This is probably a much discussed topic. I just wanted to find out how many of you have wanted to buy something from US but have been unable to because they do not ship overseas? Maybe you win an auction in eBay, but the seller refuses to ship to your country. And aren't you tired of the high-price of overseas magazines like TIME, Wall Street Journal. Is there any cheaper way? You can pay an obscene amount to get a legal address in the US, and the shop that does not ship to the UK will ship to that address. The company that gives you the address will in turn ship your stuff to you in the UK.
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As a consumer, I have become increasingly irritated by merchants who do not offer shipping to the UK. While I appreciate the reasons why they would chose not to offer this, it does sometimes mean that it is impossible for myself to order some 'niche' goods.
Done some more digging into the current operators in the market who provide a mail forwarding service, it appears they all offer an almost identical service with a monthly subscription charge, a setup fee and then mailing costs. They provide more business to business focused offerings with a provided mailing address and added-value services (scanning of post and parcels etc.)
To get over the problem, I tried setting up a USA mailing address with what I thought was one of the main providers: myus.com This is a mail forwarding company that receives deliveries, consolidates them and them ships them on to me to my house in the UK. Unfortunately, my experience with myus.com wasn't a positive one (detailed below) and I would welcome suggestions for a better package forwarding company.
Sure, myUS (aka known as Access USA) advertise heavily and have been around for years but the service rendered is unsatisfactory.
To start with I applied for an account at myus.com (also known as Access USA) and gave them my particulars. I needed to pay $35 as a setup fee as well as a $132 membership fee and provided them with my card details to process the payment. Meanwhile I received an e-mail from them with my new US Address.
XXXX 60th Place E.So far, so good and I took opportunity to start shopping with my new address (I later realized this was a big mistake). A few days later I received an e-mail from myus.com informing me that my account had been cancelled due to non-payment. They also warned me not to use the address they provided me as ALL mail and merchandise will be discarded!! A shock. I called them on their contact number 941-227-4444 but there was no one to answer my call and I got a recorded message. I kept on trying at hourly intervals and finally got in touch with a bloke - Eric Barde. He told me that my account had been placed on cancel status. Eric informed me that the only way to reactivate the account was to send a wire transfer for my membership fees and a shipping deposit. I protested as sending a wire for such a small amount $167 ($35 + $132) is very expensive and I could not see no reason why they shouldn't charge my card instead (I had even sent them copies of my card and passport!!).
My protests fell on deaf ears - not only was I made to send $167 but I was asked to send an extra $12 to cover their bank fees and fill in a Form 1583. This was turning into a nightmare and I was already murmuring SCAMMED but I had no choice given that I had already ordered some merchandise. I visited my bank branch and sent them a $179 payment ($35 setup fee + $132 membership fee for a year + $12 bank fees) and my bank charged me $40 (so it cost me $219 in total) for the wire. Well, damn it I droned!! - at least my account is now set up for a full year. It turned out that my problems with Access USA had just started - in the 4 months I've been using them since 3 parcels went missing and I started to experience delays in forwarding my mail.
Conclusion: Myus.com is a real company and not a scam but the company is unreliable, lots of mess-ups, dishonest and unethical.
Be warned that they will not hesitate to keep your goods hostage, they are not responsive to e-mails (I had to send several just to get a reply), also the service is expensive and they have fees for every little thing they do. Like adding a second name to your account is $20. Or else insisting that you pay their receiving bank wire fees or charging your credit card without your permission.. Lastly, nowhere in the terms and conditions did it state that only DHL can be used. If you only order one device a year from the US, it's rather ... well ... expensive ;) You end up paying more for the delivery than the product you're going to buy! The only positive thing I can say on myus.com is that its not a downright rogue company and will send your merchandise. Also, they will notify you of package arrivals via e-mail which is a nice feature really.
Below I've compiled a list of Mail Forwarding Services (in no particular order) for your convenience, whether from the US, UK and from all over the world. Please note that I haven't tested the services myself so you're responsible for your own dealings with them but I would love to hear your comments as I'm still looking for a reliable package and mail forwarding company.
Mail Forwarding Services:
http://www.usglobalmail.comComplaint by C. Charles on usabox.com reported in June 2006
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