Shipping in Canada

[_mulder]

Hi,
I am interested in buying a full set of speakers (340 SE LCR and 4 170SE for surrounds) and I was wondering if anyone living in Canada has ordered these speakers. If so, did you have any extra charge (duty, brokerage fee, taxes, etc) beside the shipping charge. I saw that the speakers are shipped via UPS and I've heard quite a few horror stories with their brokerage fee when importing stuff from the states.
Thanks

Claude

[Jorge_Burrito]

E-mail Ascend about this. You will find they typically respond to e-mail very quickly.

[Quinn]

Where is Kpt Krunch? I thought he was forum's main Canadian info source. I can't remember the other Canadian owner.

[davef]

Hi Claude,

Welcome to the forum...

We regularly ship to Canada and have had excellent luck with UPS. UPS and FedEx charge almost identical amounts for customs clearance. We have 3 carriers we use for shipping into Canada -- it all depends on your location, the # of boxes and the size of the boxes...

Send me an email and let me know your exact address and which products interest you. I would be happy to research the best option for you.

Take care!

[GirgleMirt]

Ooooooh! _mulder, I just noticed your tribus, Montreal eh? I just wandered here to see what was new, thinking about a pair fo 340SE, maybe checking if someone else was from Montreal had some Ascends he was willing to demo...

Ascends are getting more and more tempting with the new SE and the high canadian currency. Last time I spoke (well by email), their shipping prices seemed very reasonable, not sure if the shipping prices have changed since may 2005, but it was pretty cheap, to help us canadians absorb the brokerage fees...

I too had very bad luck with UPS and fedEx, but I was told that the trick not pay their outrageous brokerage fees which are sometimes as high as 30% of the item's value, is to do the brokerage yourself... That is, going thru the hassle of going to get it yourself to the airport (or wherever it ends up.. not sure where it it would be shipped by ground, or if it would even be possible) and filling out the papers yourself... But then again, you then have to take boxes from the airport to your house, so much more hassle than getting it at your door... And even, before doing that, I'd guess you'd have to identify somewhere to UPS that you'll do the brokerage, or call UPS so that they don't do it themselves, anyhow, I've never tried it... A UPS representative once told me they don't charge brokerage fees if its shipped to a company... But again, I never actually tried it...

USPS does not charge brokerage fees. But they don't offer a tracking number and is somewhat a little unsafer than UPS/fedEx... Though thats what I've been using since getting ripped off by UPS+fedEx and I've never had any problem (well besides Canada Post delivering one of my package to a wrong place but thats another story), and never had to pay any (outrageous) brokerage fees... Sometimes a 5$, but thats it.

Still, USPS would be an option to be worth considering. Even if you pay double UPS shipping charges, or maybe even thrice, it might actually come out cheaper than after the UPS shipping + UPS ripoff fee.

Anyhow, I too would be very curious to hear about canadian Ascend customer's experiences with UPS. Its very nice that Ascend really does its best for us Canadian customers, but if UPS gives you a 400$ brokerage bill (which is ridiculous because it takes 3 minutes to fill up the papers...) once the boxes are at your door, you have little choice but to pay it, and sadly, to be quite honest, It wouldn't surprise me from UPS... Though if you look at the shipping prices from other companies in the US, Ascend really gives us a bargain shipping price, and even after a 20% UPS thief fee it probably wouldn't be that much more expensive than just the UPS shipping fee from another company.


Oh yeah and the two sure things in life, you're going to die and you're going to pay taxes But there's no duty on speakers. Just the unknown amount for the UPS thieving fees...


Oh... and if you get them... I hope you wouldn't mind having someone (me!!) over for a quick audition I've been considering a pair of 340SE but without an audition, its hard to pull the trigger, I already own Totems which already costs more than the Ascends.. (normally you upgrade towards more expensive, though I have a feeling the Ascend might be more what I've looking for...)

[GirgleMirt]

Well I babbled a lot in the last post...

I just called UPS. If an individual places a 800$ order, their representative told me it would cost 65$ of brokerage and of course you'd have to pay the taxes.

If its for a company, the 65$ brokerage fee still apply, but you don't pay the TPS.

If its shipped express or expedited, then he told me there is no brokerage fees.

Or, you can call them once you have the shipping #, and tell them that you'll go to lachine and do the brokerage yourself.


So in the end, even if you add the 65$ UPS brokerage fee to the US shipping price, its still a good shipping price IMHO. I emailed Ascend to see the other options, but UPS ground does not see too bad, even after the UPS thieving fees.. (65$ is a lot of money for taking 5 minutes to fill out some papers, but anyhow, I digress, and Ascend has absolutely no control over it)

[_mulder]

Thanks for all the info GirgleMirt. It's very appreciated.

[Kpt_Krunch]

Where is Kpt Krunch? I thought he was forum's main Canadian info source. I can't remember the other Canadian owner.

LOL - I'm still around Quinn, but very busy with building our new house and selling our old one etc. etc. haven't had much of a chance to post lately

As for shipping, I believe I payed around $70 for brokerage. In my discussions with David, he had told me that USPS would be a lot more (about $120 more if I remember correctly) to ship it that way.

UPS actually were good - I purchase around xmas time, 2004, and it showed up very fast.

I found David and staff at Ascend were excellent to deal with, and they really go that extra mile.

For the speakers themselves - just read all the posts, they are my favourite speaker I've ever heard for the money, and I have the classics (340's and 170's for the surround). They sounded great in my basement theatre room in my old house, even better in my bonus room in my new house (16 foot vaulted ceiling as opposed to a 7 1/2 foot ceiling).

So, if it's $65 + the shipping, plus our strong canuck $, i say go for it - I know once my mortgage is payed (couple of years I hope) I'm ordering SE's (not to replace the Classics, but to add to another room).

[mv1612]

Hello _mulder,

I'm not sure if you're still interested in this kind of informations but I'll post anyway. I live in Montreal and I received today my package, a pair of CBM-170. Ascend shipped it by USPS at my request. I was not willing to pay the brokerage fees to UPS (their price is outrageous) and also not willing to let them handle my speakers.

How much I paid: CAD 365 to Ascend (289 the speakers and 76 shipping by USPS Airmail) and CAD 45 today to Canada Post guy (40 the normal taxes and 5 for the brokerage, handling, whatever.)

Pros for USPS & Canada post: much nicer handling of the packages, less danger of harming the speakers, brokerage costs much less, so the all-important things.

Cons USPS & Canada Post: cannot track the package. Mine was shipped on the 4th of December. No tracking information from USPS, just that they received the shipping notice from Ascend. No other information from Canada Post, their answer at my request for informations was that it's not their business to track packages originating from the States. Of course I had to wait longer than usual because of Christmas time.

All in all it was a good experience, I shipped earlier other packages by Canada Post and never had any problems, and James from Ascend confirmed that they never had any problems with USPS. They just don't track.

Of course, if you want the 340s then you're stuck with UPS, DaveF says he cannot ship the 340s with USPS.

Cheers, Virgil.