Get yourself a Pajero Bargain!

[visa_king]

I have just bought XB RTR Pajero from towerhobbies. With the US Dollar so weak, I got it for £123 including international airmail! I also had a $15 off promo ad code input. Anyone else taken advantage of the US dollar being so weak?

[Wireless]

Nice deal, yes I took advantage and got £120 worth of Tamiya Hop-Ups for just £52 delivered. Sweet []

[Hellbilly]

Don't you have to pay taxes and import duties and all that mumbojumbo?

The main reason i haven't ordered from the US is because i don't want to get caught in customs and have to pay all that bloodmoney.

Maybe i'm just paranoid..... [:I]

[njmlondon]

you take your chances on getting caught... i get about 50% of my packages charged but get away with a lot too. luckily at the mmoment i get to travel to NY once a month so last time got my xb pajero delivered to my hotel... £105 all in and no customs! i was talking with rcmadboy and because he lives in a very busy postal zone he gets away with it almost all the time... i guess if your postoffice only gets a couple of things through a week they will chase the customs, if they get 1000's you stand a high chance of getting away with it[]

[Tipsy]

I've just got a bundle of stuff from Stella Models, and saved about £170 on UK prices!!

[visa_king]

I am prepared to pay all charges that may be added, but still, even if the total came to £180, still a good deal, considering the model is discontinued over here in the UK, and when you could get them, the price was around £200 or so.

The Touareg XC that is going to come out wet my appetite for an XC, but i don't think the Toureg will be cheaper than £180 (because of the ESC). Plus the XB Pajero comes with full radio gear and a RS-540.

[Twmaster]

The reverse of all this is whenever I try to buy something from the UK or any EU countries I get hammered with the awful low standing of the Dollar. [!]

[stulec52]

guys,

just be sure to try and support your local model shops sometimes...

If we don't, some may be forced out of business, then all prices will be driven up... Wal Mart kinda have the same thing going on on a bigger scale.... ( In my opinion)

[Tamiya UK]

I have an awesome poster advert to illustrate this point stu, might have to fire the scanner up, or I might just take a picture of it for now.....

[Tamiya UK]

have posted said advert with a couple of others I had forgotten about too, have started a new thread here ;-

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10038

[Igottamiya]

Yep,

I've done the same. Got my Pajero XB also from Tower Hobbies.

[visa_king]

I do go down to several local hobby stores. I did some research into getting hold of the XB Pajero in the UK, even if it was over £200, but none of them were prepared to contact their tamiya supplier to see whether they could order it in specially. Hobby stores aren't doing themselves favours (in my area anyway).

[Dazmeister]

My XB Pajero seems to have gone missing []

Been getting excited waiting for it to arrive so I can run it at the spring drive. Got a letter from Parcelforce Thursday saying I had to pay a £32 customs charge before they delivered the parcel but I expected that. Knock, knock on the door Friday morning and a smaller box than I was anticipating was handed to me. I opened it up to find a couple of sets of decals and a Corvette shell which I ordered with the Pajero but no XB Pajero even though it was on the invoice and customs duty have been paid on it [!]

Emailed Tower and they say it was sent in a seperate box and on looking at the small box I can see 1 of 2 written with marker on the side. Phoned Parcelforce who do not have any more parcels for me.

So in summary I have been invoiced for the Pajero, I have been charged customs on the Pajero but I have no Pajero[][][]

Tower and Parcelforce say to sit tight as it should turn up, well in fact Parcelforce were supposed to ring me back but they didnt [!]

[The Slayer]

I agree in princible, but can your local shop match the HK/US prices? of course not.... at least, not in 'rip-off Britain' [V] for example Mini BMW - local shop £115, HK £47 even with shipping it's at least £45 cheaper!!! Toyota Celica 97 MC £38!! in HK, whats it cost here??? I will use Harrow Model shop for paints and bits etc but for kits - gotta be HK or USA i am afraid..... AND half the stuff you cant get here anyway [] Fusion are pretty good prices etc, but never got a lot of stock [] when did HK last say 'NO Stock'

The other problem I have is being female... you get the 'You cant come in here' look esp. in some 'Testosterone filled Racing' shops... cant be asked, sorry... HK every time [][] and some shops near me are run by 95 yr old Plane Buffs, Tamiya is a Dirty Word [!] no way am i going in them....

I have been hit once for customs charges... £25 for a £100 parts box that was from USA..... [][]

The (I dont do paper and balsa) Slayer [:X]

quote:

Originally posted by stulec52

guys,

just be sure to try and support your local model shops sometimes...

If we don't, some may be forced out of business, then all prices will be driven up... Wal Mart kinda have the same thing going on on a bigger scale.... ( In my opinion)

---

id="quote">id="quote">

[The Slayer]

Where is your local depot?? I had the same thing happen.... The parcelforce drivers NEVER leave a card, and i was here as well on both occaisions...... My parcel was at the depot... and Parcelforce depots NEVER EVER answer the phone!!![!][!][!] and they wont ring you either [!][!][!] hope it turns up [:0]

quote:

Originally posted by Dazmeister

My XB Pajero seems to have gone missing [

]

Been getting excited waiting for it to arrive so I can run it at the spring drive. Got a letter from Parcelforce Thursday saying I had to pay a £32 customs charge before they delivered the parcel but I expected that. Knock, knock on the door Friday morning and a smaller box than I was anticipating was handed to me. I opened it up to find a couple of sets of decals and a Corvette shell which I ordered with the Pajero but no XB Pajero even though it was on the invoice and customs duty have been paid on it [

!]

Emailed Tower and they say it was sent in a seperate box and on looking at the small box I can see 1 of 2 written with marker on the side. Phoned Parcelforce who do not have any more parcels for me.

So in summary I have been invoiced for the Pajero, I have been charged customs on the Pajero but I have no Pajero[

][

][

]

Tower and Parcelforce say to sit tight as it should turn up, well in fact Parcelforce were supposed to ring me back but they didnt [

!]

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id="quote">id="quote">

[njmlondon]

Parcelforce are without doubt one of the most useless companies in the world! The good news is that if the parcel has not arrived within 28 days (i think) then Tower will refund you... I had this when Parcelforce lost a load of parts and Tower were great.. did not even need to fill out silly forms and jump through the usual insurance hoops.

[Hellbilly]

The Slayer, where from HK do you shop? Do you have any experience with rc-mart?

Thanks.

[The Slayer]

quote:

Originally posted by njmlondon

Parcelforce are without doubt one of the most useless companies in the world!

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[^][^][^][^] Yay to that....

[The Slayer]

Hongkong Cowboy, Monique R, Perfect shops, JR-RC, Tamiya RC (3 day delivery!!!! from HK) Stellamodels, all on e-bay shops, generly e-bay sellers (Hi Jim) RC mart....

Yeah, RC Mart seem OK only used him once - good prices, good parts, good packing!!![][]

quote:

Originally posted by Hellbilly

The Slayer, where from HK do you shop? Do you have any experience with rc-mart?

Thanks.

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id="quote">id="quote">

[Dazmeister]

Parcelforce suck the big one !

My local depot (which was less than 1 mile away) closed last year and moved all business to another one 40 miles away !

It took me ages to get through to the depot just to pay the customs !

I still mailed Tower and got these responses :

"Thank you for writing Tower Hobbies. Sir, this order was shipped in two =

boxes. The second box is still in transit to you. We appreciate your =

time and your business with us."

Then :

"Thank you for writing Tower Hobbies. We apologize for the

inconvenience, however we do not offer a tracking service for

international packages. They are shipped through the postal service and

several packages are sent using the same air bill number. There is

really no way to track down an international package. At this time the

package is en route to you and should arrive very soon. Again, we

apologize for the inconvenience."

Still gets me how I can be charged customs for an item that I do not have and I wonder would I get charged again on the replacement if this one dont show ?????

Daz

[The Slayer]

Well i had a tracking number for the Porsche parts [].... from the US, managed to track it OK - even thought **** force never left a card etc..... it gets an EC number when it gets here... there must a tracking number somewhere on the box you DID get... have a look at the parcelforce website.... to track.... [8)]

[wriggleandgiggle]

Commenting about stulec's very valid point, yes we should help our local LHS's but when it comes to things like the Pajero XB you simply can't buy them new in the Uk and no LHS's I know of will entertain getting one for you. So your left with no choice other to 'back door' it (ooer)

I bought a Pajero XB about 6 months ago from ebay usa as I couldn't get one in the UK, I got hammered by customs but it was well worth it. I then decided not to run it (Future classic in my opinion, as they all tend to get used or converted to hard body XC's)

I managed to pick one up through the trade room and promptly modded it and abused the badword out of it.

Daz.. hope it turns up soon, so theres another one to race in the Pajero XB cup at snett!

[visa_king]

I also think it will be a future classic, if the $USD gets any cheaper i will want to get another! Does anyone know whether it is a current model in the US, or is it soon to be discontinued in the US as well?

Thanks

[njmlondon]

quote:I managed to pick one up through the trade room and promptly modded it and abused the badword out of it.

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so what mods have you done / can you do to it?

[The Slayer]

Has anyone noticed a running tread here - you get hit by customs charges if shipping from the USA more than from HK??? that is the ONLY one i have been hit for, from the *******in USA [] ooooeeer.... Maybe customs guys cant read chinese []