Postage cost for heavyweight cab and flightcase to Europe
...Some fella has bought my Orange cab off ebay which includes a flightcase, I've weighed it all tonight and the total is just shy of 75kg, he has arranged his own courier and sent me the labels to print and stick onto the flightcase...The weight he has on the labels is 15kg..! now I don't know if he is trying to pull the wool with the courier and hope to get it delivered cheaper or if he really aint got a clue, I've tried getting hold of him to no avail and the courier is with me tomorrow (UPS), does anyone know 1 of 3 things.
1. will he get stuffed with extra charges when it gets there(not that I care)
2. will the courier actually take it if it's 60kg heavier than he said
3. is there a cheap option to get it to Belgium?
Apologies for popping this in the classifieds, ive no idea where to post it.
Rich
I reckon it's odds on that the courier won't take it if the weight is so obviously greater than the weight stated on the ticket. However, you have nothing to loose by packing it and letting the courier make that decision. If the driver takes the cab then you're sorted, once it leaves you it is his problem and it's 99.9% certain he'll get stuffed with extra charges. But.....there's no comeback on you either way. He's booked it and takes full responsibility for the stated weight.
It's a killer getting a courier for anything over 50 kilos to Europe, I know, I've tried and failed!!! TNT do take large parcels but they ain't cheap! I'd just let him make all the arrangements and stay well out of it!!
Originally Posted by lamf37
True, it will be his problem unless he reclaims the cash via paypal but honestly, you should try and get in touch with him. The only other way to get to Belgium for anything is a man&van. There are often people who do the trip between UK&Belgium regularly (at least they used to!). They advertise on expat websites often.
Since he sent the labels to me ive tried half a dozen times to contact him...I have done some work against his username and he has bought a lot of gear since october time from the uk including an old plexi and a marshall 4x12 all obviously going to belgium, im pretty sure he knows my cab isnt 15kgs so what more can I do, he cant claim anything back from me as he has arranged all this himself, ive done everything I can.
Sounds like the courier won't take it given the massive weight difference, I think a slight difference you may get away with if you are lucky, but this realistically is a huge difference! It is the buyers responsibility anyway if charges arise. Hopefully you can get things sorted, it must be really frustrating not being able to get an answer, especially when it is a pretty big issue. At the end of the day though, it's not your fault, so if things don't go right, it is the buyers problem since they organised shipping.
I had a similar experience (although the buyer was very good with communication compared to this) when I had a buyer from the Czech Republic I think purchase my empty Marshall 4x12 from eBay. He arranged the courier, DPD it was, came and collected it, turned out that the buyer had done the same thing and had given a lower weight/measurement which must have been noticable, in which he got quite a bad charge from the sounds of it and he had to rearrange with the package coming back to me. Not sure how bad the charge was, but I know from the emails it was bad enough to delay him purchasing the speakers he was planning to put in it. It got collected by TNT the next try and thankfully it all went fine.
There are quite a lot of European buyers who do this, chances are they do it a lot and from their own experience know they can get away with it a lot of the time, personally I'd never risk it though, it only takes one person to notice it is overweight whether it is the driver collecting or someone checking it further down the line, sounds like the charges can be pretty unforgiving. And from that experience I just mentioned it can and has happened and most likely happens with others too. I suspect some of them as well only put in the measurements and weight of the cab as it is without any box or packing round it, packing adds quite a lot of weight and dimensions which make it quite a lot bigger and heavier when all done.
Sadly I'm not sure of a courier even to Europe that could ship something that heavy, the largest I have shipped have been some empty Marshall 4x12's to Europe, and that wasn't cheap! It was like £110 to ship an empty Marshall 1960a to France, that was done via TNT and also DHL through TransGlobal Express (not sure how that works, some sort of agreement or something). Altough that was with me giving exact dimensions and weight (it was 30kg fully packed), probably cheaper if I had slightly understated it but its not worth the risk.
Last edited by HoratioCaine; 22nd January 2013 at 01:42 AM.
the driver who collects it is unlikely to know what weight it is meant to be. but it depends which courier it is really, they all use different systems, some are more advanced than others.
so they will probably take it in my opinion. but the guy that has booked it will get stung with some serious surcharges when it gets checked by the courier company.
in my experience things going overseas are very strictly measured and weighed. i have been stung with surcharges in the past just by the dimensions being off by a cm or two.
I've had several 4x12s delivered and every time the driver is on his own and has needed help to get it out of the van. Not wanting a dropped cabinet I've helped but I can't help wondering what the legal implications would be if either of us was injured shifting them. 4x12s in boxes are pretty unweidly beasts, it isn't the weight it is the lack of handles that is the killer.
I also once took delivery of a s/h 2x12 cab from a shop and it definitely weighed about 25kg, yet the label said 10kg. So long as you're not liable you'll be ok, but I haven't a clue about the legal position you are in as the person with the goods but not the payer of the shipping fee.
Well, it's on its way now anyway..UPS just collected it, so the fella is either gonna have a shock when it arrives with an additional bill for a sizeable wedge or he's got UPS on a cash in hand say nowt deal over there in Belgium. I wrote to 4 other ebay sellers who have had dealings with him and they all said exactly the same as me, weigh bill stating a load massively lower than that of the actual item, this fella has bought over the past few months loads of cabs and heads...All have been received by him according to feedback with no problems at all..Bizzare, anyway, thread no longer needed unless for reference.
Just incase anyone was curious I did manage to get a couple of quotes last night from some companies who deal with oversized heavy items and teh cheapest I could get to europe(Belgium) was £173.40 off a site called mammoth parcel delivery, didn't think that was too bad considering it weighed 75kg and was in a huge flightcae with wheels!!!!
I used these to send a Vox to Finland. Still £160 odd for 70kg though
http://www.pharosparcel.com/QuoteAndBook/QuoteMe
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