Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
I placed an order during the Black Friday sale, and there was some verbiage to the effect of "we partnered with so-and-so to make international delivery super easy, barely an inconvenience". I got an XL with 5 toolheads and a few other things, and threw in some T-shirt merch because "why not" and they looked cool. It was a large sum of money. It's being shipped to the USA.
First problem is that apparently, since the days of yore when clothing was not manufactured garbage, it was a complicated item subject to tarrifs and duties and imports etc, and nowadays it's a highly audited section of international trade. As you can tell by my expertise on the matter, my shipment was stopped so Fedex could ask me what the 2 t shirts in my order were made out of. Several days after the shipment was supposed to be delivered. This is very irrititating because I sincerely doubt that I'm the first person in the USA to order a T-Shirt, and Prusa supposedly went out of their way to partner with a company that knew international logistics, and the problem is super easy to prevent. Copilot, Microsoft's AI, was immediately able to shed light on this subject and explain what was going on. Therefore, if some dumb chatbot can do it, I'd expect an international logistics company to be able to fill out a form correctly. It's literally just add the characters "100% cotton" and if it's knit or woven into the name of the item. That's all that has to be done.
The fact that Fedex ALSO asked for Prusa's legal name, address, and other identiy info could be on Prusa, or the logistics company, idk who's to blame on that one, but it seems to me that's a n00b mistake. Maybe it was provided, but not all on the same form? idk. This is eyebrow raising, for sho.
We're not done yet kiddos, because today's plot twist just dropped. Now all of a sudden, I'm a "commercial importer" or something because I had a large dollar amount order from abroad. 2 weeks into the order, almost a week after it was supposed to be delivered, and 2 days after Fedex first reached out, all of a sudden I'm being told to fill out some form on Docusign. No clue what the form is, and the Fedex guy speaks in corpo copypasta (aka form emails), so there's no telling if it's true, relevent, or anything. All the websites that come back for a search for the form os "OH LOOK YOU CAN'T PASTE INTO THIS FORUM TEXT BOX" look like skeezy AI generated sites. From reading a few that look skeezy but might be legit, apparently if you cross the $2500 threshold, you have to fill out the form, and is a USA import thing. Which, I guess, is fine, except NO ONE EVER SAID A WORD ABOUT IT at any point in the process. This is obviously a well known process to those who know, like Prusa and the 3rd party logistics company, and probably even Fedex. CBP 5106 is the form number.
This is not my first order with Prusa, but it is the biggest.
I'm posting on the forum because the email address is basically unresponsive (might get a response 3 days later), and like someone else noted, there is no working chat, despite the fact that it's advertised. Which I can't link to, because for some reason I CAN'T PASTE INTO THIS TEXT BOX.
I am mildly pissed off. I wasn't in a hurry to receive this, but I was excited for it, and based on the literature, it was supposed to be easy-peasy and 5 - 6 days of shipping time. If I had some way to get in touch with Prusa, I would just work through the issue, so here's hoping someone is watching the forum. Most of my agitation is due Prusa being inaccessible in a reasonable amount of time, not the Fedex shenanigans.
I use Firefox based browsers and a host of security extensions, and a VPN. No, I'm not turning any of that off to get ITDs on my PC.
I use Octoprint for all my printers. That changes my point of reference substantially.I have a couple Is MK 3's, an XL on the way, a fleet of Ender 3v2s, a couple Lulzbot Taz 6's, a CR30 and…
Microsoft's AI, was immediately able to shed light on this subject
AI chatbots can always shed light on any subject - even the subject of whether or not they are correct. It's always safest to assume they are not.
'Black' friday always generates a huge surge of orders into the USA and a few extra into the rest of the world. The shipping companies struggle to keep up and it seems the USA customs posts are consequently busy as well. A huge extra problem is that the USA import rules have changed continuously over the last few months and several posters here have been caught by unexpected issues. Fedex is frequently mentioned in this context.
is a USA import thing. Which, I guess, is fine, except NO ONE EVER SAID A WORD ABOUT IT at any point in the process. This is obviously a well known process to those who know,
From the reactions we've seen here the whole process has changed so much and so often causing so much admin and delays that for a while no shipping companies would accept deliveries for private citizens in the USA and even now there are some that still won't.
So: it may be little comfort, but you are the newest member of a large and growing group of victims suffering from the side effects of political decisions.
The quickest way to contact Prusa is by chat - and that seems to work better if you avoid Microsoft.
Cheerio,
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
I tried a different browser, was able to get chat working, and reached out to Prusa to find out that it is indeed legit to have to fill out the form. So then I went to fill out the form.... and it doesn't exist on DocuSign.
Sigh....
I use Octoprint for all my printers. That changes my point of reference substantially.I have a couple Is MK 3's, an XL on the way, a fleet of Ender 3v2s, a couple Lulzbot Taz 6's, a CR30 and…
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
Prusa's legal name, address, and other identiy info
Fedex are not in the business of taking random deliveries from anonymous senders. They're Prusa's courier after all, not yours. They already have that info for certain.
And they should be all over Prusa to have their docs & descriptions up to spec for US deliveries.
I feel your frustration. Hope this all works out quickly for you from here.
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Prusa's Offering of Fedex to the US is a disaster. Prusa's CS is useless too, wait 20 min to get somone on chat that can't actually do anything for order issues.
I ordered the C1L 10/31, then later ordered some extra that were added to the site, smooth sheets... The 2nd Order, See ths pic below, I worked through Prusa & Fedex all useless, amazing it finally showed up, crushed, luckily the contents were immune.
I also have another package, since the C1L finally shipped weeks later, as Prusa forget to send the C1L, the C1l arrived, but I am now waiting for the filtration, now in the same "Deilvery Update" Status once again sitting in Memphis. Maybe I'll get it before Christmas.
By the look of it @ruebarb, your package waited over ten days for USA customs Memphis to clear it - you can't even blame FEDEX for that one...
Cheerio,
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@rubarb I had two packages arrive from Prusa this week and last week via FedEx within 2-3 days after I ordered it. The same with 6 other packages over the last 5 months. You were just unlucky with customs inspection. It's neither Prusa nor FedEx's fault. Better to blame the government that created this issue.
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
So for all of you people telling half-stories, what was the dollar amount of the shipment(s) that you received so quickly?
I use Octoprint for all my printers. That changes my point of reference substantially.I have a couple Is MK 3's, an XL on the way, a fleet of Ender 3v2s, a couple Lulzbot Taz 6's, a CR30 and…
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Fedex import status seems to be erroneous, if the package is in Customs, it should stay that status, On the Way Status doesn’t mean much. Then supposedly it was imported or released from customs twice "International shipment release – Import", that can only occur once, more than likely it was cleared days before and just sitting in a pile somewhere due to Thanksgiving.
My other package supposedly cleared customs and is still sitting there in Memphis. This refutes the theory that is was customs delaying the other package. “International shipment release – Import” as of 12/2, still sitting in Memphis. Meanwhile the C1L which is part of the shipment was delivered 12/3.
Fedex doesn't have this issue with domestic shipments, they actually have been doing a good job.
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So for all of you people telling half-stories, what was the dollar amount of the shipment(s) that you received so quickly?
~$1000 and ~$320
Too bad there is not a shrug emoji. Anyway, maybe I got lucky.... Or maybe the OP got unlucky. Who knows
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
The saga continues for half of my C1L order, the filtration unit. I received an email last night from Fedex saying it would be delivered today. Now the package is supposedly back in Belgium 😲 , after it was supposedly imported already on 12/2 in Memphis.
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The saga continues for half of my C1L order, the filtration unit. I received an email last night from Fedex saying it would be delivered today. Now the package is supposedly back in Belgium 😲 , after it was supposedly imported already on 12/2 in Memphis.
That happened because import duties were not paid to customs, so the package is being sent back to the shipper. That bit is automated. At least it's not UPS where they were actually destroying the packages as opposed to sending them back.
My advice would be to cancel the order and perhaps purchase from Printed Solid (assuming they have them).
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Printed Solid is out of stock and it was part of the order for the C1L, which managed to get delivered, can't just cancel it, as it wasn't separate. Plus the last time I canceled an order though Prusa in November, now that they use global Global E was another disaster, tooks week and numerous chats to actually get my refund, all I wanted to do was edit an order, had to cancel and replace and fight to be refunded.
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
I wish I had read this before I made my purchase back on Nov 13 of a Core One. Still nothing, and customer service is no help in chat. I can’t tell where it is and they don’t know either. They won’t commit to sending it again and letting their shipping team deal with the lost one. I feel like I’ve been scammed and my son isn’t going to receive his xmas gift this year. He’s a mature young man, but it hurts me to disappoint him.
Where in the world are you? If you are in the USA you might do better to contact your political representative. Everywhere else the shipping agent should have tracking data - but unless the agent (Fedex?) declares it lost it's unlikely that Prusa can do much until after the seasonal rush.
Cheerio,
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
Did Prusa provide you with a tracking #? Your post is vague is to where the problem is, Prusa actually filling your order or the shipping company not delivering it.
I wish I had read this before I made my purchase back on Nov 13 of a Core One. Still nothing, and customer service is no help in chat. I can’t tell where it is and they don’t know either. They won’t commit to sending it again and letting their shipping team deal with the lost one. I feel like I’ve been scammed and my son isn’t going to receive his xmas gift this year. He’s a mature young man, but it hurts me to disappoint him.
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
Hi everyone,
I have a question that might be a little off-topic, but it’s also related to FedEx. I received my order the 18th of November, no problem there but I’m surprised I haven’t received any email or letter regarding VAT and import taxes. Is this a normal delay, or should I expect a “reminder” at some point?
Thanks
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
Prusa is paying all the Taxes for US, included in the price.
RE: Black Friday order, stuck in customs, Fedex problems, support overwhelmed???
OK but I'm not in US, not even in EU: Switzerland 🙂
You will need to check the details but I understand that certain classes of industrial machinery and machine tools are exempt from import duty in Switzerland; whether this applies to 3D printers I do not know.
Cheerio,