Just a warning to anyone that may make the same mistake that I did the other day...Mustad has been promoting a 25% off discount on their website lately with free shipping, I was in need of some streamer hooks and wanted to try some of their newer offerings. Placed an order for several packs of hooks, received shipping notification in short order, etc... all was good.

Then this morning I receive a notification from UPS that the package has cleared customs, what?

It would seem that despite the fact that all the email addresses on the Mustad site direct to folks at "Mustad America's" their distributor is not actually in, America.

The hooks shipped to me from the Dominican Republic, sure it's much cheaper to have their warehouse there than in the USA...

At this point, not sure what the additional costs will be on my end, but they make it quite clear on their website they are based in Florida, which is not accurate.

 

Assume this isn't legal, but good luck getting anyone to care, sure seems like "bait & switch" to me... At the least, it's predatory and misleading, would have never ordered had I known they were shipping from an International location... Below is a quote right off their website, stating the website and the services you are purchasing off said website, ship from, Florida. 

 

I believe the current Tariff for the Dominican Republic is 25%, making the so called "discount" they advertised, a moot point... 

"Additional Terms

Geographic Scope

While this Website may be viewed internationally and may contain references to Services not available in all countries, you agree that: (i) the Service shall be deemed solely based in Florida; and (ii) the Service shall be deemed a passive website that does not give rise to personal jurisdiction over us, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than Florida. We may in our sole discretion limit, deny or create different level of access to and use of any Services (or any features within the Services) with respect to different members."

Update: I had to sit on hold for over an hour to speak to someone at UPS, but after speaking to them, they stated there are no import fees for this particular package, they could not tell me anymore other than there are no fees associated with this package.

There are boatloads of stories right now with folks getting hit with large fees many days after packages have been delivered, especially with UPS, so time will tell if this holds true.

 

Don't want to be unfair to Mustad here either, but still not what you expect when you order from an entity that is said to be based out of Florida. 

5 hours ago, Goby said:

 

Don't want to be unfair to Mustad here either, 

Perhaps wait until the order is delivered to see if there are really any extra charges.

 

The transaction isn't complete yet.

4 hours ago, RRocket said:

Perhaps wait until the order is delivered to see if there are really any extra charges.

 

The transaction isn't complete yet.

 

The order was delivered, as of yet, no charges, but lots of stories out there right now of folks not being billed until days after delivery.

 

It's a strange time, I don't want to be so skeptical lol, a little heads up goes a long way though and historically, when you ordered off that site, the stuff shipped to you from the states, so to change with no mention is odd, considering the current goings ons... 

So just a bit more info on this, I have yet to receive a bill, not sure if I will, but here is the experience another Gentleman had with Mustad...

 

https://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/topic/903095-ordered-from-mustad-hit-with-big-import-fee-from-ups/

if you didnt get charged by now, I would move on.

 

I feel they delivered as promised.  

@Darth-Baiter I think @Goby is right to be concerned and I think his warning was appropriate, for now.  There's lots of recent examples of shipping companies and retailers being slow to adjust to all the recent changes.  And in their defense, tariffs in the last few months have been a whirlwind.  Personally, I hope a known standard by everyone is in our near future and that Goby will keep us informed of the final outcome.

 

scott

1 hour ago, softwateronly said:

@Darth-Baiter I think @Goby There's lots of recent examples of shipping companies and retailers being slow to adjust to all the recent changes.  And in their defense, tariffs in the last few months have been a whirlwind. 

Yea, hard to get on board when the tariffs seem to change daily..or on a whim.

4 hours ago, softwateronly said:

@Darth-Baiter I think @Goby is right to be concerned and I think his warning was appropriate, for now.  There's lots of recent examples of shipping companies and retailers being slow to adjust to all the recent changes.  And in their defense, tariffs in the last few months have been a whirlwind.  Personally, I hope a known standard by everyone is in our near future and that Goby will keep us informed of the final outcome.

 

scott

 

I am sure this has been rather difficult for all these companies, at the end of the day, all I as a consumer would expect is a simple note at checkout or on the site stating the scenario, they no longer shipped from the USA and you might get a extra fee out of their control, that's all I would expect on their end to give me the choice to take a risk or not.

 

In the future, I will just buy from USA based dealers, problem solved. I really only ordered from the main site as they had everything I wanted in one place, otherwise would have had to order from a couple different dealers to get everything.

 

There is also the possibility they had a couple guys get dinged early before they adjusted to the regs or whatever and it was totally out of their control and moving forward, nobody will be charged, myself included. That would be commendable. 

 

Hooks are really nice, so if I don't get billed some obscene amount of money in the next week or two, will consider it a good experience.