RebelScum

Glad you asked. So, as is typical one of the RIFs that was part of the order went out of stock (not surprising as it was leading up to Black Friday). I've since been in contact with TG, re-jigged the order and am awaiting them to invoice me so I can pay through PayPal. Everything is in stock, and they are still up for running the test order with DHL to the UK. As soon as I've paid and receive the shipping notice I'll let the forum know, so you can judge how it went. However, being a glutton for punishment (and because I couldn't pass up a bargain on Gunfire), I've also got a parallel order with them, noting they've ceased using GLS (apparently they had some issues) and have gone back to UPS. I did email them about this and they seem to think that recent performance has been better to the UK (to be fair it couldn't have been much worse). Luckily I'm not in a rush, and I thought it might prove an interesting experiment to compare the main Polish retailers and how quickly they are shipping and report back. Any delay will also give me a chance to think about what I'm going to say to my wife when all these RIFs turn up...

Yup, I'm the Guinea Pig for this. One of the RIFS I was after went out of stock so I'm just finalizing the order with their Customer Services this evening.

Some good news on the Taiwangun situation. I've been contacted by TG today to ask if I would take part in a pilot shipping to the UK using DHL, given I have an order that's been sat in my account for months (a couple of CYMA RIFS for Nam' themed games, plus a few other bits and bobs). No details as yet on postage costs, or whether TG are registering for VAT payment at source (which I doubt), plus they seemed very cautious in their correspondence, making the point they wanted to make sure the process is better than UPS before opening up to orders again to the UK. Given the experiences many of us have had on the forum and some of the financial losses that TG have taken, I think this is sensible and understandable. In my experience DHL have been infinitely better at parcel delivery post-Brexit, so I think this is a really positive step by TG. Hopefully I should get the order finalized this week, so I'll keep the forum posted on progress. If we are lucky they may open up orders before Christmas, which I think is probably a motivating factor for TG.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/gls-group.net versus https://www.trustpilot.com/review/ups.com/gb GLS are only 50% bad versus 90% for UPS, so I suppose that's an improvement of sorts. Similar complaints though. Shame as Gunfire/TG are the only retailers I could find a reasonably priced M16A1 for a 'Nam game I had my eye on, but buying from them would be like admitting that I have some sort of masochistic prediliction and I'm not sure I can be bothered with the inevitable hassle.

Fire-Support has TM short VN 80 round mid caps in stock. £21 each. https://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/tokyo-marui-aeg-midcap-short-vn-magazine-for-m4m16-80-rnd My problems is I need not only the mags, but a period M16 and Vietnam kit as well... 😄

As a rule no, but being UPS they are incredibly unpredictable, and last year they dumped a TG parcel on my doorstep that was due to arrive on a Friday, on Saturday morning.

Good luck in getting UPS to explain their charges. Trustpilot is full of reviews from UK businesses who have needed breakdowns of invoices for HMRC and tax purposes, and UPS will not help them, even though they have business accounts. Taking out the brokerage charge (which UPS are free to set at whatever they like), you paid about 23% in taxes, which is about right. What I wouldn't do is recommend not paying the fees whilst waiting for an invoice, as you'll likely never get the parcel...

Double yay! So who is left still waiting for a delivery?

Genuinely pleased for you. Hope you get the parcel soon.

I had some left over from a loft insulation job. Turns out it's also good for absorbing BBs.

I use closed cell insulation board wrapped in Duck Tape (2"-3" thick) when plinking in the garden. The BBs embed into the board and the Duck Tape keeps the board from falling apart. Makes a satisfying thunk as well.

Gives me hope that everyone's parcels will eventually turn up. Interestingly I've just ordered something from Bullseye Country Sport, based in Northern Ireland. It'll be interesting to see how long this takes, given it's an import from the single market area, even though it's an internal UK movement.

Just signed up. You should rep for them, as that was a motivating post! Plus I'm a sucker for a patch.

Can't speak for imports to the ROI, but reviews of UPS suggest that their performance across Europe is pretty awful at the moment. There is a tale of woe online about some poor customer who was sent two parcels internally in Denmark and he received one parcel, whilst the other one ended up in the UK. Go figure how that happened. Whatever the truth expect a long wait if the experiences on the forum are anything to go by.

Brilliant thanks! I'll go and have a look now. @stipsniper great website by the way. The links are particularly useful.

OK. About the same as me then. I've PM'd you.

I genuinely had given up all hope for my parcel and was in the process of drafting my purchase dispute with PayPal. Honestly my shock yesterday when it turned up with no warning was palpable. My parcel also went dark for 2 weeks before they looked at it again. As a reminder when was the posting date?

Cheers. My feeling is one of the Action Army TM adapters might work as they are both 20mm CCW. I do like the look Stip has on the rifle, but those silencers are damn difficult to get hold of and a 14mm CCW thread gives you a lot more options.

I waited 6 weeks. Have a look at the other thread. Things are moving as TG have been intervening.

A quick question. Given the Airsoft Pro barrel adapter for the CYMA 700 range seems to be unavailable everywhere, are there any alternatives out there that would fit the barrel thread? For reference the barrel thread on my 700.A seems to be a 20mm CCW and I'm looking to step this down to a 14mm CCW to fit a silencer. I have seen on the Stip the Sniper website that he fitted a Swiss Arms over barrel silencer, but they too seem difficult to get hold of. I'm wondering if any 20mm CCW adapter would work on this gun?

So I went through the parcel and whilst it's clear Border Force had a quick look at the contents based on all the Home Office tape that adorned the package. The RIF and it's box and all the other bits I'd ordered were absolutely fine. I don't even think the contents were taken out. It looks like a quick look to confirm it was a RIF and then repackage up. I suspect that you are right this was part of a batch that was pulled for examination, but this would have only happened once UPS had cleared them for import first, so I think it's safe to say most of the delay was down to UPS messing around with the paperwork. UPS updated the tracking from an import scan in Stanford Le Hope to delivery, without any updates whatsoever. So that confirms the tracking is completely worthless. The parcel was delivered in a white transit van, so it looks like UPS are subcontracting delivery at the moment. No brown van, which was good as UPS usually don't bother with delivery to my address and dump it at my local parcel collection point. Lessons learned, apart from don't use UPS? Brokerage in the UK, if you can get hold of them, were actually reasonably helpful. Customer Services were useless. I managed this week to get hold of a girl in the UK in one of the brokerage teams and she actually emailed me back as promised, albeit it was clear she had limited ability to release the parcel. I used the number below and it was good to get confirmation no more paperwork was required. I rang just after 1400 and ended up getting through to someone in the UK in about 20 minutes. I also have to say it's worth politely pestering TG, as I think the movement has only happened as they intervened. I forget who noted this on the thread (given it's so long), but it seems 6 weeks is the approximate import time for UPS, and my experience mirrors this.

So true. I tend to intercept him if I'm in to save him the bother of scrunching up the letters as my punishment. I'll be investing in a mailbox in the future! Yes. Off home in a bit so I'll let you know. Aside from the RIF I can't even remember what was in the bloody order it was so long ago.

Email from UPS Customer Services this morning telling me parcel is still held. Tracking shows no movement from Stanford Le Hope. The wife then sends me a photo of a package that's just turned up. My jaw literally hit the floor. Like @lukeB Border Force have had a good examination of the parcel!

A development this afternoon, but please note that UPS Customer Services said that they were still investigating the whereabouts of this parcel, so who knows what the truth is. TG also emailed me after I queried what they were doing to get this parcel delivered. If you follow Negative Airsoft on Facebook, Luke has a link to a page that's documenting these tales of woe. It's worth visiting just to see his correspondence with UPS. I feel his pain.

The use of the word "should" doesn't fill me with confidence. I'll see what happens this week. By Friday it'll be 6 weeks in transit, 5 weeks of which have been in Essex!