Has anyone ordered from A. C. Perch and/or Chicago Tea Garden?
Hello there!
I am very curious in ordering from A.C. Perch (for their raspberry oolong especially), as well as Chicago Tea Garden. I did not really understand the shipping layout for A.C. Perch… This is what they list:
“The minimum quantity is 500 grams and 100 grams of each tea. Payment from abroad is easily made with credit cards. Please read this page in order tog get value for your freight money.
For deliveries to countries outside the European Union – Danish VAT is deducted from the prices listed. No extra shipment or credit card fees are charged."
This is how I interpret this:
1. You must buy at least 500g of tea, 100g is lowest value for each tea (no 50g bags applicable?)
2. I don’t have to pay shipping? At all? All I have to do is buy 500g worth of tea?
I wrote them an email asking about this, but they have yet to respond (~ a week ago).
Now for the Chicago Tea Garden (CTG):
I have been very interested in their Tie Guan Yin tea (along with way too many others..). I tried to buy some samples before jumping right in, but the website would not allow me to select a shipping method. I wrote to them (~1 month ago now) and they haven’t responded either (what the heck!).
So.. has anyone been successful ordering from CTG? How was their customer service (as it appears they have extremely slow response times to emails)? I do not really want to call them to place an order as It would be expensive I am assuming (what would that be considered from Canada to USA?… not just long distance right?)
I would be extremely grateful for any advice/thoughts/experience/comments on this matter.
Thank you in advance..and for taking the time to read this =\
I can’t speak for A.C. Perch but as for Chicago Tea Garden I can say plenty. Tony is the owner and a great guy. I haven’t had a problem with him at all. He ships USPS from what I recall as the last time I ordered I bought it directly from him at a tasting I went to of his. I would recommend doing business with him. I also provide some samples of his teas at iHeartTeas.com but I can tell you for certainty that I don’t have the one you are looking for. If you like I can try to get a hold of him and have him contact you via this thread. Let me know. :)
That would be great! I don’t really want to bombard him with emails..but I really would like to try his teas. I will check out your website as well =) Thank you very much for your response – it has helped me not lose hope of trying CTG’s tea (eventually)!
You’re welcome. Just in case I also sent him a direct message on Twitter to check this thread out. I’m sure he’ll contact you soon. I hope you get the chance to try his teas. They are amazing! :)
Heyyy Lynne! How are you? I’m sorry about this email issue. I typically answer emails within a day, so yours must have gotten stuck in my spam filter. Try my personal email: [email protected] — if you’d like to try some samples, send me your address and a list of samples and I’ll ship them for for free immediately.
Hi Tony! I am great, thank you. How are you? Thank you so much for your quick response! I will definitely send you an email tomorrow if that is okay? I just popped on in between studying for an exam tomorrow. I really do appreciate your help in this matter! Thanks again!
Hey Lynne! I’m doing really well, today I saw a bunch of great thinkers talk at “The Art of Marketing” — Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, then as I left for home, I ran into the Dalai Lama, no joke! See: http://instagr.am/p/J0a9-znjBP/
Absolutely fine about the email, whenever you get a chance, just shoot one over. I’ll be at the warehouse fulfilling orders again on Thursday. Best of luck on the exam!
I just sent Tony a tweet to ask him to look at this post- you can follow him @WorldofTea
From my interaction with him, think he’s a great guy- maybe your mail was stuck in spam filters somehow? It happens sometimes
That is very true. I don’t have twitter (am I in the dark ages?), otherwise I would follow him. Thank you for giving him a heads up for me =)
ACP yes, many times. :) I’ve been very pleased with the service and the teas I recieve from there, but there is one very big difference that you MUST be aware of before doing anything. But then again, to me, they’re local.
ACP, when shipping abroad, uses the rates of the Danish postal service. All the ‘no extra shipping fees’ mean is that you don’t have to pay additional shipping ON TOP of the postal rate. However, Denmark has very expensive postage, so extra fees or not, what this means in a nutshell is they have very expensive shipping abroad! Seriously, I have shared some of their stuff with other people in Europe who have all been put off by the high shipping rate.
I did it a quick look up on the Danish postal service’s website. For something weighing between 500g and 1000g to Canada, count on at least $20. And don’t forget that there is always a risk of having to pay additional tax and customs fees before you can receive your package. I don’t know how dilligent Canadian authorities are about that, but here in Denmark they seem to have increased the effort somewhat.
It’s true you can’t buy less than 100g on their site. No samples, although the last few times I’ve received a random bagged sample with my orders. (So far they’ve managed to hit all my dislikes, but I remain hopeful). They have a proper shop in Copenhagen where you can get less at a time, I’m sure, but that’s not really practical for you.
I hope you’re not completely discouraged, because I really enjoy the things I get from there. I don’t know what sort of money you can afford to set aside for shipping, but nothing is more annoying than an unexpectedly high shipping cost, just when you’ve got all excited about a product.
The raspberry oolong that you mentioned is one of my favourite fruity teas, and I’ve (almost) always got it on hand. If you like, I can share a sample of it with you and you can decide whether it’s worth that sort of shipping. I have a good deal other stuff from them, mostly fruit flavoured, at the moment, so have a look in my cupboard and see if there are others you would like to sample. Shoot me a PM if you are interested. :)
Thank you very much for your replay Angrboda! I thought for sure it seemed too good to be true (as in no shipping and 20% off of the order). I just wonder why they would say no shipping, as to me freight charges are just the same. Oh well..
I am not completely discouraged – though it may have to be a tea I buy when I travel abroad at some point in my life (or if I can justify paying at least $20 on shipping..). Who am I kidding I will probably talk myself into it somehow.
I would be interested in a sample but I have never done a tea trade before. I will definitely take a look at your cupboard to see other samples. I still have one more exam to go so I will PM you about this tomorrow once my exams are over if that is alright with you? Thank you again Angrboda so much for your response! It definitely opened my eyes to what I would be getting myself into.
They don’t say no shipping, they say no extra shipping. The post service rates are implied in the English version on the site, I will admit that. The Danish version has better info and it states the fact that they use cheapest post service rates clearly. In Danish. Doesn’t really help you much though. :)
Ah silly me! I’m new to the online ordering/shipping world =$ I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just call all shipping shipping instead of ‘extra shipping,’ unless of course they are talking about handling (which I also don’t understand.. just say shipping. It would include handling..) Regardless, I do fully understand their shipping methods now (Thank you for your help!)
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