Elektron Musical Instruments

Hey Rusty,

I live in Melbourne and just recently bought a beta Monomachine.

In short, all shipping is covered by the $1100; howeve UPS charged me a $50 customs 
brokerage fee, as well as 10% GST. 

Regarding the GST, I could be totally wrong but I had the impression they only bothered 
if the item was valued above $2000AU including postage (MD is about $1600AU now) so 
you may escape having to pay GST. 

However, I should explain that I personally suffered an absolute horror story with UPS; I 
ordered the Mono on Thursday (I think) and it arrived at UPS Melbourne on Monday 
morning... sans invoice (according to tracking page). 2 days later, they call me and let 
me know this ("No, we can't look inside the box for an invoice") so I faxed them a copy of 
the checkout invoice from monomachine.com. 2 days later, they are ready to release the 
package to me, and call to ask for... $350. I am dubious and that GST looks too high. 
Turns out they want to charge me GST on what I paid for the Mono (which included 
shipping) as well as GST on $500 or so of UPS shipping. After much speaking to 
managers etc, it became apparent that to prove that shipping was included in the $1400 
paid for the Mono would take weeks. Remember, this is all because the invoice wasn't on 
the package...

Finally, I admit defeat, pay the $350 and drive to UPS's warehouse on the other side of 
Melbourne ("It'll be at least Monday before we can courier it out to you...") and pick up 
my beautiful, glorious Mono... including the original Sweden invoice, signed by elektron, 
in triplicate, taped to the outside of the box (including proof that the shipping was 
already taxed). 

This is of course a blatant breach of their Worldwide Express Guarantee (what you are 
paying 3-400 of your MD price for); which can only be refunded to the shipper. So I am 
now in contact with Elektron (havn't heard anything for 3 weeks) trying to get them to 
get the refund from UPS and split it with me on a MD. 

BUT! Assuming my UPS experience was a one-off freak accident, you should recieve the 
MD within 5 days and pay $50-$200 extra. The good news is, the Mono is good enough 
for me to want an MD as well, so it certainly is worth it.

Hope that helped somewhat.

Angus.
puretokyo@...





--- In elektron-users@yahoogroups.com, "crvenazvezda91" <crvenazvezda91@y...> 
wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Wanted to get some information on the MachineDrum as am probably
> planning on getting one very shortly.
> 
> From what I've seen the majority of people seem very happy with it, 
> minus the occasional horror stories.
> 
> All the reviews I've read certainly speak highly of it.
> 
> And my (1) personal experince with it certainly stood it in good 
> stead.  That was at the Frankfurt Musikmesse earlier this year and I 
> left wanting 3 bits of kit; the MachineDrum being one of them.
> 
> So, the questions: (btw: I live in Australia)
> 
> 1) Can someone explain to me what is the deal with the shipping? As I 
> understand it is all sent via Fed-Ex courier service.  Has anybody 
> been hit up for extra fees by Fed-Ex when they deliver? Don't want to 
> have the MD delivered and have to fork out extra fees before I even 
> get it.
> 
> 2) Has anybody had any experience with the Australian customs? You 
> only need to pay 10% GST right?  Or is there additional fees on top 
> charged by customs?
> 
> 
> Obviously, I'm concerned about getting the MD; $1,100 US is a good 
> wack of money at the best of times, it's even a bigger hit over here 
> in Australia, so I want to make sure everything is covered.
> 
> Basically want to know what I'm getting myself into, and what the 
> absolute TOTAL cost will be for me. 
> 
> MachineDrum + any courier fees + any custom fees + ??? = ???
> 
> Thanks,
> Rusty