Somethings are priceless, others are just expensive

[72nu-funk]

Ok, so i'm not going to name names just yet as i've given the companies concerned until Friday to come up with what they are going to do.

I find myself with a blown rear brake cylinder 13 days ago. So, having checked with my insurers before I left the UK and took them up on their cover offer that Turkey was included in the breakdown service, I take the chance and give them a call. The very nice lady at the other end informs me that yes Turkey is covered, but not south of the Bosphorous. Knowing what the answer would be, I asked anyway "so where is the cut off for the service?" "Istanbul" comes the no surprise answer. How a company can claim to cover Turkey on this basis god alone knows. Take a look at a map. It would be like saying we cover the UK but only the Isle of Wight.....

Onto plan 2. Having also established a couple of companies before I left that were willing and able to supply parts to Turkey should a problem I wasn't carrying spares for crop up. So I make the call a week last Monday. The company go off and get a quote from their parcel company of choice and come back to me. All good I say, pay and give them the full address details, my contact number etc etc. Asking what the service delivery time is I am reliably informed 2-3 working days. No problem thinks I. Having worked in logisitics all my working life I take the working days as full and so expect Friday, possibly Monday for delivery.

Order email confirmation comes through, tracking number comes through. I duly check come the Wednesday to discover that the parcel has been logged as arriving in Istanbul at 10.00am and customs clearance is in progress. Very good I think, knowing Turkey uses the SAD system and so clearance will be issued within 48 hours or else an issue raised should there be one.

Friday comes and I check the tracker at 09.00am UK time. No update since Wednesday I note. Seems to be a problem I think so i'll get on the phone and see whether they can get a fresh update from the parcel company. After being told exactly as I can read for myself on the tracking system they say they will contact said parcel company and come back to me. I go back to the tracking website and send them a customer services email. 17.00pm UK time comes and no call back so I call again. I get put through to customer services who promises to check and come back to me, after reading out the tracker info to me yet again. To give him his due, he attempts to call back but loses the line. I call him back and am advised that the parcel company have sent a message to Turkey but won't hear back until Monday and that he is on holiday from now.

Monday comes. I call 09.00am, am told the same as before and will receive a call back. I call again one hour later and am told that no one knows in the office, but there is one out on a break so maybe it is him and he'll call me back. I call again one hour later. I am told calling every hour is getting me nowhere, this I know I think to myself. I am promised a call back and am also given permission to talk directly to the parcel company. No call. So I get on the internet and find the number for international at the parcel company. I have the web tracking details repeated to me again, which is nice. I ask if there is a problem. They say we don't know, we are waiting on Turkey to respond. I ask them to try again, he says he will. I leave it for four hours. No call back.

I call again, to be told, well I don't need to say it you know by now. The lady says she will try messaging Turkey again for me and jokes 3rd time lucky. Not having lost my sense of irony and humour just yet I agree.

Tuesday arrives. No update on the tracker, no call back from the parcel company or the parts supplier. I call the parcel company and ask for an update to be told they are still waiting to hear back from Turkey, and then when pushed with knowledge of customs clearance I am curtly told it can take a week, a month or a year. Actually no, not unless a problem has been notified and then not rectified by the recipient. Falls on indignant ears. Promised a call back.

No call. I call again, this time insisting that I hold and wait for the lady actually responsible. After a 4 minute wait she finally appears on the phone. Repeats web tracking information. Cue a deep sigh. I insist she chases for an update and again suggest that there must be a problem.

No return call. I call again. I wait. I am told that they are awaiting information. I ask if it is possible for me to speak to the person dealing with this in Istanbul and after a little thought on her part she duly gives me the number.

I call Istanbul. I immediately get through. Not only that but I immediately get to speak to the very person that they are supposedly waiting on to come back to them. I am informed that there is a problem since I have supplied no Turkish tax number. I ask what can be done and explain that I am willing to travel to Istanbul if neccessary. She calls back. I'm somewhat stunned, one company out the three actually manages to call back and it is the one that supposedly is not coming back to the parcel company. We talk and discuss the options available. It becomes very apparent that there will be no alternative but to present myself at customs in Istanbul. However, i'm also told that I will need to first come to their centre to pay a fee to release them from any further responsibility and for me to take it myself. Charming.

I set about getting a coach, and so at 22.00pm I board one prepared for the 12 hours ahead to Istanbul.

The coach journey is good, and very good value for the distance arriving just after 10.00 yesterday morning. I barter for a taxi to take me to Mahmutbey district and the delivery centre. I'm advised that I have to pay for the papers to be released to me and there is no option. I point out they have been paid to do this service and delivery. Neither of which they are doing. I am told to pay, it is the system. So I pay, and they call another taxi to take me the Customs House at Istanbul airport and advise me that no, nobody at Turkish customs speaks English but give me a number of a runner called Murat.

On arrival at Turkish customs I find a bustle of people, call Murat and manage to explain that I need a 'runner' to assist me with the paperwork and to speak on my behalf at each point as I know no Turkish other than pleasantries. Here ensues a 5 hour chase around the building, the holding house, the customs officers, the office ladies, up down and round and round being called Yabanci all the while until such time as finally I have the parts safely in my bag and trot off to find the metro station to get back to my return 12hr coach journey.

So lets see:

Price of parts £74.55 (VAT free since I am in Turkey)
Price of delivery £101.24

Total £175.79

Not to bad really......but then......

Coach trip x 2 130 TL
Taxi 1 25 TL
Paperwork release fee 120 TL
Taxi 2 30 TL
Customs duty 115 TL
Customs handling charge 100 TL
Runner fee 200 TL

Total 720 TL

Take away the Customs duty which I would always of had to pay that leaves 605 Turkish Lira to do what the three companies involved were paid for originally. Current exchange rate is around 2.32 so my little outing comes to £260.77 and that is without adding on the 21 phone calls from Turkey to the UK using a UK mobile. Add that to the original cost and the duty, and you've got almost £500 (not incl phone calls) for a set of shoes for the rear, two brake cylinders, a fitting kit, bleed bottle, hub seals and points (the buses favourite consumable).

So, should you ever find yourself in Turkey stranded without the parts you need, do yourself a favour. Find a friendly Turkish national and order in their name and the parcel will arrive with you as planned without the additional hassle or additional costs! A pity none of the companies could bring themselves to inform each other of this and inform me beforehand....

And just for fun, do you remember I emailed the parcel company customer services on the Friday?

This email arrived this afternoon.....

Good Afternoon James,
Thank you for your email.
From the tracking history I can confirm that this parcel has been delivered on 25/08/2010 at 11:27 and was signed for by JAMES MITCHEL.
If you have any further queries in this matter please do not hesitate to contact me on 0121 698 3784.
Kind Regards
James

International Exports Agent

Thanks for that :roll: ......and breathe......

The one bonus, I managed to catch this lovely early westy out of the coach window on the way into Istanbul. The first early bay i've seen since I left the UK

 

[lard]

wow :shock: - I salute your patience and temper control!

That is shocking, customer service is fine as long as the process works.....once it hits a glitch customer service couldn't give a rats arse by the sounds of it!

 

[Trikky2]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. What a terrible ordeal for something so simple.

And to think Turkey reckons its ready to join the EEC :lol:

As a result of your story, I think in your situation, I would ask for local help. If there are old VW's in Turkey they must be buying their parts somewhere. A local person could maybe use the internet to find a Turkish supplier.

 

[T2-Nate]

And to think Turkey reckons its ready to join the EEC :lol:

We're lucky to have a few politicians who strongly oppose Turkey joining the EU / EEC
I'm not a dumb superficial guy with tunnel vision or anything but since I've been to Turkey i'm not going back...
We had a few things go wrong there and nobody backed us up, they just want to rip you off.
I even met a hotel owner there, had a nice evening with him and thought he was a right fellow, then found out he wanted to
get us drunk (me and 2 women) and who knows what next...
He didn't count on the fact I can hold my liquor :mrgreen:
In my country we have a big turkish community so I've come around a thing or two...

 

[mattd1984]

I dont know how you kept so calm

 

[Trikky2]

And to think Turkey reckons its ready to join the EEC :lol:

We're lucky to have a few politicians who strongly oppose Turkey joining the EU / EEC
I'm not a dumb superficial guy with tunnel vision or anything but since I've been to Turkey i'm not going back...
We had a few things go wrong there and nobody backed us up, they just want to rip you off.
I even met a hotel owner there, had a nice evening with him and thought he was a right fellow, then found out he wanted to
get us drunk (me and 2 women) and who knows what next...
He didn't count on the fact I can hold my liquor :mrgreen:
In my country we have a big turkish community so I've come around a thing or two...

Interesting to read your comments - my only experience of Turkey was a long weekend in Istanbul many years ago and, although it was an interesting experience, I never went back, which I guess says something.

At that time it certainly felt like the country, its people and its culture were very different, much more closely aligned to eastern and arab than to Europe. Its hard to see how such a large gulf could be bridged sufficiently to become a successful partner of the "European Community" TBH.

In my opinion there are already several countries in the EEC who were (and still are) not ready yet. It seems like the whole thing was rushed through in a bit of a panic.

 

[Guest]

took the hydrofoil from Rhodes to Marmaris for the day and went to the Bizarre, while walking down through the market the girls were walking in front of us and we were a few yards behind and this dude jumps out and mugs my mates girl. we both jumped on him and stevie gave him a good hiding. This is in plain view of hundreds of people and loads of market traders. We got the bag bag and the guy got up with a bloody nose and just walked off as if nothing had happened. the market traders just stood and laughed.

One of my colleagues was in a pub in Marmaris a while back and the local guy he was sitting beside had his throat cut in an apparent feud. He bled out on the way to the hospital. One place i definitely wont go to is Turkey. It was more intimidating than Belfast at the height of the troubles.

 

[Marvel]

Jesus guys! I'll be taking Turkey off my holiday list then :shock:

 

[Pete B]

I have to say I'm surprised at the negative aspects related in these posts. I have been to Turkey three times with work, once in '05 and twice in '06, each visit around two weeks. Every time I have found the people to be very friendly, helpful and sociable, eager to please and above all honest. Yes, big smiles along with "best quality leather goods, I do you special price" gets a bit wearing after a while but that kind of thing can be found in any city in any country.
We asked our host at the factory to direct us to an authentic Turkish resturant. (there was a McDonalds and several pizza places!) He insisted on accompanying us and payed the bill for all 10 of us. The staff could not have been more accomodating and were again on subsequent visits without our host smoothing the way. We ventured (sometimes just 2 or 3 of us) into the market areas and ate at the same food stands as the locals, always greeted warmly and always paying next to nothing for some really good food.
It was never intimidating walking the streets despite the sometimes bemused looks of people who had probably never seen people of non Arab/Asian decent.
Each time we stayed in the town of 'Izmit', about an hour and a halfs drive south east of Istanbul. It is a large industrial town that is NOT on the tourist trail, people asked why we had come to their town, it was/is that unusual for westerners to be seen there. Perhaps therein lies the difference, we were maybe seen as a curiosity rather than a decadent foreigner ripe for fleecing/robbing in a tourist area, that does happen in many places. Friends of mine have had less than good times in holiday resorts there and thats a fact!
Getting things through customs can be a long drawn out nightmare, we had to send people to Istanbul more than once but doesn't it say something that when Istanbul was contacted direct rather than through the lousy British 'customer services', that things started to happen?
No, I don't think Turkey should join the EU (but there again I think we should get out anyway....) and there are undoubtably dodgy folk around as in any country.
Sorry you had such a lousy time fella, it shouldn't be that way.
And as far as Turkey goes, not so keen on the idea of holiday spots but would return to Izmit for work without a doubt.
Just my experience, appreciate others fared differently. 8)

 

[Clem]

Ive been to Bodrum, Gumbet, Marmaris and Kusadasi .... always a good bet for cheap last minute deals is Turkey! :lol: I didnt like Marmaris but in general Ive never had any problems in any place there. I left a camera in a taxi in Marmaris, I went back for it at 2 in the morning and it had been handed in to the main taxi office by the driver.
Its always a bit of a pain there with the fake tat hawkers and the bar/restaurant owners/workers, but always friendly. The last time we went was a pain as my daughter, then a tot, was very fair and they wouldnt stop touching her hair, but weve had that elsewhere too.

Now, Im just back from Sunny Beach in Bulgaria .... 'thats' a shit hole! :mrgreen:

 

[72nu-funk]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. What a terrible ordeal for something so simple.

And to think Turkey reckons its ready to join the EEC :lol:

As a result of your story, I think in your situation, I would ask for local help. If there are old VW's in Turkey they must be buying their parts somewhere. A local person could maybe use the internet to find a Turkish supplier.

Hello Trikky. My original plan was local help, but that was scuppered by the simple fact that the local garages couldn't commit to when they could get the parts themselves. I have heard Mercedes used the same bore and size brake cylinder but don't know it as a fact or what model......so that probably isn't helpful!

I really wanted to do the repairs myself as I wanted to know it was done if you know what I mean. That isn't a comment against Turkey, i'd do the same in England. To many years with motorbikes and cars and mechanics that aren't in my opinion.

This original post wasn't a knock against Turkey at all. Their system is their system which is fine. The knock is against the TWO UK COMPANIES who can't pick up a phone and couldn't of given a rats arse to be totally honest. Friday has been and gone, no contact from either of them. I called one on Tuesday and have now put it all in an email to them and again given them until Friday. Truthully, they all just thought if they waited long enough the parts would magically appear!

I'd never been to Turkey before, and yes it has it's bad. Personally I would never step foot in Marmaris again, but thats because it isn't my type of place and is true package holiday hell if you ask me. But Turkey does have masses to offer and some really genuine kind hearted people that can't do enough for you. The local neighbours rustled up the scaffold pole to help break the rear hub nuts. Then one ran off to get a replacement brake line made up when I had to cut the original off (how I wish i'd brought my flared spanner with me). Keeping me going with lots of Turkish Tea as I did the repairs in 48C and mini doughnut esque things drenched in sugar and honey that I forget the name of now.

Gurel, a member on here has been very helpful as well. He contacted me when he saw I was coming to Turkey originally. Replying to my texts and giving me possibles for the repairs and sourcing parts in Istanbul if all else failed. He even offered to source some 2nd hand drums if it turned out I needed them!

Most of the cons over here are the same as anywhere else, so you just have to be aware and point out that you know. They soon change their tune. In fact, having visited some of the places where many ex pats from the UK now live, i'd say you've got more chance of being done over by one of them. I dearly wish our own people wouldn't let us down so badly abroad, but there you go.

Sorry to hear of the troubles you had Johnny and T2-Nate.

As for joining the EEC, no they shouldn't. It would destroy their cultural trading between friends, the original favours for favours, raise prices of all the basics beyond the reach of the many poor (loaf of bread for 15p anyone?), decimate the tourist industry with hiked prices etc etc besides which, they have everything they need. They could nigh on be self sufficient with the resources they have!

 

[Trikky2]

Thanks for the update. I am glad to hear your getting some local help there after all. It seemed from your earlier post that you were all on your own.

Yes - oops - sorry - it seems that my off the cuff humerous comment regarding the EEC seemed to trigger a rather large and wholly unintended swerve on your thread. My apologies.

Its good to hear from you that, like in most countries, one should not judge a nation by its capital city or its tourist resorts. I have heard the same from others, as you say, away from the resorts etc the people are very friendly, hospitable and helpful.

Lets hope that those in power take the time to look properly before making any rash decisions that might do considerable damage to their system and culture.

I am looking forward to seeing some more pictures and reading more of you travel log about your journey and the places and people you meet. Do you think you will be back on the road soon now?

 

[72nu-funk]

Sorry Trikky, I didn't mean for that post to come across as being directed towards you only

I am doing the journey on my own, but this breakdown happened on one of those unlucky/lucky occasions. Basically after I had sorted my Mums affairs in Armutalan where she had been living, i'd promised to go and see a friend of hers who had sinced moved to Kirkevler which is near Didim/Altinkum. I pulled in at the restaurant to meet her and her partner and then after having dinner went to give them a lift home where they had invited me to stay for a couple of days. Literally as we went to drive back to theirs the brake pedal went to the floor and hey presto, checked the wheels and the nearside rear was covered in brake fluid, the reservoir empty.

So, unlucky to breakdown, lucky to be able to stay with one of Mums friends for the duration of the time.

I finished the repairs last weekend and set off again on Monday. Currently near Mersin on the south coast, not to far from the Syrian border. From here i'll be heading north towards the centre of Turkey and the place where I have chosen to scatter Mums ashes.

My keen Turkish helpers. The gentleman second from the right having spent 20 years working for Ford in Germany, the second from the left being the Bashkan of the sitesi - a tradition in Turkey where one man is chosen as the man to go to for pretty much anything within the housing area you live in.

Finished and ready to go on Ataturk Day

I finally got a response from the UK company....

Dear James

Thank you for your email. We appreciate all customer feedback and I can assure you that your comments have been taken on board.

I have contacted our ** branch today and asked if they had any details of what is required for sending parcels abroad and more specifically, to Turkey. The information I have listed the information which I have received from *** below.

With any packages sent outside the EU there will be an extra charge for the consignee to pay with regards to customs clearance. This is unavoidable. We are of course apologetic for what you have had to go through in order to obtain your parts, however, in this instance that matter is totally outside of our control. The matter is the responsibility of the specific customs office in the country where the package has been sent.

I trust that this information clarifies our position on this matter.


Good response don't you think? :roll: I've replied, so lets see what happens from here since I wouldn't have said proving that you had the information available but didn't provide it is particularly good reasoning to excuse yourself from appalling service. The sad thing is, I would of quite happily settled for being given a refund against the original transport costs as a gesture.

Customer services, sure there is a joke in there somewhere....

Now, Im just back from Sunny Beach in Bulgaria .... 'thats' a shit hole!

Hi Clem. I'm going to be going through Bulgaria on my return route to the UK. Not on your recommended list? Any info would be appreciated

 

[72nu-funk]

Well, I got my second response and clarification today from a company who consider themselves one of the best in the UK and advertise that they can ship worldwide.

Dear James

Thank you for your email dated September 4, 2010. I am sorry that you remain unhappy with our response.

Your continued dissatisfaction is acknowledged, however, I believe that I have researched your concerns thoroughly and cannot provide any additional information which may enable us to conclude this issue in the way you had anticipated. Your comments have been logged and we will carry out internal investigations in the future as to the best way in preventing such issues occurring again.



I trust that this clarifies our position on this matter.



Yours Sincerely

Anyone think i'm being unreasonable that I think their two replies constitute "we couldn't give a shit" ? Especially when you consider the Customer services manager can only of been at work for half an hour this morning before sending his response and hasn't even asked what my anticipations were or are.......

I've now asked for full details of their complaints procedure and the Ombudsman that deals with on going disputes in respect of their terms and conditions. I won't name them just yet, but i'll be buggered if they are going to be allowed to treat any other customers this way.

Seemingly he still can't get to grips with the fact that you can't rely on information to relieve your duty of care to a customer unless you provide that information as part of the original offer and acceptance, especially when it was freely available to you at the time of making the offer. He further seems to be unable to understand that they contracted to provide a service which they failed to do in a major fashion.

Morons some people :roll: