International Shipping Issues

[moben]

I had a POBOX number on the address with the street address, bot of them. I think the system now spots the POB or P.O.B. sign and you get that answer. It did not happen before.

[Carol_Housel]

Oh, I think I understand what the problem may be. Depending on the shipping option chosen, you are not able to ship to a P.O. Box. This Shipping FAQ in Help may provide greater insight: http://www.lulu.com/en/help/shipping_faq

Best wishes,
Carol

[moben]

I only have standard and express options, no more economy. So that's the reason. Thanks

[mattst]

I completely understand that Lulu cannot "eat" costs on shipping, but its prices for shipping to Canada are outrageous. The cost to ship three of my books here -- a combined page total 653 pages -- would cost $18.99. That's nuts. It's certainly lower than the other international shipping costs I've seen -- $109 for one book to ship to Israel? Gimme a break.

Why would Lulu switch mail providers and lose some of its lower cost international shipping choices? I don't expect Lulu to subsidize overseas shipments, but this switch doesn't at all sound like an improvement. In my case, it's been a detriment. So much so that I'm probably going to publish with some other outfit because these shipping costs are out of whack. I don't want to do that because I'm happily set up on Lulu, and love the site. Everything works great for me. But what's that worth when I'm put over a barrel when it comes to ordering my stuff?

[sobrien]

Shipping costs to Canada have been grossly overpriced since 2005. I made point several times to mgmt but despite saying they were working on it, nothing ever changed. I even gave them alternate shipping methods and other suggestions to no avail. That's what I removed book from Lulu site and am relying on Internet sales. Not worth the hassle.

And yes, it's not rocket science. They could change Cdn prices tomorrow but for whatever reason, don't want to. I feel sorry for those in Europe and elsewhere too.

[(anon)]

I am a first time user of Lulu. I am from Japan and I made a photo book of my daughter's first year of life here at lulu for personal use.

I ordered it Oct 24, 2009, paid $63.95 for the album plus $19.96 for shipping by mail (Lulu order 3581814)

I chose the cheapest shipping option because the rest of the options were $84.18 (expedited) and $90.28 (express) which is just too expensive for me.

Anyway, they said it was shipped Oct 28 and the promised delivery time is within 5-12 business days. It is already November 26, more than 12 business days already and I have no idea where my album is.

I have contacted Lulu customer support and was assigned with ref and case # ref:00D56zQ6.50057avHt:ref "> Case 00333885, asking where could my order be. The response is this:

November 10, 2009
Dear Customer,

I'm so sorry for the inconvenience that you experienced with your recent Lulu order 3581814. Unfortunately, the shipping method that you chose is not traceable.

I am unable to track this package, but it is still likely on its way to you. If the package is returned to our main office a Support Representative will contact you. In the future, please consider using a traceable shipping method. My apologies again for any inconvenience.

http://www.lulu.com/en/help/shipping_options

Thank you,

Vincent VH
Lulu Enterprises, Inc
___________

Ok, the shipping method I chose is not traceable because it was the cheapest... And next time I should use a traceable shipping option that is outrageously expensive...

So I emailed back and said, How long should I still wait before I get afraid that I spent $75 for nothing?

And this was the answer:

November 15, 2009
Dear Customer,

Your order was shipped on Oct. 28. Since your order is being shipped from another country and has to go through international customs it sometimes takes longer than expected for a package to be delivered. The delivery time may also be affected by several factors that could include incorrect delivery addresses or Post Office delivery restrictions.

Your package is probably still on the way to you. If it is returned to our offices we will contact you and refund your order.

If you need more detailed information concerning our shipping process please visit our Shipping FAQ, http://www.lulu.com/en/help/shipping_faq

In the future, please consider using a traceable shipping method to avoid these types of delays.

If you have any other questions regarding this issue please reply to this email.

Thank you,

Vincent VH
Lulu Enterprises, Inc

__________

Again, I was told to use a traceable shipping method in the future, even if my current order has not even arrived yet.

Anyway, I have checked over and over and over again the shipping address indicated in my order and there was no mistake - the address was correct.

And so I waited again for another week and my order is still somewhere in the pacific not arriving to me yet. So I emailed lulu again demanding that either they should return my money or replace my order sending it via a traceable shipping method.

There was no response... I let 3 days pass by and still no response, so I emailed again saying that I felt that I was scammed and that if I do not hear from them I would report them to Internet Crime Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/faq/default.aspx.

Still no response...

Reading from posts in the other forums, I have learned that this was a perennial problem of Lulu and not only that, the print quality of the photo books ordered by other customers was so bad (from what I read, there were problems with cropping, green lines on the photos, etc).

I may not be a "valued customer" since I am just ordering for personal use, but $75 is not some lose change that I am ready to lose because I happen to choose the cheapest shipping method of Lulu. I hope someone with authority from Lulu can read my message and help resolve my issue. Please just return my money and I will be gone, not bothering and ordering from you again.

BTW, I am not giving a false threat that I will report Lulu to IC3 if they do not resolve my issue within 1 week, because I can even if I am not a US Citizen and not residing in the US. I have already researched that and people from other countries can submit a complaint as long as one of the parties involved are in the US.

[owashi]

I'm having similar problems to the above poster in Japan.

I live in Japan too and have been waiting over 5 weeks for a couple of calendars i ordered. I've e-mailed them a few times and all I get is a 'well you should have selected a traceable shipping method' type reply.

For a $18 Calendar the regular postage is around $10. If I select a traceable method it jumps to $118!?!

WTF? Do they seriously expect people to pay those prices?

I ordered at the end of October figuring my samples would arrive in mid November, I could show them to potential customers and put in a bulk order at the end of the month leaving plenty of time for the stuff to arrive before the end of the year. This is exactly what I did last year. Now it looks like I have zero chance to do this. Did they change their shipping carriers in the meantime?

They also say that if a package doesn't arrive it's just your bad luck, you should have chosen the absurdly expensive expedited shipping option.

Really disappointed with this, I'll try Apple's iphoto calendars as a last resort...........

[owashi]

My stuff still hasn't arrived and Lulu have said that it's basically my bad luck and they'll do absolutely nothing about it even if it never arrives. The gist of the reply was I had to choose expedited shipping if I expected any kind of customer service, otherwise forget it.

I understand that stuff gets delayed sometimes but it's been nearly 6 weeks since I placed my order. SIX WEEKS! The absurdly insanely high prices for international expedited shipping make that particular option completely impractical, I'm stuck with economy shipping.

It seems Lulu isn't set up for international business and they don't care about international customers. Perhaps they make the vast bulk of their profit in the US and don't need customers in places like Japan.

I shan't be using Lulu again. Unreliable and terrible customer services if you live outside the US. Thanks for nothing.

I wonder if my calendars will arrive before the end of 2010?

[twohills]

Quote from an Australian customer: "The book looks like it's printed on a 1980s dot matrix printer."

The Melbourne printer is still crap.

[arunadasi]

Since nobody from Lulu has yet responded to my thread on UK shipping times, and nobody from Lulu has responded to my "contact Lulu" query even after several days, I'm posting this here in the hope that someone from Lulu will finally get in touch with me; yes, I'm pretty fed up.

Its now well over a week since the book I ordered, costing over £40, has shippped and it still has not arrived. According to this site shipping from the UK is 1-2 days, and this has always been my experience. As I live in the same town as the UK printer it should not take that long.

The book is US Letter size, black and white interior, and it has shipped. I need to know if it has been lost in the post and if so what I can do; or whether this size of book ships from the UK.

Your service is really, really bad, Lulu, in not getting back to me on this, and I shall be posting negative reviews of you on every single writers' forum  I belong to if this is not resolved quickly. It's just no way to treat a cutomer.