I've had enough with BFG

[sam0t]

This sounds all too familiar. I work at a call center and the OP call was straight from the book.

Welcome to the age of callcenters where support people usually don´t know jack and you cannot get an manager on the phone, because he actually is not physically present at the call center at all. Gotta love companies that only care for making profit from selling the product and do not care jack about the customer after the purchase.

 

[phildabill]

I fully agree with what Spare-Flair said.

I stepped-up my 8800gts to 8800GT 1 month ago and was forced to pay 75$ duty fees. I was told by fedex AND EVGA that it cannot be waived as it was a new product entering the country, even though a product I had paid 320$ CAN was sent in in exchange.

I then phoned fedex, and the nice lady I spoke to CLEARLY stated that EVGA could waive those fee if they stated that it was an exchange. I then called EVGA to discuss this with them, but the rep refused to help in any way.

In grand total I paid: 320$(card)+20$(shipping)+75$(duty)=415$ for my 8800GT.

Oh, and the 8800GT I received is also defective, so there goes another 20$...435$.../cry

So much for EVGA......

 

[Met-AL]

I love it when poeple RMA a card and just somehow they get a card in return that is defective as well.

How about just maybe, there is nothing wrong with the video card now nor with the original one returned, but instead something else may be wrong the person's system?

Hmm....

fucking americans ...

Orly?

 

[mxp]

jeff is the man .. prompt in getting back to me and he is handling i should have my cards next week ...


-mxp

 

[RangerSVT]

I fully agree with what Spare-Flair said.

I stepped-up my 8800gts to 8800GT 1 month ago and was forced to pay 75$ duty fees. I was told by fedex AND EVGA that it cannot be waived as it was a new product entering the country, even though a product I had paid 320$ CAN was sent in in exchange.

I then phoned fedex, and the nice lady I spoke to CLEARLY stated that EVGA could waive those fee if they stated that it was an exchange. I then called EVGA to discuss this with them, but the rep refused to help in any way.

In grand total I paid: 320$(card)+20$(shipping)+75$(duty)=415$ for my 8800GT.

Oh, and the 8800GT I received is also defective, so there goes another 20$...435$.../cry

So much for EVGA......

It's not EVGA's problem that you fucking live in canada dude. Next time order from ATi, I hear they're based in Canada, meaning no border crossing, no border fee's.

If you have to pay border fee's, everyone is going to pay the border fee's, you are no EXCEPTION. You're talking about EVGA not being fair...well, you're not being fair by having them waive the fee's when others have been paying for those fee's without whining? Now who's unfair?

 

[seithon]

This sounds all too familiar. I work at a call center and the OP call was straight from the book.

Welcome to the age of callcenters where support people usually don´t know jack and you cannot get an manager on the phone, because he actually is not physically present at the call center at all. Gotta love companies that only care for making profit from selling the product and do not care jack about the customer after the purchase.

I work in a call center too..
Very different to yours though i imagine..
Our managers are on the floor with us, and often we can grab em for 5 mins between them reading reports so while we CAN speak with em anytime we want about anything.. Its unlikely a customer could speak to one right then and there.
then again, i'm in Europe not the US tho ironically i do work for a US company

 

[LittleMe]

Wow, that sucks to hear OP. I had a problem with a BFG card a long time ago and posted about it here on the forums. Within hours an BFG rep had posted and followed up about the problem and took care of it. Really sad to see things have gone down hill, I really like BFG.

 

[phildabill]

I love it when poeple RMA a card and just somehow they get a card in return that is defective as well.

How about just maybe, there is nothing wrong with the video card now nor with the original one returned, but instead something else may be wrong the person's system?

Hmm....

I also love it when people talk without knowing! EVGA said the exact same thing when I called them, except I made them STFU when I told them how I tested. I bought an XFX 8800GT and replaced the EVGA with it, all of a sudden my computer didn't need to try to post 4 times before getting a display, videos would play properly and gaming performance increased by 500%. Put the EVGA back in, system crawls....

It's not EVGA's problem that you fucking live in canada dude. Next time order from ATi, I hear they're based in Canada, meaning no border crossing, no border fee's.

If you have to pay border fee's, everyone is going to pay the border fee's, you are no EXCEPTION. You're talking about EVGA not being fair...well, you're not being fair by having them waive the fee's when others have been paying for those fee's without whining? Now who's unfair?

You DO realize I sent in a product I paid 330$CAN to them prior to getting the new card right? It's a REPLACEMENT, not a purchase. If EVGA had taken 30 seconds of their time to call FedEx and tell them that, the charge would have been waived, meaning NO ONE would have had to pay (which should be the case for every single step-up)! Its those type of actions that create customer loyalty, not a sticker saying "lifetime warranty".

 

[LittleMe]

Follow up to my last post. I went back and found the thread about my BFG 6800 Ultra that I had a problem with. Link to the thread but post number 13 is John Malley. He's the guy that posted in my thread and took care of my problem. I see he logged in yesterday, so maybe worth sending him a PM.

 

[RangerSVT]

You DO realize I sent in a product I paid 330$CAN to them prior to getting the new card right? It's a REPLACEMENT, not a purchase. If EVGA had taken 30 seconds of their time to call FedEx and tell them that, the charge would have been waived, meaning NO ONE would have had to pay (which should be the case for every single step-up)! Its those type of actions that create customer loyalty, not a sticker saying "lifetime warranty".

You're pissed..I know

If you have to pay border fee's, everyone is going to pay the border fee's, you are no EXCEPTION. You're talking about EVGA not being fair...well, you're not being fair by having them waive the fee's when others have been paying for those fee's without whining? Now who's unfair?

 

[McCartney]

I dunno why that Canadian is blowing a gasket, but, I can tell you from personal experience eVGA is slow at responding to emails, fast at responding on the phone.

ALl of my RMAs are shipped out usually right after they're received (Sometimes takes longer like my GTXs last year took a bit longer) but I've NEVER EVER EVER had to pay fees and I've always got it Global Economy so it got here in a few days. They put LOTS AND LOTS OF RETURN stickers on it so you can't get taxed.

Shitty luck imo.

 

[phildabill]

It seems RangerSVT does not grasp the concept of a replacement. When a product is returned and another is sent in for replacement, no duty is to be paid on the item. Unfortunately the people from EVGA did not label it as a replacement but as a new purchase, which it was NOT, and actively refused to make the 30 second phone call to resolve the problem.

If this were a purchase I would definitely agree with the bad luck of the duty fees, but this is a replacement.

Ill give an example that maybe you guys will understand: I RMA a 5 year old card. I send in my old card to EVGA . EVGA no longer has it in stock, so they send me an 8800GT. No taxes no duty can be claimed on that item, as it was already paid on the purchase 5 years ago.

 

[RangerSVT]

It seems RangerSVT does not grasp the concept of a replacement. When a product is returned and another is sent in for replacement, no duty is to be paid on the item. Unfortunately the people from EVGA did not label it as a replacement but as a new purchase, which it was NOT, and actively refused to make the 30 second phone call to resolve the problem.

If this were a purchase I would definitely agree with the bad luck of the duty fees, but this is a replacement.

Ill give an example that maybe you guys will understand: I RMA a 5 year old card. I send in my old card to EVGA . EVGA no longer has it in stock, so they send me an 8800GT. No taxes no duty can be claimed on that item, as it was already paid on the purchase 5 years ago.

No, don't assume I don't understand your situation, I do understand, but you're not understanding this...

If you have to pay border fee's, everyone is going to pay the border fee's, you are no EXCEPTION. You're talking about EVGA not being fair...well, you're not being fair by having them waive the fee's when others have been paying for those fee's without whining? Now who's unfair?

 

[Spare-Flair]

It's not EVGA's problem that you fucking live in canada dude. Next time order from ATi, I hear they're based in Canada, meaning no border crossing, no border fee's.

If you have to pay border fee's, everyone is going to pay the border fee's, you are no EXCEPTION. You're talking about EVGA not being fair...well, you're not being fair by having them waive the fee's when others have been paying for those fee's without whining? Now who's unfair?

And this is exactly the kind of attitude that makes people wary of Americans and American businesses. It's not their fault that we "fucking live in Canada?" Then perhaps they should not sell their products here or claim the warranties or support that they claim. I guess according to you we should only buy ATI cards and not Nvidia then? I understand EVGA's position but do not understand yours. The costs and charges at issue are not border fees. They are not excise taxes or value added taxes. They are the excessive and hidden UPS/Fedex/DHL middleman fees thrust upon the cross-border reciever that do not exist when sending via regular post.

People don't have to pay these fees if EVGA, BFG, etc. simply ships them by the proper method. This is just willful ignoranance of how cross-border shipping and commerce works. There are exceptions and there are other American companies and retailers who understand this (Vantec and DFI in my experience).

You seriously have no concept of what is happening. People who are buying their products with the claimed warranties, step-ups, support, etc. are being forced to pay $75-$100 in private brokerage fees IN ADDITION to hidden disbursement charges from couriers to the shipping charges to ship one way ($25) IN ADDITION to the taxes and duties if not recognized as a return (~$40). Sending in a $300 card that you purchased to get replaced for warranty or step-up can end up costing the customer $500 in total charges, he might as well buy a brand new card and these companies might as well not offer replacement warranties if they insist on shipping via UPS (highest brokerage fees in the business) or Fedex (slightly better).

If these companies would simply ship via regular United States Postal Service and mark them as warranty/product returns (I appreciate EVGA doing such but I haven't seen it has any affect on private brokerages), we could avoid this hassle entirely because if they go through the normal channels - the government run customs service which is tax-payer funded and NOT profit seeking whereas UPS and Fedex contract their own profit seeking private brokerage houses to process packages across the border.

Have you ever ordered a product online or sent something in for repairs and when you got it back, a guy in brown shorts comes to your door and says:

UPS guy: "here's your package (that you probably paid 1-way shipping for already), here's your brokerage and duties and disbursement fees invoice from UPS for $125.73".
You: "What? What is this? Why do I have to pay this? This is a warranty return! The card is only worth $200! How can you charge me that much in processing fees? I already paid shipping! Nobody told me about this"
UPS guy: "I'm sorry but these fees are not directly advertised. Nonetheless you have to pay these charges or we cannot release the package to you"
You: "But this is MY property What happens to it then?"
UPS guy: "No it's not your property. We return it to the depot and either destroy or sell the contents"
You: "What???"

That is what's happening and has happened for decades, and it has happened to many people I know, even my own mother (ordering off an infommercial and needing an exchange) because private couriers like UPS have these hidden and unadvertised fees and they strongarm you into paying them or they will not release your property to you. This does not happen with the nationalized mail carriers like USPS or Canada Post. The national customs services recognize that you cannot charge taxes and duties on an item that already had taxes and duties levied on them before as is the case with warranty/returns. The private couriers though use their own brokerage houses and privately paid brokers who charge exhorbitant and unadvertised fees for this process. These are not duties. These are private processing and bureaucracy charges from a private profit-seeking company. In fact, there are a few class action lawsuits brewing against UPS for their poor business practices in relation to their brokerage houses.

I appreciate the fact that EVGA ships via Fedex (which is marginally better than UPS and has cheaper brokerage fee schedules, and the effort they make to mark them as warranty returns) BUT Evga and BFG need only to ship through regular post and we need not worry about any of these issues. That is the point I am trying to make. If EVGA/BFG wants to treat their customers right or provide the fair warranty/replacement/stepup, etc. they would ship via USPS, even registered mail or global express as they go through regular customs and not a brokerage firm. When the consumer gets tacked with a $100 bill at the end, it doesn't benefit anybody except the couriers. The consumer sours on the videocard company and the videocard company might as well have charged that themselves and sent it via regular post.
============================

Customs Border Duties + Excise or value added taxes : Charged by the Federal government on imported goods. Cannot be charged on items which have already had taxes and duties levied on them (when they first entered the country as new) if the product is returning as a replacement or warranty item.

Brokerage Firm Fees, Disbursement Fees, Collections Fees, Unannounced Processing Fees, Hidden Fees, etc. : Charged by private couriers like UPS/Fedex/DHL as part of the private profit-seeking brokerage firms they own or contract out at the border and forced upon the reciever who must pay. This fee is charged regardless of whether a product is a warranty or replacement item because it is a percentage processing fee from a hidden fee schedule. Can total 50-100% of the value of the actual item being shipping resulting in the consumer being made to pay twice.

============================

 

[Blacklash]

One cool thing about XFX is their double lifetime warranty. It's useful if you resell your cards. You can transfer the lifetime warranty to the person who buys your card. That builds a lot of value and usually gets you a decent amount compared to selling a card that has it's warranty voided once it leaves your possession.

BTW the first and last card I had from BFG was a 6800GT. I sent them a simple polite technical inquiry and got bad a rude reply that sounded like a 14yr old "dood" had fashioned it. Someone really needs to teach them how to behave in a professional manner when dealing with paying customers.

 

[Spare-Flair]

One cool thing about XFX is their double lifetime warranty. It's useful if you resell your cards. You can transfer the lifetime warranty to the person who buys your card. That builds a lot of value and usually gets you a decent amount compared to selling a card that has it's warranty voided once it leaves your possession.

That unfortunately has nothign to do with this discussion, I'm not yet aware of how XFX deals with international customers and shipping. I would hope that they avoid UPS/Fedex. I know that in the meantime that BFG and EVGA have effectively lost my future business (and that of many other Canadians) until they stop shipping via private couriers. Every international customer who experiences recieving an exhorbitant private brokerage firm processing invoice from getting a card back from one of these companies will probably sour on that company in the future also, simply because all of this can be avoided if normal mail services are employed. Nobody wins in the end except the UPS/Fedex/DHL executives. The customer loses both hard-earned money and choice in products and the videocard company loses a loyal customer.

 

[jonnyGURU]

I love threads like these. Not at all out of the ordinary to see where people read the first post, maybe a couple in between and then hit reply.....

Jeff Kozlowski is now handling this for me guys .. thank you very much for your help .. ill post updates here as i have them ..

jeff is the man .. prompt in getting back to me and he is handling i should have my cards next week ...

Wow, that sucks to hear OP. I had a problem with a BFG card a long time ago and posted about it here on the forums. Within hours an BFG rep had posted and followed up about the problem and took care of it. Really sad to see things have gone down hill, I really like BFG.

Same here (see above.)

Follow up to my last post. I went back and found the thread about my BFG 6800 Ultra that I had a problem with. Link to the thread but post number 13 is John Malley. He's the guy that posted in my thread and took care of my problem. I see he logged in yesterday, so maybe worth sending him a PM.

Umm... Already handled by Jeff K. it looks like.

 

[Spare-Flair]

I love threads like these. Not at all out of the ordinary to see where people read the first post, maybe a couple in between and then hit reply.....

Same here (see above.)

Umm... Already handled by Jeff K. it looks like.

Yes, the thread is meandered a little but definetely kudos for BFG and their rep for handling this and the EVGA rep has made an appearance here as well. That's always heartening. The thing is that a customer shouldn't have to complain to a forum and find a rep first to get a situation sorted out. Customer service should be trained to take care of it and these companies should just not ship via UPS/Fedex in the first place. I'm just hoping to hear a satisfactory answer as to why they can't do so.

 

[phildabill]

No, don't assume I don't understand your situation, I do understand, but you're not understanding this...

If you have to pay border fee's, everyone is going to pay the border fee's, you are no EXCEPTION. You're talking about EVGA not being fair...well, you're not being fair by having them waive the fee's when others have been paying for those fee's without whining? Now who's unfair?

I seriously question your intelligence...quoting Spare-Flair as he put it in a more elegant manner:

Customs Border Duties + Excise or value added taxes : Charged by the Federal government on imported goods. Cannot be charged on items which have already had taxes and duties levied on them (when they first entered the country as new) if the product is returning as a replacement or warranty item.

I wasn't hit with brokerage fees but duty fees as I could have had them waived.

Now please, quote your post again, and say you fully understand the situation!


I would also like to hear from EVGA, why they would refuse to spend 30 secs with Fedex to waive the fees

 

[RangerSVT]

I've seen pest like customers like yourself at stores all the time, you seriously think you're above everyone and they should change their policy due to you. You are no one special, neither am I, understand that?

 

[xsoulbrothax]

That is.. interesting. In my experience sending video games to friends up north, USPS pretty reliably ends up getting hit with duties, while FedEx has yet to incur anything. The difference between FedEx Priority and USPS Air Mail is also 1-2 business days versus 2 weeks, and I've had packages with delivery confirmation flat-out vanish on me., only to come back a month later as an empty box with a note saying "Your package was damaged in transit, sorry." Aside from filling out the commercial invoice properly, I've never had to worry about duties via fedex, though, even when shipping essentially brand new merchandise.. I'm wondering if the place I ship through automatically takes care of it or something.

Maybe working with Canada Post is a lot nicer than it is stateside, but I wouldn't dream of using the postal service for anything important over FedEx or UPS.

I'm also betting they default to a given carrier because they have a shipping contract with them, special rates and everything.

 

[jonnyGURU]

You're right (edit: @ SuperFlair. I didn't realize three or four more posts would come in while I was typing considering this is a bit of a dead issue.) They shouldn't have to. And it is true that the person that the OP talked to at support is a representative of the company and if that person performs poorly it reflects negatively on the company. But who's to say that a second call, quite possibly answered by another person, wouldn't yield satisfactory results? For some, going to the forums is the first course of action.

For example, just this week alone I had seen three different posts from three different people about the fans dying on their Ultra power supplies. Typically, people would ask "how do I fix?" or maybe just say "Ultra sucks" ensuing the forums dogpile mentality that then causes everyone else to say "Ultra sucks" until I come in and say, "the PSU has a lifetime warranty. Did you call them?"

I think if we see even a dozen "BFG sucks" threads a month followed up with "they seem to be going downhill" posts it would still pale in comparison to the million or so cards per year they may sell to satisfied customers that never say a word.

Its like when I worked at TCWO; damned if we couldn't get better than an 8/10 rating on Resellers Ratings". We bent over backwards for people, but maybe that was the problem. Set expectations too high and don't encourage customers to post positive reviews and only the negative ones from the occasional mistake, bad day, bone head hungover tech or whatever get through.

Anyways... I'm just rambling. I'm drinking beers at BWW with a BlackBerry in my hand avoiding going home to my wife... So... How 'bout them Lightning?

 

[jonnyGURU]

For you guys that think its "so easy" to ship to Canada: it's not! I wish Oklahoma Wolf was here to testify because he's in Canada and whenever I ship him something it a freakin' Jim Rose Circus.

Someone said Lif Evga just took the time to call FedEx...". Guess what? Its not that easy. Brokers take over that stuff and there's not much you can do at that point. I had a short stint at sending out review samples for a company not long ago and I would have to hassle with Canada ALL THE TIME. One time I sent two cases to a reviewer and only declared $1 "sample" on the forms. My bad. Case boxes are big, so when it crossed the border and they saw this, it was flagged. Sample or not, this was worth more than $1, so they flagged it and some broker picked some random value for the items. They wanted more than the cases were worth just in brokerage fees and it was completely out of UPS's hands. I had to tell them to abandon the cases and reship them. Ironically, shipments to Europe were MUCH easier.

 

[phildabill]

For you guys that think its "so easy" to ship to Canada: it's not! I wish Oklahoma Wolf was here to testify because he's in Canada and whenever I ship him something it a freakin' Jim Rose Circus.

Someone said Lif Evga just took the time to call FedEx...". Guess what? Its not that easy. Brokers take over that stuff and there's not much you can do at that point. I had a short stint at sending out review samples for a company not long ago and I would have to hassle with Canada ALL THE TIME. One time I sent two cases to a reviewer and only declared $1 "sample" on the forms. My bad. Case boxes are big, so when it crossed the border and they saw this, it was flagged. Sample or not, this was worth more than $1, so they flagged it and some broker picked some random value for the items. They wanted more than the cases were worth just in brokerage fees and it was completely out of UPS's hands. I had to tell them to abandon the cases and reship them. Ironically, shipments to Europe were MUCH easier.

While I do agree brokerage fees are a real pain, I got hit with duty and taxes. The lady I had spoken to from Fedex clearly stated that if EVGA called and said the item was a replacement and not a purchase, the duty fees would have been revoked.

As for RangerSVT...I seriously pity you, your stupidity is astounding....If you knew how to read, you would see the Canadian duty policy is on my side (reread my posts), it's EVGA that mislabeled the shipment and refused to fix it. Do the world a favor and refrain from procreating....

 

[Spare-Flair]

For you guys that think its "so easy" to ship to Canada: it's not! I wish Oklahoma Wolf was here to testify because he's in Canada and whenever I ship him something it a freakin' Jim Rose Circus.

Someone said Lif Evga just took the time to call FedEx...". Guess what? Its not that easy. Brokers take over that stuff and there's not much you can do at that point. I had a short stint at sending out review samples for a company not long ago and I would have to hassle with Canada ALL THE TIME. One time I sent two cases to a reviewer and only declared $1 "sample" on the forms. My bad. Case boxes are big, so when it crossed the border and they saw this, it was flagged. Sample or not, this was worth more than $1, so they flagged it and some broker picked some random value for the items. They wanted more than the cases were worth just in brokerage fees and it was completely out of UPS's hands. I had to tell them to abandon the cases and reship them. Ironically, shipments to Europe were MUCH easier.

But isn't your experience almost entire predicated on using UPS??? That's my entire arguement. Almost all Canadians who buy on the internet favour USPS versus UPS. Fedex has had a better track record also but it's still not as cheap as USPS. I've had everything from guitars to large car parts shipped from me from all over the US to Canada at low cost and the packages arrived in good condition, safely, and promptly with required signature and tracking information. UPS/Fedex are invariably much more expensive and when it gets to the border, their private brokers take over and everything is out of your hands. It's much better to let packages go through Canada Customs/U.S. customs than a courier brokerage house unless you have a corporate account and really are shipping important things.

 

[Spare-Flair]

You're right (edit: @ SuperFlair. I didn't realize three or four more posts would come in while I was typing considering this is a bit of a dead issue.) They shouldn't have to. And it is true that the person that the OP talked to at support is a representative of the company and if that person performs poorly it reflects negatively on the company. But who's to say that a second call, quite possibly answered by another person, wouldn't yield satisfactory results? For some, going to the forums is the first course of action.

For example, just this week alone I had seen three different posts from three different people about the fans dying on their Ultra power supplies. Typically, people would ask "how do I fix?" or maybe just say "Ultra sucks" ensuing the forums dogpile mentality that then causes everyone else to say "Ultra sucks" until I come in and say, "the PSU has a lifetime warranty. Did you call them?"

I think if we see even a dozen "BFG sucks" threads a month followed up with "they seem to be going downhill" posts it would still pale in comparison to the million or so cards per year they may sell to satisfied customers that never say a word.

Its like when I worked at TCWO; damned if we couldn't get better than an 8/10 rating on Resellers Ratings". We bent over backwards for people, but maybe that was the problem. Set expectations too high and don't encourage customers to post positive reviews and only the negative ones from the occasional mistake, bad day, bone head hungover tech or whatever get through.

Anyways... I'm just rambling. I'm drinking beers at BWW with a BlackBerry in my hand avoiding going home to my wife... So... How 'bout them Lightning?

I think this thread is generally somewhat different from the usual complaints about product quality or service. I see this more like the other large thread we had on this issue regarding EVGA's use of Fedex. This is more of a thread with a lot of Canadians in it venting about American companies not understanding how to ship to Canada (whereas other companies do) and misunderstanding that it is actually easier, cheaper, and much less of a hassle for both parties when you use the domestic mail carriers instead of a courier.

As for the Lightning...Lecavalier is awesome but are you making the playoffs this year?

 

[Spare-Flair]

That is.. interesting. In my experience sending video games to friends up north, USPS pretty reliably ends up getting hit with duties, while FedEx has yet to incur anything. The difference between FedEx Priority and USPS Air Mail is also 1-2 business days versus 2 weeks, and I've had packages with delivery confirmation flat-out vanish on me., only to come back a month later as an empty box with a note saying "Your package was damaged in transit, sorry." Aside from filling out the commercial invoice properly, I've never had to worry about duties via fedex, though, even when shipping essentially brand new merchandise.. I'm wondering if the place I ship through automatically takes care of it or something.

Maybe working with Canada Post is a lot nicer than it is stateside, but I wouldn't dream of using the postal service for anything important over FedEx or UPS.

I'm also betting they default to a given carrier because they have a shipping contract with them, special rates and everything.

Again, the issue is not about duties. Duties are fair and applied by the Federal government but they can be avoided if the company sending back the items clearly marks them as warranty returns/repaired goods, etc. as has been the case in my personal experience with Vantec cooling products and a DFI motherboard. Phildabill has said that Fedex told him that if the package had been marked as a warranty that duties could also be avoided so again, I appreciate the EVGA rep telling us that they do try to do this (but they failed in phildabill's case). What cannot be avoided however, if you use a courier, is their processing and brokerage fees.

The issue is that Fedex will send you an additional invoice after you recieve the product listing their own private processing charges that their brokers come up with in their private customs brokerage firms. Fedex's brokerage fees are significantly less than UPS and they are much more friendly about it but they are still there whereas there is zero unannounced or hidden brokerage fees + disbursement fees, etc. etc. if they are simply shipped through USPS. As far as the quality of the shipping, I've heard plenty of horror stories about courier warehouses (kids throwing and kicking boxes around) and bad delivery men. I can only speak to my own personal experience and that of friends and family but most of us do buy stuff online (I've even got my grandparents doing it) and all them insist on using USPS. Even the large Canadian Deals forums and shopping message boards all have a litany of complaints regarding UPS/Fedex and most Canadian consumers will avoid them at all cost.

I would like it explained to my satisfaction from the BFG (I own a BFG card) or EVGA rep why they insist on UPS/Fedex for the most part and will not us USPS priority mail/registered/global express. I've heard explanations like how the package stops tracking at the border with USPS but that is simply not true, they are integrated with Canada Post and just today I recieved a power mirror for my car from Florida shipped to Calgary Alberta. It was sent USPS Priority mail and I tracked it all the way here and it had a Canada Post xpresspost tracking number sticker on it that they probably affixed back at the post office in Florida! Also USPS Global Express is integrated with Purolator Canada and so you get tracking from them also. That leads me to believe this is just a PR excuse and the real reason is like you said, they have a contract with Fedex/UPS which is just really unfortunate for the card purchaser if he is outside the U.S.

 

[McCartney]

I hate people like that RangerSVT. They think their form of currency holds a higher value on a higher priced item and they start using the word "hard earned money". The people who have money got it easy? There are very few trust fund babies out there *hide*

 

[RangerSVT]

This is more of a thread with a lot of Canadians in it venting about American companies not understanding how to ship to Canada (whereas other companies do) and misunderstanding that it is actually easier, cheaper, and much less of a hassle for both parties when you use the domestic mail carriers instead of a courier.

YOU and Canada, are NO reasons for a company to change their shipping carrier because of the border fee's, they have a contract to use a certain carrier, they're most definitely not going to void whatever TOS they have with their designated carrier, because of your border fee's. This isn't about American companies, it's about a company policy to use a certain carrier.

I don't work for BFG or EVGA but you have to comprehend their business partners, if they have a designated shipping carrier, then they are going to use it, no matter what.

 

[Spare-Flair]

YOU and Canada, are NO reasons for a company to change their shipping carrier because of the border fee's, they have a contract to use a certain carrier, they're most definitely not going to void whatever TOS they have with their designated carrier, because of your border fee's. This isn't about American companies, it's about a company policy to use a certain carrier.

I don't work for BFG or EVGA but you have to comprehend their business partners, if they have a designated shipping carrier, then they are going to use it, no matter what.

Again, you are missing the point entirely. It is not border fees but brokerage fees which are different things. I agree with you that these companies have every right to not switch the carrier that they are probably contracted to but they could have a compassionate or customer-care reason to ensure their customers are not saddled with an exessive charge that renders the warranty/step-up worthless or extremely uneconomical.

Yes Canada has less population than the state of California but we're a high-tech country mostly based in large urban centers and I'm sure that there is a lot of business they wouldn't want to lose up here. Companies can do whatever they want but soured customers can also do whatever they want and stop buying their products. It's just in everybody's best interest to come to something that works. If they chose to do business in Canada and offer the same services to their customers they should take care of them as it's in their best interest...perhaps when it comes time to renegotiate with their carrier they will remove cross-border shipments from said contract and be open to sending items through USPS as many American tech companies already do!

 

[RangerSVT]

Well, I completely understood your point from the begining, which is why I stated twice, that I understand why you guys are pissed, if you can get them to change their ways, good for you, but seriously, let's not thrash a company over border fee's/shipping carrier, that just completely makes no sense.

What would qualify as good thrashing, would be their shitty customer service or shitty quality control methods, things of that nature.

 

[McCartney]

WTF haven't I gotten any fees for any of my stuff via FedEx and eVGA? You guys clearly have some issues where you are in Canada.. since I don't get taxed worth ANYTHING

 

[Slade]

I have dealt with border fees and brokerage for over 10 years.

I can tell you scenarios in which you will get hit and things you won't get hit.

When purchasing from the US, get them to indicate it as a gift with a personal name from the sender. This can solve most of the issues with brokerage.

When dealing with companies, request USPS, it may cost more in some cases (rare) but compared to UPS and FedEx, much easier to swallow the fees. As a note, UPS makes you pay by CC or cash on delivery, FedEx sends you a bill in the mail.

Know what can have duty and brokerage and what can not. duty and brokerage are separate items. Duty is for things NOT made in North America and are new. Brokerage is the fee a company charges to deal with Canadian border services. Canada Post/ USPS have the cheapest charges, FedEx is in the middle, and UPS is the worst.

A repair/warranty DOES NOT invoke duty nor brokerage. I've sent motherboards, memory and video cards to various companies in California. I've not once had to deal with extra charges. The only thing that you have to keep in mind when dealing with warranty is that the "free shipping" that some companies offer, only apply to to the continental US. That said, it's cost me <$20 to send a mobo over a 2-3 day insured shipping, It's NOT that expensive, and the one that comes back doesn't give me hassles.

To give you an idea of just how convoluted the things I order from the US are, here are some of the things I've bought over the years...

PC Parts
Mousepads
heatsinks
fans
video cards
memory
headphones
swords (yes nice carbon steel)
video games
video game controllers
car parts
headers
clutch
slave cylinder
bolts
shifter sticks
shifter
underpulley kits

 

[drifterx37]

Splare-Flair you should post your problems on the EVGA forums in the future. It usually doesn't take long for someone who actually works for EVGA to take notice and solve problems for unhappy customers.

 

[mxp]

well i would like to say that Jeff handled the situation very carefully and as such my cards are here and they are working great *crosses fingers* so i would like to thank him for his help and all of you who helped as well.

mxp

 

[sam0t]

I work in a call center too..
Very different to yours though i imagine..
Our managers are on the floor with us, and often we can grab em for 5 mins between them reading reports so while we CAN speak with em anytime we want about anything.. Its unlikely a customer could speak to one right then and there.
then again, i'm in Europe not the US tho ironically i do work for a US company

Iam in Europe also and work for a US company

I did exaggerate the thing slightly , we do have managers on floor occasionaly, but they do not ever never answer to a customer. There is a good chance that we work for the same company. Anyways this is totally offtopic, don´t mind.

 

[fdiaz78]

BFG's products are overpriced anyway. Just another reason why I don't buy their products.

 

[robman_rob]

Hey just wanted to say that I have had no problems with BFG RMA's and I live in Ontario, Canada, 15$ Canada post, 6-12 days via land, or if you want faster, pay more. Gets to BFG, sends back quickly using purolator or ups or whatever. 2 - 3 weeks I get it back, because i'm cheap with sending on my end. It's not as fast as living in USA, but it's certainly not as bad as you make it sound. Also, to the OP, if you have read the the instructions, the UPS option was clearly marked for US only.

Edit: who is Jeff Kozlowski ? a representative from BFG?

 

[farfromhome]

BFG's products are overpriced anyway. Just another reason why I don't buy their products.

Not necessarily. They tend to either be way overpriced, or among the most inexpensive there is, with no middle ground. For example, BFG's 8800 GTS 512MB was first up at $390 at NewEgg, above all of the others. Then, aside from the [H] deal, BFG had the first 8800 GTS 512MB at $330 a few weeks later. Then it was the first of the major US-based customer-service oriented providers (BFG/EVGA/XFX) to dip down to $300 after mail-in rebate; XFX was next a week later or so, and EVGA, thanks to their bundling of Crysis, stayed above $340. So it's not that simple.

(Disclaimer: Owner of BFG 7800 GT OC and BFG 8800 GTS OC 512MB The 7800 GT was still a tad overpriced when I got it, but I was a newbie builder at the time who didn't know that I should have waited a bit for the price to drop.)

 

[Red Falcon]

BFGTech just came through with me!

I called and told them I had a dead 6800GT. I talked to the same rep from six months earlier when my 6600GT was broke.

He gave me the e-mail and told me to send my card out.

I didn't get a chance to actually ship my card until 3 WEEKS after I called them. I sent it out thinking 'oh, what the hell, if they send it back or never send it back, I dun care' (mainly due to the fact that I didn't care about the card itself). Within the next week and a half I get my card back. A 7800GS!!! BFGTech may not have a step-up program, but sending in a legacy card to get a newer model back is awesome.

Thanx BFGTech!

EDIT: Oh, and this card has a blue LED in the fan. It looks just like the one from the website but with clear plastic on the hsf. Very nice.