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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [C_Hassard] [ In reply to ]
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Any updates on PBK?

I need some new tires and they still have the best prices on Michelins.
Haven't order from them in years but never had a problem.
This thread makes me take pause.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [stillrollin] [ In reply to ]
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Keep it under $200 and you should be good.

jaretj
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [stillrollin] [ In reply to ]
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PBK is generally fine. This kind of stuff is the small fraction of how transactions go with PBK. And if the postal service did lose it, it's not really PBKs fault, but I'd still say it's a bad call that PBK didn't step up to make this right.

More often then not, I've found myself buying from Ribble cycles in the UK. The prices are better than PBK, and the last two items that they have shipped to me (a crankset for one order and a groupset for the other) have both had tracking associated with the order and both came in about a week. I've never noticed tracking until these last two orders, but I was happy to have it.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [jaretj] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks. At $27 (after discount for ordering 4) I'll take my chances on the PR4's.

Much appreciated.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [stillrollin] [ In reply to ]
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I've had good luck with Wiggle, which I use to buy tires from. Last order was about a month ago for a some Conti Supersonics. It took over a week for them to arrive, so you have to be somewhat patient.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [stillrollin] [ In reply to ]
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I ordered some Ultegra 6800 pedals and a bunch of other bits and pieces from PBK back in April. Great prices and were all delivered to Canada with no problems and no additional customs or shipping fees. Took a couple of weeks to arrive, but that was as specifed at time of order. No complaints from me.

The customs fees/duty are outside of the control of the shipper. You are at the mercy of your own country's customs agents there. Usually import duty on bike parts is pretty low anyway (at least in Canada), although things like clothing sourced in Asia will be higher.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [stillrollin] [ In reply to ]
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So fwiw, this is a follow- up:
10 days later, I have my 4 PR4's for $108 in NY.
No complaints here
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [stillrollin] [ In reply to ]
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To add on to my late night post that got pushed down quickly.
A friend ordered tires 2 days after me and also received them in 10 days, no extra charges.

PBK appears to be more hit than miss.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [The ORB] [ In reply to ]
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The ORB wrote:
The customs fees/duty are outside of the control of the shipper. You are at the mercy of your own country's customs agents there.

Paying a duty is fine, paying extortion level administrative fees to the 3rd party, is a big problem.

I've seen some invoices from Air City Post that charged $20 in administrative/handling fees for a $2 duty.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [sneeuwaap] [ In reply to ]
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sneeuwaap wrote:
As long as your order is under $200 you won't have the duty + fee issue.

So the sweet spot for PBK is > $75 so you can get the free shipping and < $200 so it doesn't get held for ransom by AirCityPost.

Ian

Just to add to this, keep the order under $200 and under 2kg in weight. The weight is also one that will automatically kick it to 'tracked' shipping meaning you'll get the happy email from AirCityPost.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [rijndael] [ In reply to ]
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rijndael wrote:
The ORB wrote:
The customs fees/duty are outside of the control of the shipper. You are at the mercy of your own country's customs agents there.

Paying a duty is fine, paying extortion level administrative fees to the 3rd party, is a big problem.

I've seen some invoices from Air City Post that charged $20 in administrative/handling fees for a $2 duty.

That was my compaint with them. I have no problem paying the duty but the $20 service fee was BS.

jaretj
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [VJL] [ In reply to ]
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The customs duty issue is now also happening with Ribble:( It really sucks because they run the shipments through FedEx and it is a crapshoot on what HTC they apply for bike gear. So there must be increased scrutiny for UK shipments.

The trigger appears to be $200 at Ribble. Keep it under $200 and it goes by one shipment method. Over $200 it goes to FedEx. Unfortunately in my case the shipping address is my work address. FedEx has twice taken it upon themselves to mine my employer's FedEx account and apply the charges there. So no opportunity to not accept the package as the charge comes much later. For the last shipment I asked outright it there would be charges to the company account and was told no. I'm still waiting for the dispute resolution for when this happened the first time. That took so much effort that I don't have the energy for round 2.

You can push some bike components to HTC (harmonized tariff codes) that carry no load, but if you are ordering bike clothing the HTC %'s are very high. 28-35% so do the math on any savings you might be getting.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [SummitAK] [ In reply to ]
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I think it's worth explaining some of the differences in charges/terminology. I'm in Canada, but I'm guessing it is similar when importing stuff into the US...
There is 'duty', and there is 'import tax', and there are handling/brokerage charges. All are different.

Duty - for importing to Canada, you will very rarely get charged 'duty' on anything. It mostly applies to clothing, tobacco and alcohol. But I've had lots of bike shoes and clothing come through, that has been inspected by customs, and they don't put 'duty' charges on it.

Import tax - In Canada, if customs does decide to look at your pack (look as in look at the invoice on it, not necessarily open it), they will charge you import tax on the declared amount (the value the shipper put on the invoice). The import tax is basically the equivalent of provincial sales tax. So for example, Nova Scotia is 15%.

Brokerage/Handling - Packs that arrive via normal post (Canada Post) that are processed by customs, will, in addition to the above import tax, have a handling fee tacked on. I -believe- it is a fixed rate of something like $10. Packs that arrive via courier (UPS, FEDEx, etc) have the same but it is referred to as brokerage, and it is typically higher, I forget how much or what it is based on.

That all said, I've been pretty lucky in that the last few orders I've placed from both PBK and Ribble have just landed in my mailbox via Canada Post with no charges, they weren't inspected by customs. And, even on my more expensive orders, I don't think I've ever had a pack arrive via courier from the UK.....it always is delivered by Canada Post.

I too mostly order from Ribble now as I find they have the best prices.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [gibson00] [ In reply to ]
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My information applies to the US. The charges on the FedEx invoice are applied under "Duty". My two experiences with them indicated they are a bit haphazard with how they apply the charges. FedEx also applies a flat handling charge of $7 though they indicated to me in separate correspondence that they are allowed a much higher rate if they chose to apply it.

Luck has had nothing to do with my recent orders and whether they received a customs pre-processing review. I placed 3 separate orders in an attempt to keep each order below $200. Unfortunately, the one order was $219 with all coupons applied. When Ribble shipped them out their order tracking page showed the two orders under $200 handled by one shipper and the order over $200 going to a different shipper. Reviewing past orders showed the same pattern. Only in the past 6 months have the higher priced orders been pre-processed.

FedEx is not the shipment carrier. They are apparently contracted by US Customs to process incoming shipments. They do not open the packages. They review the customs forms attached by Ribble, then call the recipient for more detailed information on the package contents. They don't tell you that you are being charged for the package. They tell you that the shipment has been processed and forwarded to US Customs. In my case they actually charge my employer online. Very frustrating. This last order added even more frustration because the item went on deeper sale a week later at less than $200:(
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [gibson00] [ In reply to ]
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I just ordered from PBK from canada and they shipped DHL. They used to ship post and I rarely had to pay duty but DHL is very strict from my experience. I have been charged 1.30 for an item valued at 10.00 by this company in the past.

One good thing is the new shipment only took a few days instead of a few weeks and the items were still way less than buying in Canada.
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Re: Pro Bike Kit got me! [VJL] [ In reply to ]
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I had a similar experience. My lesson learned is that ordering from ProBikeKit puts the buyer at risk. If you fully account for the US duty fees which can be relatively small and Air City Post fees of over $20 then you won't have a problem. However if it’s not a good deal with the extra fees and you assume that your package won't get snagged then you may be in for a lot of aggravation. At that point your best recourse is to immediately dispute the charges with your payer typically a credit card. I made the mistake of trying to work with the two companies in asking Air City Post to return the package, an option offered by them, so that ProBikeKit could refund my purchase but either they won't or they lost the package. Air City Post won't respond to my inquiries. ProBikeKit, even though they are the customer of Air City Post, will not assist. They only say they will refund once they receive the package from Air City Post and they won't consider that the package is lost. Neither of these companies are of any help.
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