Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but here goes:

On 1st December 2012 I ordered 3 kits from Wingnut Wings for a total of US$267.00. They hadn't arrived by Christmas and when I tracked the package online, it showed up as having been stuck at the Auckland postal depot since December 10th.

And now - a full two and a half months after placing the order - that's still the state of play. Two other orders that I placed at more or less the same time have since arrived OK. But not this one.

After the Xmas break and mindful that WNW had been closed for 3 weeks up until 14th January, I contacted WNW about my missing kits. On 24th January, Dave Johnson replied and promised that he would contact NZ Post "and get them to start an investigation on the package to see if they can locate it".

Six days later on January 30th I'd heard nothing back from him, so I mailed him again, and later that day he got back to me assuring me that "they are in the process of contacting Parcel Force to see if they can locate it at their end. All the packages are fully insured and once I have heard from NZ Post what has happened we will get a replacement on the way to you if its lost or if its been returned to us for some reason."

Come February 8th however, still no parcel and no further word from Dave. So I mailed him once more to enquire about the state of play, and to (politely) express my disappointment.

Silence.

So I mailed him again 4 days later.

Silence again.

Now I don't know whether Dave is simply ignoring my mails now or whether there's a genuine reason he's gone quiet on me (I would like to think it's the latter). But it's all very disappointing and I won't be ordering any more WNW kits until this matter is resolved. $267.00 isn't the sort of money I can afford to just write off with a shrug and a stoic "ah well, c'est la vie". Unfortunately however, PayPal won't let you lodge a dispute claim if more than 45 days have elapsed since you placed the order in question (a period I feel is too short, but what can you do?).

The reason I relate this here is because I would be interested to know whether any other members have experienced any problems with Wingnut Wings concerning orders that have got lost in the mail, and how good (or bad) WNW were in putting the matter right.

- Steve

I ordered a WNW selection about the same time as you, for about the same dollars. It got here with good speed. Never had any problems with this company.

That said, I have had problems with the NZ and Australian postal services. One package taking a full 6months to arrive. I'm certain they are still using donkey's to carry the mail.

Ben - I have now placed a total of 7 orders with WNW since last autumn.

Six of those orders arrived safely. There were slight delays with a couple of them, but that was down to incompetence on the part of 'ParcelFarce' at the UK end, rather than WNW or the NZ postal service.

This parcel however appears to have gone west, and as far as I'm concerned WNW have been found wanting in the customer service stakes. That's why I'm interested to find out whether this is just an unfortunate one-off, or whether it's the sort of thing that you can routinely expect from them if kits go astray.

I'm still hopeful of a satisfactory resolution, but until and unless my missing kits arrive, they'll be getting no more orders from me.

- Steve

Could be that middle earth has been busy with the Hobbit movie...

Steve,

I had the exact same problem over the exact same time with an order for 2 kits. Ordered 26 Nov, and I'm still waiting for it. Package went to US Customs, got spit out and then disappeared. Seems it got sent back to WNW. Supposidly it's back enroute to me. I'm VERY apprehensive with all the box kicking and smashing in between. We shall see.

I too have had shipments since that one, successfully delivered. They aren't fast in responding, but they DID respond eventually and they DID get it re-shipped.

Regards
Another Steve

Steve - Thanks for the input. Fingers crossed that your kits show up as well.

Robb - Don't give up your day job.

- Steve

Hey Steve,

You said your last tracking was at the NZ Post Office? Did you then track with the USPS? Thats where I found mine. Lost in the US Customs Tool Shed. All my other orders with WNW I was able to follow on USPS tracking.

Another Steve

Ok joking aside, If you can get the tracking number from the NZ side, you can call (don't use the website) USPS. They may have more info for ya. I have had issues with east europe mail (not trying to troll here). If you have the originator tracking number, for me calling USPS helped especially if it is stuck in customs on the US side. I have a couple WNW kits now. They look so good in the box, I am afraid I will ruin them by starting to build them...

Oh you have a England tag. Not sure now the USPS will help. I guess I need to get back to my day job

OOPS, I missed that about the English Tag also. You've got "Box Kickers" with a different accent.

Regards
Another Steve

Don't you hate that. They post with no accent. How are we to know. I saw the the amount was in $ and not £. Also did not see any funky spelling like colour, centre, tyre. He is clever. I thought my early years living Canada I would of caught that.

Yes Robb, as per my banner info (English flag, location "England, North - United Kingdom" - it's really not hard to miss ) I'm in the UK. I gave the amount in US$ because WNW invoice in US$, irrespective of country.

Regarding tracking, Dave Johnson of WNW stated in his mails to me that "The Airmail service from NZ Post hasn't had the tracking option for about 3-4 years now. It was an upgradeable option, but for some reasonNZ Post dropped it"

This doesn't appear to be the case because with every package I've been able to follow the parcel's progress on the ParcelForce web site, just by entering the the Consignment Number that's given in the WNW shipping notification! And as of today, that was showing as the parcel STILL being in NZ (since December 10th!!).

Given that I've safely received six out of the total seven WNW orders that I've placed to date and that ordering from NZ isn't usually a game of pot luck, my suspicion is that there was a theft at the depot in NZ on or around that date, and that parcels containing WNW kits were among the items stolen. In any case, a 2 1/2 month wait is crazy.

- Steve

Guilty, definately missed the where you from part.. St. George's cross didn't register - damn colonists . If it means anything, my first order with WNW (W.29) took 3+ months and it too was during the xmas holidays.

Hello Steve:

IT is unfortunate that you are experiencing this lapse of customer service with WNW. It is apparent something went amiss at NZ post. I would continue to petition Dave at WNW and get him to respond. He is usually quite good and not making excuses but he may a bit busy with the new releases that have been put out. As you know and have experienced he is usually pretty good at returning emails. You are correct, $267.00 and change is a lot of Do Re Mi to lay down to just see it vanish.
I think WNW will make good, sadly, not in a timely manner.

Good luck

Best wishes

Mark

Yeah, but they're very nice donkeys. Maybe you should consider not living so far away from us ?!?

Hi there. I am afraid NZ Post has something of a bad reputation even within NZ. 'Trademe' is an online auction site for New Zealand, but even the simplest, tiniest, miniscule problem that NZ post could create, they do. Today 100 (I think) employees were laid off.
This truly is a land time has forgotten. Holidays are HOLIDAYS. the country closes down for Christmas and much of summer.
Example. I am selling a small piece of land. In December I was ready to go, BUT... the lawyers were on holiday, as was the local council that has to approve the sale, and the land developers. I am hoping the deal will go through before the end of this month.

Your snafu with delivery will probably be due to some over-worked Johnnie waiting for his turn to take a break.

Steve, of no consolation I know but now because of delays unless it's a new release I buy from Hannants, You pay a tad more but a two day for it wait if they have it in stock is nothing.

I ordered a Hannie from WNW before xmas and it seemed to hamg in NZ airport for 3 weeks before suddenly showing up in the UK I had issues with a few of my orderds over the past few years but WNW have always responded well and been very helpful. It seems odd that they seem the opposite this time. Maybe theres a bigger issue with the delivery system and theres more cases to follow up to reach a conclusion With the price of WNW kits I could imagine to the light fingered they would make quite a nice little sideline business skimming a few off here and there (Remember Heathrow airport was nicknamed Theifrow once)

I always watch the tracker myself and pounce on my local Parcelforce depot before they can mislay it.
I'f it missed a barcoding somewhere in the rush who knows where it sitting? Another unrelated issue was one time I went to collect I gave them my postcode, guy said nothing for me but when he checked the consignment note they had it down for elivery to a totally unrelated address in a neighbouring town.

Keith

Hi Steve,

Sorry to hear you're missing kits. I've ordered a few kits from WNW in the past years (More than I care to admit to my wife, and perhaps myself)

Personally I've had good experiences with Dave at WNW, he has always responded and tried to solve any questions. I did experience a delay in response, and an e-mail that went amiss. This was in december, and in the middle of their latest release frenzy, so Im guessing this was down to a heavy workload in the shipping department, and nothing I blame them for.

Nevertheless, my kits arrived as they should, and have been arriving in the past years taking between 10 and 30 days to Sweden. I actually had two shipments that left NZ at the same date, but arrived 9 days apart. Guess what I'm saying is that delays mostly seem to be down to postal services, and tracking can be difficult if the parcels are'nt scanned properly (as they obviously are not!). I have heard of others loosing their parcels en-route, but so far I know WNW have made good, and sent replacement kits.

That said, perhaps politely tapping Dave on the shoulder again, is a good idea?

My two pence on the subject.

Mikael

Maybe it is up to all of us too tap Dave on the shoulder and remind him who keeps him employed...

Greetings all,

I sent Dave an email and he responded almost immediately. He says they are about 2 days behind and his email box is relatively empty. It sounds more like a server backlog. At any rate He promised to look into the issue. So expect some contact.

Regards
Stephen

[quote]Steve, of no consolation I know but now because of delays unless it's a new release I buy from Hannants, You pay a tad more but a two day for it wait if they have it in stock is nothing.

Hi Keith, perhaps a bit "off topic" but given Hannants charge the same in £Sterling as $US i.e. a 1 - 1 "exchange rate", then I am not sure that this constitutes what you describe as (quote) "a tad more"? By my reckoning it's about a 33% mark up at current exchange rates and then of course if the order is under £100.00, you have P&P to pay on top of that.

IF and I emphasise "IF" you don't get hit for UK customs and Parcel Force "Handling Fee" charges, these kits are the bargain of the century and well worth taking about the 20% chance of avoiding said charges by ordering direct and having to wait a couple of weeks or so.

Even if you do get clobbered, you are still always ahead financially buying directly from WNW than buying from Hannants with their 1-1 $/£ currency exchange rate.

Gary

It sounds very much like a server problem somewhere other than at WNW. I will have to test this and order a Snipe I think..

Testing underway... (Snipe Late)

Any update or anything new to post ? I am saving my penny's to get the pup (rnas version). Hopefully this summer.

My Order Update:

Well, this order took almost 3 months to get here (USA). But it DID get here. The 2 kits are world travelers, getting bonus miles. NZ-Los Angeles.........kicked around in Customs, sent back to NZ and reposted. Los Angeles again and on to the East Coast US. I was worried about the box it was shipped in, pretty ratty and semi crushed. Now to WNW's credit, the boxes they put those kits in are tough. They took the crush with no problem. Kits in good shape.

Dave was slow responding to emails but he DID respond and he did get the kits re-sent. Good Job Dave.

I noticed that this order was lost in space in mid December. I ordered another Fokker DVII at that time and it made it here months ago.

I will be ordering again.

Regards
The "Other" Steve

Hello Steve:

It's nice when things go right, and better when they go awry and things turn out for the best. Glad to see that all is well and that the kits finally made it.

Best

Mark