I can confirm that Free Flight Systems are now the official repairers for
Terra
Radio, in fact I think they may have bought the radio business from Trimble
who are concentrating on other things. They are excellent; they got my radio
on 23rd April and shipped it back on 5th May and it works perfectly now - a
minor repair at $317.
However, a word of warning for people in the UK. Because it was going to cost
me 50+ to send it to Waco I got a friend to take it out and post it from within
the US, which cost about $6. I phoned Customs and asked how I should deal with
the return and they said to put on the package "goods returned to owner after
repair" and quote the value as the value of the repair. Free Flight did exactly
that and sent it back by UPS at a cost of $99.50. UPS ignored the instructions
on the Free Flight Shipping ticket and allowed Customs to value the radio
at 1000 and charge VAT and Duty of 212.29 in total while UPS added 10
'brokerage
surcharge'. The radio was returned to my co-owner who, not surprisingly,
refused to pay and asked UPS to take the matter up with Customs. The only
action that UPS took, so far as I can tell, was to advise Free Flight that the
package had been refused and that it would be returned to the US if the charges
were not paid. Free Flight advised me of this by e-mail and in order to
avoid having to pay the cost of another round trip to the US I told my co-owner
just to pay and I would claim the excess charges back from Customs. Customs
have been very nice and helpful on the phone, but I still haven't received a
refund although I sent off their claim form a month ago.
I should have got someone to bring it back in their suitcase.
Frank Mycroft G-BWYD
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