Lazzari

[surver]

has anyone had experience buying from lazzari (http://www.lazzariweb.it/)? i've just had the most unpleasant experience with them and wish to share it with fellow SZ members to serve as a precaution before anyone else falls into similar unpleasantaries:

i recently ordered a pair of LUC j-pants from them. during the transaction correspondence, i had repeatedly clarified which exact model (since they had quite a few versions available) i wanted, over no less then 4-5 emails, which all included the specific lazzari model number of the pants.

i also requested for them to mark the package as 'gift' or 'personal item' and write a lower value, which matteo (the proprietor) flat out refused; which quite honestly surprised me since ALL other online retailers i've dealt with so far have been extremely cooperative about simple things like this and have caused zero problems. anyway, i respect it if a retailer has a principle not to do such things, but just wish they can be more polite and cooperative. such as, if they are not willing to label the package a certain way or lower a value, it would be appreciated if they can be a bit more flexible regarding shipping options - with lazzari, i asked if the item can be sent by normal shipping, or ems, but 'NO', they can only send by fed-ex.

so, the package arrived very quickly, only to be stuck in customs for the next 2 weeks! i had to find an export-import agent to help me get the package out from customs, and ended up paying an extra 35+% on the original price of the pants...

... so finally after almost 3 weeks i finally get the package, only to find that lazzari had sent me the WRONG pair of pants!!! i wrote them immediately but when i did not get any replies in the following days, i decided to file a dispute with paypal. only then did lazzari wrote back, admitting to the mistake. after a couple of back-and-forth emails, i ended up deciding to keep the wrong pair for fear of going through another round of troubles if i return them. after confirming this with lazzari, i thought the issue was over.

then, a week later, i get a message from paypal that lazzari had escalated the dispute to a claim... against me??!?! i had just written them to sort this out and am still waiting for their reply, but i think this is just plain old ridiculous and thought i should share my experience with y'all in case anyone's thinking of buying from them...

[lowrey]

Sorry to hear about your poor experience. I've bought from them a dozen or so times with no problems, except once I got a wrong sized item and found out the correct size wasn't actually in stock, but they assisted me by custom ordering my size which arrived quickly. I'm in Europe so I have been safe from any customs issues.

what goes for shipping, its their choice which shipment method to use, though personally I agree with you and don't see why they couldn't be a bit more flexible. maybe they prefer to use a courier due to safety - tracking and presumably insurance, hence why the package might need to be marked for the actual value. plus couriers offer pickups, which the postal service probably doesn't, hence why some retailers prefer to use them.

what was the purpose/topic of the claim they filed? this of course seems very strange

[AKA*NYC]

is it even possible to make a claim against a buyer?!

[cjbreed]

thats a shame man. sorry to hear it. pretty sure they won't undervalue or ship as a gift but i wouldn't either if i were them. its against the rules right? so why risk it? also, i think lazzari uses a freight broker (shipping company) that may have reduced rates with FedEx so it leads to a cost savings for everyone. hence the insistence on FedEx. also, regarding the customs issue, FedEx is one of the easiest to work with in my experience. customs is a hassle period but at least with FedEx you are assigned a single FedEx customs agent with a direct phone line that you can reach easily and things can actually be handled pretty quickly. you shouldn't have had to hire anyone. something went wrong there.

[swami]

Another thing to add is always purchase using the Customs paid option , It works out a lot easier and the package gets to you in 3 or 4 days. I have tried both and Fedex charged twice for Customs over what Matteo had quoted all inclusive.
Sorry to hear about this but I also have had onle good experiences with them ...

[docintheory]

Really sorry to hear about your predicament surver, I hope all gets rectified soon.

I've had a number of transactions with Lazzari, never really had a problem. As cjbreed and swami had said - did you opt to have customs included in the price? From my understanding (in this particular situation) including the customs automatically "hires" an agent to facilitate the import on your behalf.

During my first transaction with Lazzari, I simply paid the customs because I wanted to avoid a similar difficulty I had with a different retailer in Europe (which was resolved) in which the retailer refused to mark the package as a gift or ship via a low-cost carrier. I really did not know what to expect when I paid the full price inclusive of customs with Lazzari, but I was quite pleased to receive a call from an agent working on the behalf of Fedex - who was able to get the package released rather quickly and updated me as the situation progressed. Pretty much all the way to delivery.

That escalated paypal dispute towards the buyer is absolutely ridiculous imo... especially after it seems like both parties had mutually resolved the issue. I am not sure, but is it possible to rescind a paypal dispute after opening it? or does it require a response from the other end before it can be advanced or ended?

[Faust]

Sorry to hear that, surver. However, everything except the PayPal dispute seems to be more of an unfortunate situation rather than some evil-doing on Lazarri's part. They are a reputable retailed, but mistakes happen. FedEx is notoriously terrible at customs - I don't know why people don't use UPS. But it's their choice how to ship, and you were technically asking them to break the law by declaring an item as gift. Them filing a paypal dispute sounds strange. I wonder if it's simply an error on their part. Maybe just write to them and ask why they did it?

[ironman]

well the dispute and sending the wrong item. since he said he used lazzari's own model number for the pants, there's really no excuse for sending the wrong item

but echoing Faust's response, no forum member or retailer is obligated to declare the item as a gift. not only would falsely marking the value lower be against the law, as i believe others have already stated they need to insure the item's full value in the off chance of a lost package. you can't blame them for that, as you should expect possible customs fees when buying internationally no matter what the declared value

like others, i wasn't aware that a seller can counter-claim a buyer's dispute. could you provide more details on this?

[surver]

thanks everyone for all your replies and comments :) the issue's been solved since i wrote last; the claim issue turned out to be a misunderstanding. well, it's all solved and done now.

guess it was just my bad luck with lazzari it seems.

[Faust]

I am glad. I figured the escalation was a misunderstanding. Things do get lost in translation.

[smash]

I've a wrong shipment experience with Lazzari too. Order a pants and a shirt in single order, received a pants and a belts end up. I provided all items code also, doesn't know why still made mistake. Shipping is really fast indeed.

[Ivans On High]

I was looking to order some CCP boots and Matteo offered to send me each boot separately c/w invoice to skirt the customs fees.

And yes, as someone has mentioned it is illegal to declare the value of an item below its actual value.

[sinbad]

Thank you!! for sharing your experience to be recognized. I'm going to buy CCP from him. If it has caused many problems like you mentioned I thought to cancel my orders, Because in my country have to pay 45 % tax on clothing and luxury goods., if not sent as a gift.

[Icarium]

I had a customs snafu with lazzari as well. Also there was some incorrectly filled out documentation issue that caused the shipment to be delayed for a day.

But I have to say for both issues, Matteo fielded wonderfully. The documentation issue he had taken care of before I had even alerted him about it. The customs snafu he contacted Fedex, who was really the party at fault, and made sure the duties were covered as he had mentioned they would be.

I really don't have any qualms about dealing with Lazzari in the future. The customer service has been exemplary. I do see though how getting shipped the wrong size/item would be a big deal though since back and forth shipping is brutal when such situations occur.

[PPK]

I just ordered them yesterday. I did not know before, that he has shipping the often mistakes.