I'm glad you got your new phone exchanged from Google! I don't think SingPost has been badto you since they have mailed your item to the states safely already.
When they guaranteed you 6-8 days for that service, they managed it perfectly well.
Since you picked budget services, no one should expect VIP services. Horrendous is not really fair. For basic/comprehensive insurance and full compensation of the item at this price, its impossible.
I'm surprised they gave options for compensation. $68 for your item is better than nothing. The remaining are excess loading fees you need to bear. That's the risk I took to get it over too as I don't want to pay $65 for real-time tracking, two times the speed of delivery, etc. SingPost also manages SpeedPost, they consign deals with cargo operators to freight their parcels to states in bulk daily. Majority of them do not have insurance also. Budget consumers have to learn to deal with it.
There are many freight operators in singapore that send items to the states, prices vary from $80 onwards for similar services without tracking/with tracking. Priority Mail, Express Mail, etc.
Find out from your operator what will be used in the states when your item arrives.
For general singaporeans, DHL/Fedex should be the only option.
I copied the text I pmed to you below as my PM can't send more than 2000 characters to you.
Firstly, if your item is still in Singapore, you should call up SingPost now.
My phone was sent from SingPost to LG Electronics in under 18 days. It was delivered from 24 June 2013 to July 12 2013. 8 days from Singapore to US and the rest of the 10 days was mailing within the states. The tracking usually ends at states border since we didn't pay any exquisite fare or premium services. I only knew about it when I contacted Google support to find out that it has arrived at LG Electronics. Status will not update until it is delivered - or not. The problem is lies with USPS, not SingPost.
When your tracking says "Origin post is preparing shipment", it's in the states custom. It's common for USPS packages to be stuck in the custom which is why I stick RMA label on-top to help USPS scan through them faster hopefully. But you are pretty much safe unless you packed drugs inside. It will take another 2 weeks for the mail to transit from state to state as LG electronics is not located in metropolitan areas but outlying places. Since we did not pay for fast service delivery, our mails are always processed with the bulk of the mails. I'm surprised you got a response so early from states, I didn't even have any returning response other than "item has arrived in US".
Since you shipped it out on 19 August 2013 [and assuming its the same delivery service you paid], it should take no more than 18 days. I also requested Google support to give me two weeks grace.
Import tax for goods coming into singapore.
Unless you have a valid permit and special license and sending sample items, your goods will always be taxed whether it's RMA item or not. You can under-declare it, because its a RMA item where no amount is paid to google. I won't convince you to take this path if you are not comfortable with it. Our government charges taxes by the face value of the items shipped into our borders. If your phone gets stuck at custom for investigation, just pay the tax then. Read our customs website for more information.
...and does the recipient have to pay any import tax? Any special declaration that you made before the shipment of the phone?
You should have already received your new phone. I assume your recipient means LG Electronics. There's nothing they need to pay. Nothing you need to pay other than the price you paid to SingPost to send it over. No special declarations on my end.
I hope everything I posted helped you and other forumers here. I used SingPost for over 70+ items this year to the states. None of them have been lost so far. Delay happens when USPS bounced it from state to state (sorting issues).
Eventually, difference isn't much other than the time factor. Get Google to extend it for you.
That's like buying the phone without the invoice from Google Wallet. Can google help you with it with just IMEI?
Cheers,
weiyang76
Also, if I want to request for a time extension do I call Google Play Support again or can I just email them through the follow up email thread?
