I had found an item on BikeInn which was very well priced, but I was disturbed by the many 1* posts on Hellopeter, however there was a common thread which seemed to be delivery, by our beloved postal system.
Now i had, many years ago, used TradeInn for some running gear and the only option for shipment was via post and the items took over 2 months to arrive - TradeInn were able to tell me that the parcel had been shipped and had arrive in SA, but then everyone was at a loss...
Anyway back to this experience... Given the compelling offer, I decided to take the plunge - BikeInn now offers both UPS and DHL, for not much more than the vapid SA postal service. I chose DHL, and this is what happened:
- item bought on sunday evening, with eta Friday
- dispatch confirmed by 8:00 on monday morning
- Granular visibility from DHL ensued, i was able to see every minute move from barcelona, to brussels, to london, to johannesburg
- customs clearance was done online and sorted by Tuesday midday
- parcel landed in SA on Wednesday morning, and was delivered by 15:00
this was an absolutely STELLAR service performance in every way. This also in no small way thanks to DHL who have not so much upped their game, as launched it into orbit, and not even earth orbit, more like solar orbit. So in short: anyone wanting to use BikeInn - select the DHL shipping option, and enjoy absolutely STELLAR service! Obviously you will want to bundle products, and this lends itself to items of high value density (my order was R12k, and it cost R650 in shipping and R250 in admin) As my products were manufactured in Europe and were not clothing there were no duties, only 15% VAT.
