Missing package from Friulmodel. What's normal time wise?

[Guest]

Two weeks ago I ordered Friulmodel ATL-16 tracks for my King Tiger and after paying I got confirmation of delivery on the 7:th of July.
Last Friday I sent them an email asking if they knew what was happening since I haven't received it yet but no answer so far.

How long does it normally take for a delivery from them? What's your experience?

Ok, it's summer time and people might've gone on holiday, but they sure were quick to process the charge bit anyway, and the status of the order is "shipped".

There's no rush but I don't want to wait a month before I start chasing a lost package, and I don't think the Swedish customs are sitting on it since Friulmodel are from Hungary - but I wouldn't be surprised either since they've become a royal pain in the a.. lately.

Many thanks in advance.
Jens

[Guest]

Stuff from Eastern Europe tends to take longer in post in my opinion and experience
John

[Robert1968]

Stuff from Eastern Europe tends to take longer in post in my opinion and experience
John

Well I can't comment on Europe really but I had ordered 3 AFV from China and they went by the by and in the end luckily I cancelled my order and got all my funding back.
I have re ordered from a more local supplier ( no offence SMS ) but still I have to await till August to receive the first ( 1/35 Comet by bronco )
It's strange really why there are not more uk stockists taking on orders
My next two the Bishop and Archer will no doubt be the sand waiting period no doubt.

[Guest]

The package from Friulmodel arrived today so case closed. I've never ordered from Hungary before and I honestly expected it to be quicker, them being an EU country, but obviously not.
It doesn't matter if it takes 3 days or 2 weeks as long as you know it'll arrive - and the package was sent with tracking so if they'd supplied the tracking ID I could've tracked it myself. Lesson learned for next time!

I do virtually all my shopping online and there's very few things I buy in a physical store and you quickly learn which countries to avoid. USA is a no go country since they enforced export duty and I try to avoid mainland China and instead try to get stuff shipped from Hong Kong. Much faster.
Apart from that I avoid most of Africa and there's no way I'd ever order anything from Italy! (they have the worst statistics in the whole of Europe with regards to the percentage of packages that are lost; stolen at the post office in other words...

I've yet to order any scale models from eBay because I've found a really nice, and well stocked, place in Sweden. Next day delivery as well as long as you order before lunch! That's impressive!
There are a few models I really want, like the Squadron Haunebu II, which aren't sold here. Sadly the shipping cost from most countries is very steep...

Anyhow, it seems Friulmodel tracks to Sweden is appx 3 weeks in transit. A lot longer than expected, but I'm in no hurry as long as I know they will arrive eventually.

Cheers!

[rickoshea52]

Your comments about shipping from America are interesting. I work for a US company and export control is a massive red tape burden for us, can you believe that i cannot even send a certificate of calibration or users manual for a plating machine without having it approved for export? I can send the machine no problem but not the users guide! I'm not American, I don't live there and none of my shipping goes there but i still have to deal with all this BS.

[Guest]

Your comments about shipping from America are interesting. I work for a US company and export control is a massive red tape burden for us, can you believe that i cannot even send a certificate of calibration or users manual for a plating machine without having it approved for export? I can send the machine no problem but not the users guide! I'm not American, I don't live there and none of my shipping goes there but i still have to deal with all this BS.

Their crude way of trying to pull in some tax money a couple of years ago when the Americans themselves realised that they'd run out of money - by enforcing export tax on EVERYTHING leaving the country - has backfired and now they've lost an awful lot of business. This has hit the smaller companies the hardest I think.

Try ordering a new rifle stock from McMillan today and you'll find out what real bureaucracy is... It's just a piece of moulded plastic.
Actually, they can't even sell rifle optics (scopes) abroad any longer if that model has been, or are being, used by any military organisation because the new export regulations forbid this. We're talking jail time if they ship things anyway...
As someone who's into long range shooting this is a huge problem because we all are using milspec gear and nowadays we have to do shady deals just to get simple parts just because they are now classified as "military equipment"! There are ways around it but most smaller, and bigger also, companies simply hasn't got the ability to sort out the export approvals. I can't even send my Premier 5-25x56 scope for service any longer because it'll be illegal for them so send it back to me!?! A scope like that costs between £4000-5000 and they used to ship them 24/7 to other countries and a lot of people made their paychecks from this.
If the US suddenly decided to leave Iraq then all of these companies would go bust simply because they can only sell their goods to the US forces nowadays. Makes you think...?

The new export regulations has meant that smaller firms no longer can sell their goods abroad simply because they can't afford the export process, and the export (import for me) cost has almost doubled the price for many goods. And since you have to pay import tax on anything bought from the US that means that it's now too expensive to order anything from there.

They thought they were going to make money on this but instead they've lost it all.

I can only imagine the stupid amounts of work needed to get an export approval today, which is the backside of this story - and how greedy politicians made things worse for everyone.

I used to work for some of the biggest developers/producers/manufacturers of telecoms equipment in the world before I had to retire, but before I left we pretty much shut down all of our local offices in the US and only left a handful of people to run a front, so we would still be in the region. No real work was ever going to happen there though because of all the red tapes we were slapped with.
Not even the bigger American companies have any manufacturing left in the US because of this. All the goods and shipping is done from EU where there are much easier import/export regulations.

Oops, that turned into an export/tax rant...

...but it's the sad reality. Last week I saw a scale model I really wanted on eBay - a Testors SR-71 Blackbird. One was going for $55 and it wasn't going to go for cheaper anywhere else!
Sadly when reading the fine print I had to withdraw my bid because I discovered a sinister plot to enforce even more tax and export duties. It took me a couple of hours to work out how much the extra charge would be because they refused to tell me until I'd won the bid - but delivered it would've been over $200! That's 4 times the price!
We'll just have to send all of our money to Asia instead...