ravenmore

Probikekit does a pretty good job on shipping. You have to allow yourself some lead time when ordering from them. They usually have some of the best deals on a lot of things - especially tires.

gc3

My personal and repeated experience with PBK is they underpromised and UNDERdelivered. They have to give the stuff away before I buy from them again.

KantoBoy

You have to understand how it works.

FedEx pays a bond and it covers all the shipments that are delivered straight to your door without going through CBP (which I think handles the Customs related activities in the US)

I believe American citizens are entitled to a $200 "freebie" and thereafter the shipment is deemed dutiable. There may be some exceptions to this rule.

And why pay duties? It's because you're taking out currency out of the country. It's your government's way of making that money back

Information about paying duties/taxes are available to the general public. Refer to the CBP website.

PS
I work in the industry and about 50% of our vendors are US-based

TheManShow

I would asked Federal Express for an itmized statement from the U.S. Customer Service showing they piad for your shiipment or they can shove the bill up their ------.

SevenTwentyNine

1. Pro Bike Kit is hit or miss. They can be terribly unreliable and incompetent with their customer service but then their prices make you always want to risk it and when they actually deliver it feels really worth it.

2. Yes, I've been hit with customs charges totaling hundreds of dollars.

StanSeven

Why the internet tough guy attitude? The poster didn't say they didn't have proof. FedEx does show the duties paid. It's also easy to verify by looking at the declared value and applicable duty rates.

FLvector

I've ordered tires many times from PBK and this has been my experience as well. PBK is quick to ship, but once it goes to Customs, it's out of their control. I don't order anything from PBK if I need it in a hurry.

rpenmanparker 

bruce 19, Customs does bill the customer, not the seller. But the shipper acts as agent for both. So FedEx paid the duties on your behalf and back billed you. Otherwise it would have taken forever for you to get your stuff. Why so much? That is the catch. They charge a hefty fee for providing the duty payment service. In order to get a sensible view on this, you have to total up all your international purchases over a long time and all your duty payments and calculate the average outlay %age. Considering all the purchases you make with no customs duties and fees, the number usually comes out pretty small, especially in light of the great prices from the UK sellers. If you can't tolerate even that low rate, then international buying isn't for you.

cthenn

This topic is becoming as popular as "which wheelset". I just got a $200+ shipment from Ribble, no customs charges, and got it within a week. They are the ONLY UK retailer I buy from now. The rest use DHL, UPS, FedEx and all will rip you off with additional fees. Ribble uses good ol' lazy US Postal, which never bothers with collecting customs charges. If you want to almost assuredly avoid any additional charges/fees, go with Ribble. I was going to buy a wheelset from overseas, but the seeming randomness of the charges made me forget that idea. You may save on the purchase price, but if you get hit with a 10% tax and additional "fees", almost always it will be more expensive.

Oh, and the only time I ordered from PBK, it took almost 5 weeks to get my order. Never again.

bt

"oh the humanity"

TheManShow

Well I am not a big fan of Federal Express first of long story about a item i shipped with them. They ran over with truck. I insured for value. Claim too 6 month to get paid, after I jump threw hoops.

Secondly if indeed they Federal Express had to pay a fee they should attach an itemized copy of the statement as proof of fees.

Sadly we live in a society where hospitals, car dealer, funature stores over charge consumer everyday for service that were never preformed, or have no value.

Our local hospital ER down the street where my other half is a recent customer, has in her last 3 ER visits, tripped bill the same bill to our insurance company. Think they are trying to sneek something by.

I am a show me knind of guy, last time I leased a car, I took the contract home before signing it. It had hidden charges that I gave the dealer the choice to remove, or I would find another car.

I am not say Fed-X, UPS, DHL or other carrier are dishonest. But lets say some try and take advantage of complacent people. I try to be a wish consumer, if that make me a touch person, than that is what I am.

rpenmanparker 

This isn't about cheating or taking advantage of complacency. It is about the buyer agreeing to the service terms of a provider, i.e. the shipper/customs agent. Their fees for taking care of customs duties for you are published. Shame on you if you don't ever expect to pay them. Yes, they are stupidly exorbitant. But you have no choice if you want to participate in this type of international commerce. As I said above, the right way to look at this is to examine the overall charges you have paid on a lot of international shipments. For most people that is a very low number. Getting out after paying a high fee is exactly the wrong thing to do (kind of like selling stocks after a crash). You have a lot of free or very cheap duties/fees coming your way if you are like most other folks. Giving up on those is a losing proposition.

As far as added fees in an auto lease, I don't really care how the dealer gets his profit as long as I pay the amount I have agreed to. I know what a fair monthly payment is for the car I want, and once we have agreed on that number, I pay no attention to how the dealer structures the lease to get there. Keep in mind I never make a down payment, so the monthly payment X number of months is the whole deal. Now add-ons to that would be a different thing. I too have walked out of dealerships when charges were added on after a monthly payment was negotiated.

Marcus_Ti

Thing is, the shippers routinely do not get the customs fees billed correctly.

Only certain items should be dinged for tariffs...but most shippers will gladly bill you for 10%+ the value of everything in the damned box. 10% being the most common bike part tariff rate.

If I order a complete Dura Ace group (say $1500 declared value)...only the brifters and crank/cassette should be dinged (Say $700 value) IIRC-not brake calipers or hubset or cables...but FedEx will gladly demand you pay 10%+brokerage off of $1500 and not $700. Further to really look up and understand what should and should not be dinged you need to be an import/export lawyer or pay monthly subscription fees to online databases of HTS. And when you spot something billed completely wrong by the shipper they tell you to **** off and pay what they say because they say so.

That is why people get upset. Because shippers bill you wrong very often...and then demand you pay a "convenience" fee for the wrong amount.

rpenmanparker 

Are you sure. I understood that you paid what they paid as far as the duties were concerned. It was a simple reimbursement, plus the fee, of course.

Marcus_Ti

Sure? Sure.

Also if the seller calls a box containing a bike transmission group "Bicycle Accessories"-it probably won't get dinged. But should the seller call the same box at the same value "Bicycle Parts" and the HTS gets applied-almost always incorrectly at a flat 10% of declared value. The other side of it is that sellers are frequently lazy and don't itemize customs declarations, even when you ask them to itemize to avoid Customs Hell they normally don't. I purchased my Chorus 11s from Ribble, I used up the 3-free Harmonized Tariff Schedule lookups on the one tariff database site I found figuring things out. Didn't get dinged as it came Postal Force/USPS. Otherwise I'd look up the details for you of what should and shouldn't be dinged and at what rate and post it, but you only get 3 free lookups then you have to pay $50/month IIRC.

As I recall only brifters and cranks/cogs should be dinged at 10%. Brakes shouldn't be IIRC. Tires don't think either, but I may be wrong on that.

rpenmanparker 

But that isn't FedEx's fault is my point. It is a crap shoot with the seller. That's the deal with this international buying.

StanSeven

That's it exactly. FedEx, as well as most shippers, are charged duties against thir bond. They tact on a fee, which is reasonable to me. They are paying for their bond, they have costs invoicing customers, they often have to follow up getting their payment, they experience bad debt, have to respond to a host of questions and complaints such as what surfaces here, etc., and all that is costly.

The problem many are talking about here is duties are assessed against declared value. If ProBikeKit calls a group something and Ribble labels the group differently, the duties might be different. FedExhas no control over that.

If someone doesn't like the process, let them experience dealing with customs themselves. Delays might be weeks instead of days.

StanSeven

Just to make this clear, shippers don't bill you anything more than the duties charged. Do you believe FedEx knows how to calculate duties on a Dura Ace group components? Sellers complete a declaration with that info.

Wileyone 

I am in Southern Ontario if I order from Wiggle it takes 4-7 Days. If I order from California or the Southern States it can take up to 2 Weeks. USPS is SLOOOOOW.

TheManShow

Well as consumers we as a group need to fight for fair treatement. As the golden rule has apprently been forgotten by many.

I love nothing more than a good fight that I know I have a chance at winning. Several years ago an agent who sold my photos in europe sent me a royalty check threw this bank in NYC. All they did was convert Danish Currency into US Dollars and send me a bank check. Their fee for the first transaction was skimming off my royalty about 260.00 dollars or about 8%. When I realized what they did protecting such a high fee, and was told that is that. I said you have not heard the last of this contacing the agency in NY State & The Feds who regulate bank fees.

I got most of my 260.00 bucks back with a letter of apolody, as all of a sudden apprently a "mistake" had been made. Think I was charged a "normal transfer fee" of 15-20 bucks.

After than I had my royalties wire transfered into my own bank were because of the relationship I have with my bank waves fees to me because of some special circumstances.

rpenmanparker 

You go, Dude. That's some serious retribution.

rpenmanparker 

Not when Amazon is involved. They crack the whip.

TheManShow

Most people I know be they are greeter at Wal-Mart, or Registered Nurse woring in some hospital work hard for their money. There is no reason to give it away to some their party for no good reason.

I was out shopping for a new car today, it amazes me how the salesmen in some dealerships lie for the sake of making a few extra bucks on one sale. They also forget the golden rule of life. They forget someday they will be the buyer, and I do hope they are treated in kind.

Ball Bearing

Probikekit have sold me items that they do not have in stock. They do have what I want in a different color, but they refuse to change my order and have stubbornly insisted on keeping my money. This has been going on for nearly 6 weeks!

I have opened a PayPal claim against them.

I see that their business is well known for terrible customer service and shoddy practices.

They told me to cancel the order and re-order from what they have in stock - when I tried to do this my account page said that I could not cancel the order! There people are seriously messed up.

I will never buy from them again!

Have a look at this:

ProBikeKit Reviews - probikekit.com Ratings at ResellerRatings

cthenn

The confusion is the problem. Also the complete randomness of the charges. I've read stories/posts from other people who were charged upwards of $60 in the "convenience fee" from these shippers, apart from the actual customs charges. It comes across almost as if someone uses one of those magic 8 balls and whatever comes up is what you pay. It's a joke.