Estervals and UPS
- Thread starter lupy1234
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Say what ??? this is the scariest thing, I mean why would I ever order from Europe after seeing this. My first reaction was that it was a joke !! criminy.....
This is pretty scary. Certainly gives one pause for consideration. On the flip side, however, there's risk in a lot of the things we do every day. Guess it comes down to weighing out those odds. Many people here (and elsewhere) have ordered from them without issue. But, as i always say, don't commit the crime if you're not willing to pay the fine. Always the safest bet.
So, my guess is that I just ordered too much and got hit with some major customs fees because of it. My plan is to not accept the package from UPS and just let it get shipped back to Esterval's. No guarantee that they'll give me a refund but I'm hoping that I can get one from them (or even just store credit so that I can break up my order two smaller shipments--hopefully without issue!)
I would contact UPS and ask why so high fees. To answer the question, I kept the price under 200 dollars. Not sure on weight of my three orders.
I posted about this elsewhere on this forum. Pay the "ransom" with PayPal and then dispute the charges. This is a brokerage fee scam that UPS has going on.
Did you ever get this sorted out? I’m contemplating placing my first order but man, reading through this thread kinda scares me.
My experience with Esterval's is that they won't offer you a refund or a credit in the event the shipment gets returned. In 2020, when my order went on a six month cruise around the US before being rocketed back to Germany, they were pretty rude about it, claiming that my order would be locked up in German Customs, gathering additional fees that were my responsibility to pay, until it was destroyed. No offer to help, nor to try again if I was willing to cover the shipping fees, no nothing.
I was pissed enough that I lodged a complaint with my credit card company, who asked to see our email correspondence, and ruled in my favor. So, I got my refund. And that was that for Esterval's until I tried the newer DHL Express delivery offering, just once, to see if it worked. It did indeed and my package arrived within a few days. Having tickled the dragon's tail one last time, that's it for me.
The newer shipment method, through DHL Express, has been a major improvement in terms of reliability, but shit still occasionally happens, as well as with UPS. The odds of a shipment going pear shaped are small, but they do happen. So if you're looking for a guarantee, forget it.
Just a few weeks ago, I set up an account and placed an order from Estervals on a Wednesday night. The total value was under $200 plus shipping, weight was just under 2kg, and I got the package via UPS to northern Indiana on the Saturday following (2 business days), no problem, no hidden fees. So... 
Oh, and I would order again. There was a mixup on my order with one tin (they told me to keep the mistaken tin), so I will need to re-order at some point in future to get the product I wanted but don't seem to be able to get in the USA (McConnell Heritage Series Latakia Mixture 1848).
Oh, and I would order again. There was a mixup on my order with one tin (they told me to keep the mistaken tin), so I will need to re-order at some point in future to get the product I wanted but don't seem to be able to get in the USA (McConnell Heritage Series Latakia Mixture 1848).