Canadians beware of CoolTech LLC CB Kit orders

[UKCATS]

Cool Tech here:

A small percentage of our business comes from our friends in Canada. I suppose the easiest thing to do is to simply state that we won't ship anything to Canada and be on our way. However, we have elected to continue to sell to these customers and quite candidly we just eat it on shipping costs of the smaller items we sell. On larger (2-package) items like the op ordered, there is a big gap between what the website collects and what our actually costs are. We try to get an email out to these buyers as quickly as we can to outline their options - as we did here. 99%+ of the time our experience is that customers are very cool and living in CANADA and ordering products from US websites, they are understanding that shipping IS more. We DO NOT try to profit on shipping and we don't add bogus "handling charges".

I've tried twice to pay to get our website adjusted to account for the increased shipping charges to Canada. It's not easy as the issue is not only weight but also the size of the box and the long-ish antenna boxes are problematic. And it is only recently that USPS is telling us that we can no longer ship 4' antennas - so the rules change as well.

Clearly I didn't appreciate this buyer's "entitlement" attitude and it is the reason we elected to just issue an immediate full refund. As I said, 99%+ of our Canadian clients have a more mature, professional perspective and there's never an issue. But then there's these occasional special people who are aghast at higher shipping charges and then who threaten to smear your reputation on-line.

I stand by our policies which I both create and execute. I would like one day to have the site account for these costs automatically at the point of sale. If it were easy, we'd have it by now. A 1 in 100 complaint is a better threshold than the complaints we used to get when we couldn't ship to Canada at all so in the interim, I suppose we'll live with the situation and hope most (Canadian) people can understand.

Aaaand, here is a couple pics of what the OP won’t have.

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[Slowpoke]

I understand both sides and the big picture.
I too have shipped and received from Canada. PITA.
A short message on the web page advising that there may be additional charges to ship to Canada may help, may not.
I plan on ordering from CoolTech as soon as I make up my mind as to which radio I want to use.

 

[UKCATS]

@CoolTech

Any kits in the works for the Gladiator yet?

 

[morricus]

I didn't even know about CoolTech. I'll be buying one of the CB kits. These look perfect....and the cancellation email to OP and Cooltechs response on this thread pushed me over the edge and sold me.

 

[stil2low]

I can see frustration from both sides, thinking your getting a half decent deal with our exchange and shipped to your house, and the upset customers when they find out it’s going to be a lot more than originally anticipated
I live on the boarder, 5 minutes I’m state side so ship to my house and across. USPS is just starting to be a joke to deal with. Even my US address I now have to include a PIN number so they will deliver

I made my own cb mount because those handheld units are not the greatest for volume and output. Also the ring connectors, while small and easy to use are not the greatest for longevity.

 

[TJ2018]

I think the OP was outta line on this and acted unbecomingly. @CoolTech responded professionally and courteously. I've had nothing but stellar customer service from CoolTech and am eagerly awaiting for the funds to get the CB kit. I LOVE their fire extinguisher mount... one of my favorite upgrades

 

[unconfirmed]

Here's a tiny bit of unintended irony to hopefully lighten the mood.

I just tried to visit cooltech.com hoping to get lucky with the web address without hopping over the google to look it up. FAIL.

Here's what I got...an address in Ontario.

 

[EZMFE]

So the consumer didn't get his product because the vendor is too cheap to add the api layer that would include current shipping costs to the cart?

There shouldn't be any interaction with the consumer other than an email saying the products have shipped. If that is not happening than the vendor is doing it wrong. Unless their is a problem with the product than there would be no reason to interact.

I'm not saying what the OP did was right but if the vendor is going to do Canadians any "favors" how about they just add the functionality that is needed to show current shipping rates, eh?

 

[Sital]

Maybe I'm just old and crotchety or maybe it's the Northeast in me, but I don't have a problem with the OP's response.

 

[rockadile]

I'm with the OP on this one as well. Nowhere in the initial email from CoolTech does it say anything about Canadian shipping being more expensive in general conveying the need to charge more overall. It states that they can't ship a 4' antenna and they offer to ship a 3' antenna (which I am assuming is cheaper than the 4' to begin with) and want to charge an additional $44 to do so.

The OP's response was either give me the cheaper antenna at the previously paid price or don't send me the antenna at all and refund it's price. I think that response (other than the apology demand) makes sense given that CoolTech paints this as an antenna shipping problem not a general shipping cost problem.

Either way, I agree with a couple of the others stating that it is CoolTech's responsibility to know that it costs more to ship to Canada, not the customer. The customer, if being charged shipping after entering their Canadian address is left to assume they are paying shipping to Canada unless told otherwise. A simple message during checkout would solve this problem.

 

[BXFXJeep]

Thanks for the heads up OP

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