just a warning/frustration

so i know i posted here about a month ago asking about dashmodel.com. i recieved my first order jst fine in a good timely fashion being it came from hong kong it only took a week.
now i placed an order with them on the 25th of jan.
after waiting 2 weeks with no reply or tracking and no package i finaly got a reply to one of the emails and they never even put the order together untill i was threatening to file with paypal.
so 2 weeks goes by and finaly on the 7th after havign to tell him what i ordered and after he had already charged my card and had the money for 2 1/2 weeks he ships my package.
well its now been a month and i have zero package and no way of tracking the package since all it sayin is "in transit" after it sat in customs for 2 weeks. im thinking i got scammed cause the person will now not answer any emails regarding the order i placed and it has taken a month with alot of hassle and no help on their side top try and figure out what is happening. it left customs 2 weeks ago from ny and where i live is only 1hr tops from there so idk what the problem is.

just a fair warnign if your going to deal with dashmodel.com you wont get a response unless you badger the person and he ships whenever he feels like it and will just sit on your funds until you have to remind him of your order and to ship. i personaly wont be doing anymore buisness with them due to this hassle and still haveing no package plus its a joke that he would just take $90 out of my account and wait 2 weeks to ship.

in good news i did preorder the aoshima grb sti before it was put on orderstop from hlj and they have been nothing but amazing with answering anything ive asked

I agree with hlj, i had nothing but great experiences with them countless times. Also hwjapan is just as good. Although their ordering is a bit different.

Im sorry to hear what occured, its hard to purchase items in different countries as you don't know how reliable they are. I never ordered anything from them so i have no opinions.

As far as your package, did you try calling your post office and asking whats going on. If its tracked to NY, then it shouldn't be the sellers problem if it gets lost between ny and you. Although i do agree with the neglect on their part and thats a no, no. Hope you get your package. Maybe its sitting at one of the transfer stations.

I once had a similar experience where the seller stated they shipped the items, no tracking and about two months later my package was at my door. Although i think he might have used land freight.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I personally have learned my lesson in dealing with Hong Kong/China sellers (separate online sites and eBay). For me, the slightly cheaper price is just not worth the headache and hassle of having to hound a seller to get my items. Their ideas of customer service and running a business to bring repeat customers just isn't there. The ones I have dealt with (including ones on eBay with supposed good seller ratings) simply don't give a rip and will either a). play dumb and continually ask what your order was letting more and more time pass by b). don't ship until a week or two later c). don't package the item(s) properly to ensure safe handling. Scratch one up for live and learn I suppose.

well its now been a month and i have zero package and no way of tracking the package since all it sayin is "in transit" after it sat in customs for 2 weeks. im thinking i got scammed cause the person will now not answer any emails regarding the order i placed and it has taken a month with alot of hassle and no help on their side top try and figure out what is happening. it left customs 2 weeks ago from ny and where i live is only 1hr tops from there so idk what the problem is.
If the package had arrived at US custom then you are not scammed as far as shipping goes. Ask USPS where did they transit your package; just because you live near customs doesn't mean they will directly deliver it from there.

If the package had arrived at US custom then you are not scammed as far as shipping goes. Ask USPS where did they transit your package; just because you live near customs doesn't mean they will directly deliver it from there.
im aware of that, it would go to my local post office which wouldnt take a week plus to do not to mention the fact i placed to order on the 25th of jan and the seller withdrew the funds out of my account that day then "forgot" to ship and even what i ordered for 2 weeks.

Asian shops are not all bad! I've had outstanding experiences with HobbySearch Japan http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/ and with HobbyLink Japan http://www.hlj.com/ . They make an extra effort to keep shipping costs down by using SAL shipment. HLJ carries some useful products - like Tamiya and Micron masking tape in many widths - that you can't get in the U.S.

I agree with thenotoriousLUD that HLJ is amazing. I've used their replacement parts service (see http://www.hlj.com/helpcenter/partssupport.html). The first time I was a little nervous about paying in advance, but I've used the service several times since (I break a lot of stuff). It's a slow process, but the cost - including shipping - has been very reasonable.

Asian shops are not all bad! I've had outstanding experiences with HobbySearch Japan http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/ and with HobbyLink Japan http://www.hlj.com/ .

Personally, I wasn't referring to a general term of "Asian" shops, I was specifically stating Hong Kong and/or Chinese shops (especially the hordes of sellers from eBay). My only personal exception would be Jet Model Asia (Taiwanese?). Other than the site being hard to navigate because of the language barrier, service was friendly and prompt.

I too order from HLJ and Hobby Search (Japanese shops) all the time and have no troubles. I also did not have any problems with Media Mix Hobby (Singaporean).

a few things to note.
i) once packages have been left at the post office in Hong Kong it takes maybe a day to get to the depot.
ii) at the depot, it normally takes at least a week for international packages to get seen to (unless it's a priority uber expensive shipping option)
if you get something via regular post within a week then that is just lucky.
iii) it was Chinese New Year on the 3rd of Feb and so the 3rd and 4th of Feb were public holidays.
iv) the 5th and 6th was the weekend.

now lets back track a little and have a look at the dates you have given.

You ordered on the 25th.
If you allow for time difference it doesn't seem likely that your order would've been taken to the post office any time before their Friday.
Let's say it got there on the Thursday (27th) and then got to their depot the next day.
Allow for the week minimum for parcels to be sorted at depot and you hit the Chinese New Year holidays and weekend.
You say you got a reply on the 7th (5th day of the new year) which in my opinion is actually good as most shops in HK don't start operating until at least the 9th day of the new year.
In all likelihood, your "threat" had little do with it and he was just wasn't inclined to be seen as "rude" in telling you to simply be patient and wait.
As for afterwards, as others has noted, it's since sat in US customs for 2 weeks.

So far, the numbers/dates all look like normal operation for a shop in HK during that time of year.

For the HLJ fans, don't forget that during their holiday periods, they simply do not operate at all.

It's stuff like this that makes me put off selling my excess kits on eBay, currently at over 100, all Japanese, most discontinued.

It only takes one person who expect their kits to arrive in a less than realistic time frame to cause all sorts of troubles I wouldn't need. Frankly I'd much rather throw them out to trash, I value my time and sanity far more than the kits.

FWIW most of my shipments from the US take more than a month to arrive. Better when the sellers live in a big city, much longer when they live in middle of nowhere.

Turns out it's your government that is holding up your packages, afterall.

"Hongkong Post announced today (November 15) that due to heightened aviation security measures taken by the United States of America (USA) concerning mail transportation to the country, all air mail services (including Speedpost) from Hong Kong to the USA are subject to delay until further notice."

http://www.hongkongpost.com/eng/publications/news/2010/20101115a/index.htm

"25 February 2011
Outbound Air Mail Service
Please note the following updates on outbound air mail service:
Due to heightened aviation security measures taken by the United States of America (USA) concerning mail transportation to the country, all air mail services (including Speedpost) from Hong Kong to the USA may be subject to delay.
As the supply of air cargo space may not be able to cope with the demand, some air mail items destined for Brazil are subject to delays of around seven days.
The above conditions will continue until further notice."


http://www.hongkongpost.com/eng/publications/notices/2011/20110225a/index.htm

Regarding shipping times, I always assume it's going to take a long time when I order from overseas, especially Hong Kong. Just the way it goes. And I sometimes get my orders faster than some of the places I've ordered from within the states!!