4.37
#...
·
 |
|---|
|
Anyone else experiencing very long processing of orders at astroart-store.com? placed an order 10 days ago which is in stock but not being shipped. Upon asking about the status last week, they answered, should be shipped last Friday.... |
1.20
#...
·
|
|---|
| I had a similar experience a few months ago. They said they had staffing issues due to sickness. I received a nice email which laid out the challenge and a well-meant "sorry for the delay". Item arrived a few days later so all was fine. |
4.36
#...
·
·
2
likes
|
|---|
|
Not sure if it's the same people, but it bears the same "Astroart-store" name in different countries it seems. I placed an order for an in stock item this spring. Nothing much happened really, asked about it after a few weeks and it was on the way from the supplier. Then got a new e-mail saying it didn't arrive as planned but they had confirmation that it would be with their next shipment from said supplier. After a couple more weeks I got an e-mail saying that they were unable to get a hold of the item after all, unless I was willing to wait six months or upgrade to a more expensive solution. Needless to say I cancelled the entire order and never ever went back to their site. I'm staying with Firstlightoptics who provide excellent support and customer service at all times, also a lot cheaper all things considered. |
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
| Yes i have. My items have been delayed at least 3 times, i was supposed to have them in august. Another guy from my area ordered a camera that was supposed to be in stock according to the website but it turned out not to be the case. |
|
4.37
#...
·
|
|---|
| Their current excuse is that they are moving stock to a different warehouse.... |
|
4.36
#...
·
|
|---|
|
I might just add that they only released their website in my country during this spring, it might seem like they're registered in the country but if you do some basic research they're not. In order to get the proper domain the applicant needs to be registered in what we call the central coordinating register for legal entities, which they are clearly not. So how they managed to set it up is a bit of a mystery to me. When the site launched they had just copy pasted the entire website from a foreign language while completely forgetting to adjust the terms or information to abide by my country's laws about internet sales. The website itself, from product viewing to checkout and even the delivery terms, had very poor information regarding VAT. At no point did it come up during the process that this wasn't included, at first you would rightly assume it was, based on the vague terms hidden on a separate page. So people actually ordered stuff from them thinking this was with import taxes handled from the vendor, when in fact it was not. They didn't realize until some of us reached out and explained to them what had happened. They fixed it, but it seems like a strange way to handle things. The prices were also sufficiently high enough to make people think VAT was included, it's one of those sites where it seems you are paying the foreign VAT, as well as VAT on import. This is a really crappy way to boost your revenue, but plenty of vendors do this (I experienced this with Astroshop.eu as well). I'm sure some have had great customer experiences with astroart as well, with what I've seen I'm not getting into that again though. I assume they are the same company operating through different domains. All in all it just makes me all the more satisfied with vendors like FLO, I have no kind of affiliation, but they're doing things right. Edit: I just did a more thorough check on the domain thing, it seems it's registered to an adult employee, who has an address in my country, as a private domain. This is how they loopholed the laws. They are registered in VOEC though. |
|
4.36
#...
·
|
|---|
D. Jung: Something familiar about that statement, but it's 7/8 months since I had any contact with them now so I can't say for sure that I got that same message now. It seemed to me at the time like they aren't really stocking up on a lot of the products they sell though. |
1.91
#...
·
|
|---|
|
Have the same experience. I ordered in August. Keep saying they will return with new delivery dates. I have asked them to cancel my order and return my money. I don’t have high hopes for that and would not recommend anyone to buy from them. Too bad! |
|
4.37
#...
·
·
1
like
|
|---|
Christian Bennich: sorry to hear that. I'm using Klarna with pay later option, as this doesn't trigger before they have actually shipped the order. Maybe we can have a store review section on astrobin @Salvatore Iovene? |
 #...
·
·
2
likes
|
|---|
D. Jung: Hi @D. Jung, this is currently not planned. I think that there's already more useful places for store reviews, such TrustPilot, Google Businesses, etc. |
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
| I've had mostly good experiences having ordered most of my new gear from there this year, however it can take several days to get a response to emails and lately the delivery times seem to have increased. I have a couple of orders that showed that all items were in stock, but only a part of the order was delivered and now they're marked for part delivery with no estimates. |
|
4.37
#...
·
|
|---|
|
After another promised day of shipping has passed without any shipping, I've asked for cancellation of the order. Let's see what happens. My best guess is that they actually don't have any real stock, just order stuff from China in bulk when they have a bunch of orders together. |
|
1.91
#...
·
|
|---|
|
I had my order cancelled this morning after asking for it. Now I’m waiting to see if my money arrive as seamless. |
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
|
Same problem here, made an order at the end of August, ordered a camera. After a few weeks I contacted them and they told me "next week" Then again after 6 weeks I contacted them again, same answer "shipping by the end of next week" Now I am still waiting on my order, contacted them a few times but they don't respond at all And if you contact them via Messenger then you get an answer from a robot I guess So 10 weeks waiting on my order, paid at ordering, so I guess my money is gone ... grts Sieg |
2.11
#...
·
|
|---|
|
I have ordered two things from them. first was my antlia alp-t filter. it came ruffly 1-2 weeks after ordering. second was an oag it came 1 1/2 months after ordering. this was this summer. holidays and such. + different store adress in finnland. but i would say they are a serious shop, a young shop tho, so there may be some hickups. cs sabine |
|
0.00
#...
·
·
1
like
|
|---|
| I canceled my order for a while ago and got my money back within 1 week. |
0.90
#...
·
|
|---|
|
Reading they reply's here, This sounds like a site I will be avoiding. Anyway I like having my own work done by a reputable printer and on metal. Mark |
3.15
#...
·
·
3
likes
|
|---|
|
Its a Finnish shop, was not aware that they had a .com version of the storefront too (just knew about .fi). Had a few good experiences and a few not so good experiences, and in the end i would say that this is a place to avoid. They are under some financial pressure at the moment, and have been for the entirety of 2023 with unpaid bills in collections totaling tens of thousands of Euros - which is likely the source of the delays for orders since suppliers will be unlikely to send new stock before old orders have been paid. There are publicly available services here in Finland that allow you to check any businesses unpaid bills, so no shady business in getting that knowledge in case someone was wandering. |
|
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
|
Me again, BEWARE people because they do frauduleus things ! I have paid them 859,90€ for a Player One Ares C pro on the 28th august 2023. This is about 12 weeks ago now. I contacted them in the meantime a few times and they always said the same "next week for sure" Now last week it was enough for me so I asked them to get a complete refund and cancel the order. They said that was no problem and they understood why I cancelled So waiting again for a week, still no money back at all ! Today I took a look at my account on their website, they changed my order from paid to unpaid, and they also changed the amount from 859,90€ into 14,90 € So I guess there is no other option than contacting international police and European Internet frauduleus websites Or does somebody have an idea what I else can do or who I can contact. For me 859,90€ is a serious amount of money ! grts Sieg |
|
4.37
#...
·
|
|---|
| Sorry to hear that. If they don't reimburse you, I don't think you have a realistic chance of getting back your money, especially if they end up filing for bankruptcy 😬 |
|
4.36
#...
·
|
|---|
| Wow, that's not good. Have you reached out to them to get an explanation? Other than that you should of course do what you can, I don't have any advice on who else to contact. If they really are in deep financial trouble it might be a tough case. Someone knowing the laws in Finland should probably explain it as things may differ in how their remaining liquid funds are being distributed if bankruptcy is the outcome here or if you need to file a claim somehow. But surely you do have receipts in your e-mail and/or bank statements etc? |
|
0.00
#...
·
·
1
like
|
|---|
|
Hello everyone, Coincidence or not ... Today I received my refund, so the complete amount with an instance bank transfer (here in Europe instance bank transfer is exactly what is says, if someone does an instance payment the money is immediately on the bank account of the other person) So the refund must have been done today, after I posted my last comment here. Well lets call it coincidence, but I am happy that I got my complete money back. Will I be ordering in that shop again, I gues not but some brands they have are very interesting and in Europe hard to find Just wanted to let this know here Kind regards Sieg |
|
4.36
#...
·
·
1
like
|
|---|
| That's good to hear. Just in case we put out a warning on a Norwegian astrophotography page with a lot of members as well, just to warn any inexperienced/newcomers to the situation. Especially with the holidays coming up and the current offers many have going on. I know there's a member of the Astroart team there as well but no statements have been made from them so far to either confirm nor deny the information. |
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
|
Astroart-store is reliable finnish store i have bought there couple times and got my delivery in one day because i live at finland. I wouldn't really buy something thats in backorder though it took me many months to get one item, still haven't got it. i feel like they are lying at the emails like if you ask "when its going to arrive" they say in one week but then it doesn't for months |
|
0.00
#...
·
|
|---|
|
I recently ordered a filter from them. First i sent them an email about the delivery times and they were honest, item needs to be ordered first and then it is sent to me. They wrote me that first i need to wait around 4 weeks for the filter to get to them and then they will send it to me, again, they were completely honest about the delivery times. Yes, if you buy from them you will need to wait. I saved around 100 euros on that one filter alone just by buying from them and waiting 3 weeks. For me, they are a good store, they have nothing in stock and that is why you need to wait, for that you will pay a lower price. |
