Free Shipping… Really?

[Anonymous]

I don’t like to complain, but after receiving my box of Judge Dredd pre-order minis (Klegg-Hai, Wally Squad, Robots, and a few other related minis) I wasn’t expecting to get an invoice from FedEx billing me for shipping fees a week or so later.

Due to the already pricey cost of the preorders, I deliberately ordered a few extra items to bring the total to over $175 to qualify for “free” shipping (I live in Japan), so it was already an expensive order. Had I known I would be stung anyway, I would have bought the other stuff from a cheaper seller on ebay.

I’m pretty upset by this. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

[Eric A.]

Tell me about it, I was $5USD under their new limit and they got me for $25 USD…

[HellRaiser 7]

I don’t know how the mail system works in Japan , and whether not FedEx can tack on additional deliveries charges, but if you feel you qualified for free delivery contact the Warlord Customer Service. I’ve contacted them many times along with other gamers and the Warlord Customer service has always been fantastic in resolving issues. Shoot them an e-mail and explain what happened with FedEx.

[SteveT]

Just a thought. Just noticed this post incredibly late. I also live in Japan. Sounds like you are being charged custom import fees, via Fedex, for an order of that size. There is a fine line between qualifying for free post from Warlord and getting slammed by Japanese customs; Bringing in a parcel worth more than 10,000 yen could invite the duty tax, but I’ve worked  out that an order  between 75 pounds and 99 pounds is the safe spot, (15,000 yen). Depends on the product type perhaps, but I have ordered in around 25 parcels of models over the years within this band with no duty charged, and once I went for a 125 shipment and got slammed import duty which I had to pay at the door to the courier (Yamato).

Not sure that helps.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks SteveT!

I have had to pay custom import fees only once in my 20 years of living here, and that was an at-the-door payment made to the courier just like you mentioned (I think it was Sagawa, but can’t remember for sure). However, on this occasion, I was sent an invoice via first class airmail from Singapore a week later, charging me for “Consumption Tax/VAT” and “Duty Handling Fees” to the grand total of 2,100 yen. It wasn’t a huge amount, but given the pushy tone and tight payment deadline, it left a really bad taste in my mouth…

Thanks for the heads up regarding the ideal price/order size — that’s very kind of you to share!
I know prices are shooting up everywhere right now and the terribly weak yen right now isn’t helping so I’m not sure I’ll order direct again from Warlord, but if I do, I will certainly keep that in mind!! (Incidentally, I have ordered direct from Warlord around 4-5 times, but have only been stung on this one “free” shipping occasion — the other times were smaller orders that didn’t qualify, so I paid the shipping and alas, had no surprise billings after…)

P.S, Apologies for the slow response! I only play Dredd and the forum on here for that has been pretty much dead from the get-go, so I only check in sporadically now!!

[Author]

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