How is the empeg delivered to customers? Is this done by a special parcel-service like UPS or something or by post?
I'm a little worried about that 'cause a few weeks ago I ordered something from another company and some parcel-service "threw" the parcel somewhere in front of the door without needing a signation from me. I wasn't at home and anyone could have taken the parcel away. :-(

Now I want to be sure that this can't happen with the Mk2 when delivered.

TeeMcBee

I will arrange for pretty much any alternative to UPS there is. I'll go out of my way for it to not be them. Horrible customer service, very little accuracy in their tracking, and did I mention horrible service?

If I need to take a boat to Cambridge, so be it. :-)

Jambo
Something like #14000 (give or take a few)

..In the past, they've used Fedex worldwide for US orders.
-mark

...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

We use Federal Express for all US shipments. I wouldn't touch UPS, we've had problems with them in the past.

I'm just closing a deal with FedEx to get fantastic shipping rates to the USA (under $25 for 10am next day on a 3Kg empeg package). That's less than it costs to ship to France!

Rob

That's spectacular Rob! That price is really good! Good job!

I had this debate with a friend of mine about UPS. He liked it, I didn't. He said,"It stands for ups, as in ups and ups [like the direction]." I said,"No, it's more like, 'UPS [oops], we lost your package.'"

How about "UPS (oops) we broke your package" (which is often the case for me... I wish I had a picture to post of the latest piece I've gotten... ).

Ok - I think I should have said that I'm sitting in the Europe. What's about that?

TeeMcBee

will fedex do the rest of the world ? eg Australia

will fedex do the rest of the world ? eg Australia

Well, from memory, my brother and I picked up my^H^Hhis empeg from TNT. But I have no idea whether that's empeg's choice for Aus shipping, or whether they did TNT then and FedEx now.

Either way, parcel tracking is a fine thing.

Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.

I've had reasonably good service from both UPS and FedEx, and I've had quite a bit of experience with both.

Airborne, on the other hand...:)

Alex

FedEx don't have very good global coverage, both in terms of service standards and cost. We use TNT for everywhere except the USA.

Rob

...or, "UPS, we dropped your package marked 'fragile' at least 4 times from a great height, and then ran over it with the back wheels of a truck for good measure"

I received a Bosch fuel pump for my car (ie., a decently engineered bit of kit) via UPS from Liverpool, UK (I'm in NL). The package was smeared with grease, and looked as if it had been crushed at one end. The other end was punctured and the packaging was showing; I was astonished that they were prepared to even deliver it in that state. The guy handed it to me at the door and immediately gave me the document to sign for it. I said I wanted to open it and inspect it first. He said no, you can't open it before acceptance. I said I wasn't prepared to accept it without examination, and that for a possible claim, I was entitled to inspect it first. At this point he moved to take it out of my hands, and we had a yanking match on my doorstep. I was absolutely shocked, and ended up just letting him take it. So he drove off with it after I had been waiting nearly 8 days for a supposed 2-day delivery.

I rung to complain about his behaviour, to be told that the parcel had been delivered by an employee of the local subcontractor they had been using to meet demand, and that the guy had complained I had whacked him (untrue). After enduring mucho indifference on the phone, I was told the package was already on the plane back to England.

About 3 days later I was rung by the supplier (a friend whom I trust) to ask why I had sent it back in this state, and who was going to pay for the damage. I said I hadn't sent it back, and he then told me the package had been returned marked "rejected by recipient". On opening the package, he found that the co-axial bearings of the pump had been so badly damaged (presumably by being dropped) that the pump would not turn when power was applied, and that the casing was distorted so badly, it looked like a banana. When I told him the story he promptly stopped using them and put in a claim for the damage. I don't know if he had any luck.

I did however get a replacement pump the day after, delivered in perfect condition by TNT...

I think you are misunderstanding me! I didn't mean that I want the parcels to be delivered by UPS! This was just one parcel service that came first to my mind and was just thought as an example.

I want to get sure to receive the Mk2 handed to me personally and not layed down anywhere without having to give any signation. (That's what happened in another case to me. Anyone could have taken the parcel away - I even wouldn't have recognized that any parcel had been delivered to me) Of course I hope the parcel is in a good condition (and more important - the Mk2 should be in a good condition after delivering)

I'm in Europe. Which service do you use in Europe?

TeeMcBee

As I said earlier in the thread, we use TNT for everywhere apart from the USA. We have found that they provide excellent service.

All packages that we send require a signature upon delivery.

Rob

TNT were great... They delivered at 6:30pm, after I had given up hope of it arriving that day... (Actually, it made good sense to deliver at that time, as there was somebody home to sign for it... =)

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

OK, that'll be fine! But what will happen if I'm not at home? Will they leave a note to fetch the parcel somewhere? Or will they try to deliver it next day? What if I'm not at home then?.. You know what I mean?


TeeMcBee

Well, you could ring your local TNT depot and find out this sort of detail for yourself - here they always make at least two attempts to deliver if they require a signature for delivery, one inside normal (?) hours, and a second after 6 PM. Usually they leave a delivery attempt notification. Why worry?

Why worry?

1. Cause I've bad experiences with other parcel-services.
2. Cause I wanna get the Mk2 as soon as I can
3. Cause I wanna be sure to really get it

TeeMcBee

OK! Just checked it with the local TNT. It'll be OK. Now I can sleep a bit better

TeeMcBee

By the way, for Australian shipping, if it arrives in the warehouse in Sydney and doesn't move for a couple of days, that's TNT's way of saying "We'd like you to contact us about paying import duty on it but we can't be bothered finding your number out ourselves". Give them a call and sort it out then and there, and it'll be winging its way to you pronto.

And remember to send it to an address that you're at during the day. Eh, muzza?

Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.

Tee,
Everything will come in due time. Everything will be taken care of, the empeg crew knows what its doing. Just relax, and youll get your empeg before you know it!

Sean

I can understand the enthusiasm; look how excited I got when my Mk1 shipped last year...

Mk1 delivery ravings

The worse case for UPS with me is when they just left my $3000 laptop in a cow spotted Gateway box on my doorstep. It clearly said "ADULT SIGNATURE REQUIRED" on a big red sticker on the top. I was home at the time, and by the time I got to the door to answer the knock, the UPS guy was back in his truck. According to the UPS tracking, "D Doorstop" signed for that package.

Here in Croatia we have best experiance with DHL. Rather expensive, and they sometimes forget about your package once it gets stuck at customs (happens with, for example, a piece of paper (software license) billed at several tens of k$ :), but otherwise delivery is OK, tracking works, and they use only their own employees.

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
#5196