N Gauge Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Tdm on February 18, 2014, 11:02:31 AM

Title: Problems with Suppliers Websites
Post by: Tdm on February 18, 2014, 11:02:31 AM
With living abroad in Tenerife I order most of my items online.

Have had no problems with Hattons, but that is not the case with other well known Suppliers who have been mentioned to me on here who I thought I would try as Hattons don't always have what I want.

- Some don't list the Canary Isles in order to get the VAT deducted.
- One when doing a search for N scale items produces a list of mostly 00 gauge products.
- One came up with a PayPal form in Spanish when I clicked pay by Credit Card.

Very frustrating - the Canary Isles to Spain are like the Channel Isles are to Britain, and are outside of the EEC as regards VAT & TAX rules, and yet are classed as being within the European Community for other things.

Ordering things like non Peco buffer stops (with lights) and non Ratio ready made signals
has proved a bit of a nightmare, as Hattons don't do these.

Maybe this post should go in the "Angry" thread as that is how I feel.


Title: Re: Problems with Suppliers Websites
Post by: Steven B on February 18, 2014, 12:45:38 PM
Why not email the companies in question and ask them to send you a VAT free PayPal invoice for the parts you need?

You can hardly blame them for sending you to the Spanish PayPal site. I'm guessing most natives of the Canaries speak some form of Spanish...

Happy modelling.

Steven B.
Title: Re: Problems with Suppliers Websites
Post by: MikeDunn on February 18, 2014, 01:13:34 PM
I'm surprised they didn't send you to Twitter ....

....

....

After all, don't canaries tweet ?  :whistle:

I'll get me coat :P  :D
Title: Re: Problems with Suppliers Websites
Post by: Tdm on February 18, 2014, 01:15:09 PM
Quote from: Steven B on February 18, 2014, 12:45:38 PM
Why not email the companies in question and ask them to send you a VAT free PayPal invoice for the parts you need?
You can hardly blame them for sending you to the Spanish PayPal site. I'm guessing most natives of the Canaries speak some form of Spanish...
Happy modelling.
Steven B.

Have had problems with PayPal ever since we emigrated so avoid it like the plague and now pay only by Nationwide Credit Card.

Got a phone call from one of the Suppliers I was having trouble with this morning and he took my order over the phone apologizing for the fact that their Website doesn't currently recognize the Canary Isles.

A different Supplier just emailed me to say - Yes there was as a problem with the search facility on their site and that it was being looked into.

Making some progress it seems - but only after first complaining.
Title: Re: Problems with Suppliers Websites
Post by: Tdm on February 18, 2014, 01:38:15 PM
Quote from: MikeDunn on February 18, 2014, 01:13:34 PM
I'm surprised they didn't send you to Twitter ....
....
After all, don't canaries tweet ?  :whistle:
I'll get me coat :P  :D

Love posts with humour in them - it is frowned upon in some other Forums.
By the way I don't use Facebook or Twitter, and unusually these days, I use my mobile phone just for making calls or sending texts.
Title: Re: Problems with Suppliers Websites
Post by: EtchedPixels on February 19, 2014, 01:05:54 AM
Paypal unfortunately is mostly automated by paypal so it'll decide what language to use rather than anything controlled by the shop owner. You *should* get your own language if you've got a language preference in your browser.

For VAT remember a lot of UK model shops are not VAT registered. The UK VAT regime is such a regulatory pain in the arse that a lot of small businesses operate just under the compulsory registration threshold rather than expand and face the paperwork nightmare it entails.

Alan