Vass shoes direct from Budapest - Page 18

This is so sad. This thread started so promising and yet it ends with all kind of deceptions and disappointments. I would never buy anything from somebody that is not part of the company itself. I hope you all good people that trusted others receive your shoes.

I received my shoes as promised, but I want to make everyone aware of a potential problem you may encounter. On Monday, October 19, I received a call from a COLLECTION AGENCY telling me that I had an outstanding bill from TNT for the shipping of my shoes from Budapest to Chicago in the amount of $235.45. When I purchased my shoes through Tom, my payment specifically included the shipping charge, and when I received my shoes in April, I was not given any unpaid shipping invoice. Shortly after I received my shoes, Tom let me know that he made a mistake on the TNT shipping form in Hungarian, and for me to notify him if I received any invoices from TNT, and that I was not responsible for any further shipping charges. That was April 14th. I received no invoices, e-mails or phone calls from TNT for six months. Now, TNT says I owe $235.45 for unpaid shipping charges. I have no idea where this charge came from. Thus far TNT and the collection agency, Amalgamated Financial, have been pleasant to deal with, and I have submitted my e-mail correspondence with Tom to TNT hoping that this problem will be resolved. I have not heard back from them yet, but I will post any updates. I urge you to keep your correspondence with Tom in case this problem arises with your shoes. This ordeal is very unfortunate, as my experience with Tom has otherwise been very pleasant. He delivered the shoes I requested, for a very good price, with very fast communication and shipping. I certainly appreciate the service he provided, and I hope that these problems can be corrected in the future.

When did you last got a hold of Tom?

I e-mailed Tom last Wednesday, but I have not heard back from him yet. I assume he's either traveling or he doesn't check his e-mail at that address anymore. I spoke to TNT on Friday, but they have not responded since I sent them my correspondence with Tom. TNT told me that the e-mail from Tom stating that I was not responsible for any outstanding invoices would help my situation, but they made no guarantees. TNT insisted that someone would have to pay the $235.45 in outstanding shipping and duties charges, and they were going to contact their Budapest office to try and locate Tom. What irritates me is that it took TNT six months to address this issue, and they never tried to contact me. They just sent this phantom outstanding bill to a collection agency. TNT obviously knew were to find me, as they delivered the shoes to my office! The collection agency said that they tried to call me several times, but my secretary had no record of any such calls.

I just received word from TNT that they are voiding the shipping invoice and are billing Tom instead.

I would have thought most of the charge was for customs, unless the shoes were served champagne across the Atlantic. Can't see how tom is making money if he has to pay $235 to TNT.

Did TNT tell you how much was shipping and how much customs?

Clearly, customs duties are to be paid by the importer/customer. If Tom said he would pay all shipping charges, that's all good but I doubt he stated he would also pay duties if you were hit by customs?

I don't think all Vass shoes arranged to be shipped by Tom are being hit by these customs charges. Per the above post, I think Tom must have made a mistake on the forms that resulted in these charges. Either that, or in the nature of the randomness of customs, a charge was assessed. Perhaps Tom was taking responsibility for the mistake on the form, and thus, would be on the hook for those charges.

TNT initially told me the invoice was for customs duties, but later clarified that it was for outstanding shipping charges. The invoice TNT faxed me only gives a numerical code, and does not specify the nature of the original charge. The break-down is $188.36 for the original charge, and a $47.09 fee for the invoice going to collections. TNT said that Tom will be on the hook only for the $188.36. Tom did not specify what mistake he made on the original invoice in April. He only stated in his e-mail that he made a mistake and that I was not responsible for any additional invoice I might receive.

$188 for shipping? Was this a special arrangement between you two?

No, the agreement was $550.00 for the shoes including shipping. I bought a Norweger in dark brown calf on the R last. I have no idea where TNT is getting $187.42.

I've heard from Tom that some chukkas I ordered are done, and his friend who is still in Hungary will ship them for me. Looking forward to them!

As you may have seen from a few pics I posted last week, I got the boots. But... I had a similar experience to vettemike. I just got a bill from TNT express for $260. Crazy. As vettemike said, the agreement with Tom included shipping, as one can see from Tom's first post in this thread, which also mentions TNT as the shipper: I talked with a friend who's a lawyer, and he said I shouldn't pay the bill or contact TNT, since I never had a contract with them in the first place. He thought it was very strange that a shipping company would deliver goods and then bill customers. He wondered if it was a scam: they bill the shipper and then try to bill the recipient. So I googled "TNT express scam" and got a lot of hits. Has anyone else gotten a bill from TNT? Is it a scam? Any lawyers here have any thoughts?

A few updates: 1) Eva Vass and Tom have emailed me. They said TNT was supposed to bill Tom's account. Tom says he will contact TNT to clear things up. 2) An SF member just pm'd me to say that when he shipped goods recently TNT billed his recipient, in Europe, 200 Euros, despite the fact that he (the shipper) had paid for shipping up front and hadn't shipped by TNT in the first place! 3) I read a few of the scam stories on various web sites and some of them say TNT claimed part of their bill included customs TNT had paid on behalf of the customer. But the supposed customs fees were much higher than normal ones. Anyone else have some stories? Or advice on how to proceed? I'd appreciate it.