Germany to the USA purchases

Anyone have any experience with items shipped via Deutsche Post/USPS from Germany to the US?
I've be waiting for an item since it was picked up on 3-15-2012.
Thanks
JLK

I just got 3 sets of Nill grips. It took about a 2 months to get to me. A friend organized a "group" purchase which resulted in only 2 buyers, me buying two and another guy buying one. Anyway, it took about 2 months to place the order, make the grips, and ship them to my friend.

BTW - I got matching grips for my Hammerli 208s and 1911. VERY well made and fit perfect with no modifications. I have tried Vitarbo and Rink and not had the same quality and fit.

Rob

Rob,
Thank you very much for posting your experience.
I'm not yet at 2 months but the grips were shipped on March 16.
By the way they aren't Nill but the company I used is very well known.
I emailed them yesterday and they replied overnight that they would ask
DHL to investigate but they are confident they are still on their way and
I would receive them any day.
You just get nervous when you aren't used to shipping items like this between
our two countries.
Thanks again.
JLK

I thought I'd give everyone an update and some thoughts...

Still no grips.

I talked to DHL and USPS this morning.
DHL claimed the USPS has them. The USPS claims they don't.
The DHL tracking number, which is also used by USPS, supports USPS's claim...
It still appears to be in Frankfurt with no tracking# activity since March 16.

I also emailed the grip maker this morning and asked if he had received any information
from his inquiry he said he'd make last week.
From his reply I don't believe he made one.

So... Thursday will be 3 weeks since they were shipped. The nice lady at USPS, when I asked her
person to person not customer to rep, told me to give it another week. She told me even items sent
First Class Mail between Germany and the US can take weeks.
I guess I'll give it another week.

If I had it to do again, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have paid the full amount when I placed the order.
The manufacturer has no "skin in the game" when they have their money. It's easy, and I'm not saying
this is what's happening, for the company to take the attitude "Hey, they're out the door. We got our money. Who cares if they don't get there for 4-6 weeks." Might be hard to find someone that would take 1/2 now and 1/2 on
delivery.

So I guess I'll wait.
I'll make sure to post and update...sooner than later I hope.
JLK

I'm sure everyone would like to know which company this is. Before I bought my Nill grips, I got a set from Rink. They didn't fit as well as I wanted them to, and there was an issue with one of the grip screw holes. So they agreed to take them back. But I showed them to a friend, and he thought they fit him, so he bought them. End of my problem and he likes them. Bottom line though, I had no issue with the shipping from Rink or Nill.

Thanks Rob.
Let me wait until this all runs it's course before I post the company.
For now the only issue is the slow boat they're on.
Interestingly when I talked to a very nice USPS rep on the phone yesterday she
said it isn't unusual for 1st Class mail to take weeks between the US and Germany.
Don't know...
Stay tuned!
JLK

I got a grip ordered from here online.
http://www.nill-shop.com/group_select.php
Made an account with them. The grip for a SW41 came thru in reasonable time. Appeared to be received in the US and relayed to me by a farm type address in New England area if I recall. No problems at all for me.

I just now went ahead and ordered another 208s grip.

I just got Nill's for my 208s and 1911. The Nill for the 208s was a major difference from the stock 208s grip. It made the grip much smaller and I was able to reach the trigger better. I like them a lot.

I got a set from Rink recently and it took a few weeks. I noticed that the DHL tracking info would "stall" where there wouldn't be any activity for a few days but then it was retroactively updated and would show activity for those days. In the end it was held in customs for a while but finally made its way to me but the tracking info was lacking at best.

Sakurama,
I guess my issue is with DHL as well.
The tracking information shows no updates since March 16.
According to that it's still in Frankfurt.

What puzzles me is I've been involved in a couple bullet mold group buys
on the cast bullet forum. The molds come individually from Slovenia. Maybe
about 1/2 the dollar value of the grips but approx. the same weight.
The manufacturer asks only $20 shipping and they arrive via USPS within
7-10 days.
I wonder what the difference is?
Maybe because the grips are actual gun parts they get hung up in customs?
JLK

Update on the grips.
DHL shows they moved in to and out of customs on April 5.
This the first update since March 16.
So finally some activity.
USPS has no holidays over Easter so hopefully I'll have them next week some time.
JLK

The final update on the grips.
They got here with the mail Friday!

First about the grips themselves...
They are Rink and they are WONDERFUL.
I've had several orthopedic grips. The originals that came on my Unique .32, Unique DES69,
AW93. Also Morinis that replaced the factory ones on the DES69 and Morinis that were original
on my Toz-35M, 162EI, LP10. All of these have been standard as supplied. The Morinis I put on the
DES69 15 years ago were a big improvement. But still, none of these felt right without me putting
a lot of Dr. Scholls's Moleskin in a couple places to build them up.

The Rinks are the first custom made grips I've had. I sent Thomas Rink a tracing of my hand
along with some measurements and asked him if he could take some of the grip angle out of
the AW93. He said he could take out approx. 3 degrees. Since Herr Rink has competed in
Free Pistol, Air Pistol, Military Pistol and other disciplines at very high levels in Europe he recognized
a couple adjustments I needed just from the hand tracing.
The grip angle of the AW93 is much more slanted than what I am used to and although it didn't bother me
at first, it became a real problem for me after I had shot the gun for awhile.

Now I can say these grips fit me like no others I've ever had!
I wish I could afford to replace all my grips with custom Rink grips.
I asked him not to throw away my hand tracing!

Now to the slow shipping process...
I still don't know why it takes so long. I think I stated before maybe since they are technically
"gun parts" they get special scrutiny in US Customs. Don't know...
I do know I'm a very impatient person and was really worried they got lost but...
They were well worth the wait and now that I know what to expect I'll just try to sit tight
if I'm ever able to order another set.
I do know after getting to try the final product they'll definitely be Rinks!

JLK

May have been the wood. Customs might have suspected it was a rare endangered species. Gibson was in trouble recently for a similar issue with the wood they use to make guitars.