Tarty Bikes Postage Difficulties

[Miles Mallinson]

I live on a small island on the West coast of Scotland and every time I try and order stuff from Tarty it says that I need to ring them in the morning to verifiy the order, I started to order parts tonight and now it says that the postage is going to cost £35 and they were only small items. Has anyone had this problemfore, it isn't really that annoying its just kind of weird how every other site i buy off doesn't do this?

[PeanuckleJive]

I live on a small island on the West coast of Scotland and every time I try and order stuff from Tarty it says that I need to ring them in the morning to verifiy the order, I started to order parts tonight and now it says that the postage is going to cost £35 and they were only small items. Has anyone had this problemfore, it isn't really that annoying its just kind of weird how every other site i buy off doesn't do this?

Just email tarty and wait for their answer, they're bound to know how their own business operates far better than forum members >.<

If royal mail deliver to your island, I don't see why it'd be a problem

Out of interest, which small island off the west coast?

[Sam Nichols]

Isle of Arran.

Just a hunch.

[Miles Mallinson]

yeh ive emailed them before about tracking and insurance to island because they didn't have any before, i asked them why and they thought it was because my parents own a hotel so it was because it was commercial or something along those lines so i changed it to the name of my house and it didn't make any difference. I live on Arran.

[Sam Nichols]

Do you have any friends or family that live on the mainland that can forward it on to you?

Sometimes this works out cheaper for Islanders.

[Miles Mallinson]

Do you have any friends or family that live on the mainland that can forward it on to you?

Sometimes this works out cheaper for Islanders.

No not really, I moved to Arran from England, 7 years ago and most people on the mainland near me are NEDs and scallies.

[Sam Nichols]

Only advice is to give the guys at TB a ring and see if they have any suggestions, but I wouldn't hold your breath though.

It's out of their hands when it comes to postage prices.

I had to get some bits delivered to a friend who worked for the same airline as me, he then took it to work and smuggled it onto an airplane for me and I picked it up when it arrived in Guernsey

(Just don't tell the feds)

[Miles Mallinson]

Only advice is to give the guys at TB a ring and see if they have any suggestions, but I wouldn't hold your breath though.

It's out of their hands when it comes to postage prices.

I had to get some bits delivered to a friend who worked for the same airline as me, he then took it to work and smuggled it onto an airplane for me and I picked it up when it arrived in Guernsey

(Just don't tell the feds)

Ha don't worry I won't. I think when I ring them tomorow I'll ask them I'd rather actually speak to someone rather emailing them. Its not a hastle really its just kind of weird that companies like Chain Reaction, Wiggle and Stif cycles can post to island without hastle no offence to the guys at Tarty they do an amazing job!

[JT!]

I once wanted something from tarty to be sent to the USA and the shipping was a little pricey so I asked them and they said that it's their preferred shipping method, but they can send it cheaper with less (no) security if it got lost.

But yeah, call them. Don't know why people don't call straight away rather than posting.

[Mark W]

Might have to do a bit of ringing-round-couriers action to see who's cheapest - we have a few other delivery options for certain parts of the UK, but we have to do manual quotes for each item so they don't appear on the site (mainly 'cos 99% of the time APC are cheaper). I don't know if it'd be any cheaper but we can try. As usual with stuff like this, it's not us trying to make some money out of you or anything like that - for our postage prices we charge exactly what the couriers charge us (and in fact we charge less in some instances). If we can find it any cheaper we'll obviously pass that saving on to you.

I think the business thing may just have been if you tried paying via credit card where it might have difficulty matching addresses up? It's more the remoteness of where you are that drives the price up rather than whether the delivery location's commercial or private.

[Miles Mallinson]

Might have to do a bit of ringing-round-couriers action to see who's cheapest - we have a few other delivery options for certain parts of the UK, but we have to do manual quotes for each item so they don't appear on the site (mainly 'cos 99% of the time APC are cheaper). I don't know if it'd be any cheaper but we can try. As usual with stuff like this, it's not us trying to make some money out of you or anything like that - for our postage prices we charge exactly what the couriers charge us (and in fact we charge less in some instances). If we can find it any cheaper we'll obviously pass that saving on to you.

I think the business thing may just have been if you tried paying via credit card where it might have difficulty matching addresses up? It's more the remoteness of where you are that drives the price up rather than whether the delivery location's commercial or private.

Yeh thanks, the postage is only £35 when i have 2 items in the basket though. It might be a glitch on the site?

Edited November 14, 2010 by Milo123

[Mark W]

It depends what items they are though, simply because postage weights for different items will vary (e.g. a set of HS33 pads will be free on 1st class mail, but for a set of bars it'd be £X for courier delivery instead).

[Miles Mallinson]

I just tested it to see if it would work on lighter items e.g sock and a t shirt, and it did it again with the same £35 postage thing.

[AdamR28]

I think the business thing may just have been if you tried paying via credit card where it might have difficulty matching addresses up? It's more the remoteness of where you are that drives the price up rather than whether the delivery location's commercial or private.

That's what it'll be yeah, thanks Mark!

Regarding the delivery options, 1st Class is available for items under the size limit and up to 2kg (see photo below). Once you go over the size limit (forks, 26" rims, etc) or over 2kg then we have to use a courier. Most apply a £25+vat surcharge for islands. We can sometimes use Royal Mail standard parcels which would be ~£10, but can only send those if I go to the Post Office on a Saturday morning, and there is no tracking available.

[Miles Mallinson]

That's what it'll be yeah, thanks Mark!

Regarding the delivery options, 1st Class is available for items under the size limit and up to 2kg (see photo below). Once you go over the size limit (forks, 26" rims, etc) or over 2kg then we have to use a courier. Most apply a £25+vat surcharge for islands. We can sometimes use Royal Mail standard parcels which would be ~£10, but can only send those if I go to the Post Office on a Saturday morning, and there is no tracking available.

I ordered stuff tonight its only a small order because if i bought the Holy Rollers it would of cost £35 to post so its just two small items so its £2 postage or something like that, I'm gonna have to ring in the morning though to comfirm the order, its something about a communication error, I'm not too sure on that one because thats never happened before.