Shipping Woes

[Ann M.]

I had been looking forward to the arrival of a new Suttner TC model--until it actually was shipped from Germany, arrived in the US, and promptly disappeared into a black hole somewhere in Kentucky. I'm not sure why, as I was informed by UPS on April 7 that everything was in order. The tracking information says, "Your package is pending release from a government agency." 

Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice on how to deal with it?

[RAc]

Hi Ann, have you seen Wally's comment here?

 

Cross-pond shipping of concertinas (for that matter, anything of significant value) has never been straightforward, but in times of the tariff lunacy, things may be even worse. Hope you do not fall victim to the imbecile, but from what I have read, every case has in the end turned out well. At least you know where your instrument is! 😉 Best of luck!

 

[Ann M.]

I didn't search far back enough 🙂 A very interesting thread with some good advice. Thanks for passing this on to me.

[Ken_Coles]

UPS (as opposed to USPS) made a mess of shipping a concertina to me from another country. In the end I had to pay a duty fee (at the time it was supposed to be free of import duty) and give them personal financial information to get the package released. It showed up fine a couple of days later. Getting UPS on the phone was nearly impossible until I wised up and called the number for help in international (rather than domestic) shipping. [This was some years ago so I don't have more details for you.] UPS was using a third party to assess and collect duties, etc., as it turned out. Even the UPS person who finally helped me couldn't get the third party on the phone. That subcontractor (who was in Kentucky - coincidence?) was not very well informed about import rules to say the least. So even in "normal" times things can go awry. After that experience I would use any other carrier than UPS for import to US.

 

Of course others have had completely different experiences with which carrier they prefer.

 

I got concertinas twice shipped into the US by foreign post office to USPS and for me both times it was fine.

 

Ken

[Wally Carroll]

I wouldn’t worry yet. Give it another couple of days to see if things get moving. I had an instrument come in from Canada through UPS for a repair and it got held up in Louisville, KY as they wanted to charge me import duties on the full value of the instrument. The person I worked with sounded new at the job but was willing to work with me and get it cleared duty-free.  I think they initially reached out to me. Here is the contact info for the entity that I dealt with. Not sure if your package is being handled by this group:

UPS Customs Brokerage Rep II

Global Small Package Brokerage

 

Office hours: T-S

T-F 8:00am - 4:30pm EST

Sat. 7:00am - 3:30pm EST

+15028614777

Edited April 10 by Wally Carroll

[Joe G.]

Last December I bought a concertina from Barleycorn, and t had almost exactly the same experience as Ken Coles described. It was most frustrating, but it did eventually work out—after I'd paid the import duty. 

[Ann M.]

Thanks to Ken, Wally and Joe for your comments. 

No progress yet but the UPS phone folks are starting to recognize me. I am talking to the international department, but they can't answer my questions.

This concertina was shipped last Friday--a week ago. I've submitted the form 505 and paid over $700 in import duty (which in my innocence I was not expecting!). Jurgen told me on the phone this morning that it "used to be a lot simpler;" he doesn't know what the problem is either.

[jkmelb]

Louisville, Kentucky, is the major UPS airport. All incoming planes will land there and then the goods will go through USA customs and forwarded to their destination. Even when I bought a concertina from the UK, which was shipped by UPS, it went through Louisville and then on to Australia.

 

I also had the message "Your package is pending release from a government agency" when the parcel was stuck at Melbourne airport, waiting for me to pay the import duties. The problem was, that UPS never contacted me about the payment. Only when I phoned them a day or so later, they told me what I had to do.

 

Also, their tracking sometimes does not work properly, especially when contractors or other couriers are involved.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

As goes postal woes .In UK beware the Royal Mail postal service!

As it is very unreliable and prone to lose all kinds of stuff! I know from experience !

[Dimble]

18 hours ago, Ann M. said:

I've submitted the form 505 and paid over $700 in import duty (which in my innocence I was not expecting!). Jurgen told me on the phone this morning that it "used to be a lot simpler;" he doesn't know what the problem is either.

What was the declared value that caused this valuation?

[d.elliott]

18 hours ago, SIMON GABRIELOW said:

As goes postal woes .In UK beware the Royal Mail postal service!

As it is very unreliable and prone to lose all kinds of stuff! I know from experience !

 

Yet I use the Royal Mail Special Delivery next day service, never a problem over dozens of instruments both to me, and from me. My 'go to' delivery service. 

[Ann M.]

2 hours ago, Dimble said:

What was the declared value that caused this valuation?

Declared value on the form 505 was 4750 Euros.

[Ann M.]

I am happy to let you all know that my Suttner TC arrived about an hour ago--eight days from Jurgen's door to mine, most of that spent languishing in Louisville. Once it cleared customs, it was delivered in less than 12 hours. A couple of smashed corners and small holes on the shipping box but interior packing material was sufficient to protect the case and concertina which arrived in perfect condition.

[Ken_Coles]

Now have fun playing it...that is what counts.

 

Ken

[niftyprose]

Sorry to contradict Simon, but I totally trust RoyalMail. I ran a small (non-music-related) mail order business for the better part of a decade, during which time I shipped nearly 10,000 parcels. RoyalMail lost exactly three of them. I will mention that I mostly used what were then called Recorded Delivery and Special Delivery tariffs, which provided barcode-based tracking before it became a standard; also that friends in peer businesses say that RM's standards have declined recently as the organization winds down.

 

I haven't found that, but I'm no longer statistically significant as I now ship only 30 or 40 items a year. It's worth mentioning that I've noticed that UK users tend to lump RoyalMail together with ParcelForce, the older company's benighted spinoff, perhaps because both can be accessed from a Post Office counter. Now, Parcelforce really *are* dreadful, although not as bad as DHL.

 

I did a fair bit of transatlantic shipping and found UPS very reliable, both US=>UK and in the opposite direction, but we were dealing with 40 or 50kg packages. Because concertinas are small and light, I assume that some players will try to send them on a cheap tariff -- never a good idea. In the guitar world, there are agencies who will take responsibility for packing, insuring and shipping a high-ticket instrument . Might be worth checking out such an outfit if you're sending a Jeffries or such.

Edited April 21 by niftyprose
typo

[JimR]

On 4/11/2025 at 1:10 PM, Ann M. said:

I am happy to let you all know that my Suttner TC arrived about an hour ago--eight days from Jurgen's door to mine, most of that spent languishing in Louisville. Once it cleared customs, it was delivered in less than 12 hours. A couple of smashed corners and small holes on the shipping box but interior packing material was sufficient to protect the case and concertina which arrived in perfect condition.

Languishing in Louisville sounds like the title to a song.

[wunks]

It is.  You just haven't written it yet....😊

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

4 hours ago, niftyprose said:

Sorry to contradict Simon, but I totally trust RoyalMail. I ran a small (non-music-related) mail order business for the better part of a decade, during which time I shipped nearly 10,000 parcels. RoyalMail lost exactly three of them. I will mention that I mostly used what were then called Recorded Delivery and Special Delivery tariffs, which provided barcode-based tracking before it became a standard; also that friends in peer businesses say that RM's standards have declined recently as the organization winds down.

 

I haven't found that, but I'm no longer statistically significant as I now ship only 30 or 40 items a year. It's worth mentioning that I've noticed that UK users tend to lump RoyalMail together with ParcelForce, the older company's benighted spinoff, perhaps because both can be accessed from a Post Office counter. Now, Parcelforce really *are* dreadful, although not as bad as 

I am glad to hear this has worked for you.

I think the image postal service has got recently ( criminally inept systems claiming postmasters had caused fraud. ( Leading to imprisonment and terrible personal tragedies!) As well as being lax in some departments in losing items, has tarnished the image for the overall enterprise. But that is a known legal public scandal here in UK, and well beyond this forums remit as it is🌝A lot of businesses do indeed now use alternatives these days I have also found.🌝