Courier or snail mail

[Karakoram]

Ordered two pairs of cycling short from CRC on Tuesday afternoon, opted for the more expensive DHL courier delivery service in the interest of speed. The parcel arrived at Cape Town Intl. on Thursday morning and was promptly routed for clearance, 'click' clearance, 'click' clearance...

 

Current tracking status: Clearance delay - Cape Town. Should have saved money and opted for snail mail.

 

Seems like the customs guys are already on holiday ... or maybe there is something about white Lycra that I wasn't aware of.

[gogo@]

No, mine (snail mail) hasn't even landed yet... sitting on international scheduled since last week Thurs. Just a bad time of year methinks? Frustrating, isn't it!

[BogusOne]

And crying about it here are gonna make Customs speed up the clearance? Me thinks not........

 

Sit back, relax and take a chill pill. Its the holidays

 

 

Who buys white lycra shorts in any case?

 

 

** coat, hat, door** see ya

[JaakCT]

I work for UPS and I can confirm the system that customs uses was down this morning, we are also dealing with some backlog today. send me a pm with your tracking number and i will call some of my friends at dhl and see if i can help you expidite this parcel.

[Stretch]

my sister arrives on monday with my parcel....Yee Haa...cheapest postage available (and no tax!)

[Gravity-Life]

I always used the Parcel Force Service when ordering from CRC, but for my last two orders they sent it with DHL and thats when i started having huge issues and delays.I paid for the quicker service and it actually took longer - 12 days!!!

 

You have to give a physical address when having a delivery done by DHL (this was a problem for me as i instruct my domestic worker to never ever open the gate for anyone). Anyway, i didnt pay much attention to tracking the parcel as it was not urgent. However after 6 days and not receiving the parcel i then tracked the parcel online. I saw that the parcel had arrived in SA within two working days and was in "Clearance delay". I then called DHL to enquire about the parcel who then advised me that i had to settle the duties before the parcel would be delivered to me. I immediately asked them why i was not contacted on the day the parcel arrrived to settle the duty payment. My parcel was sitting in their warehouse for 7 days already - and just about to be put into "States Warehouse". DHL failed to communicate with me which i found totally un acceptable.

 

To answer your question regarding " clearance delay" - you need to pay the duties!!! They have to generate an invoice and email it to you. You then have to make payment and provide proof of payment and only when your payment has cleared (futher delaying your delivery) into their bank account, is the parcel delivered to you.

 

In todays technology this is a very backwards system and as a result have instructed CRC to never use DHL for any of my deliveries.One still has to be careful when selecting the "tracked" option for your delivery as there is a DHL drop bar selection that is also available. The "tracked" and DHL delivery option seem to be linked as even if you chose the "tracked" option, DHL still does the delivery.

 

Now, i contact CRC before i complete my order and get written confirmation back from them that they will not use DHL.

[Guest Just plain Crazy]

We use "The Courier Guy".. Have had such excellent service from them. For a local trip under 15kg they only charge about R55 and to fetch from major cities with the same weigh factor is only about R70... Knysna was an "expensive" one at R150...oh and their timing is normally really good...

Edited December 14, 2012 by Just plain Crazy

[udxcob]

Xmas postage = slow anyway

[Organic]

Current tracking status: Clearance delay - Cape Town. Should have saved money and opted for snail mail.

 

Snail mail can take 4 or 5 weeks even to Cape Town or Johannesburg. On the other hand, I opted for the 'Tracked Delivery' (for R200) and it ended up coming with DHL anyway. If you select the non-tracked delivery, it sometimes comes with ParcelForce anyway. And to tell the truth, ParcelForce is a lot less hassle than DHL, and just as fast.The DHL delivery took 8 days.

 

I wish CRC would tell you which carrier they were going to use before the order goes through.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Organic

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I've just ordered something from Superstar Components. Clicked on Wednesday, Dispatched Friday arrived in SA Wednesday. Now just waiting for Cape Mail to get their arse into gear and process the darn thing.

 

EDIT: This was international Snail Mail.

Edited December 14, 2012 by cptmayhem

[ThePubSA]

Ordered from CRC last wednesday , it was here on monday . Took the 99 rand shipping,it used to be parcel force,but DHL dropped it off .

[ThePubSA]

I've just ordered something from Superstar Components. Clicked on Wednesday, Dispatched Friday arrived in SA Wednesday. Now just waiting for Cape Mail to get their arse into gear and process the darn thing.

LOL i usually go snail with SS components,sometimes 2 weeks or more.Aked him this time how much it would be to courrier set of bars and pedals ( which he usually charges about 5-8 pounds snail mail on pedals)...He says 60 pounds... im like you joking thats almost more then the order, and CRC does this for about 8 (99 rand)pounds to my door, even if they are the biggest online bike shop in the world,shouldnt cost him no more then double - 15 pounds. SSC might make good EU sales but hes losing out on foreign orders just because...he wants 850 RAND to dhl a set of bars and pedals unless he was in a bad mood and taking the piss .

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

LOL i usually go snail with SS components,sometimes 2 weeks or more.Aked him this time how much it would be to courrier set of bars and pedals ( which he usually charges about 5-8 pounds snail mail on pedals)...He says 60 pounds... im like you joking thats almost more then the order, and CRC does this for about 8 (99 rand)pounds to my door, even if they are the biggest online bike shop in the world,shouldnt cost him no more then double - 15 pounds. SSC might make good EU sales but hes losing out on foreign orders just because...he wants 850 RAND to dhl a set of bars and pedals unless he was in a bad mood and taking the piss .

 

Nah, dude, he wasn't. It costs R 1k in shipping charges for a set of wheels or rims... Ask Omega Man or Crow...

[carbon29er]

my sister arrives on monday with my parcel....Yee Haa...cheapest postage available (and no tax!)

Just 20% UK VAT

[kvdp]

I ordered my first CRC parcel past Sunday evening.Opted for DHL,and parcel was delivered on Thursday morning 8:15.Highly impressed.

[ThePubSA]

Nah, dude, he wasn't. It costs R 1k in shipping charges for a set of wheels or rims... Ask Omega Man or Crow...

Crackpot