Playing with Hornby Dublo 3 rail again

[Wolseley]

No.  It's a flat rate for postage to Australia.  I originally got a bit carried away and placed a number of whitemetal wagon kits in my basket and thought it was something like that, so I deleted the wagon kits, recalculated the invoice and there was no change to the postal charge.  Then I deleted everything from my basket, selected one small brass fret kit for a ground signal and they still wanted £21.00 for postage.  I'm not going to waste my time emailing these people and I'm certainly never going to order anything from them.

[cctransuk]

1 minute ago, Wolseley said:

No.  It's a flat rate for postage to Australia.  I originally got a bit carried away and placed a number of whitemetal wagon kits in my basket and thought it was something like that, so I deleted the wagon kits, recalculated the invoice and there was no change to the postal charge.  Then I deleted everything from my basket, selected one small brass fret kit for a ground signal and they still wanted £21.00 for postage.  I'm not going to waste my time emailing these people and I'm certainly never going to order anything from them.

 

Your loss - one of the best remaining sources for all types of kits and bits; and an extremely helpful proprietor.

 

Are you really going to cut off your nose to spite your face, when it could be a simple computer glitch?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[45568]

21 hours ago, Wolseley said:

Well, I might have to find some other way of doing the conversion.  The only supplier I can find for Comet Models kits is Wizard Models Ltd (Peter's Spares do have some Comet Models items, but not this one).  I was going to order one from Wizard Models Ltd but, when I got to the checkout page, they wanted £21.00 for postage.  Another firm crossed off the list of people I want to deal with......

Hi, I have had similar doubts about Wizard postage rates, to the extent that I called them and enquired about them with Andrew,the owner. The 21GBP is a placeholder, in actual fact you are only charged actual postage cost for items. This is around 9-10 GBP for a small package, they are sent signed-for airmail. I have just received a small package this week.

Hope this helps,

Peter C.

[cctransuk]

3 minutes ago, 45568 said:

Hi, I have had similar doubts about Wizard postage rates, to the extent that I called them and enquired about them with Andrew,the owner. The 21GBP is a placeholder, in actual fact you are only charged actual postage cost for items. This is around 9-10 GBP for a small package, they are sent signed-for airmail. I have just received a small package this week.

Hope this helps,

Peter C.

 

Exactly as I suspected - but some people seem to delight in being easily put off !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Buhar]

Wizard Models took over Comet after Geoff Brewin's death, so they are not simply a "supplier". They also took over the Mainly Trains range. In doing so, Andrew has ensured the availability of two very important ranges and is probably the only one-stop place for so many essential bits.

 

Everything I've ordered has been charged accurately in respect of postage cost. Either that is the real cost or there is a website glitch. There may be alternative routes and I'm sure Andrew would be open to using these if they were practical. 

Alan 

[MikeCW]

In fairness to Wolseley, I too have been put off by Wizard Models GBP21 "placeholder" for postage costs on overseas orders. I've done a lot of mail order purchasing from the UK, and elsewhere, over the years, and have become increasingly price-sensitive to "P & P" charges, particularly on smaller orders. (For example, I won't bother with any Ebay listing where the seller has signed up to the Ebay Global Shipping Programme.)

 

Like Wolseley I've started an order from Wizard, got to the checkout, saw the postage charge, and cancelled the transaction. Others I know here in NZ have done the same.  The helpful post from 45568 prompted me to email Andrew and ask about the charge.  He replied immediately, confirmed it was a placeholder and that postage is charged at cost plus 75P, and referred me to the "About" section of the website.  However, that had nothing about the overseas postage charge. So I went to the "Terms and Conditions" section where I found:

 

Orders outside the UK are sent using Royal Mail’s Tracked & Signed Air Mail service which generally takes between 3 and 10 calendar days (but note that your order may then be delayed in your country’s Customs). It is charged at £0.75 plus the cost of postage, subject to a minimum charge of £3.90 and a maximum of £21.00. Because of the way online credit card orders are processed, £21.00 is added to all overseas orders when you check out. Your payment is then adjusted for the difference between this notional amount and the actual cost when we pack and weigh your order.

 

So I reordered my items and they were dispatched a week ago. They've not arrived yet.  Based on the total amount charged to my credit card, postage has been charged at less than GBP21. So I will no doubt be ordering more from Wizard - though I would still  prefer to know P & P charges before hitting the "buy" button, with Wizard Models or any other supplier.

[Wolseley]

I have encountered flat rate postage before and was wary of trying Wizard Models after seeing that and the amount quoted (I recently was going to order one small item - not model railway related - from a supplier just outside Melbourne - who charged a flat rate of $10 which, when I queried it, was told that they charge $10 regardless of size or weight of the order).  I decided not to bother order from Wizard Models at this stage, as I had too many projects on the go as it was. However, following the helpful comments from MikeCW, Buhar and 45568 (I won't include cctransuk, as you couldn't describe what he posted as helpful), I decided to place an order, just in case the item isn't available in the future.  After I paid, the final screen showed me being charged  £21.00 for postage, and the initial charge against my credit card reflected that although, given the earlier comments on this page, I am expecting that this be adjusted later.  I will let you know how this ends up.....

[MikeCW]

To complete my end of the Wizard Models story, my package arrived today.  The statement enclosed showed the GBP21 "flat rate" postage charge, but crossed out and the actual postage cost of GBP10.55 substituted - about what I had deduced from the total amount charged to my credit card (in NZ Dollars) a couple of weeks ago.

 

Incidentally, this package, and another from Kernow ordered at the same time, took over two weeks to get to me here in the Antipodes.  Even Hattons postage, about the cheapest and fastest in my experience, has slowed considerably in the last year. Gone are the days when, in the cheery glow of a glass or two of red, one could place an order on Saturday night and receive the goods by the following weekend.

 

 

[robmcg]

Do not lose hope MikeCW. As a fellow antipodean I have experienced some variability in UK-NZ air freight times too.  I suspect it has to do with these modern computer efficiencies and freight loads on passenger aircraft. Alternatively that Kernow and Wizard use the S&DJR on alternate Wednesdays,  via the GWR, Templecombe, Bath, and the GWR again.

 

Just a week ago I received a Hornby engine from AJM in Yorkshire six days, and sometimes similar from Hattons. Well, 7 days or so. And often unaccountably about 2 weeks, and occasionally 3 weeks.  I recall one package was given up as lost after 5 weeks, another sent (Hattons, excellent, patient and invariably polite) and seven months later the original turned up, unmarked, unopened, no explanation from Royal Mail, customs or the NZ courier. 

 

Personally I blame the French.  No, Donald Trump.   No, Cortez....    <g>

[Wolseley]

On 10/07/2019 at 14:09, MikeCW said:

To complete my end of the Wizard Models story, my package arrived today.  The statement enclosed showed the GBP21 "flat rate" postage charge, but crossed out and the actual postage cost of GBP10.55 substituted - about what I had deduced from the total amount charged to my credit card (in NZ Dollars) a couple of weeks ago.

 

Incidentally, this package, and another from Kernow ordered at the same time, took over two weeks to get to me here in the Antipodes.  Even Hattons postage, about the cheapest and fastest in my experience, has slowed considerably in the last year. Gone are the days when, in the cheery glow of a glass or two of red, one could place an order on Saturday night and receive the goods by the following weekend.

 

 

 

My package arrived last week - about a week to get from the UK  to Australia, which is pretty quick.  The paperwork with the items I ordered (two Ivatt Coronation trailing trucks and one gearbox) also showed the GBP21 "flat rate" postage charge, but crossed out by hand and the actual postage cost of GBP10.55 substituted.  My MasterCard account, by coincidence, arrived today, and I was charged the lesser amount.