Beani • 11 years ago • Some other cons

- Often slow to ship out items


- Can ship via courier without warning
- Often very poor packaging which makes their reluctance to do anything about damaged boxes all the more annoying
- Full retail price for standard release items (fair enough really)
- Charge without warning (basically whenever they email you a shipping date expect the charge at any point from there)
The courier thing happened to me. My order contained one nendoroid, Makise Kurisu Lab Coat Version, and the courier, TNT, asked for a handling fee of 25€ for getting her through customs. That's in addition to the actual customs fees! I was not willing to pay that much in fees for a single nendoroid, and told them as much. It's also not quite legal for them to charge me that fee, but let's leave that aside...

So I refused to accept the package and told GSC customer service about the situation. That was during the first week of January, when they were still on new year's break, so I wasn't expecting too much. I was very impressed when I got their answer on the 7th (the first day they were back!) and even more impressed by the contents of their answer. Basically, they were offering to try and get the fee back for me if I paid it, or reship the package from Japan(!) if I refused it and it was sent back.
full emailhideDear <name>,

Thank you for contacting us. We're very sorry to hear about the difficulty you're experiencing.

Your package was shipped via EMS. However, the delivery of your package may be contracted out to any courier, as per the discretion of the origin EMS office.

Looking at the status of your package, it is still in the courier's custody. There are currently 2 options.

In the first option, you can reschedule delivery and pay the service charge. We will file a claim with EMS on your behalf for a refund of these fees.

In the second option, we ask that you contact the courier and refuse the package. We will then reship your package from Japan. Shipping from Japan, it is less likely that your package will be delivered by TNT. However, it is not impossible.

As a customer of EMS, we are unable to determine which courier is used within Germany. However, we are currently investigating other shipping options.

We'd again like to offer our apologies in regard to this situation and the inconvenience it has caused you. Please contact us again at your earliest convenience so that we may offer you further assistance.

Sincerely,

Goodsmile Online Customer Support
Being a natural procrastinator, it took me a few days to answer them, by which time they told me they were currently negotiating with EMS to get the fee cancelled, and I should just wait for now. So I waited. And today, maybe half an hour ago, TNT called. Said that they had heard from the sender that I was willing to pay the actual customs charges but not the extra fee(*), and if that was correct, and when I wanted to schedule delivery.

So yeah, I don't know what GSC did there, but it worked, even if it took a while. I'm getting my package tomorrow. I recommend contacting them to everyone who had problems with courier delivery and extra fees.

All in all, while the shop does have its problems, they're willing to work on them. Their customer service is really excellent from the two times(**) I have been in contact with them - so if you have a problem, let them know!

(*)I had actually told that to their deliveryman when he tried to deliver the package the first time, and to the person who called me later on the same day, but those guys never know anything and can't even pass on a message... sigh.
(**)First time was a missing nendo part, which was delivered quickly and with no problems in a simple envelope that wasn't even touched by customs.

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