How many have received damaged new guns from overseas orders?

[r1lover]

Just read a disturbing post about a new gun received from an overseas dealer that was presumed opened and inspected by Customs, was full of fingerprints and damaged.

How many have similar stories? I had no idea a third party (Customs) opened and inspected air guns.

I'm interested in placing an order but not if the condition my new gun arrives in will be a crap shoot. "Handling marks" are NOT okay with me.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

 

[biohazardman]

I am not worried about marks and scratches when I get things from overseas. I am just grateful when they werq at all and that is a very sad point to make. So many things I receive need to be adjusted or repaired before I can even use them it is ridicules. Like my last two $2000 dollar airguns an Impact with regulator problems, an SK-19 with barrel problems, and prior to my Aztec, three scopes with loose oculars. Finger prints and scratches bring them on.

 

[whyzee]

I am in total agreement Chris. 

Although I was not the original purchaser, I have an FWB box/carton here that was just torn open by Customs. Not cool. 

 

[marflow]

i find this interesting but i read the original post and the damage was when some or one front sight insert got out of it's package and scratch the stock 

finger prints just clean off and the seller ,Krale, will give you the best service you can find anywhere 

so customs opens most packages and a mishap with the stock being scratched 

is that disturbing, it might be to some, maybe 

 

[DirtyDovi]

This isn't specifically gun-related, but customs-related in general..

I've been ordering from different countries for for well over 15 years, and one thing that makes my blood boil 
is when US Customs either holds my orders for an annoying amount of time, or completely destroys the content and or packaging! 
I've dealt with companies / sellers that have gone above and beyond to insure amazingly safe/secure packaging for items 
that are no doubt banged and bumped around in transport. All of that is for nothing [most of the time] when things hit the US. 
I'll call out the good ol USofA's JFK Customs here in NY Specifically. Those turds are the absolute worst. 
Shipments are tracked and usually successful until' they arrive there. Then the slow down / wait begins.. 
[I understand the theoretical reasoning behind it all, but, IMO, they're tampering w/ my mail, and damaging / losing things]
I've had shipments of camera equipment, electrical components, pieces and parts that I had subcontracted out, 
airguns and accessories, rc aircraft and components, etc. all just torn into, chipped / scratched / damaged / lost . . . 
And then when they are done, things are sometimes just slammed back into the shipping box - not even the original packaging, 
and then wrapped with plastic and taped - no regard for the contents at all. It's infuriating and unacceptable. 
I swear, my blood pressure and temperature went up just from thinking about and typing this again.
Especially since customs is never held accountable.
"Land of the fear & Home of the brainwashed" I miss the days before we had to deal with the repercussions from all of that..

Anyways.. This sort of thing doesn't just happen on our end.. It can and does happen on the exporting end also.. 
Before some shipments leave certain countries, then can also be manhandled by customs..
2 annoying outcomes. 1: Customs ruins things. 2: Customs holds and/or refuses things. [For what ever reason]
and that can literally take weeks to get figured out!

Ex: A few months back, I placed an order from a company in China who've I'd done business with many times in the past.. 
I placed an order for what's known as a "mechanical tube mod". A vaping component. 
It is literally a metal tube that a LiPo battery is put into. Nothing more, nothing less.
I paid extra for expedited shipping also. Days went by.. A week, 2 weeks, then 3.. 
Finally, the company let me know that the shipment was returned to them, and that it had failed their country's customs check.
They take photos of the items I order, then the packaging that it will be sent out in. A very good idea. And much appreciated.. 
The package was a mess after their customs got their paws on it. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed.
I intended on it being a surprise/gift, but that didn't happen. We had to go with a different shipping option the 2nd way around 
that somehow circumvented the particular customs station that we just had to deal with.
[That's a nice trick.. Opt for extremely fast/guaranteed shipping if/when available. Expensive, but sometimes really worth it]

Rant over. 


Sam -

 

[jusanothajoe]

I have been lucky, I have ordered 6 guns from Krale and have never had a problem.

 

[Keyman62421]

I re on lot ordered 1 gun from OS . KRALE. SP 15. Got it faster from belgium than I get orders from pyramyd. Perfect unopened ( as far as i can tell ) condition!

 

[ctshooter]

My first, and possibly last, order from Krale contained an airgun pistol and an airsoft replica AR15. Customs destroyed the insides of the box, confiscated the airsoft gun for some reason and left a tiny pistol and some pellets float around in a huge box till it got to me. Everything was everywhere in the box. I emailed Krale and they were like - yeah, sorry customs took your airsoft gun. End of story. So bad experience on my end. 

The problem is Krale ships with UPS and they are THE WORST for customs digging through and just f'ing up your contents. I almost exclusively try for EMS shipping which will then go through the USPS. It gets priority treatment through customs and I get my international packages in 2-3 days rather than weeks. The extra expense is justifiable for me for the peace of mind.

 

[seven08]

You are looking at that box in just about the condition it arrived in. Not fully closed up, just layers of tape over that full length gap. The gun was rerouted back to Germany to a UPS hub city. It spent a full day at German customs before being released. The foam sight protection block was at the butt stock outside of the plastic bag sleeve. No room for it to migrate there during the trip. Notice the knife cuts in the factory box that go through. Total disregard shown for contents. I am lucky the rifle had such little damage.

Krale contacted me with an apology for the minor stock damage for which I was grateful. I suggested them taping the sight envelope closed and he, Bjorn, will make changes at the shipping dept. I chose not to pursue a new stock or any compensation for such a minor defect. It was easily repaired to my satisfaction. I would buy from Krale again.



Rooster, did your Krale shipment look like this?

 

[DirtyDovi]

Krale / Airguns specifically:

I've made several purchases from Krale, and the only issue I ever had was with UPS - not customs. 
While I noticed that customs did in fact dig into the packaging to check the contents, at least they went easy.. 
One of my orders contained an air rifle and an air pistol. Prior to that, I just paid Krale, and received my orders.
That time, I received an after the fact notice from UPS that I would be responsible for more fees.. 
UPS whacked me with like $60+ with the option of pre-paying, paying the driver, or having my order held & returned. 

The guys at Krale have always been amazing though, so I can't fault them one bit.
And as previously mentioned in my rant above.. I've been importing and exporting for over 15 years.. 
UPS 2/3 day has actually been one of the most reliable shipping methods yet.. 
EMS / USPS is usually pretty good too, but in the end, either can be hit and miss.

It's amazing to me that with all of the technology we have as far as x-ray, etc. [being able to see inside of / through things]
that there is still a need for people to physically open our mail - which used to be considered 100% illegal w/o a warrant.. 
Thanks to the lame Patriot Act and a bill passed in 2002 [107 H.R. 3009] customs can do whatever they want "legally".. 
*Source* https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/01/us_customs_open.html 

We can complain all we want and try our best to use other options limiting the chances of things like this happening, 
but unfortunately, people allowed big-brother to reign over them to the extent that things like this are the norm now. *sigh* 

 

[kpaoletti]

In December 2017 I ordered a pcp rifle and two pcp pistols from a dealer in Spain. Delivery was slow but the package did arrive in February 2018. The package was intact and there was no evidence that US Customs opened the box. Everything was in good condition except there was a crack in the wood grip on one of the pistols. The dealer quickly sent me a new wood grip. Possibly US Customs have changed their procedures since then.

 

[Julez]

At least you guys get your airguns eventually, here in the Netherlands we can buy any gun from Krale,totally legal no permit/paperwork needed.If I order the same gun that Krale might sell aswell from the U.S it will probably be sent back or seized by customs and your might see it back after 4years of court visits and thousands of €€ in lawyer costs lighter....but probably u wont get your airgun,so I would not complain about fingerprints,or minor scratch.

 

[Julez]

Krale is Dutch not Belgian.totally different countries....just saying...@keyman

 

[wahoowad]

I’ve ordered 2 springers from Krale. Both opened by customs but both arrived completely perfect.

 

[Str8tshooter]

I ordered an extra air cylinder for my HW100 from Krale, the box looked like Customs used a Machete to open it up and my air cylinder had deep scratches all over it. This was several years ago and my package was in transit during a Terrorist activity in Europe, can't remember the details but really bad timing. I think that was a factor, and can only imagine a xray image may have looked suspicious. Krale was great about exchanging it and the new one arrived in perfect condition.

 

[JMI]

I recently ordered some parts from Waffen-Center Gotha in Germany. It has been a while since the last time and the new payment method(s) leave something to be desired.

The shipping starts with DHL, and once it reaches the States it is passed off to the USPS. But between them the small package sat in Customs (in NYC) for just over 2 weeks. It could've just as well been a black hole cause there was no way of getting any information about it until it was released.

When I finally got my hands on it the package it looked unmolested and unopened. The contents were in fine shape.

The whole process was a little unsettling at times.