Tequipment US to UK via Borderfree - experiences?

[Wuerstchenhund]

I'm considering buying stuff from Tequipment, which appears to be one of the commonly recommended sellers in this forum. So I went to their website, only to be notified that they ship directly to the UK, all-inclusive, via Borderfree. Now I didn't know Borderfree, so I did some googlin', and it appears that they offer something akin to the ebay Global Shipping Program, i.e. US sellers ship to a hub in the US and then they take care of the international portion.

What's frightening though is the amount of negativity users of this service seem to be reporting. Based on the reviews and complains, Borderfree must have managed to be even more inept in shipping stuff than the usual carriers. But the amount of complaints varied between the countries the items were shipped to, with lots of negatives from Canada and a slighly better result shipping to the UK.

So I'd like to hear from others in the UK who ordered from Tequipment via Borderfree.

[Thelanie]

Wow im astounded by all the replies, thanks for sharing your ideas/experience with me, i will deffinitely check out some of the programs you have suggested, Putty i already use for my Raspberry pi and such but it is not the solution we are looking for work, but i will try the other programs suggested, thanks a lot! 

[OwO]

Yes that looks like it might work. Although I'd change the value of R26, as it is it seems a little too low
Also that's a strange choice of op-amp, you need low distortion in this application but have plenty of power voltage margin, so maybe choose one that's not rail-to-rail IO?

[Cerebus]

Ooh. Judging from the OP's headline question and the two replies so far something has either gone very screwy with the forum software or the brains of Thelanie and OwO.

Anyway, back on topic. I too would be interested to hear people's experiences. I nearly bought from Tequipment recently but managed to get the same headline price from Telonic in the UK (including VAT but before adding duty and carriage charges to the UK via Borderfree) so I took the hassle free route of using the UK native supplier with free next day delivery. I'd consider Tequipment again but I'd like to have some confidence in Borderfree before dipping my toe in that water.

[Wuerstchenhund]

Ooh. Judging from the OP's headline question and the two replies so far something has either gone very screwy with the forum software or the brains of Thelanie and OwO.

Looks that way. I'd guess it's a software glitch as it's really difficult to reply to the wrong thread even if intentional

Anyway, back on topic. I too would be interested to hear people's experiences. I nearly bought from Tequipment recently but managed to get the same headline price from Telonic in the UK (including VAT but before adding duty and carriage charges to the UK via Borderfree) so I took the hassle free route of using the UK native supplier with free next day delivery.

Made the same decision, just ordered a Rigol DP832 from Batterfly.

I'd consider Tequipment again but I'd like to have some confidence in Borderfree before dipping my toe in that water.

I'll certainly buy stuff there when I'm in the U.S. but at the moment I don't trust Borderfree, also their shipping and tax charges push the price above what I'd pay in Europe.

[Thelanie]

Im completly new to the forum haha, i see how i ended up commenting on this topic instead of my own! i wanted to go to the second page of my own question but instea i pressed "next blog" and made my comment here, my fault im sorry! 

[GTA]

I'm Canadian and I have ordered a scope from Tequipment a week ago and is being handled by Borderfree. I have just read mainly horror stories from people that had to deal with this company and I'm getting concerned about my choice to purchase this from them.

Here's the progress so far:
Sept. 28 (9:38am EST): Order received by Borderfree

Sept. 28 (9:50am EST): Order processed by Borderfree

Sept. 28 (5:38pm EST): Order shipping soon by Borderfree with this message: "Good news, the below items are on their way to our international processing facility to prepare for shipment. Within the next few days, you’ll receive a Shipment Confirmation email with your tracking information when your order leaves our international facility."

Oct. 1 (7:21pm): Shipping confirmation. "Great news! Your order has shipped. Below you will find a link to your tracking information and details regarding the items in this shipment."

With the latest email on Oct. 1st, they have attached a tracking number. I click on the tracking number and go to the Borderfree.com site where it shows the Tequipment order number with the "real" tracking number and it's labelled as Shipping via Standard. In here, there's a graphic showing 5 linear dots and only the first two dots are populated:

Dot 1 - Preparing package, Oct. 1
Dot 2 - Shipped, Oct. 2

I click on the tracking number on this page and go to another site - intelcomexpress.com it doesn't register a valid tracking number. This is the message I get from this site:

This tracking number cannot be found in our system.

This situation can happen if:

- We haven’t received the information for the shipper. In some cases, it takes a few hours between your order confirmation on the shipper’s website and the receipt of the shipment’s information in our system.

- The tracking number doesn’t start with the letters INTLCMA followed by a series of numbers. ***My tracking number DOES NOT begin with INTLCMA***

- The tracking number is over three months old.

If the issue persists, please contact us for assistance.

BTW, I live just north of New York state in Southern Ontario so the package doesn't have to cross the country or anything.

It's only been 5 working days since my order with Tequipment so I'll just be patient but this transaction is starting to freak me out due to it being carried out by Borderfree. I did too much homework on the scope itself and not enough on this shipper and Tequipment's relationship with them before ordering. I'll update this post if/when there's any new info.

Update Oct. 5 (3:12pm): I called Intelcom Express and gave them the tracking number. Their reply was that the tracking number is valid as submitted by "Pitney Bowes" although they haven't received the item yet. So it hasn't crossed the border yet.

Update Oct 07 (9:31am): I checked the tracking like I do every morning and see that there is a third dot populated with this message: Oct. 2, 2020 - Cleared Customs.  WTF?!? It cleared customs on the same day as it shipped (see above) but I'm only getting the update now? The Intelcom tracking number link is still invalid. At this point, I could've walked to New Jersey and on foot and back, hypothetically speaking. 

Update Oct 08 (2:15pm): Finally! The tracking information has been passed on to the local delivery company Intelcom Express "Package received at our local warehouse (11:32am). The package will soon be out for delivery". Yay!

Final Update Oct. 09 (11:00am): Received it in good nick. One small dent in the box but the scope was well packaged so no harm done. From ordering to delivery is 10 working days. Not the best but not to bad considering the B.S. C-19 virus crap. I guess I was one of the lucky ones that made it through unscathed by Borderfree, but I may be a small sample judging by the other stories out there about them.

Would I order from a retailer that ships with Borderfree again? Probably not if there are other shops that offer the same or equivalent devices with a few dollars of each other. But I saved over CAD$200 by buying it from Tequipment vs the local GW Instek dealer who wanted over CAD$660 before taxes. - for the exact same scope!

Now I'm going to make some space for it on my desk. 

[Cerebus]

I'll update this post if/when there's any new info.

Thanks. As I said (looks up) 7 1/2 months ago I've no current requirement, but it'd be good to know of others experiences should the day come where I have to make a decision.