Just ordered my first SwissMicros... DM42n

[DA74254]

(10-25-2024 05:25 PM)Pierre Wrote:  When I read that delivery times are long when it comes to a month's delay...
I burst out laughing!

Keep the USPS out of the equation.. (They don't work anyway).
A certain company in Switzerland spends 12 days before they even bother to pack and send your order. Whereafter, they use the slowest and most expensive postal service in Europe, without tracking, to send said order.

A few comparisons:
240gr order from Spain to Latvia (within EU) - 4 days, €14 shipping with tracking
360gr order from UK to Latvia (outside EU) - 3 days incl customs clearance, £11 shipping with tracking.
27KG order (3D-printer) from Germany to Latvia (within EU) - 5 days, €20 shipping with tracking.
1,7KG order from China (outside EU) - 7 days incl customs clearance, €12 shipping with tracking.

I just sent a pretty expensive fountain pen to The Netherlands (for service) from Latvia - €5 shipping with tracking. It arrived after 4 days.

A certain company from Switzerland:
260gr order from Switzerland to Latvia (outside EU but within EEC) - 12 days packing, 17 days shipping, 16 hrs customs clearance, no tracking, €22 shipping.

So no - "working like a Swiss clockwork" does not apply here!

[rprosperi]

Postal shipping times and costs are completely random and lack any kind of logic or sense. I ship stuff to EU countries all the time (not using expedited shipping, although it is called "USPS International Priority") and delivery times are routinely between 7-10 days. And my experience from EU to US is about the same. But shipping to Canada, routinely takes as long or longer - typically it arrives at Canadian customs in ~3-4 days, then another 10 or more for routing and delivery. And this includes NY to Montreal, only about a 6-hour drive. So no rational or consistent behavior.

My worst shipping experiences are when buying from UK. I buy books from a publisher there that mails using some kind of 'standard' international British Postal service, which is very expensive (often $20-25 for a single 100-page, softcover book) which takes 4-5 weeks and no tracking is available. My only other option is some super expedited service (probably DHL) which costs over $100.

My experience to/from Australia is about a month either way, but the costs are not high. Generally reliable, however one package (a rare item) did disappear, never to be heard from again.

One advantage I do have though is essentially all items I order have no customs or 'handling' fees, so I guess I should not complain.

[Eric Rechlin]

(10-25-2024 06:56 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  My worst shipping experiences are when buying from UK. I buy books from a publisher there that mails using some kind of 'standard' international British Postal service, which is very expensive (often $20-25 for a single 100-page, softcover book)

Unfortunately this is now the typical price of shipping such an item from the US to any other country. Canada would only be about $17, but most other countries are in the $20ish range.

(10-25-2024 06:56 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  One advantage I do have though is essentially all items I order have no customs or 'handling' fees, so I guess I should not complain.

This may soon change. The tariff-free threshold (called "de minimis", below which you don't have to pay customs fees) used to be $200 and then was raised to $800 in 2016, but there has been recent discussion (with a variety of bills proposed in Congress over the last year or so) of lowering that threshold again, as the US is looking into raising tariffs for more imports. Pretty much all the major trading partners of the US have thresholds below $200 ($111 for Canada and $168 for Germany and $178 for the UK, for some relevant examples, according to one source I found) so although nothing has been decided, they may try for something in that range.

[rprosperi]

(10-25-2024 04:50 PM)DA74254 Wrote:  That is one of the reasons I've decided not to order anything more from SM. Mine arrived after 29 days from Switzerland to Latvia (ca 1.500km as the crow flies). Extremely slow, and expensive, postage. No, it was not stuck at customs. That took abt 16 hours (including my online customs pyment), as soon as it landed in Latvia.
That also goes for everyting I've ordred, my original DM42, my DM32 and also the DM32 book. More than 4 weeks delivery. On top of that; expensive and no tracking.
I've ordered other things both from within EU and outside with far less shipping time and cheaper, with tracking. Just sayin'.

Actually it was 25 days; this order was filled just following IFA and the introduction of the DM42n, 32, 32 book, etc., so there was a huge back-order to process, and this parcel actually didn't truly ship until 10 days after order processing, so the true shipping time was 15 days. Also, all orders have tracking links sent to the buyer upon shipping, including yours.

I can't say if shipping was 'expensive' or not as I've no clue what it costs to ship from Switzerland to Latvia. Have you experience with buying other similar size/weight/value items from Switzerland in the last year? Everything is more expensive than it used to be and more than we'd prefer, but please be fair and compare apples to apples. Maybe look at what the shipping costs to order a couple Victorinox Swiss Army Knives from their Swiss shop, it would make an interesting comparison.

[msw]

Thanks for the information rprosperi, what I said was mistaken.

The DM42n just gets better and better. Checked out the slots either side of the keyboard. They are perfect for what I want. Will also check out the overlays you suggested. Making the DM42 the same size as the original also makes perfect sense.

10/10 SwissMicros from one very happy customer.

[DA74254]

(10-26-2024 12:36 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(10-25-2024 04:50 PM)DA74254 Wrote:  That is one of the reasons I've decided not to order anything more from SM. Mine arrived after 29 days from Switzerland to Latvia (ca 1.500km as the crow flies). Extremely slow, and expensive, postage. No, it was not stuck at customs. That took abt 16 hours (including my online customs pyment), as soon as it landed in Latvia.
That also goes for everyting I've ordred, my original DM42, my DM32 and also the DM32 book. More than 4 weeks delivery. On top of that; expensive and no tracking.
I've ordered other things both from within EU and outside with far less shipping time and cheaper, with tracking. Just sayin'.

Actually it was 25 days; this order was filled just following IFA and the introduction of the DM42n, 32, 32 book, etc., so there was a huge back-order to process, and this parcel actually didn't truly ship until 10 days after order processing, so the true shipping time was 15 days. Also, all orders have tracking links sent to the buyer upon shipping, including yours.

I can't say if shipping was 'expensive' or not as I've no clue what it costs to ship from Switzerland to Latvia. Have you experience with buying other similar size/weight/value items from Switzerland in the last year? Everything is more expensive than it used to be and more than we'd prefer, but please be fair and compare apples to apples. Maybe look at what the shipping costs to order a couple Victorinox Swiss Army Knives from their Swiss shop, it would make an interesting comparison.

Did you even read my last post? (#41).
When it comes to the 42n I ordered; order placed 19th Sep. 21st Sep "Parcel Created". Although when I now check the tracking, there is full history but during the time the parcel was "in orbit", there were absolutely nothing between 1st Oct (Parcel Accepted) and before the Latvian Customs sent me the payment options on the 15th Oct. So no, no tracking during shipment time. I don't need full tracking history *after* I have received the parcel. I need tracking *during* shipment time.
Yes, I've ordered other things from Switzerland. 100-200gr parcels at CHF 9 postage with tracking (cigars priced CHF 200-ish), that took 6-7 days shipping time and track history was updated at least daily.

My DM32 book and the DM42n had "Parcel accepted" as the only update until Latvian Customs sent me the "how do you want to pay" email, while the mail tracking still was stuck on the "Parcel Accepted" message, updated a fortnight previous.
If you don't believe me, please check the screenshot I posted in the SM forum where I responded to Walters complain. (You know, in the topic where you deleted his complains).

[rprosperi]

(10-26-2024 08:00 PM)DA74254 Wrote:  Did you even read my last post? (#41).
When it comes to the 42n I ordered; order placed 19th Sep. 21st Sep "Parcel Created". Although when I now check the tracking, there is full history but during the time the parcel was "in orbit", there were absolutely nothing between 1st Oct (Parcel Accepted) and before the Latvian Customs sent me the payment options on the 15th Oct. So no, no tracking during shipment time. I don't need full tracking history *after* I have received the parcel. I need tracking *during* shipment time.
Yes, I've ordered other things from Switzerland. 100-200gr parcels at CHF 9 postage with tracking (cigars priced CHF 200-ish), that took 6-7 days shipping time and track history was updated at least daily.

My DM32 book and the DM42n had "Parcel accepted" as the only update until Latvian Customs sent me the "how do you want to pay" email, while the mail tracking still was stuck on the "Parcel Accepted" message, updated a fortnight previous.
If you don't believe me, please check the screenshot I posted in the SM forum where I responded to Walters complain. (You know, in the topic where you deleted his complains).

Actually, I had not read your then latest post, and indeed it points out many somewhat similar purchases with mostly better (= cheaper and/or faster) results.

I can't say why the tracking for your specific package was not available during that window, but surely you agree that's an issue of the shipper and not SwissMicros. Arguably another shipper may not have gone quiet for your delivery but anyone that does as much international shopping as you do knows this happens from time to time with all couriers.

I'm neither here to argue with you nor to say that you're wrong about this or that, only to correct some false points (e.g. "no tracking") other readers may take to generally be true.

IMHO, if you find the services and terms unacceptable then I'd say your decision to stop buying from SM is correct, at least correct for you.

[c3d]

(10-25-2024 05:25 PM)Pierre Wrote:  When I read that delivery times are long when it comes to a month's delay...
I burst out laughing!
Having had the opportunity to order many calculators all over the world, I have had the opportunity to see that some countries are worse than others!
My records? Mexico: 48 hours, China: 3 days, Spain, Germany: 5 days, Canada, England: 12 days and the worst USA: between fifteen days and... six months!
Thanks to USpostal tracking, I saw a package visit at least ten different states (passing through one already "visited") before leaving for Spain then Switzerland and arriving in France after six months! (a TI : Tourist & Itinerant)
Two calculators that left on the same day, one from New York, the other from California, arrived 2 weeks apart... It was the calculator that left California that arrived first after taking the plane from Chicago to Holland and finally France.

So I end up finding that a month can be quick...
In French: Tout est relatif !

(PS: I have about 250 calculators today... many years of waiting)
...and I have all the DM !

I once returned a laptop to Apple for a recall that required a motherboard swap. After one month not getting my laptop back, I asked for a tracking number from their support, and when I looked at it, I saw that the laptop had been bouncing back and forth between Amsterdam and Paris, once a day, for nearly one month. Apple sent an employee who had to physically jump on the package to get it out of the automated system. And then only succeeded on the third try ;-)

Apparently, it's possible to write stuff on a postal tracking system that causes an infinite loop.

[LinusSch]

(11-09-2024 09:27 PM)c3d Wrote:  I once returned a laptop to Apple for a recall that required a motherboard swap. After one month not getting my laptop back, I asked for a tracking number from their support, and when I looked at it, I saw that the laptop had been bouncing back and forth between Amsterdam and Paris, once a day, for nearly one month. Apple sent an employee who had to physically jump on the package to get it out of the automated system. And then only succeeded on the third try ;-)

Apparently, it's possible to write stuff on a postal tracking system that causes an infinite loop.

Wow! I wonder if some postal systems are Turing complete machines and what their computational speeds might be. And then in general, what might be the absolute slowest accidental computer we've built?

[gjcarter]

(11-09-2024 09:27 PM)c3d Wrote:  

(10-25-2024 05:25 PM)Pierre Wrote:  

I once returned a laptop to Apple for a recall that required a motherboard swap. After one month not getting my laptop back, I asked for a tracking number from their support, and when I looked at it, I saw that the laptop had been bouncing back and forth between Amsterdam and Paris, once a day, for nearly one month. Apple sent an employee who had to physically jump on the package to get it out of the automated system. And then only succeeded on the third try ;-)

Apparently, it's possible to write stuff on a postal tracking system that causes an infinite loop.

I have had this happen twice.

Once the zip code was incorrect (my mistake) and the package was cycling between my post office and a similarly named post office in a town halfway across the state.

The second time it happened the package made it to my post office only to be returned to the post office of origin, then it was routed back again. This cycle repeated three times until it finally was successfully delivered. When I had the box in hand I discovered the sender had packaged the item in a box that had previously been used. There was an old shipping label on one side of the box with the shipper’s destination with a barcode. Like a game of craps the box was being routed between USPS distribution centers based upon the barcode label that happened to be visible to USPS scanners.

-Gary