Just got another order from Bud at Budshocars.com. Been buying from him

for close to 15 years. I've never been disappointed with the product, service

or price. Thanks for the great deals Bud!! Jim :)

Bud's rules, no doubt.

He is the MAN! I have dealt with him several times. Always very prompt with emails and shipping...highly advise spending money with him

Yeah, he runs a tight ship. I've had him call me on a Friday night, way after Miller time, just to make sure everything in my order was exactly the way I wanted it. I only wish he'd start showing up at the Richfield, OH show again.

Can't say I've ever been disappointed with any transaction I've had with Bud. You can't go wrong. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: rr

He's a great guy to deal with.

Yup! Bud's is automatic satisfaction. Prompt, courteous and proffessional!

Bada bing ...bada boom, and yer order is in yer lap.

Bud's is awsome!!!!

The only time I was ever disappointed is that time that I was asking him for the golden gate bridge and he didn't deliver.... hmmm... maybe I should ask him again? :D

I agree wholeheartedly that Rob Budano is a stand up guy. I have nothing but excellent things to say about him & his service. I've only been buying from him for maybe 3 years, nowhere near as long as many of you I'm sure but again... stand up guy.

Cheers,
Xence

Hello Bud,
You have a nice day too. I was expecting more of courteous correspondance from your references. One can never tell, maybe you're in a bad mood or maybe you discriminate your clientlele. Whatever the case you started out dry and sober and ended up just plain rude.

To the point, I thought a business always had to pay its personel whether they ship here, there or not at all. And packaging well... dont you package everything you ship? you are a mail-order aren't you. Factor it in next time
-Christos
----- Original Message -----
From: Budshocars
To: Χρήστος ΣΥΜΕΩΝ / Christos SIMEON
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 7:41 PM
Subject: Re: Order to be sent to Greece


the parcel will weigh just over 1 pound once you take into consideration the packaging of the cars, the weight of the box and the packing so nothing breaks also you are leavening out the insurance, and handling of the fees I will incur for shipping, pay-pal and paying someone to packs this order.

This is the price for the shipping - If you want the items great - IF not - Have a nice day.
----- Original Message -----
From: Χρήστος ΣΥΜΕΩΝ / Christos SIMEON
To: Budshocars
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: Order to be sent to Greece


Hi Bud,
The purchase is for $65 so that would be $25 for shipping.
First Class mail for 8oz is only $7.20.
How did you calculate shipping?
-Christos
----- Original Message -----
From: Budshocars
To: Χρήστος ΣΥΜΕΩΝ / Christos SIMEON
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 5:09 PM
Subject: Re: Order to be sent to Greece


your total for the items with the shipping & handling is $90.00 -

I don't see anything rude in his email to you. I don't think it's your place to tell him how to run his business. You're free to shop around to get what you want at a price you like.

Budsho - i have been buying from him since 2000 and never had a problem. You cant blame him on international shipping cuz they are a pain in the A$$. When I sell on ebay i ONLY mail in USA only.. its too much trouble to deal with international shipping most of time they will get lost or get lucky that they got it like 2 months later..

Wes

I think it works both ways Christos with overseas shipping- I purchased something from Sweden just last week and the shipping charges were pretty steep compared to the price of the product I bought. You might be feeling a "tone" there in his email but looks like he's just giving you "the facts and nothing but the facts". (sorry, old American TV show trivia...)

It's great to see a thread that compliments a retailer instead of the usual bashing over dissatisfaction. :thumbsup:

I tried to ship overseas not to long ago it was pretty heavy but it fit in the flat rate boxes. Total to ship in flat rate boxes there was 2. I told the guy what I was doing he agreed. I went to the post office and he pointed out that when shipping internationally there is a 20 pound weight limit. Flat rate box my A$$.

So we unpacked the flat rate boxes and there was 4 items total packed them seperately in there own flat rate box. Weighed it guess what it weighed 21 pounds per box. He said total will come to roughly 4 times as much to ship these packages.

I refunded the guys money immediately cause there was no way I could lose over $300 on some items I didn't make $50 on anyway. He wrote me back complaining that since I didn't send him any items he was out the exchange rate. Well I was out the ebay fees on 4 items. So when I ship internationally I always add about $10 cause you never know when to ship to other countries will come back and bite you.

The package in question contains 2 slotcars and small accessories like tires and pickup shoes. I have in the past received justs such packages, dozens of them, with USPS first class costing $5-7. From there to $25... I mailed bud the US Postal Rates charges for Greece in advance.

In his reply he mentions the package weighing over a pound. This is a slotcar forum you judge whether 2 cars and small stuff can weight that much. He also mentioned insurance, which I never asked for, but that costs $10 for registered mail.

None of this would have had me writing here. I would accept he is hesitant to get involved with something that he has not done before and is potentially more risky. What offended was the attitude of his correspondance. I respect "I dont ship international"

No I dont want this to be gripe forum, I do want help for me and others on who to select and why. Information yes, each to judge for himself.

Christos,
I've dealt w/ Robert "Bud" Budano numerous times and it has always been a positive experience. His prices and local shipping rates have always been the best. I have some retail experience and where I worked they were reluctant to ship internationally. It was a small retailer and while they were able to calculate and print domestic shipping, international orders required an employee going to UPS or the post office to complete customs declarations. Is it possible that Bud was trying to cover the cost of sending an employee out of the store?

How do the other Greek HO racers across the pond obtain their hobby booties?

You might want to remove your private email correspondence with him you posted here if you want (need) his business in the future. I think that's frowned upon here in the good ole USA.
:wave:

:wave:Hi Scott

Shipping is easier than you might expect I have had dozens of packets sent to me from US UK Australia Germany

I have had individuals and stores ship to me.

My best experience from the USA was with Slots-n-Stuff

Afterall that's why I know his shipping quotes were unreasonable.
Enough said from me, yes I guess he was hesitant with a new thing to him. I like people who are cooperative and trusting rather than aggressive in such situations. Obviously I dont want business after this. As a local saying "There are other orange trees that make good oranges"

No I dont want this to be gripe forum, I do want help for me and others on who to select and why. Information yes, each to judge for himself.

I agree, each to judge for himself. And since I have never done business with Bud's, here's what I would be thinking.......

Positive Ebay rating of 99.9%. Via ebay alone, there were 9,081 satisifed customers in the past year. By comparison, only two dissatisfied customers that we now know of, with extenuating circumstances known to be involved with one.

If I were a retailer, that is a track record I would be proud of. As a consumer? Yep.....I'd do biz with him :thumbsup:

:wave:Hi Scott

Shipping is easier than you might expect I have had dozens of packets sent to me from US UK Australia Germany

I have had individuals and stores ship to me.

My best experience from the USA was with Slots-n-Stuff

Afterall that's why I know his shipping quotes were unreasonable.
Enough said from me, yes I guess he was hesitant with a new thing to him. I like people who are cooperative and trusting rather than aggressive in such situations. Obviously I don't want business after this. As a local saying "There are other orange trees that make good oranges"

Christos I don't think it has to do with easy but with tracking. If you ship first class many times there is no tracking or delivery confirmation. If I was a full time dealer shipping overseas I would use the most secure method for me and that would be priority which is very close to $25.00 to Greece. Now if you are a returning customer and there is a trust relationship between us then I would ship first class. If you are using PayPal the only way you can protect yourself is with delivery confirmation as it is the only proof the accept. I don't think Bud was ripping you off more it is just mis communications I'll bet he was shipping priority and not first class.

Roger Corrie

There was someone in Italy who was buying cars and chassis from me. A few months back he wantd a few cars and I checked on the postage and noticed that the US Postal Service did away with land/sea shipping overseas and all that was available was airmail. Whereas the land/sea cost used to be about $7-$10, the new cost was going to be over $35. At that shipping cost, it wasn't worth it to him to get the cars.

The other problem with overseas shipping, from a US perspective, is Paypal. I know of a couple guys that got really screwed by Paypal when they shipped outside the country. The buyer claimed they never received the items, yet the vendors had proof of mailing. Paypal didn't care - that said something about not being protected with international shipping and then took the money from the vendor accounts without permission and sent it back to the buyer.

I know it is inexpensive to get cars shipped to me from the UK. It usually runs much less than $10. For some reason, there's no way to do that from the US; I'll bet it would cost me twice that to ship the other way. All international shipping is expensive.

You cannot ship US Priority or first class out of the country as far as I know. You have to ship international and the prices have skyrocketed over the past few months. They claim inflaton is under control, but I've been seeing some really sharp price increases lately on a lot of stuff.

Joe

I agree, each to judge for himself. And since I have never done business with Bud's, here's what I would be thinking.......

Positive Ebay rating of 99.9%. Via ebay alone, there were 9,081 satisifed customers in the past year. By comparison, only two dissatisfied customers that we now know of, with extenuating circumstances known to be involved with one.

If I were a retailer, that is a track record I would be proud of. As a consumer? Yep.....I'd do biz with him :thumbsup:

Ebays rating system is not 100% correct. I have had a few deals go bad with Buds, that never ironed out, I could have left 3 negatives, but didn't. I have got alot of stuff hassle free from him too, but the old saying..............3 strikes your out.

and don't everyone bring the torches a waiting to flame me, this is not an opinion. It happened. nuff said

I just got TORCHED shipping to Austrlia,charged 5.00 postage,wound up 16.00
ouch!I will still ship overseas,but I will be more mindfull of the rates,as this torching was my fault..:(
DRAGjet
859-356-1566

Unfortunately I have to agree with what Dragula posted. I shipped someone a 48 car case to the UK and got burned for around $5. Not much but I told the person beforehand that it was going to be expensive and when I asked for the other $5 I received a "too bad you quoted what you quoted so you're stuck."

Too bad for anyone overseas because now I have a bad taste in my mouth because of this one idiot. I will flat out refuse anyone overseas on ebay first and foremost. No question.

Bad examples exist, no doubt. I can also point out times on the buyer end when I payed more for shipping than the actual, and it wasnt listed as handling either.

Proper preparation, read your USPS charts carefully and use measuring tape and scale, and foremost trust and manners will make most cases good business. After all dont you remember cases when you were mistreated on a domestic transaction? or good cases of international dealings? or is it just easier to remember that which was a little different?

One of the things I look at when ordering international is can I get the same product for close to the same amount domestic. I'll pay a dollar or two more for something from the US/NA, the exception being (of course) decals from Pattos and the AFX Pit Station I got from EBAY/AUS. Even when dealing with slow orders from people that produce and ship once a week like RRR I find patience and tact work better than showing frustration and anger. Some things just transend language barriers.

:wave:Hi Pete

Feeling better? I hope