Just wondered if anyone else is experiencing slow delivery from Ukraine. I ordered some stuff in early July and it still has not arrived. I have had stuff from the supplier in the past with no problems but am a little concerned now as time is passing and still no sign of anything and my e mails are not being answered. I wonder if it is stuck in a warehouse somewhere at customs (it went ground mail). Any comments appreciated, Thanks.

Hmmmmm, I had the same problem. I orderd a greatcoat in the Ukraine, 7 months ago. The minute before i went to my event, the package was dilivered. ( Very lucky, or else i freezed to death that event. )
Our Medic orderd 8 months ago, but he still doenst have anything ..

Good luck with your package!

Who are you ordering from? Sometimes the post can be darn slow especially from the Russian Federation; and yes, items can be held up a tad by customs, but you usually get notification by UK customs or the post office. Russian officials can be a darned nightmare, I had one item that just disappeared or was it confiscated?????, but I did get a replacement from the supplier. Oh, and surface mail can take light years depending on where its coming from, by this route it is having to cross several borders, so could be held up just about anywhere. I once had an order from the USA and the idiot sent it surface, must have gone by rowing boat, it took bloody ages to a point where I'd given up. Always pay the extra for air mail, also there's less chance of your mail going missing. Not fool proof, but it lessens the risk.

Thanks for your feedback. I ordered the stuff from Front of Russia, Ukraine and have used him successfully in the past on more than one occasion. However I am not getting any response to e mails at the moment, the last correspondence was August when he said it had been sent 'ground mail' due to metal object content. I've always had air mail before so I suppose I'll just have to wait and see!! Unfortunately I don't feel like losing £175 worth of kit.

I put in an order last week and he replied quickly to all emails.

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Guards Serjant Yevgeni Trubetskoi 2nd Gds rifle div

That's reassuring, I'll try e mailing again and see what happens.

Yep, haven't had any problems with Front of Russia to date. It's a worry though, could be load of reasons for the delay. On another occasion I ordered from Bulgaria, took darn ages, it turned out that my parcel was loaded on the plane but all flights out of Sofia airport were grounded due to heavy fog for ten days! Anyway, I'm sure Alex wouldn't want a contingent from the 2nd Guards banging on his door in a menacing manner

Comrades - That's a coincidence I'm waiting for an order from Front of Russia since July as well. I have queried it twice and get mumblings of sorry for delay back but no actual reason like - It ain't made yet, or we are waiting for it to come it etc.
In short Comrades - be very careful when ordering from F o R. Be prepared to be bulls~*tted that the order is packaged and is ready for despatch (as I was for the July order) - I have been told this each time I have ordered. However the orders have turned up a couple of months later postmarked about 10 days prior to arrival so it must be a bloomin long way to the post office. This time nearly 4 months ! Im on the verge of writing this off and writing Alex off as too risky !
I'll keep this forum informed of developments.

удача
Macksim.

Maybe I've been lucky, I've not had to wait that long!!!! It's a shame because he does have some good kit at fair prices. He really needs to get his act together, at this rate no customers means no business

Macksim,

I'm still waiting for a reply to my email to Alex (F of R) about my July order. I sent it to 2 email addresses for him with read receipt and no answer at all. I have not been bombarding him with emails but it is getting beyond a joke now. It wouldn't be so bad if I could get some sort of communication going. If my stuff does not arrive I too will have to write off any further purchases from there because it is too risky. He has some good stuff and I have not been able to find any of the white collarless undershirts any where else. Does anyone know of another source?

My order from Front of Russia was posted by Alex May 2007. It never arrived!! His attitude was, 'I posted it...if you didn't get it, it's not my fault'. Thankfully I only ordered around ₤40, not the amounts that some of you have paid out. He has a number of items that I would like to buy, when I spoke to him again, he suggested breaking the order down and posting a number of parcels rather than one. Did consider this, but in the end I 'chickened' out.

I have proof that I paid for the goods, he has none that he ever posted them.
I do hope your parcels arrive.

Hugh

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www.45thguards.com
www.wartimeliving.co.uk

The thing is, that he probably did post them - the problem is the customs in Ukraine.

Ukraine has strict limitations for the export of antiques and other goods and artifacts deemed to be of particularly important historical or cultural value. This includes any items produced before 1950.

But the items are 'novi del!' I hear you cry.

The tamozhniki (customs) don't care. Item looks old - no expertism documents for export - they confiscate.

It will then probably sit in the corner of a warehouse for the next five years because no one at the customs knows what to do with the items (or even cares)

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"Okay, dig out yer best booze and lets talk about me 'till the car comes."

Oh dear, it's not sounding good. Would Alex know if customs confiscated something, would they inform him? I just wish he would talk to me , no correspondence since 26th August, will keep trying. Thanks for everybodies input.

This is sad. It is quite right what Comrade Verny says, though I had thought this was only a problem within the Russian Federation. They generally consider anything over 10 years as ancient, so I can see how this can happen. It would be better if Alex offered a different system of payment via credit card, that way if there's a problem you could get recompense from your credit card provider? I really do not like paying by Western Union or any similar methods.

Just a problem in Russia? Noooo! If anything this problem is worse in the Ukraine.

The other problem is that the application of law in Russia and former Soviet states also changes from person to person. In other words, what one customs official will accept today might not be accepted by his collegue tomorrow.

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"Okay, dig out yer best booze and lets talk about me 'till the car comes."

I think just about every country worldwide wants to hang on to their heritage, can't argue with that, but there is a huge amount of mail that goes missing or damaged each year; quote from Royal Mail, missing, damaged and redirected mail in the UK amounted to 1,321,320 items between 2008-2009, just imagine amount of missing mail globally!!!! I've had my problems with post the same as anyone of us, so it's all risk. I usually refrain from spending too much on one order. If it's an expensive item, then think about if you can stand the loss if it doesn't arrive in the post, unless it's insured against loss or damage of course

Comrades.

The perils of Ukranian customs and postal service are all to evident.

I'm sure if Alex had posted the items he would have been quick to email that he had done so and blamed the above.

ignored emails (as mine now are concerning my July order) signals an alternative explaination.

Comrades Front of Russia will stripe you up with Western Union Charges, ignore your emails, and apparantly not send your goods !

AVOID

Macksim

I still have had no answers to my e mails to Alex either. He was quick to respond in July reqesting the money via Western Union and collected it promptly. The e mails to me then dried up. It is sad but I cannot risk another order and with no contact or explanation, it just makes matters worse.

hello all ,
if the things you ordered from ukraine and being sent to you by airmail ,borispol airport in kiev is notorius for having things stolen , i have family in ukraine and everytime i fly into borispol airport i always worry that my baggage will be intact when i pick it up , i hope everything works out and you recive what you ordered ? , were in ukraine are the goods coming from ?
pasha

My stuff was sent surface mail from Kirovograd I think. I'm still hopeful it may turn up one day but realistically it probably won't.