Sharing a repair experience

  • Welcome to Brexit! I live in Italy and used to buy things from the UK all the time and even ship things to my friends there. NOT ANYMORE! We just got a Christmas gift that was held up in customs for 3 months and have already had several things lost. I'm not sure what the UK is doing, but they have made shipping to and from there a living hell. This is totally a brexit thing as I don't have any issues shipping within the EU (well, minus PostItalia).

  • I think we can all agree:


    1) Kemper are not responsible for this issue. The suggestion is they maybe able to offer input and advice but there is very little they can do

    2) Brexit was voted for by 51% of the population, so not exactly a landslide! To be fair its still early days separating 40 years of integration but in my mind, its a complete mess

    3) It puts people off buying off in UK from buying outside UK.

  • This has all got a bit weird. A video discussing how I feel let down by a company, detailing what went on, where the system fell down, and my response to it and we're getting comments about alphas, betas, crying, whether I voted for Brexit (duh, of course not, it's the most self-damaging piece of political chicanery I've known in the UK in my lifetime), being a snowflake...

    What's ironic is that the type of people in the UK that use that kind of language to criticise others tended to be the ones who wanted to take the UK out of the EU. You, know, not particularly nice people, who want to blame others regardless of what's actually happened, and who like to take a grabby thumbnail (because YouTube is entertainment, we all understand that, hopefully) and reduce a person's argument to that. Even ignoring the actual title of the video.


    Bryan I appreciate your efforts to stand up for it being ok to say this stuff and it being ok for men to cry! Amen brother.


    I've shared my experience and how I feel about it. You can assess something as being unfair without being weak.


    Brexit, as I said before, is not even that big a part of it; it's has been coming for years, and shipping companies, and companies who are trading internationally have had to deal with it. As much as I wish it wasn't the case, the UK has just become like all the hundreds of other countries that are not in the EU trading block. Kemper have to work with that, and my criticism is that they didn't try very hard to prevent a problem occurring, and when it did, just washed their hands of it.

  • I think we can all agree:


    1) Kemper are not responsible for this issue. The suggestion is they maybe able to offer input and advice but there is very little they can do

    2) Brexit was voted for by 51% of the population, so not exactly a landslide! To be fair its still early days separating 40 years of integration but in my mind, its a complete mess

    3) It puts people off buying off in UK from buying outside UK.

    Well, I don't agree with 1, at all! For example they could set up repair services in other countries instead of insisting everything be sent to Germany. They could provide the paperwork and communication required to have a good chance at not paying incorrect customs fees. They could do better. Thomann, for example, have sorted this out extremely well.

  • Uh, yes, ZERO blame. Did exactly what was asked of me, in some cases more than once because of the failing system in place. What do you see that I could have done differently? Or is it just your particular worldview that makes anyone involved in something as being worthy of blame?

  • Also just like to say that generally I make videos that big up the Kemper, I’m a huge fan. Which made this all the more disappointing.

    Wow! What a story, mate! I’ve had mine for 5 yrs and used to gig with it, on occasion. I guess, what I interpret from this is that the repair process “logic”, was cluster-F@#k - not the actual repair itself. Glad you’re back up and rockin’.

    Peace out,


    JP (Pierre) Moatti

  • Well, I don't agree with 1, at all! For example they could set up repair services in other countries instead of insisting everything be sent to Germany. They could provide the paperwork and communication required to have a good chance at not paying incorrect customs fees. They could do better. Thomann, for example, have sorted this out extremely well.

    Just to be clear, there was no issue pre-Brexit, having ordered from Kemper direct no issues.


    You are right, they could.... they could also relocate or lobby the government, but its what is reasonable to expect...but this isn't of their doing and they cover "the world" but we need something specific for UK? Shipping isn't their core, they use shipping companies who are supposedly experts and can't get it right. If you can't see that then yep, we won't agree.


    Look at it this way...if the shipping companies can't get it right, how to you expect a relatively small business sort it/cover the problems that are there? If I was in Kemper I'd be annoyed that this new level of cock up has impacted their business. I would also not be pleased if somehow I was implicated as part of the problem.


    Anyway ironically I do empathise as I have a fault but I'm not keen to send it back, but I don't blame Kemper for that.

  • Again, this isn't a shipping company issue... Your government (Customs) is the problem here, nothing else. Your government didn't get proper trade agreements in place before Brexit hit (heck, I remember reading about all that in the news with them saying they would just let it all sort itself out when the EU asked about it). Blaming the shipping company or even the retailer is ludicrous as they have no control over customs, that is your lovely government. If you are truly upset about this, you need to contact your government officials and demand change. I use UPS all the time and never have a problem with them, only going to the UK. I ship things all over the globe and only the UK gives me problems. Every time....


    I mean, it does suck and I hope that you guys get it sorted as I have had to stop buying anything from the UK including Anderton's. I simply can't afford to get hit with additional customs fees and the products get hung up in customs for months.

  • Again, this isn't a shipping company issue... Your government (Customs) is the problem here, nothing else. Your government didn't get proper trade agreements in place before Brexit hit (heck, I remember reading about all that in the news with them saying they would just let it all sort itself out when the EU asked about it). Blaming the shipping company or even the retailer is ludicrous as they have no control over customs, that is your lovely government. If you are truly upset about this, you need to contact your government officials and demand change. I use UPS all the time and never have a problem with them, only going to the UK. I ship things all over the globe and only the UK gives me problems. Every time....

    I will never fully defend our Government but the shipping companies have a part to play because there are processes in place - if you lived in the UK you would know there are adverts all over the place asking companies to ensure they we ready for the changes - even on motorway gantries.


    I'm not in shipping so I don't truly know (I suspect few people on here do) BUT it is their core business - trade hasn't stopped, the processes have changed.


    But I agree, not kempers fault.

  • I will never fully defend our Government but the shipping companies have a part to play because there are processes in place - if you lived in the UK you would know there are adverts all over the place asking companies to ensure they we ready for the changes - even on motorway gantries.


    I'm not in shipping so I don't truly know (I suspect few people on here do) BUT it is their core business - trade hasn't stopped, the processes have changed.


    But I agree, not kempers fault.

    But the problem is that once the goods hit customs, it isn't in their hands any longer. I had a box go into UK Customs and UPS and myself had a fight getting it freed. They kept asking for the same damn paperwork over and over and we provided it over and over (changed nothing). UPS was frustrated as was I but finally one of the UK agents cleared it. This was completely on them. Believe me, Italy isn't much better, but the shipping companies can only do so much once governments are involved.


    If the box got lost over and over in route, then i would agree, but 99% it is the government that is causing the problem from border to border.

  • Well, I don't agree with 1, at all! For example they could set up repair services in other countries instead of insisting everything be sent to Germany. They could provide the paperwork and communication required to have a good chance at not paying incorrect customs fees. They could do better. Thomann, for example, have sorted this out extremely well.

    To be fair, they did setup repair in other countries as in my story of CAN/USA ship/repair. When Kemper setup shop there was no such thing as UK/Brexit, so what's a company to do? Make no mistake, I fully understand you experienced a raw deal and I completely sympathize.

  • Well, I don't agree with 1, at all! For example they could set up repair services in other countries instead of..........

    Are you serious jonwrightguitar ? :huh:


    Do you think you are in charge of saying, what other company should/could do with their business?


    I've got another solution for you: set up a company, which is repair service center for Kemper in UK. I'll guarantee you, you're case would be sorted out swiftly.


    What a load of brexit drama :D

  • Yes you've got it exactly. I think I'm in charge of what Kemper do with their business...


    It seems like you didn't even watch the video, and that this is more just an opportunity to shout at an English person about Brexit. I hope the nationalist Polish government don't do exactly the same thing for you guys as had been discussed, because it sucks.


    How do I put this politely.... it's hard to understand how you come to the conclusions you come to, Skoczy. Is it an intellectual thing or just looking for the worst in people?


    Also I think you're completely wrong (again, sorry) with your bright idea for me - anyone wanting to repair Kempers seems to find Kemper unwilling to provide spare parts.

    But, you know, thanks for your contributions to the thread.

  • The answer to this as with many things is balance and people are taking extreme positions to make points.


    You have had a crap experience, all agree. Your expectation that Kemper set up repair shops, particularly in the UK because of Brexit is unrealistic in the short term. You would hope in the long term shipping should be sorted.


    You possibly feel got at because you seem to be holding Kemper responsible as a major party in this cock up. For me its purely a result of Brexit and lack of processes and I still believe the Shipping companies should have better understanding.


    BTW Im in the UK and did watch all of your video.

  • I will never fully defend our Government but the shipping companies have a part to play because there are processes in place - if you lived in the UK you would know there are adverts all over the place asking companies to ensure they we ready for the changes - even on motorway gantries.


    I'm not in shipping so I don't truly know (I suspect few people on here do) BUT it is their core business - trade hasn't stopped, the processes have changed.


    But I agree, not kempers fault.

    Speaking as someone who constantly ships to Europe, you can fill out all the paperwork, get an eori number and chase every commodity code, but there are big problems. It costs me a huge amount of additional time (apparently this was going to reduce red tape), many extra shipping costs and the customer then pays vat and a handling charge in their own country.


    Fair enough that 51% decided they didn't like the EU, but the childish, pathetic attempt to make a deal following Brexit is completely anti-business and will cost companies and customers more. Not to mention making enemies out of people we used to work with when their products either arrive 3 months late, or get sent back to the UK.


    I have no idea who gained anything, but if I lived in Germany, I wouldn't feel like going out of my way to fix issues created by the UK government.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

    Edited once, last by karlic ().

  • Just received a box that shipped from the UK back in September of last year. Yep, it took 5 months to get here. Original cost was 105 BP. I had to pay an additional 35 Euros to get it released to me here in Italy for customs fees. The package was originally stuck in UK Customs and after two months the company refunded me the money for the product writing it off as lost. I will be reaching out to them to let them know I got it so that they can charge me for it, but this is where we are at with it all. Blame for this one lies solely on the British UK Customs. I had ordered from this company in the past and gotten it within a week before Brexit. They made a hot mess out of all of this with Brexit.