Wildwood shipping costs

[Little flower]

I placed an order with Wildwood and when the confirmation came back the estimated shipping cost was 79.00US for a 52.00US order!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stunned is not the word for what I felt when reading that. The last time I got an orders from them the shipping cost 12.95 & around $20US. So I rang the company and got a very nice lady who said she that it was only an estimate and may be nothing like that in the end. However she would make a note on it to ring me before shipping (one thing was on back order so no panic). That was OK, I never thought too much that we were in different hemispheres and I might get called at 1am. So back on the pone I go and got another nice helpful lady. She would change the message from contacting me on my phone number to my email. OK I thought. So I carried on with breakfast then thought, hang on, she did say that HOPEFULLY the dispatchers would see the instruction and contact me. No, I can't afford risking that sort of postage for items I really can do without anyway - nothing was THAT important and if I really searched around in NZ maybe I could find them here, if not too bad, and besides not all the order was for me personally. SO........ (just as well its Sat and we have good cheap international calls on the weekend) I made third call to USA, got one of those nice ladies again and expalined that I really didn't want to take the risk of having to pay so much and cancelled my order! Now I can feel relaxed again.

One of the ladies explained that they've had a change in shipping options - not as many options available but I really didn't understand what she saying, but a change that reflects that sort of structure is way out of our league from little NZ.

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, did the shipping estimate reflect the actual shipping cost in the end?

[Daryl185]

Teresa what exactly did you order, I deal in shipping all day as its my job and I can not imagine something costing that much unless it was sent via courier (UPS,FedEx)

[workin for wood]

My crappy lathe that I sent back was 100 pounds and the shipping was only $30. Fed-Ex ground.

[Little flower]

(QUOTE=Daryl185]Teresa what exactly did you order, I deal in shipping all day as its my job and I can not imagine something costing that much unless it was sent via courier (UPS,FedEx)[/QUOTE]

Just small stuff like clock fitups, batteries, couple of back issues and another pattern book. That's why I couldn't believe it.

[Eric]

Teresa

yes the quote would be right. I got that shock after when it was too late and a $10 pattern ended coosing $ 38. They do not deal with US postage services if it is outside the US and they do not tell you that. The reason given to me was too many lost packages or too long delivery time so now everything goes UPS with insurance. The up side is with in 48 hours it was delievered to me in Montreal and I could go on the net and track everything. I've learned my lesson and I will only use them if I really do, again service issues since the move.

Eric

[Daryl185]

Teresa

yes the quote would be right. I got that shock after when it was too late and a $10 pattern ended coosing $ 38. They do not deal with US postage services if it is outside the US and they do not tell you that. The reason given to me was too many lost packages or too long delivery time so now everything goes UPS with insurance. The up side is with in 48 hours it was delievered to me in Montreal and I could go on the net and track everything. I've learned my lesson and I will only use them if I really do, again service issues since the move.

Eric

if thats Wildwoods new policy then the cost is right on for UPS but they are wrong for not letting folks know this and Global Priority USPS is just as good and cheaper it comes with a tracking number of sorts also

[Little flower]

Daryl185

if thats Wildwoods new policy then the cost is right on for UPS but they are wrong for not letting folks know this and Global Priority USPS is just as good and cheaper it comes with a tracking number of sorts also

Thanks for clearing that up Daryl and Eric. As I recall they never used to add an estimated cost of shipping on the confirmation but this time they did, so in a way they did notify me - thank goodness I looked - but I could have just as easily missed that and got a big shock when the credit card bill came in.
A very kind member of this forum has offered to do some shopping for me and forward it to me at a much lesser cost than Wildwood so all is not lost. Another reason to be thankful for the friendships this forum has built.