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  #1  
Old 14-09-2020, 07:45 PM
HarryD (Greg)
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QSI 683 the trip back to the UK

Hi to you all

Just thought I would report on my sending a QSI camera back for repair to the UK.
Sent it on Thursday 3th September, Australia Post.
Arrived at Mascot and cleared and awaiting international departure on Friday 4th September.
Still at Mascot today, 14th September.
Oh well, we will see what happens.

Regards and keep well.
Greg
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  #2  
Old 14-09-2020, 08:02 PM
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I sent a package to a friend in Switzerland. Posted on 28 August. It arrived in Switzerland 2 days ago but still undergoing processing by the airline there (never seen that previously)
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  #3  
Old 16-09-2020, 10:33 AM
HarryD (Greg)
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Now in UK.
Awaiting customs clearance.
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  #4  
Old 30-09-2020, 04:16 PM
HarryD (Greg)
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Received a message from QSI/Atik on 29th September.
Customs requires "proof of purchase" before they will release the camera.
A lengthy search does not reveal said document. Not surprising given that I purchased the camera in 2014.
Fingers crossed I phoned The Binocular and Telescope Shop where I had purchased the camera (and lots of other stuff).
"No problem, we will email you the receipt"
It pays to deal with local people, especially the good people at The Binocular and Telescope Shop.
Lets see how long it now takes to get from customs to QSI/Atik.
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  #5  
Old 21-10-2020, 02:01 PM
HarryD (Greg)
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Camera still "in customs". Been there since 14th September.
I think over 5 weeks to go through customs for a repair is a bit too long.
This is not good for Atik. Who is going to buy one of their cameras, or a QSI, if it takes this long to get back to them.
I have sent packages to Florida by the same method and the last one took 1 week. Covid and all.
Will keep you posted.
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  #6  
Old 29-10-2020, 09:33 AM
HarryD (Greg)
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It's now 29th October, the camera is still "in customs".
I am beginning to think that it has been "lost".
Contact between Atik and customs does not seem to result in any action.
I may contact Australia Post and request an insurance payout, $5000. New camera costs $6000. It would be interesting to see if this resulted in any action.
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  #7  
Old 29-10-2020, 11:20 AM
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Wilsil (Wilco)
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Better to ask for a Cartier watch. :-)
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  #8  
Old 29-10-2020, 06:53 PM
rbronca
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This time last year my QSI 683 shipped from Adelaide to Atik via Bintel. 13 days shipping with two stops. 2 weeks later Atik came back with the repair cost and completed it within another 2 weeks and it arrived back shortly before Christmas. Good luck...
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  #9  
Old 31-10-2020, 09:51 AM
HarryD (Greg)
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Lucky for you.
Covid19 has made things a lot more difficult. Covid is being used as an excuse to do nothing.
This is all being controlled via Parcelforce (UPS) in the UK.
I should have contacted Bintel for their advice before I sent the camera over.
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  #10  
Old 01-11-2020, 06:48 PM
rbronca
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My fingers remain crossed for you.
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  #11  
Old 05-11-2020, 10:30 AM
HarryD (Greg)
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Over 2 months now and still waiting.
I have an email trail supplied by Atik, they have kept me in the picture. It must be extremely frustrating for them as well. To have an item sitting there , in customs, for 7 weeks is surely unacceptable. It's right out of "Little Britain", computer says no etc.
It seems the camera has finally cleared customs, "Your parcel has now been released from Customs and is being processed through our main distribution centre." but I may have to pay some duty. Still don't know.
How this is possible for an item returned for repair is beyond me.
How long will processing take?
This whole saga is very bad for UK industry as a whole.
I purchased the QSI camera when it was a US company. I would not buy another one, or any UK based item, after this experience.
Not because of the camera, which I have been very happy with, but UK public service is and has always been very poor in my experience.
I'm not picking on public servants here, I was one my self for 40 years, but in the UK they seem to be a breed apart.
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  #12  
Old 05-11-2020, 07:04 PM
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I have had to send a couple items to ANOTHER UK company for repair - I was advised to value the item at "£15 - GIFT - old webcam" to avoid just this issue, with "the company" offering a full replacement guarantee if something went awry like in your situation.

Risky, but in both cases no issue. Similarly, the purchases I have made diectly from them have been labelled as Old Webcam, NO VALUE
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  #13  
Old 07-11-2020, 07:49 AM
HarryD (Greg)
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Can you believe this, dated 5/11/20:

Your parcel is being held in our delivery depot awaiting payment of customs charges. The addressee is being sent a letter outlining the chargers and how to pay.

No word from Atik.
Never again will I purchase anything from the UK.
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  #14  
Old 07-11-2020, 08:13 AM
HarryD (Greg)
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Am I being a bit harsh sending this email?

Hi Julie

I was disturbed to see this on the Parcelforce tracking site:

Your parcel is being held in our delivery depot awaiting payment of customs charges. The addressee is being sent a letter outlining the chargers and how to pay.

Why are there charges for an item sent for repair and are they really going to post me a letter?

I must admit I feel let down by Atik during this whole saga. There must be some sort of relationship between Atik and customs as you are selling goods overseas.

Does this happen to every item that is returned from overseas for repair or service?

Sorry, I know this is not your fault personally. However, I would be reluctant to purchase an Atik product in the future. Not because of the quality of the product but what happens if it needs to be serviced etc?

The people in senior management of Atik need to be aware of what has happened to me. It must be happening to others as well.

I am keeping my fellow contributors on ICE IN SPACE, a web site here in Australia, informed of my ordeal.

Once again, I know this is not your fault, but this is an issue for your company.

Regards

Greg


This surely is an issue for a company with an export business.
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  #15  
Old 07-11-2020, 08:22 AM
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Did you complete the paperwork and mark the parcel to indicate it was being returned for repair?

DT
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  #16  
Old 07-11-2020, 12:35 PM
HarryD (Greg)
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I followed Atik's instructions re the customs code etc.

When returning an item for repair Atik provides a case number etc and the item can not be returned until you have this number. They also provide the customs code etc.
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  #17  
Old 07-11-2020, 11:15 PM
rbronca
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Mine had no issues requiring extra payment. At least we now know it isn't lost.
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  #18  
Old 10-11-2020, 05:00 PM
HarryD (Greg)
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I have been informed this morning that the customs duty is £1084.
Yep, one thousand and eighty four pounds sterling.
That's 40% of what I paid when I purchased the camera.
I have told Atik that I am not paying £1084 in customs duty.
I await their reply.
Words fail me.

Last edited by HarryD; 10-11-2020 at 05:01 PM. Reason: Misspell word
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  #19  
Old 17-11-2020, 11:49 PM
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Atik should be able to sort it out for you.
I know that customs can be idiots all around the world.
They won't allow you to put the value as zero dollars
for faulty equipment that needs repair.
That is the problem they create.
Atik should be able to match up the serial number as an old camera
and give that to the customs imbeciles.


cheers
Allan
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  #20  
Old 28-11-2020, 08:43 PM
HarryD (Greg)
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Hi again

Well where do I start. I will try to make it brief.

Camera was finally released from customs.

I had a phone call from Andrew at Atik, which was nice.
Couldn't find a problem with the camera. But this was using Maxim not Sequence Generator Pro.
The camera was sent back to me, no charge, and took 4 days to get here.
A bit quicker than the trip over what with customs being customs.

I tried the camera on my laptop and of course it didn't work.

Lets start again.
I reformatted the laptop I use for astro stuff. I did not really want to do this as it all worked without a hitch, mount, focuser, guider etc, until the camera started to play up.
Reinstalled Windows and ASCOM, new install of Sequence Generator Pro and, drum roll, the latest drivers from QSI.

The camera would not take an image and download it on the first attempt.
Didn't matter if it was Frame and Focus or an image in the Sequencing window for those familiar with SGP. Second and subsequent images were OK.

Oh dear, almost back to square one.
Sent an email to SGP and they sent back the error code issued by the QSI driver so I could send it on to Atik. Atik said they had not seen this before and maybe I should try an older driver.

After doing some research I found that there is lots of discussions on Cloudy Nights about QSI drivers. Especially since Atik took them over.

I was able to download a very old original QSI driver, 7.4.1824.0, from Cloudy Nights. Various people seem to have had success with this driver.

So, remove new QSI driver and install the, very, old one.
What did I have to lose as I had already wiped everything and started again.

Works like a charm.

So this whole saga goes back to installing new drivers for no good reason and not being aware enough to remember what I had done and going back to what had worked in the past. Also when we had the old drivers on a CD it was easy to go back. Of course I couldn't find my original CD after 6 years.

It is disappointing that new drivers can cause such problems. I don't really know why Atik did not suggest that this may be a driver problem and to try an old one before I shipped the camera to the UK. There are 2 drivers on the QSI site, neither of which worked for me.
It seems this has happened to many other people as well.

In the future I will not change anything if everything is working well.
Live and learn, even at the ripe old age of 71.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Greg

Last edited by HarryD; 28-11-2020 at 08:45 PM. Reason: Bad grammer
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