Australia and Japan

Wow your shipping was a bargain, I paid $176.75
Im happy to pay the bit extra but with the fact Robo is saving money on the palletisation surely its not going to cost more than $176.75 in total to get it here?

 

We really need the Robo3D guys to step into this discussion and clarify the situation quickly.
A few points that would help us Aussies to understand the situation.

1. Will our printers will be held up if any of us Aussies doesn't pay the extra $$$?

2. How many printers are coming to Australia?

3. Did they ask USPS for an economy rate quote because there are many parcels going the same place?
(I've imported 20KG of car parts from Cali before and only paid $75USD shipping)

4. As its likely a problem of carton dimensions/size more than than weight, can we get a kilo or two of filament in the box as Ross suggested to offset the surprise increase, surely Robo3D could absorb a few spools of filament given they buy in bulk from China at a massively discounted rate?

I'm happy to pay, I want my printer ASAP. But we need a declaration from Robo3D and reassurance that we won't all be help up by the one guy who doesn't pay.

 

Ha. For all we know, they might not even be palletting. Maybe instead their radical method of lowering their cost of shipping was to just ask us for money.

Gonna keep chasing answers. If I don't see anything before the 30th, I'll probably just dispute the payment (either via paypal or credit debit card).
More than happy to pay it if it's reasonably justified, rather than just
"WE'RE SENDING THEM ALL AT ONCE, WEEEEE, MORE MONEY PLZ".

 

Our issue is that you made a bad estimate and now to try to keep YOUR costs down you are passing them on to US.

When I originally looked at getting a Robo3D the shipping cost was $75. Then I put my order in and it was $120, my fault for not ordering earlier so that is fine. Now, through no fault of our own we are being charged US$170 for shipping which seems pretty bullshit.

The massive delays I can deal with. The almost complete lack of updates I can deal with (and did almost silently). But I do not want to be charged for miscalculations that you made (several times apparently). I would like the money that I paid for "Taxes and Duty" which you incurred to be refunded.

*edit* I accidentally a word

 

Thanks for the feedback Robo 3d.
Although I feel the almost $200 USD I have spent on shipping is a lot. I have used DHL before and yep, they are expensive.
As long as I get my printer I'm ok with spending that sort of money on basically shipping a large, fragile microwave halfway accross the world.

 

Payment Sent.

 

Yell at kickstarter for not allowing them to have multiple international shipment fees, not team Robo for trying to NOT lose money getting you a printer. If kickstarter had allowed them to do individual shipping fees, would you still have ordered a Robo knowing the shipping would have been $200?

 

Maybe I would if mine had been through Kickstarter. I don't know about the rest of you but I am a customer NOT a backer. So everything about it being ok it is 4 months late (for me) doesn't really apply either. And the original shopping price of $75 to Australia was through the website as well. So no I won't be blaming Kickstarter, I will be blaming robo3d for making bad estimates and then getting me to pay the difference on their behalf.

 

It said on the buyers page "
International Buyers – Please Note:
Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying - See more at: http://www.robo3dprinter.com/collec...bs-model-fully-assembled#sthash.n0ucDKMe.dpuf"

It seems like everything they've doing is exactly what they described would happen. I don't think you have the right to be upset about this.

 

Except that we don't pay any of that for anything under $1000. The ONLY reason we are now being charged that is because they have sent then altogether as a pallet so that THEY can save themselves money. According to them, they now realise that it would cost then almost $200 if they posted them individually. That price is now what we are paying so that they can keep their costs at what they originally charged us. Basically because they screwed up, one of us has to pay $200, one has to pay $120 (or least less than $200). They have kindly decided that we can pay the higher price to keep their costs down.

 

So instead of paying $240 (I checked the order page) to ship to Australia they're only charging you $170? Seems like you got a good deal to me.

 

You're right! Hell, why don't they just charge us the additional $120!

We paid what they told us we would need to pay. If we were buying it now and somehow got to pay the reduced price then great! But we didn't. We paid the money they asked. We have checked the customs website so we know we do not pay duty or tax (as their website suggested we do). It is not up to us to work out how much is it likely to end up costing us when they finally decide how much it is going to cost. It is not our fault that they cannot work out how to calculate postage and charge accordingly.

Don't get me wrong, I am still super excited to get the printer and I appreciate everything Robo3D have done, but how many concessions do we need to make?
4 Months late: They are a very new company and haven't worked out timelines etc.
Practically no communication: They are very busy and are still working a lot of stuff out
Postage jumps up AU$70: ...

They are going to have to look at things from the customers POV and deal with consequences of their screw ups at some point. I don't expect I am going to get my money back as I believe I should but I am sick of feeling like I am getting screwed around with very little in the way of explanation or apology.

 

Don't get me wrong, I feel for you man, but I have to play devils advocate and try and get the perspective of them.

The fact that your store order is being shipped with the kickstarters sounds like their biggest fault right now. The kickstarter rule kinda screwed Robo 3D over and in order to meet the agreed upon $75 or whatever it was for shippng, they had to go an alternate route than shipping individually. It would totally suck to do a start up on kickstarter and then lose almost all profit by heinous shipping fees. The import duty/tax is a compromise since most european consumers had a rather steep import duty as well, so it's not just you.

From their perspective as well, they should have been more accurate with their shipping fees on the website. I agree. In another sense though they have every right to cancel your order if they're unable to ship it to you on the agreed upon price. You're then left with 2 options: take your money and buy a different printer or pay increase in shipment to get theirs.

It sucks you have to deal with this, but they're very new to this and it's a learning process. I can't imagine the technical complexity of organizing a thousand printer shipments.

 

I can see that and I feel for them and I promise I am generally not a complainer. I am super excited to finally get my printer but I am also really excited not to have to deal with the Robo3D purchasing process again. The forum is another matter because as a general rule you guys are awesome.

I am definitely not going to be cancelling my order. Just seems like there needs to be some sort of line in the sand drawn for all the concessions their customers/backers have given them. Anyway, I can't be bothered trying to chase up funds any more, I am disappointed but I am also getting accustomed to that from these guys. Just want this whole process to be over and get into printing stuff!

 

Once you're up and printing all this will seem like a bad dream in your new world of additive fabrication