ArcEurotrade Ordering

[ketanswali]

 

Maybe some kind madmodder who lives in the uk could order for you and dispatch to your holiday address?

If Allan is not seriously unhappy with my comments by now, then John Haines and other similar earlier comment would be the simplest solution.

[ketanswali]

And btw im swedish. Our banks arent better than any other country really. Thiefs all of em. ;)

I am aware you are Swedish, which is why I gave the Swedish examples earlier.:-).

Regarding the banks, I am sure you are probably right, but I feel happier with my local branch manager giving me firm decisions the old fashioned way rather than a faceless person in a remote location making decisions.;)

[ketanswali]

I've tried for the last 15 minutes or so to register with Arc Eurotrade in order to place an order.

I,ve given up as that is the most difficult registration process I've ever encountered.

If someone from Arc wishes to guide me through the seemingly impossible maze then we may get round to doing some business.....OZ.

Email me your telephone number and let me see what we can do, as soon as our office opens in about four hours time.

[mattinker]

I have been dealing with ArcEuro for about 10 years now and NEVER had any problems whatsoever.

Cheers Dek.

I too had been dealing with ARC for many years, I just wanted to place a bigger order than usual to benefit from the UK shipping as I was going to visit my son in the UK.

Living outside the UK but in Europe means that buying tools is more expensive!

Regards, Matthew

[Arbalist]

The "problem"  with Arceurotrade is that they have the audacity to supply lots of nice stuff that other suppliers don't stock, their postage costs are also very reasonable which doesn't help either ... 

[rowbare]

Then they are incredibly paranoid. I know several clients of mine has issues with specific regions tho.

As a builder of e-commerce websites, you can definitely understand the situation, even if you think that we are incredibly paranoid. Have you tried to be in your clients shoes  ...

When I read Neo Tech's comment, the first thing that came to my mind was the Andy Grove adage: "Only the Paranoid Survive"...

bob

[Mayhem]

I travel a fir bit on business and buy tooling whenever I can, as international prices are a lot cheaper than I can buy the same items for in Australia.  Mainly I buy out of the US and frequently have things delivered to hotels I am at or to friends I am visiting.

Quite often, I contact sellers and ask if they could use cheaper international shipping options (e.g. USPS), many of whom are happy to do so and I have not had any lost items when doing this.  However, some refuse to do this and I can appreciate their decision to do so, as I'm sure it adds time and therefore cost to the process.

Some time back I saw the square and hex ER32 collet blocks that ARC were selling and decided I wanted a set.  My Mum was going back home to the UK to visit friends and I saw this as the perfect opportunity to avoid paying shipping (which was more than the cost of the blocks). 

Well, I ran into the same issue as outlined in the OP but I have to say that the correspondence with ARC was quick and polite, and I understood the reasons behind ARC's policy.  The solution was found in the form of a pre-paid card that my Mum had purchased here to carry her GBP currency on.  As it is pre-paid, there is no address linked to it, just the currency on the card.  I was able to place an order using this and have it posted to the address in the UK that my Mum was staying at.  Paying VAT was nothing compared to the cost of international shipping to Australia and I am extremely happy with the collet blocks.

[allanchrister]

Hi Ketan,

Unfortunately, I did find the staff member who declined to even discuss alternative payment methods with me, arrogant and unhelpful.  IIRC I even asked if I could send cash, and this was also declined, with, in my opinion, bad grace and made me feel like a nuisance.  I do understand your paranoia regarding security, but for people outside the UK who wish to order from you, you are about the only model engineering/machinery company that refuses orders on this basis.  For those other posters that are happy with Arceurotrade, then obviously you live in the UK, and should have no issues.  The poster who lives in France who also could not order......then why the 'Eurotrade' part of the name of your company?
My first order was going to be small, but I was prepared to spend a considerable amount more if the service was convenient.  Obviously, it is not. I have not replied for a week as I have been up on a hydro power project on the Nepal/Chinese border at a remote location called Rasuwagadhi.......for those of us who do travel and also have engineering hobbies, having vendors treat us as if we were criminals is disappointing. I guess I'll have to find alternative ways to equip my tooling....

[ketanswali]

Hi Ketan,

Unfortunately, I did find the staff member who declined to even discuss alternative payment methods with me, arrogant and unhelpful.  IIRC I even asked if I could send cash, and this was also declined, with, in my opinion, bad grace and made me feel like a nuisance.  I do understand your paranoia regarding security, but for people outside the UK who wish to order from you, you are about the only model engineering/machinery company that refuses orders on this basis.  For those other posters that are happy with Arceurotrade, then obviously you live in the UK, and should have no issues.  The poster who lives in France who also could not order......then why the 'Eurotrade' part of the name of your company?
My first order was going to be small, but I was prepared to spend a considerable amount more if the service was convenient.  Obviously, it is not. I have not replied for a week as I have been up on a hydro power project on the Nepal/Chinese border at a remote location called Rasuwagadhi.......for those of us who do travel and also have engineering hobbies, having vendors treat us as if we were criminals is disappointing. I guess I'll have to find alternative ways to equip my tooling....

Hi Allan,

I understand what you are saying, but I don't agree with your comments. If you felt my colleagues behavior over the phone to be arrogant and unhelpful, then please please accept my apologies. With reference to international business,  we have customers around the world who successfully manage to buy, within the guidelines of our policy. A certain percentage of these customers are also International travelers, to include pilots for international airlines, and working on ships at sea. Our policy is born out of our experience. My personal feeling is that one has to experience the bad to make improvements for the good. In that respect, you may feel that ARC is being paranoid by its policy, and you are entitled to that opinion. It does not mean that we consider anyone to be a criminal. Please accept our apology if we made you feel that way. That was not our intension.

Matthew who lives in France, wanted to save money, just like you do. I guess in your case you even want to save on paying taxes for when you take goods back to Thailand. in Matthews case, he could have asked his son to buy on his behalf. I have already explained some of the reasons for our policy earlier. Just because ARC chooses to do business in its way according to its policy, which fails to meet what you want it to do, does not make it a bad seller.

Speaking of experiences or paranoia (you take your pick), our original business (my father and I) between 1986 to 2000 was as International brokers for textile dyes, related chemicals, textile printing machinery, and bearings. Originally, the company operated in an Indian name initials of which are (ARC). This resulted in regular impounding of goods by customs for 'examination' around the world, be it in Dubai, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Zaire, South Africa, Tanzania, India, Singapore and Thailand. One day, based on advice from one of my overseas customers, I changed the Indian business name to a European sounding name, hence 'ARC Euro Trade' was born (nothing to do with European business :-)). Thereafter, my International Customers had far less problems with their relative customs clearances. By the year 2000, demand for brokers/traders like us became less as the Internet made it easier for buyers to find and deal with manufacturers directly, for volume business, and the then 'trusting nature' of our business led to major losses resulting from non-payment from certain international customers and/or payments with strings attached. This was part of the experience/paranoia. Arc Euro Trade closed as a business partnership as my father and I had different opinions about how to do business, and ARC Euro Trade Ltd. was born, of which I am the sole Director, for legal and tax reasons...based on my experience or paranoia.

[mattinker]

Hi Ketan,

As you say, I wanted to save money, who doesn't. As for "in Matthews case, he could have asked his son to buy on his behalf." There are sometimes moments when it isn't possible! Might I suggest that you introduce a list of people or a system of membership to enable you to keep the customers that you might otherwise loose. I for one will be ordering from you again, I would like to be able to save money by ordering for collection in the UK, I don't get over very often, so I will be ordering from France again. You lost an order to RDG tooling last time!

Regards, Matthew

[ketanswali]

You make a valid suggestion Matthew. We may need to find a way to implement this suggestion for certain regular customers who normally ask for delivery to their overseas address. Please drop me an email (off forum) with your full name and address in France, and I will see what is possible.

[mattinker]

PM sent,

Regards, Matthew.

[allanchrister]

Hi Ketan,

Thanks for your response and I do understand your trading model.  Your gracious apologies regarding telephone attitudes is accepted, and will be forgotten. Unfortunately, I think you have misunderstood my own intentions, and I would like you to understand where I'm coming from, so to speak.

Your statements:-
1) 'Matthew who lives in France, wanted to save money, just like you do'.

Everyone would like to save money, but in my case this is not necessarily correct.  You seem to be the only vendor of the blocks and the ER32 collets, and I am more than prepared to pay the price you are asking.  Therefore 'saving money' is not my objective. I don't want to encourage you to raise prices, but I would have bought these if they had been twice the price!

2)'I guess in your case you even want to save on paying taxes for when you take goods back to Thailand'.

Again, in my case, incorrect.  While my wife and I do live in Thailand due to my wife's Foreign Office assignment with her German Embassy, we both have diplomatic passports and status and are exempt from taxes and duties, while I travel the region assisting international engineering consultants managing large hydropower and mineral heavy haul rail programmes. All I wanted to do was to collect the items while I was in England in order to check out their quality and be able to return them easily if they were not up to standard.  While I am sure this will not be the case, it is much easier and quicker to collect them while on vacation, as international shipping can sometimes take much longer.

Your policy is established by yourself and satisfies your degree of caution, based on your past experiences with apparently large import/export dealings.  I would have thought that dealing with hobbyists, with much smaller purchases, would have been less problematic, but that is not my decision.  I will try to arrange my small order through other means, but I could not expect any member of this forum, or even my B & B, to fork out $1,000's for a larger order on my behalf.

I suggest we put this matter to rest, as enough has been written.  If you ever amend your policy, please contact me directly by e-mail.

Allan





 in Matthews case, he could have asked his son to buy on his behalf. I have already explained some of the reasons for our policy earlier. Just because ARC chooses to do business in its way according to its policy, which fails to meet what you want it to do, does not make it a bad seller






 I guess in your case you even want to save on paying taxes for when you take goods back to Thailand. in Matthews case, he could have asked his son to buy on his behalf. I have already explained some of the reasons for our policy earlier. Just because ARC chooses to do business in its way according to its policy, which fails to meet what you want it to do, does not make it a bad seller

[John Stevenson]

Hi Ketan,

  You seem to be the only vendor of the blocks and the ER32 collets, and I am more than prepared to pay the price you are asking.  Therefore 'saving money' is not my objective. I don't want to encourage you to raise prices, but I would have bought these if they had been twice the price!

You read that Ketan ??

So there is absolutely no excuse for you to keep hanging on to my two quid.................

[mattinker]

Hi Ketan,

  You seem to be the only vendor of the blocks and the ER32 collets, and I am more than prepared to pay the price you are asking.  Therefore 'saving money' is not my objective. I don't want to encourage you to raise prices, but I would have bought these if they had been twice the price!

You read that Ketan ??

So there is absolutely no excuse for you to keep hanging on to my two quid.................

I had already bought  both the hex and the square ER32 collet blocks and the Stevenson 124 and 248 blocks...

Regards, Matthew

[Lykle]

OK, so I need to buy these blocks quick before customer suggestions double the price of these things!

Oh, ****, Dutch credit card, living in Cyprus. :-)

Only kidding. About the price and the card.
Can we get back to talking about machining?