Earsham church

Yet another bad night - this is getting boring.  This time courtesy of a website.  

A couple of months ago, I ordered material from a quilting website.  The website has a .co.uk address, it has a UK contact address, and much blurb that suggests it is a UK firm.

I had an email a little while later apologising for the delay, but that there had been in delay in some of the material I ordered coming in, and would I like a partial order.  I responded saying that I was in no particular rush, and I was happy to wait for them to send the full order.  It seemed likely that the material was from the USA, but I assumed that they were bringing it into the UK before dispatching it to me.  At no stage, on the website or in this email, was there any inkling that the parcel would be sent from anywhere other than the UK.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a notification that the parcel was on its way - and when I checked the tracking, discovered that it was coming from the USA.  And of course, I now have a Customs demand for extra money before they will deliver.

I have contacted the website and told them that I would not be paying the Customs demand, and asking for my money back.  I would never have ordered the material if I had realised it was coming from abroad - I'm not stupid, I know there will be import charges.  It was an indulgence, and I can indulge myself quite happily from UK firms - or wait till I get to Ireland and indulge myself from EU companies!

I woke from my shortened sleep to an anodyne response from the company saying they were not responsible for the Customs charges - well no, I never suggested they were.  But they are responsible for the content of their website, and for making it clear when parcels would be sent from abroad so that I can make an informed decision about pricing, taking into account the likelihood of import charges.  

Anyway, it was a lovely sunny day - it was a shame I spent most of it inside.  My flute teacher organises occasional "flute days" where she gets a group together to play ensembles.  She combines this with individual lessons.  So, I had a flute lesson in the morning, and ensemble playing in the afternoon.  Hopefully this has been the necessary stimulus for me to actually get my flute out and play for my own enjoyment - it has rather taken the back seat recently.

By the time I got home, a wonderful "product" had emerged from the workshop - it just needs oiling and will probably feature in blip very shortly.  W was watching rugby.  I was shattered, and was in bed and asleep by 10pm, and I'm pleased to say that I slept through and feel very much better for it this morning.