Seiko Willard, purchase turning into a nightmare.

Hi all.

After weeks of dithering, I pulled the trigger on a secondhand Willard SPB153 from fleabay. Haggled down to what i thought was a reasonable 35% off the cost of new. I was very cagey as it was an overseas seller, but good comms from the seller reassured me.

Two weeks later and the tracking info - all in italian - seems to say its sat in the UK, but cant be delivered until I pay the import duty. Courier is SDA Express, stoke on trent. The only two contact numbers I can find online dont work. So no way to settle the import duty, and driving all the way to stoke on trent is too far. All I can do is hope they contact me. Any advice or suggestions welcome. Kind of wish I had just purchased new now! and taken the full price on the chin. 😢

Reply
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I live in a different country but had a similar experience. The tracking system informed It was stuck in customs. Couple of days later I received a notification by mail with payment instructions. I double checked to confirm it was a real thing and paid it. 2 days later it was cleared in the tracking system and resumed delivery. 

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AttinoiBaf

I live in a different country but had a similar experience. The tracking system informed It was stuck in customs. Couple of days later I received a notification by mail with payment instructions. I double checked to confirm it was a real thing and paid it. 2 days later it was cleared in the tracking system and resumed delivery. 

Cheers, I really hope that happens. I suppose they will want to get it delivered, so no reason they wont attempt to contact me.

Maybe I just need to learn to be patient!  

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Yea, had the same thing in Germany. And a guy in Australia bought one off me and had it sit in customs for ages too. All went well in the end. My guess is they're still in Covid mode. Patience.

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Dude Ck out sakurawatches.com just purchased a new Willard and no issues so far and plus I ordered 3 watches from them and no problems and fast delivery!!  Plus the Dolllar is best right now in terms of exchange rate but not sure where you are..

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My record was four months stuck in customs between UK and EU right after Brexit. The tracking status wasn't much help as the customs office has a firmly paper based workflow. In the end it all went well, just a loooong wait.

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Shity deal bro!! I must say, Stoke-on-Trent is one of the coolest names on the map!! I'm in Minnesota and we don't have cool names like that unless streets named after trees and leaves is your thing, it's not mine!! I mean what sounds cooler, "He's gone in the Strid?? or "He fell in the river". Wake-n-Bakeres have to know!!!!

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MinnKonaMike

Shity deal bro!! I must say, Stoke-on-Trent is one of the coolest names on the map!! I'm in Minnesota and we don't have cool names like that unless streets named after trees and leaves is your thing, it's not mine!! I mean what sounds cooler, "He's gone in the Strid?? or "He fell in the river". Wake-n-Bakeres have to know!!!!

Haha! Lot of cool names in UK. Nempnett Thrubwell is my fave.

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Hammo77

Haha! Lot of cool names in UK. Nempnett Thrubwell is my fave.

Sounds like they asked somebody with a lisp. 

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Haha, Crazy!! We have a Moorehead just down the road from Climax, you can see the fun we have with that. And Climax only has a population of around 245 people so im wondering if Swallows is going to be a new suburb. 

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Royal Mail will post something through the door and email you about import tax when they are delivering. Not sure what happens if another shipping company is handling delivery  Good luck though mate 

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Parcelforce invoice through the letterbox today!

A whopping £191.74 in charges 😭 

That includes customs duty, import VAT and clearance fee.

Should have just bought a new watch from an AD in town.

Anyhoo, it should be delivered tuesday.

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Well the watch arrived Tuesday, and I am very pleased! despite the shenanigans with the extortionate import and handling charges.

I have not taken it off since, apart from having a shower. The way the light plays off that green sunburst dial is mesmerising. The bezel action is great and its keeping good time too. I am seriously tempted to thin out my collection a little now, as this is going to be on my wrist most days for the foreseeable future.

The lume is really good, Im able to see the time in the early hours if I wake up for a grandads wazz.