Chainreaction cycles shipping

[Mtree]

2 hours ago, MajG said:

Anybody purchase from CRC recently? They dont list the actual service provider with the shipping options anymore and the lead time is double of what use to be.

Last few times I used them it gave me actual DHL express option to select

Still with DHL?

Now with Aralate, ordered in May (with express delivery) and items arrived via Aramex, it was a complete mess... 
They used the wrong code for the items, queried and they were not interested, ended up paying double the import fees just to get the items.

They were a week late on their promised date, total of 2.5 weeks for said items. Not bad overall, but they could do with a serious customer service upgrade.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Mtree

[MORNE]

11 hours ago, Mtree said:

Now with Aralate, ordered in May (with express delivery) and items arrived via Aramex, it was a complete mess... 
They used the wrong code for the items, queried and they were not interested, ended up paying double the import fees just to get the items.

They were a week late on their promised date, total of 2.5 weeks for said items. Not bad overall, but they could do with a serious customer service upgrade.

That suck to hear. Recently put in another order with Merlin and saw they swapped over to UPS from dhl express so was a bit apprehensive having gotten used to dhl express efficiency and not having to speak to people/doing customs and everything via the app. But the UPS came just as fast…2 days, but they still called me for ID number and email adress for invoice which is lame - because if you miss the call you stall the process by at least a day

[Mtree]

On 8/13/2023 at 9:16 AM, MORNE said:

That suck to hear. Recently put in another order with Merlin and saw they swapped over to UPS from dhl express so was a bit apprehensive having gotten used to dhl express efficiency and not having to speak to people/doing customs and everything via the app. But the UPS came just as fast…2 days, but they still called me for ID number and email adress for invoice which is lame - because if you miss the call you stall the process by at least a day

Have found UPS/Fedex and DHL to be decent.
Unfortunate about delaying the process agreed, unfortunately part of the process. 

Don't think they could make a consumer database with ID's and stuff, too many popia concerns.

[MajG]

On 8/12/2023 at 10:09 PM, Mtree said:

Now with Aralate, ordered in May (with express delivery) and items arrived via Aramex, it was a complete mess... 
They used the wrong code for the items, queried and they were not interested, ended up paying double the import fees just to get the items.

They were a week late on their promised date, total of 2.5 weeks for said items. Not bad overall, but they could do with a serious customer service upgrade.

Thanks for heads up, wasn't too comfy when saw dhl express not part of the options.

Shipping cost also gone up alot since I used them in Oct 2022.

CRC has some great specials running, soooooo tempting

[Mtree]

28 minutes ago, MajG said:

Thanks for heads up, wasn't too comfy when saw dhl express not part of the options.

Shipping cost also gone up alot since I used them in Oct 2022.

CRC has some great specials running, soooooo tempting

You can contact and ask them directly, but think it's luck of the draw at times.

Their customer service is pretty decent.

 

Also have a look at Merlin in the UK, they used UPS last I ordered which was in April.
Pretty sure CRC may be able to make an exception to use DHL if you tell them the situation with SA Aramex.

Edited August 14, 2023 by Mtree
More info.

[Phillippe Coetzee]

On 8/13/2023 at 9:16 AM, MORNE said:

That suck to hear. Recently put in another order with Merlin and saw they swapped over to UPS from dhl express so was a bit apprehensive having gotten used to dhl express efficiency and not having to speak to people/doing customs and everything via the app. But the UPS came just as fast…2 days, but they still called me for ID number and email adress for invoice which is lame - because if you miss the call you stall the process by at least a day

Hi Morne, do you perhaps know how much import is ? (Percentage wise) on parts. (No clothing)

Thank you 

[MORNE]

20 minutes ago, Phillippe Coetzee said:

Hi Morne, do you perhaps know how much import is ? (Percentage wise) on parts. (No clothing)

Thank you 

Duties 0% on parts but you’ll pay 15% local vat and around 10% handeling/admin subcharge. I just usually for a ballpark figure work on whatever you pay without shipping +25%. 
 

so if you pay R10000 for sonething oversees, expect to be R12500 all in once its in your hands

Edited August 14, 2023 by MORNE

[Phillippe Coetzee]

1 hour ago, MORNE said:

Duties 0% on parts but you’ll pay 15% local vat and around 10% handeling/admin subcharge. I just usually for a ballpark figure work on whatever you pay without shipping +25%. 
 

so if you pay R10000 for sonething oversees, expect to be R12500 all in once its in your hands

Appreciate it, I am looking at a fork but was just wondering round about. Thank you

[Phillippe Coetzee]

I see Merlin sells Shimano parts, even if you stay in SA. I thought its not possible to buy shimano from overseas ? XD 

Reason why I am mentioning it is because on CRC's site when you type in your SA location, the Shimano parts is unavailable.. So a bit confused 

[Phillippe Coetzee]

4 minutes ago, Phillippe Coetzee said:

I see Merlin sells Shimano parts, even if you stay in SA. I thought its not possible to buy shimano from overseas ? XD 

Reason why I am mentioning it is because on CRC's site when you type in your SA location, the Shimano parts is unavailable.. So a bit confused 

Nevermind when its in your cart it says it unavailable.. my own question is answered.

[MORNE]

8 hours ago, Phillippe Coetzee said:

I see Merlin sells Shimano parts, even if you stay in SA. I thought its not possible to buy shimano from overseas ? XD 

Reason why I am mentioning it is because on CRC's site when you type in your SA location, the Shimano parts is unavailable.. So a bit confused 

I buy shimano stuff from merlin all the time. They don't geoblock. There are certain items they dont ship..like Renthal bars for some weird reason. But i built a whole bike out of shimano parts off merlin before lol.
Check you cart one item at a time. Sometimes they end up saying they cant ship if the shipment gets too big. Like you cant ship 2 wheelsets and a groupset propably. UPS Shipping is free around 6-8k i think, so if thats the case just do seperate orders. Remember that you are limited to 3 x orders a year at a total of R50k on your ID number (without import code) before SARS asks questions. Although I have pushed it to 4 once (still under 50k) once without issue. Those are just what the rules say. If they are being enforced is another thing, but SARS is a pretty well run state entity so i wouldnt take too many chances lol.

Edited August 15, 2023 by MORNE

[Phillippe Coetzee]

2 hours ago, MORNE said:

I buy shimano stuff from merlin all the time. They don't geoblock. There are certain items they dont ship..like Renthal bars for some weird reason. But i built a whole bike out of shimano parts off merlin before lol.
Check you cart one item at a time. Sometimes they end up saying they cant ship if the shipment gets too big. Like you cant ship 2 wheelsets and a groupset propably. UPS Shipping is free around 6-8k i think, so if thats the case just do seperate orders. Remember that you are limited to 3 x orders a year at a total of R50k on your ID number (without import code) before SARS asks questions. Although I have pushed it to 4 once (still under 50k) once without issue. Those are just what the rules say. If they are being enforced is another thing, but SARS is a pretty well run state entity so i wouldnt take too many chances lol.

Yes I saw now, it was a Sram cassette.. sucks tho, the pricing on their sram Cassettes is pretty good 👀. Ill keep in mind with the Sara thing. Thank you 🙏🏼 

[Brawler]

Bought a complete bike in December and they shipped it with 'FedEx'. It was an absolute joke. 

Slow, poor tracking and the bike never arrived. Seems like once its in SA its in the snail mail. After about 100 days CRC sent a new bike with DHL. The bike was here within 4 days.

A friend bought a complete bike about a month after me and also got the FedEx shipping. Same experience as me except it did eventually arrive this time.