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[jmf]

I've just bought an Ashbory from Brock and Kelly (Large Sound), here, and I thought potential UK purchasers might like to know how it goes. Are there insurmountable customs difficulties? Are there mountains of red tape? Actually, no! It's quite straightforward.

I asked Kelly to send me the instrument by the US Post's Global Express, 3-5 day delivery. The delivery can be tracked on the Internet and the itinary went like this:

Friday
Acceptance, August 11, 2006, 4:35 pm, BOISE, ID 83708
Enroute, August 11, 2006, 5:35 pm, BOISE, ID 83708
Enroute, August 12, 2006, 10:30 am, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94128
International Dispatch, August 12, 2006, 10:40 am, SAN FRANCISCO AMC
Sunday
Monday
Arrived Abroad, August 14, 2006, 9:39 pm, GREAT BRITAIN
Into Foreign Customs, August 14, 2006, 10:07 pm, GREAT BRITAIN
Out of Foreign Customs, August 15, 2006, 11:15 am, GREAT BRITAIN
Attempted Delivery Abroad, August 16, 2006, 8:47 am, GREAT BRITAIN*
Friday
Delivered Abroad, August 18, 2006, 2:42 pm, GREAT BRITAIN

*The 'Attempted Delivery Abroad' means that UK Parcel Force sent me a letter requesting payment of duty and a handling charge. This may be paid by credit card, by phone, using an automated system.

Duty was a bit lower than I expected at ~£28 and the handling fee was £13.50 (on an Ashbory + set of strings).

So, potential UK purchasers, don't be deterred by formalities; the whole process took only a week and was not complicated.

John



Please Note: I have no connection with Large Sound other than being a satisfied customer  :-)

[Malcos]

Just want to add my own experience here. I ordered mine from a different site from the US. No problems at all, it took 3 weeks total from order to it finally being in my hands. I paid 42.98 (pounds) customs charges total (34.98 VAT and 8.00 clearance fee).

Parcelforce are very annoying however. They had the bass at my local depo on Saturday, but I had to wait until Tuesday for them to send the letter to me with a reference number so I could pay the charges. I wanted to pay on Saturday so I could have it Monday (or so I hoped) but no. I thought having paid on Tuesday morning it would arrive Wednesday, but no, I had to ring them up! They finally delivered it to me on Thursday. So I waited almost another week for no good reason.

If you're buying from the US, have patience, a lot of it. Because of Parcelforce.

[Patrick]

Another happy customer here, I just got my Ashbory from largesound, it was just over two weeks from initial order to delivery and the charges from Parcelforce and customs came to a bit under £50.

I do have a tip to avoid Parcelforce adding a couple of days to the delivery time.  When your bass starts its jorney the US Postal Service will send you an email with a tracking number ending in "US".  When it gets to the UK you can track it on the Parcelforce website at www.parcelforce.com (Parcelforce will give it a new tracking number ending in GB which you can get from their site).

Once the bass has passed through customs and arrived at your local Parcelforce depot you can phone up that depot with the UK tracking number (the "Depot locations" search will give you the phone number) and you'll be able to  pay by card and arange delivery over the phone without having to wait for them to send you a letter.

Patrick