Crud. Yeah, looking at the UPS customs fees, it’s frustrating.
I’m surprised this is the first time I’ve read about it on the forums.
I don’t order much from overseas, so I didn’t really think about customs fees. The biggest thing I’ve ordered from overseas was some electronics from Hong Kong for about $220. I didn’t pay any customs fees for that, for whatever reason.
Last month, I placed on order on the Schlumpf website and then was unsuccessful at getting my credit card # to someone on the phone. I tried a couple of e-mails to coordinate, and got no replies. The end of last week, I hooked up with Silva Cycles and got a hub/wheelset lined up. Today, I received a invoice letter from Schlumpf for my hub and asking how I want to pay. Sent them an e-mail saying that I had another arrangement and to cancel that order. Oy Vay!
Yippppeeeee!!!
My hub has landed at Unicicycle.com and is being built up tonight/tomorrow (thanks Roger)…I’ll be Guniing next week!!
On April 1st I got the email from Schlumpf saying my hub was nearing shipping and asked me what I wanted engraved. I replied within a few days.
On April 5th I emailed asking about the customs fees, and asked if there was a way to avoid or minimize it.
Florian responded the next day suggesting someone would look into it.
On May 3rd I emailed asking for the current status of my hub.
No reply.
On May 11th I emailed again. Still no reply.
Bummer
A week or two ago my hub “would be shipping soon” - still waiting, sigh.
Me too. Waiting for the same batch. I’m being forced to learn patience!
No news for me either. He was going to call me back but it didn’t happen. It sucks. 5 months waiting time and counting. And it’s not the first time either.
I just sent another email to the info@schlumpf.ch address, and it bounced back quickly with this:
At least they’re working. I was starting to worry they closed up shop.
Long wait
Well I just pulled the trigger on a new KH Schlumph hub and 29r wheel build from Silva cycles. Now for the hard part the 5 month wait.
Yes…the long wait!
I gave Florian another call this morning. I was going to suggest picking up my hub this weekend at his house because I’m going to Switzerland in order to participate at the elsbet muni meeting. He hasn’t finished it yet (over 5 months) and there is no sign he will get it done anytime soon. Apparently he has huge problems with his new machine so everything takes much longer than it should… So I guess we will all have to be very patient. Putting too much stress on him now could possibly make him give up the uni hubs altogether. That would be very sad and has to be prevented by all means.
So now I made a Schlumpf transplant in order to have a functioning 26er for elsbet. The 36er will be built up again once I finally get that hub back.
It’s a bummer but there’s nothing I can do but wait.
It is what it is, and I’ll wait because I can’t do anything else.
The “we’re busy” message is better than nothing, but I would have preferred a heads up email earlier on saying “we’ve got a new machine that is causing trouble.” or something. And an ETA would be nice too. Are we talking 2 weeks or 2 months?
Communication is key.
I just received an email… my hub is being shipping.
My credit card has been charged and I have a UPS tracking number!
I think it’s really happening! 
Really! That’s good news. I haven’t heard anything yet.
I just sent an email asking Bronson if he heard anything. I’m waiting for his reply. He’s usually very prompt and I only sent it seconds ago.
What I don’t understand is in what order Florian processes his orders.
My co-worker (and I think I’m more impatient than he is, I plan to borrow his until I can afford one myself) ordered one in September, so it’s been 9 months and he still doesn’t have it.
When people like madc-ccc ordered it on Feb. 19th, 2010 and got it April 1st
or MuniOrBust ordered it around March 19th, 2010 and is about to get it!
Well maybe it’s on its way for my co-worker since we know it’s going to be shipped with Kris’s, so we don’t have the info about shipment.
I think I’m more frustrated about knowing that some people ordered it recently and got it before than from the wait itself.
But still, I know it’s a great product and i’m glad Florian makes them.
I heard back, but Bronson hasn’t gotten any confirmation of shipping yet :(.
Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. Did he get a credit card number to them?
Is it still valid? Though in any case, you’d think he’d be contacted if there was a problem.
I didn’t do anything special, just ordered it, called with a credit card, and waited.
I got an e-mail now too with the good news that he’s sending my hub today.
It’s been an almost unbearably long wait this time. It’s pretty exactly 6 months for the repair this time (definitely not my first time). If I only had that one Schlumpf it would have driven me crazy for sure. But luckily I have another one that I could have fun with.
It seems to me that he doesn’t do the hubs in the right order. For example I’ve noticed that a fellow unicyclist in the Netherlands got his hub back before me after a month less waiting time. And it seems that the newly ordered hubs get a higher priority than the warranty replacements.
Oh well, it doesn’t seem right to me but now I’m looking forward to my new hub. Geared 36ering, here I come again!
may be there is a difference in ordering different hubs.
did all off you order the same type 
KH ISIS
Florian has more than 40 mails a day and he like to build hubs but not to mail all the time.
but - if you want information just call him, usually you might get Jolanda Peer at the fone, and mostly she can give you detailed information.
an other way is to deal with retailers, if they have some in stock you will get it immediately…