TMR-245 Neil Young - A Letter Home

[arewhyehen]

Missed UPS delivery today from amazon.ca. No complaints about the speed, but they want £25 for customs, vat and handling. I'd expected this, but UPS handling fee is extortionate - almost twice what the vat and duty are. I suppose it'll still only have cost about £65-70, which is less than half of the amazon.co.uk price. Should get it tomorrow.

Incidentally, I'm highly amused by the 1 star reviews on amazon complaining about sound quality - NY was pretty open about the sound, and snippets have been available to hear pre-release. There's no excuse for not knowing that sound quality is what it is.

Are the snippets the audiophile version?
Are the reviews you mention for that version?
If so glad I have sat this one out

There are snippets from both recordings out there. I think the one video posted is the audiophile if i remember correctly, but there are also snippets of the lesser quality version. I honestly really like both versions. It really fits the whole record. The audiophile version isn't even that bad..

[Chiefbrody]

Missed UPS delivery today from amazon.ca. No complaints about the speed, but they want £25 for customs, vat and handling. I'd expected this, but UPS handling fee is extortionate - almost twice what the vat and duty are. I suppose it'll still only have cost about £65-70, which is less than half of the amazon.co.uk price. Should get it tomorrow.

Incidentally, I'm highly amused by the 1 star reviews on amazon complaining about sound quality - NY was pretty open about the sound, and snippets have been available to hear pre-release. There's no excuse for not knowing that sound quality is what it is.

Are the snippets the audiophile version?
Are the reviews you mention for that version?
If so glad I have sat this one out

I think the snippets, and amazon reviews, are mainly about the standard version (cd or mp3). However, I'm not expecting the audiophile version to be a massive upgrade in sound quality, despite the description. In fact, from arewhyehen's reply, it could in fact be 'worse'! I don't think either version is meant to sound in any way polished.

[Jettkoral]

Popmarket still not shipped. Ugh.

[dunedin]

My Popmarket order shipped today

[Kali Durga]

My Popmarket order shipped today

Ditto

[Alabama Woody]

Ditto - Ditto !!!

[Chiefbrody]

I eventually received the box from amazon.ca yesterday. I take it as a somewhat moral victory that UPS had to try to deliver it 3 times. It meant I was waiting longer, but at least they worked harder for their £25 they were taking for customs/handling! We'll call that 1-1.

I've only listened to the vinyl once and the digital version on ipod, and I really like it a lot. I really don't understand all the criticism over the sound, as if it's unlistenable.

Is it as good as, say, On The Beach? I suspect not, but it's more interesting then most records these days, and his versions of most of the songs sound like his own, which is impressive in my book. The Lightfoot/Springsteen ones, and Needle of Death, stand out at the moment, but I can see me changing my mind with repeat listens. If you can get the box for about £70/$100 still, I'd definitely recommend it. It's a beautiful box, and there is a lot of content (albeit in music terms there are, ultimately, only two versions of the album, plus a bonus track on the 45s). Hopefully I'll get time to watch the DVD at some point.

[Hair]

I received mine from Amazon.ca a couple days back here in Australia. It showed up in surprisingly great condition considering it shipped in a box far too big for the set with no padding or protection. Really loving the album right now and glad I was able to grab it when it was cheap, my local record store has a painful $180 price tag on their copies.

[Jamie]

I eventually received the box from amazon.ca yesterday. I take it as a somewhat moral victory that UPS had to try to deliver it 3 times. It meant I was waiting longer, but at least they worked harder for their £25 they were taking for customs/handling! We'll call that 1-1.

I'm now in a surprisingly similar situation. 1 delivery attempt had no card through the door, second had a blank card with no details on it except "24/15", which I assumed to mean £24.15. Third was attempted today and since I had no cash and UPS don't know that we now live in a cashless society he had to take the parcel back. One call to an 0845 number later, since UPS also don't know that we live in an online society, and they've rearranged a 4th attempt for tomorrow. When I'm not home.

I'm really not sure they've calculated the fees right anyway, excluding their extortionate handling fees, as my total including shipping came to around £43. Not sure how they got £13.15 (>30%) out of that, online duty calculators seem to be saying it should be around £8.

[mojoryan]

Mine should be waiting for me when I get home from work.

[dmdv1]

Got mine today from Warners. £25 customs charge and one of the 6" sleeves is ripped and bent. Gah

[Chiefbrody]

I eventually received the box from amazon.ca yesterday. I take it as a somewhat moral victory that UPS had to try to deliver it 3 times. It meant I was waiting longer, but at least they worked harder for their £25 they were taking for customs/handling! We'll call that 1-1.

I'm now in a surprisingly similar situation. 1 delivery attempt had no card through the door, second had a blank card with no details on it except "24/15", which I assumed to mean £24.15. Third was attempted today and since I had no cash and UPS don't know that we now live in a cashless society he had to take the parcel back. One call to an 0845 number later, since UPS also don't know that we live in an online society, and they've rearranged a 4th attempt for tomorrow. When I'm not home.

I'm really not sure they've calculated the fees right anyway, excluding their extortionate handling fees, as my total including shipping came to around £43. Not sure how they got £13.15 (>30%) out of that, online duty calculators seem to be saying it should be around £8.

I actually paid a bit more in duty and vat than you (maybe currency conversion).

The vat and duty should be calculated on the goods plus shipping value. I think in this case amazon haven't stated the shipping cost so UPS used a notional value (clearly higher than actual cost) to calculate the duty and vat. It's disappointing as I expected vat around £8 and about the same for handling. At least I'm happy with the box itself, and the price isn't bad all in, I just feel a bit ripped off by UPS.

[arewhyehen]

I just feel a bit ripped off by UPS.

That's what they do best

[stoffel]

Got mine today from Warners. £25 customs charge and one of the 6" sleeves is ripped and bent. Gah

same for me, i asked if they could send me a replacement sleeve, but they don't have any, and want me to sent the entire box back, so they can sent a new one.
wouldn't it be easier if i sent the sleeve, they take the sleeve out of the new box and sent that? this way i gonna get to pay import charges once more

[dmdv1]

Got mine today from Warners. £25 customs charge and one of the 6" sleeves is ripped and bent. Gah

same for me, i asked if they could send me a replacement sleeve, but they don't have any, and want me to sent the entire box back, so they can sent a new one.
wouldn't it be easier if i sent the sleeve, they take the sleeve out of the new box and sent that? this way i gonna get to pay import charges once more

Well at least you go a reply from them. I've heard nothing