Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Today's life lesson #1

Today I learned that there are hidden costs to ordering clothes online from a company based in the US and having them shipped to Switzerland. A few weeks ago, I ordered a few new t-shirts and a summer cardigan sweater from Lands' End, one of my favorite hometown Wisconsin businesses. I figured it would be expensive to have it shipped here, but they do offer Switzerland as an option, and I decided it was worth it because I'm so desparate for a few new things and the clothes here are awful. I was thrilled when the clothes arrived only a few days later, especially considering I paid $20 for the UPS shipping option that should have taken 1-2 weeks. (or was it $30...) Imagine my surprise when, today, I got a bill in the mail from UPS for 28 CHF (about $25 US)!! From what I can tell (it's written in German), it's a bill for shipping my Lands' End order. I think I may have to take this up with Lands' End, because nowhere on my receipt or order form did it say I would have additional shipping costs. Does this seem unreasonable? Has anyone else living overseas had similar problems? Whatever the case, you better believe I'm not doing that again.