, das glaube ich auch *g*
     
  14. Earl Atogrim von Draken

    Earl Atogrim von Draken Avatar

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    "Oh look, it's marked as 'fragile', let's handle it with care!" said no parcel service ever ^^
     
  15. DavidDC

    DavidDC Programmer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    they just read frag


    frag
    North Americanmilitary slang
    noun
    noun: frag; plural noun: frags
    1. 1.
      a hand grenade.
    verb
    verb: frag; 3rd person present: frags; past tense: fragged; past participle: fragged; gerund or present participle: fragging
    1. 1.
      deliberately kill (an unpopular senior officer), typically with a hand grenade.
     
  16. opTi

    opTi Avatar

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    I worked for a short time (two weeks) for a parcel service and unloaded there containers which arrived at the port of Nuremberg. They would even manage to smash a packed anvil. So careful they handle the packages ...
     
  17. Kara Brae

    Kara Brae Avatar

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    I can't tell you exactly where, but I know I have seen reminders, including in the update emails we get from Portalarium on a regular basis. For example in The Avatar's Update #268 there is a big section on physical rewards where it says:
    For shipments outside the United States, you must have an International Shipping Voucher listed on your account. If you do not, you can purchase one here.


    I am sorry you missed them :(
     
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  18. Rhiannon

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    No swift kicks from me, my friend. I'm one of the 700. :( And no, it wasn't my fault - I verified my address a dozen times over a period of months.
     
  19. 3devious

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    @Dinsoo doesn't eat guildies, I don't kick 'em.
    I do troll them however but it as symbol of affection but don't worry I get mine sometimes. I got 2 boxes they had tinkerer's certificates in them but no domesday certificates, land deeds or other swag. I was going to send a note to Portalarium about it today. @Serafina is probably busier than a one legged man in a... you know.
     
  20. Kara Brae

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    I also have an unbelievable true story about a parcel service. It happened about 15 years ago.

    I worked for Microsoft in Munich and we ordered software from the central distribution center in the Netherlands to be sent to special customers.

    Microsoft subsidiaries all over Europe started to receive complaints from customers who didn't receive their software.

    Soon thereafter I received a telephone call at work from a lady in Stuttgart who was a complete stranger and not a customer of ours. A package had been delivered to her that was addressed only to my last name in the town of Stuttgart. This lady had the same last name as me and she lived in Stuttgart, so the package was delivered to her. This lady was smart and honest, so she called Microsoft and asked if there was someone working there who had her last name. It turned out that the package had been ordered by me for a customer in Stuttgart. I contacted my customer, who drove to the lady's house and collected the package in person. We sent the lady a gift as a token of thanks.

    I called the central distribution center and it turned out that the programming of the address labeling machine had gone haywire and it had started to print address labels with the wrong address fields. The only fields that were printed on the labels were the last name of the person who placed the order and the destination city. Until I called them, they were not aware of the problem. They had sent out hundreds of packages with faulty addresses before the lady from Stuttgart called me. All these packages apparently disappeared without a trace.

    What completely shocked me was the complete apathy of the distribution center employees (all outsourced) and of the parcel service drivers. They saw these wacky addresses on the parcels and did nothing to report or fix the problem.
     
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