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This is the small print under shipping terms from TCE .
Custom Clearance & Fees
All products prices on The Chess Empire Website include worldwide free shipping as well it includes all the Indian Customs, Freight Charges and packaging. The CUSTOMS CLEARENCE / VAT / IMPORT CHARGES are not included in our prices. The Buyer has to meet all the applicable documents, VAT and Import charges at the time of order entering to their countries. We are also not doing any under invoicing orders and it is against international online business. Again we want to clear our prices on The Chess Empire website does not IMPORT CHARGES/VAT/CUSTOMS CLEARENCE which has to be paid by Buyers.
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Thank you lighthouse, I had not noticed the fine print. In the end the duties turned out to be a bit larger than the handling fee, so not a show stopper for me.
However despite my sending TCE proof of the two separate charges (duties and fees), the support representative is still stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the difference. Speaking of bad support... I wonder when a supervisor kicks in and explains just what you did instead :-(
In any case thank you, I'm less infuriated now by their response. Impatiently awaiting the set (Savano series) to see whether it's as good as everyone claims :-)
For the record, historically I've had as bad an experience with Fedex/DHL/UPS etc. However, in my latest experience with Fedex, they did not withhold the package but billed me afterwards, contrarily to DHL! So overall I don't think any of them is any better than the others :-(
I have noticed though that Chinese sellers on Aliexpress do ship through public post (China Post, Canada Post, USPS) which is a lot less of a hassle. Wondering whether there is a problem with Indian Post for TCE to use private carriers instead.
I am not really into modern day chess sets / But was very happy with The Sinquefield Series Chess Pieces Boxwood & Padauk by TCE
Whoaa nice! Did you open a thread with pics from that set? I and others would love to see that set
Oh man! Our roles have changed. I been buying vintage sets and @Lighthouse bought a modern set. That's totally cool. I would love to see photos too. I am a big fan of the Sinquefield knights.