Monday, June 30, 2008

No, this is just plain STUPID

Well, it's back in the states again, I wait for tomorrow to see if it gets back to Istanbul, again!

Location Date Local Time Description
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 30/06/2008 16:27 TRANSFER NOTIFICATION FROM SITE TO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR DELIVERY

This is better than a sitcom!

The Sixth Round of battle commences, cunning wit and charm pervades all!

My latest missive to APG

There are some great unanswered questions in the universe.



Why am I here?

What am I supposed to do in life?

Will my UPS package actually ever get delivered back to sender as I don't want it?

Will I ever get my money back?



"The package" sounds ominous, is back in Istanbul, after making it back as far as LOUISVILLE KY obviously the KY lubricated it all the way back to Istanbul.



I haven't had a reply from my previous emails to your good selves yet about why it's going to cost me $200 to return something I asked you guys to get sent back as INEXPENSIVELY (I hate the word cheap) as possible.



Remember you can read all about this orders high jinx at http://rottenrottenservice.blogspot.com/ after all, publicity is publicity.



Have fun

EF

United Parcel Service Tracking!!!! Again!

So, after I've told Ace Photo Digital I don't want the package and UPS deciding that I don't want the package, guess what's happened, it's bouncing around the globe, yipee! Here is the latest tracking info, I kid you not, UPS really are shipping the package all over the world!

Location Date Local Time Description
ISTANBUL,
TR 30/06/2008 11:00 POWER OF ATTORNEY DOCUMENTATION IS MISSING AND IS REQUIRED FOR CLEARANCE
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 27/06/2008 13:58 TRANSFER NOTIFICATION FROM SITE TO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR DELIVERY

Thursday, June 26, 2008

5th Round email to Ace

Email I sent today, waiting for a reply, I'll send another one with this blog address.

I am sorry but you are asking me to pay $200 return shipping for a item that weighs 1.8 pounds ?
I will be contact my Visa card companies fraud department.
From the UPS tracking info it is already on its way back to you.
It has been interesting dealing with UPS and yourself, I will try my best to inform as many people as possible about this situation as possible: contacting the police in which state your company is registered and also trading standards, contacting visa fraud department and Amazon.
Thank you and best wishes
EF

4th Round! Yipee!

Another spat with Ace, what fun.

The email is a load of baloney as you can see if you look at the UPS shipping its already made its way back to the states. And SHOCK horror its going to cost me $200 to ship back! How does that work ?

EMAIL from them:

Hi,

While speaking with UPS they stated it will cost about $200.00 to return this package to us. That means this amount will be deducted of the $278.95 you paid for the item. I have until Friday to have the package re-called back to us. Please advise if you would like to us to tell them to send this back otherwise you still have a day to recover the package.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,
N/ Acephotodigital


Email from me:

Please have the package returned to sender by least inexpensive package method (LOL LOL LOL)
 
1. PoA may be "free" but it needs to be notarised at an official notary office, this costs between 100-150 lire. (YEAH I GOT IT RIGHT)

2. Cost of translation, I cannot sign the PoA until it has been translated, even if I wanted to. This costs 40-60 lire.

3. As yet I have recieved no OFFICIAL breakdown of costs of customs clearance, this means whatever they want to charge me for I will have to pay if I sign PoA

 4. Yes I know I will have to pay for return to sender, please send back by least inexpensive package.

5. Turkish customs make it a WELL KNOWN HABIT of charging what they want when they want. If I sign a PoA by UPS and UPS pay this on my behalf and it costs 1000 turkish lire I either pay or be taken to court, which I do not want.
 
> Yes I know it sounds like I am being difficult, but I do not want to pay 400 USD to clear an item I paid 279, how would you feel in my place.
 
Thank you
EF

3rd Contact with Ace Photo Digital

My 3rd round in the boxing ring. Why do people not actually read what is writ ? 

I keep on going on about the fact UPS has not given me a breakdown of costs and that the costs are stupid, but no one wants to listen.

Here is Ace's reply:

UPS should have a power of attorney form for you to fill out and sign and notarize. You should not have to pay to have a separate form drawn up. UPS only grants UPS the ability to clear this order through customs on your behalf.

UPS is not "scamming" you, they are trying to have the customs charges paid so that the package can be delivered.

Customs charges are assessed by your local government and Ace Photo Digital is not able to know the charges in advance and we do not collect payment for these charges.

It is urgent that this matter be resolved on your end, or the package will be returned or abandoned. If the package is returned, you will still be responsible for all charges related to the shipment of this order.

Thank you,

SL
Ace Photo Digital

My email:

SL

Regarding the power of attourney, I point blank refuse to give UPS this at all, it would mean I am liable for any charges they wish to add or create.
 
The overall cost of the UPS customs clearance can be broken down by this:
 
 1. Cost of translation for PoA between 40-80 Turkish lire
 2. PoA cost 100-150 Turksh lire (AGAIN I MEANT NOTARY FEE)
 3. Quoted customs clearance plus any charges 350-400 Turkish lire
 
 Now, in all honesty can you call this fair for an item that costs $279 and weighs 1.2 LBS?
 
 I will be contacting my visa card company to see if I can claim any money back on the shipping costs because as I see it someone somewhere is trying to scam me, I cannot at all see a how a item that costs $279 would cost me so much, tax is tax and I am more than willing to pay a fair and honest price but I refuse to be scammed like this.
 
 Thank you.
EF

2nd Contact Ace Photo Digital

So I sent them another email, all below with comments in brackets, I was angry and made a few mistakes, which I try to explain in ()

EMAIL from them

UPS should have a power of attorney form for you to fill out and sign and notarize. You should not have to pay to have a separate form drawn up. UPS only grants UPS the ability to clear this order through customs on your behalf.

UPS is not "scamming" you, they are trying to have the customs charges paid so that the package can be delivered.

Customs charges are assessed by your local government and Ace Photo Digital is not able to know the charges in advance and we do not collect payment for these charges.

It is urgent that this matter be resolved on your end, or the package will be returned or abandoned. If the package is returned, you will still be responsible for all charges related to the shipment of this order.

Thank you,

SL
Ace Photo Digital

EMAIL from ME

Please read this and try and understand my position.
 
I have been in turkey 3 years and as yet haven't met a single turkish person who is not trying to rip me off by some means or other.
 
 Regarding the power of attourney, I point blank refuse to give UPS this at all, it would mean I am liable for any charges they wish to add or create.
 
 The overall cost of the UPS customs clearance can be broken down by this:
 
 1. Cost of translation for PoA between 40-80 Turkish lire
 2. PoA cost 100-150 Turksh lire (NOTARY COST I MEANT TO PUT)
 3. Quoted customs clearance plus any charges 350-400 Turkish lire
 
Now, in all honesty can you call this fair for an item that costs $279 and weighs 1.2 LBS? (MY MISTAKE it is 1.8 LB)
 
I will be contacting my visa card company to see if I can claim any money back on the shipping costs because as I see it someone somewhere is trying to scam me, I cannot at all see a how a item that costs $279 would cost me so much, tax is tax and I am more than willing to pay a fair and honest price but I refuse to be scammed like this.
 
Thank you.
EF

1st Contact Ace Photo Digital

I contact Ace Photo Digital with the same message sent I sent to Amazon, here is there reply.

Very helpful.

EF,

We will attempt to contact UPS to see if there is anything that can be done to lower the charges on this shipment, but the best course of action would be for you to work with UPS and your local customs office to sort out the correct charges and pay them promptly so the package can be delivered.

Please be advised that Ace Photo Digital shipped your order as directed to the address provided. Our shipping rates and policies page states, "International customers are responsible for payment of all Customs charges, including taxes, duties, brokerage fees or handling charges."

These charges are now due on the shipment, even if you refuse to pay them. They would be deducted from any refund if the item is returned, along with shipping charges in both directions.

We will attempt to contact UPS to see if there is anything that can be done to lower the charges on this shipment, but the best course of action would be for you to work with UPS and your local customs office to sort out the correct charges and pay them promptly so the package can be delivered.


Thank you,

SL
Ace Photo Digital

Amazon 1st Contact

After the contact with UPS I decided to contact Amazon. Here are the emails to and from them.

Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.

I'm sorry to hear you had a problem with your order. I do understand your concern in this regard.

I have checked your order(#xxx) and found that you purchased this item "E-reader 6IN Portable Silver E-book Approx 170 Pix/inch" from one of our Amazon third party Merchant.

Because your order placed with "Ace Photo Digital we ask that you first contact the merchant to explain the situation and to make appropriate arrangements for a return or replacement in accordance with their returns policies. To contact the seller:

1. Click the "Your Account" link at the top of our web site.
2. Click "Go!" next to "open and recently shipped orders."
3. Sign in with your e-mail address and password.
4. Click "View order" next to the relevant order.
5. Click "Problem with this order?" On the next page, you'll see a button marked "Contact seller."

For more information about returning an item to a seller, please visit our Help pages:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=xxx

We do want to make sure that your order works out. If you don't receive a reply from your seller within 3 business days, or are not able to come to an agreement regarding a return, please contact Amazon.com again using the URL below:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/returns-and-refunds.html/

When we receive a report from you using the form above, we'll investigate the status of your order and take any actions available to us to resolve the problem.

Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=fwudbhed3341556625
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=fwudbhed3341556625

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

Vinodh L.
Amazon.com Customer Service
==============================
Check your order and more: http://www.amazon.com/your-account



---- Original message: ----







---------------
06/23/08 05:34:39
Your Name:EF
Order Id: xxx
Comments:Amazon Order No: xxx
UPS Tracking: xxx

To Amazon:

Could you please cancel my order for the above item. This is due to the fact that I feel I am being forced
into a position I do not like by UPS

Apparently any order worth more than 100 EURO's is held by customs until customs clears it.

What UPS have asked for is a a power of attorney to allow them to clear it through customs, it also means
that whatever charges they ask me to pay I have to because they have a power of atorney letter.

I have been quoted a price of anywhere between 350-400 Turkish lire but cannot be given a final price
until a power of attorney has been sent.

To get a power of attorney letter in itself costs between 100-150 turkish lire plus translation fees from
english to turkish.

This would mean the item will cost me between 500-600 turkish lire or 400-490 USD on top of the original cost
of $279.

The matter also arises that this item is for educational purposes and as I understand it is excempt from
import tax, but UPS and the Turkish Customs do not wish to listen, they also will not listen when I say that
the actually price is 279 USD they keep quoting a figure of 400 USD, this is the cost of the item PLUS carriage,
I wonder why I have to pay tax on the cost of shipping the item here ?

I am sorry to have to have to ask Amazon to return the item, but I have no choice, I am unwilling to pay in effect
twice over.

Thank you
EF

I attach the email from UPS Istanbul.

United Parcel Service 1st contact

Obviously my first inkling of a problem was on the 20th of June, but I couldn't get hold of UPS until the 21st.

I spoke to one of the custom support staff who sent me an email (below).

The gist is I needed to have a NOTARISED power of attourney letter sent to UPS so they could clear the item through customs.

What this whole fiasco is about is that UPS would not give me a clear and concise breakdown of the costs involved in clearing the purchase until after they received the PoA letter, in other words they could hold me ransom to whatever charges where levied at me.

At a rough guess the customer service gentleman said the costs would be between 350-400 turkish lire, excluding the notary fee and translation fee (100-150 turkish lire and 40-60 turkish lire respectively)

Here's the email he sent me a few minutes later after the telephone call.

Dear Customer,

Formal entry required for the shipment sent from ACE PHOTO AND DIGITAL/ US under UPS tracking
number xxx due to the high value. As per Turkish customs law and regulations
the low value limit is 100 EUR which means the non commercial shipments having values below 100 EUR
can be released as low value shipments without formal entry.
In order to clear the mentioned high value shipment , a power of attorney approved by a notary and TAX number is needed. After receipt of these documents , the clearance process will be started. There will
also be customs charges such as duty , VAT , stamps fee ,storage handling etc.
If you need any other information or have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us
Best Regards

Current United Parcel Service tracking info

Your package has experienced an exception.

Type: Package
Status: Exception
See description below
Shipped To: FETHIYE, TR
Shipped/Billed On: 18/06/2008
Service: UPS SAVER
Weight: 1.80 Lb


Location Date Local Time Description
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 26/06/2008 14:06 TRANSFER NOTIFICATION FROM SITE TO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR DELIVERY
ISTANBUL,
TR 24/06/2008 10:00 THE RECEIVER DID NOT WANT THE ORDER AND REFUSED THIS DELIVERY / UPS WILL CONTACT THE SENDER AND/OR RECEIVER REGARDING THE STATUS OR DISPOSITION OF THIS PACKAGE
ISTANBUL,
TR 20/06/2008 14:28 POWER OF ATTORNEY DOCUMENTATION IS MISSING AND IS REQUIRED FOR CLEARANCE
20/06/2008 9:58 PACKAGE DATA PROCESSED BY BROKERAGE. WAITING FOR CLEARANCE
20/06/2008 7:03 ARRIVAL SCAN
KOELN (COLOGNE),
DE 20/06/2008 4:15 DEPARTURE SCAN
20/06/2008 4:13 DEPARTURE SCAN
KOELN (COLOGNE),
DE 19/06/2008 22:51 ARRIVAL SCAN
19/06/2008 21:46 ARRIVAL SCAN
PHILADELPHIA,
PA, US 19/06/2008 9:26 DEPARTURE SCAN
19/06/2008 8:48 DEPARTURE SCAN
19/06/2008 1:50 EXPORT SCAN
19/06/2008 0:46 ARRIVAL SCAN
MASPETH,
NY, US 18/06/2008 22:43 DEPARTURE SCAN
18/06/2008 21:56 DEPARTURE SCAN
18/06/2008 21:39 ORIGIN SCAN
US 18/06/2008 18:00 BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Introduction

Hi,

I'd like to share my experiences with you as a customer, but first an introduction.

I an en anglish expat living in Turkey, I moved here 3 years ago. Unfortunately I had to get rid of most of my large collection of books when I moved.

Recently I had been reading about electronic book readers and wanted to purchase one, so I logged into Amazon and tried to buy a Sony PRS 505 from Ace Photo Digital these are my experiences, not yet over unfortunately leaving me around $300 poorer and without an e-book reader.