Anyone know what shipping company DronesForLess use?

[Rip]

I recently ordered something from www.dronesforless.co.uk totalling over £500, I believed this was a U.K. company given the .co.uk address, the London phone number and the physical London address here (Contact Us: DronesForLess).

But since shipping was taking a while I Google'd the company only to find it's actually based in New York, U.S. and that's where they ship items from!

So as I hadn't received any dispatch email I've emailed the company a few times asking for info, no reply...

I emailed them again yesterday instructing them to cancel the transaction and refund me, again, no reply...

I always buy expensive items (especially) electrical items from the U.K. as returns, warranties or any other issues can easily be sorted for the cost of U.K. shipping so I'm pretty pissed that this companies website is so misleading. I'm also very annoyed that some reviews of this company state that sometimes items from this company are removed from original retail packaging before being sent (presumably to save on shipping costs?).

I could have bought the exact same items from a U.K. seller for just £10 more and I would have had it days ago and had a U.K. company in case of any issues with the product. But instead I have no idea where my items are, when they'll arrive, if they'll get left out in the street (possibly in the rain), what condition they'll be in after being flown across the Atlantic, if they'll even be in retail packaging and God only knows where I stand with returns/warranties should there be an issue with any of it.

Not happy

I've since found a dispatch email in my Junk folder (thanks Google) which states that items will not require a signature and may be left outside so I need to make sure I'm home, problem is I don't know when it's arriving as they've given me a tracking number but haven't said which company they've used to send it!

This is the tracking number (I've omitted the actual numbers for obvious reasons) : POWTWONY**********

Anyone recognize the format of this number?

I've tried a load of universal tracking number websites but all of them state that my number is invalid so they can't ID the carrier.

 

[Rip]

The shipping courier 'may' be Track Your Parcel | Tracking Number | Globegistics Inc. But again, they do not recognize my tracking number.

 

[WV. Rootman]

And it is possible for it to be a Chinese company with a front in NY.

 

[Rip]

And it is possible for it to be a Chinese company with a front in NY.

Fantastic.

 

[slartibartfast]

Avoid. This company is USA based and a risk to buy from. Their small discounts are not worth the effort and stress.
I have full documentation to support this review.

On 15th Aug I ordered a £315 Nikon dslr camera from dronesforless.co.uk. The website had a soho, London address and a London phone number. I paid through PayPal and received confirmation from PayPal and dronesforless.co.uk plus an email from someone called peter asking me to call regarding the order.
I called and was talking to either Americans or canadians. Peter wanted to sell me batteries. I asked to cancel the order - I didn't want to buy from overseas as the £25 saving was not worth the wait, possible import problems (I've had issues with anything containing batteries at customs before), complicated returns, warranties, non uk plugs etc... I had called peter within a few hours of placing the order and was put through to Jessica. She confirmed my cancellation and said I would receive an email. I didn't so 3 calls to her later in the day (UK evening because this company doesn't start till 2pm GMT so I assume they are on the east coast - no one was prepared to tell me the real address) I was put through to Angela who again confirmed my order was cancelled and sent me 2 cancellation confirmations from her personal hotmail account before finally sending me one from dronesforless. She confirmed that I would be refunded within 24 hours - the billing manager was out of the office.

On the 16th support for drones for less confirmed my cancellation by email and said I would receive a full refund within "a few business days".

On the 17th I received an email saying the camera had been despatched and was given a tracking number. The number didn't exist. I called and spoke to Jessica again who said it was a system error and my cancellation was confirmed but she couldn't be sure because a packing label had been printed. Perhaps when the camera arrived I could return it and ask for a refund? Now very concerned that I would ever see my money back or a camera for that matter, on the 18th I opened a dispute with PayPal and dronesforless responded that when they got the camera back they would refund me. The tracking number was now showing but as not despatched.

I emailed the courier, globegistics who replied on 23rd that they were not in receipt of any package for the tracking number given to me. I emailed dronesforless who said when they get the camera back - which clearly had never been despatched in the first place - they will refund me. I escalated the case with PayPal. At this point dronesforless emailed me saying they would refund me if I closed the dispute... hmmmm yes I'm that stupid. I replied saying if I closed the dispute I would no longer be protected by PayPal. Dronesforless replied and said don't talk to us anymore talk to paypal ha ha strop or what?

Finally on 12th Sept, nearly a month later, PayPal agreed with me and forced a refund.

Dronesforless uk website is a front they are not based in the UK and do not distribute form the UK. They are disorganised & incompetent and it's a major problem to get a refund. It's all well and good them claiming that paying by PayPal or credit card protects you but only if you want a lot of agro and are prepared to wait a month until they are forced to act.

Finally (after Curry's took my order and money and 6 days later emailed to say they were out of stock) I bought it from Argos online, manufacturer sealed with a discount voucher which meant the price difference was only £20 more for the upgraded bluetooth model and collected it the same day. Lesson well and truly learnt. I only wanted to buy a camera and was involved a month long charade. Why?

I waited until I had my refund to post this review because had read others saying dronesforless were refusing to refund until a bad one was removed. This may explain their astonishingly high rating