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Mesh...great computers...even greater delivery charges
Being in the market for a new base unit (in fact two), PCW was my first stop to see what the current state of the market was. The August edition was very favourable to a Mesh Core 2 Duo system. So I headed off to the Mesh site.
I found they had a good performing Core 2 Duo base unit only system, designated the Elite2 duo SLI costing £799 inc. VAT, a fair price. So I put two of them into the shopping cart at a cost of £1,598 and proceeded to checkout and payment details stage. However I found that at the checkout stage, the total being asked was a whopping £1,760. How can that be? On examination of the details, it transpires that the delivery charge on a base unit to Northern Ireland is an incredible £69 + VAT, giving a total delivery charge for two base units (note, just two base units, no monitors, keyboards,
speakers or other things that might require additional boxes) of £162.15 !!
Surely this is some mistake, how can it cost such an amount to send parcels whose weight in total must be no more than 20kg, to an address in the UK ? Royal Mail will send an item up to 10kg anywhere in the UK (yes, including to and from Northern Ireland), guaranteed next day delivery (yes including to and from Northern Ireland), and insure it for £1,000, for £18.90 all inclusive. So assuming that each unit weights less than 10kg, that's a total of £37.80, fully insured, and guaranteed next day delivery.
I recently sent £1,000 of items, weighing 8kg to Taiwan, using DHL express service, the items got there in 3 days, at a cost of £55!
Clearly, a company like Mesh can negoitate highly favourable delivery terms with a carrier, given the volume of business, so one must assume they can get FAR better rates than I can, as an individual. So I find it impossible to believe that £162 reflects the actual costs of delivering two base units to me in Northern Ireland, regardless of the carrier chosen. I have actually tested the checkout, and if I was to buy 10 base units, Mesh would charge me £690 plus VAT (that's £810) for delivery!!
If goes without saying that with those delivery charges, I was not inclined to purchase from Mesh, and assume that few from Northern Ireland would consider it a cost effective company to deal with.
Ian McNeill
August 31, 2006 in Vent your spleen! | Permalink
Comments
I'm also in the market for a base unit at the minute, and had decided on Mesh over Overclockers.
Nothing has changed much in the 20 months since you've posted.
Their current charge to NI is £52 + VAT compared to just £17 + VAT if you live on the UK mainland. This is a complete rip off, and needless to say I won't be purchasing.
Overclockers, in comparison, charge £20 for UK mainland, and £27 for NI - which seems a more fair ratio.
Dell do free delivery.
How they can possibly justify charging £52 + VAT is beyond me, unless they simply don't want customers in Northern Ireland.
Posted by: Joe | 15 Apr 2008 19:09:18
