Vietnam marble sculptures

While on the Azamara Quest in February, one of our stops was Vietnam. While on one of our tours we were taken to XUAT AHN art and stone sculpture factory. We purchased a sculpture for $600. and was told it included all shipping to Miami Fl were we could pick it up at the pier in 40 days. After 90 days we were emailed that it was going to California and that it would cost us another $796. to ship it to Florida. I told them to send it back and notified my credit card company and asked for a refund. Do not buy anything from them, and be careful of any of these places that the guides take you to. Get everything in writing.

Babs28

Hi Babs28,

Thanks for the 'heads-up'.

Was it an Azamara shore excursion, or private tour? Also, are you able to provide more info on the shop ... which port, town or city, and the name of the shop?

Were you successful with getting a refund from your credit card company?

thanks,

Also remember that in these sculpture "factories" you are not getting a hand sculpted piece of art but a machine cut replica. This is despite what you see when you tour the showroom, people lovingly at work creating unique pieces. They are all shills who sit down at their work benches one minute before you are brought in by your tour guide.

While on the Azamara Quest in February, one of our stops was Vietnam. While on one of our tours we were taken to XUAT AHN art and stone sculpture factory. We purchased a sculpture for $600. and was told it included all shipping to Miami Fl were we could pick it up at the pier in 40 days. After 90 days we were emailed that it was going to California and that it would cost us another $796. to ship it to Florida. I told them to send it back and notified my credit card company and asked for a refund. Do not buy anything from them, and be careful of any of these places that the guides take you to. Get everything in writing.

Babs28

Was this the place at the foot of the Marble Mountains (or one of them)? We did not make any purchase as we climbed up the mountain, but others in our group did stay at the bottom and did some shopping.

This was a private tour. The address is 140 Le Loi St. Danang City, Vietnam.

Was this the place at the foot of the Marble Mountains (or one of them)? We did not make any purchase as we climbed up the mountain, but others in our group did stay at the bottom and did some shopping.

We went to that Mountain as well. I remember when we got back to the tour bus that some woman on the tour paid 1,000.00 for some piece of jewelry. I was quite surprised because it was supposed to be gold but I would never have done something like that on the fly.

Keith

While on the Azamara Quest in February, one of our stops was Vietnam. While on one of our tours we were taken to XUAT AHN art and stone sculpture factory. We purchased a sculpture for $600. and was told it included all shipping to Miami Fl were we could pick it up at the pier in 40 days. After 90 days we were emailed that it was going to California and that it would cost us another $796. to ship it to Florida. I told them to send it back and notified my credit card company and asked for a refund. Do not buy anything from them, and be careful of any of these places that the guides take you to. Get everything in writing.

Babs28

I am really curious about this. I am in the international shipping business and usually move a couple of containers a month of fish from Vietnam to the USA.

How big was this sculpture? How heavy??

I think either your guide or even the factory severely "overstepped" telling you the price included all shipping to Miami unless the piece was pretty small (although at $600, I don't think so).

When they said the pier, I truly believe someone meant West Coast ports. There is little ocean freight between the West Coast and Miami other than for very large, oversized, overweight equipment. It is much cheaper to ship anything brought into the West Coast ports via road or rail.

95% of container shipments from Vietnam go into the West Coast ports. Then all merchandise is cleared by Customs (and sometimes USDA or FDA), generally "drayed" in the original container to a warehouse someplace in the immediate area, and the container is stripped out. There may be many many different shipments/shippers merchandise in the container or it may be only one (like our fish-the entire container of merchandise is ours).

At that point in time, it becomes the responsibility of the shipper, receiver or freight forwarder to get the shipment to it's ultimate USA "land" destination. Inexperienced/lazy shippers allow freight forwarders/common carriers to handle the final land portion. Generally a VERY expensive way to ship something. You have at least two middlemen making brokerage off a shipment which adds to the cost. Brokerage is a minimum of 15%, more commonly 25%. Coast to coast shipping SHOULD cost about $400 (or slightly less) per pallet (48 x 40 x 60 high)

I am glad you got your money back. Some manufacturers in Vietnam truly have NO idea what shipping costs are. Like a lot of things in Vietnam-capitalism/free trade/export to the Western world is a relatively new concept. A lot of companies are in the "learning stage".

We went to that Mountain as well. I remember when we got back to the tour bus that some woman on the tour paid 1,000.00 for some piece of jewelry. I was quite surprised because it was supposed to be gold but I would never have done something like that on the fly.

 

Keith

same cruise, same tour.

We told the taxidriver not to stop in any of those places, because they are on comision.:(

While on the Azamara Quest in February, one of our stops was Vietnam. While on one of our tours we were taken to XUAT AHN art and stone sculpture factory. We purchased a sculpture for $600. and was told it included all shipping to Miami Fl were we could pick it up at the pier in 40 days. After 90 days we were emailed that it was going to California and that it would cost us another $796. to ship it to Florida. I told them to send it back and notified my credit card company and asked for a refund. Do not buy anything from them, and be careful of any of these places that the guides take you to. Get everything in writing.

Babs28

I am really curious about this. I am in the international shipping business and usually move a couple of containers a month of fish from Vietnam to the USA.

 

How big was this sculpture? How heavy??

 

I think either your guide or even the factory severely "overstepped" telling you the price included all shipping to Miami unless the piece was pretty small (although at $600, I don't think so).

 

When they said the pier, I truly believe someone meant West Coast ports. There is little ocean freight between the West Coast and Miami other than for very large, oversized, overweight equipment. It is much cheaper to ship anything brought into the West Coast ports via road or rail.

 

95% of container shipments from Vietnam go into the West Coast ports. Then all merchandise is cleared by Customs (and sometimes USDA or FDA), generally "drayed" in the original container to a warehouse someplace in the immediate area, and the container is stripped out. There may be many many different shipments/shippers merchandise in the container or it may be only one (like our fish-the entire container of merchandise is ours).

 

At that point in time, it becomes the responsibility of the shipper, receiver or freight forwarder to get the shipment to it's ultimate USA "land" destination. Inexperienced/lazy shippers allow freight forwarders/common carriers to handle the final land portion. Generally a VERY expensive way to ship something. You have at least two middlemen making brokerage off a shipment which adds to the cost. Brokerage is a minimum of 15%, more commonly 25%. Coast to coast shipping SHOULD cost about $400 (or slightly less) per pallet (48 x 40 x 60 high)

 

I am glad you got your money back. Some manufacturers in Vietnam truly have NO idea what shipping costs are. Like a lot of things in Vietnam-capitalism/free trade/export to the Western world is a relatively new concept. A lot of companies are in the "learning stage".

I wish I had read this before our trip to Vietnam in April of this year. I am posting now having just filed a dispute with our credit card company against the Xuat Ahn. We too live in Florida and were told our purchase would be sent to by ship to Miami and our only other expense would be paying US Duty when our purchase reached Miami. A month after we were home I contacted the factory for find out if and when our purchase had been shipped and when to expect it. I was told it has been shipped and would receive information from the shipper. When I received the first communication from the shipping company I was informed when it would ship...... which was a full two weeks after the factory said it shipped. I also received an additional bill via email for close to $300 for shipping and handling charges once our shipment arrived in LA by ship. As Greatam said it would then come to Miami via land transport. All the information and shipping cost explained by the salesperson was wrong. When we informed the shipping company that we were not responsible for the additional charges and would not be paying those additional charges they contacted the factory which never responded to the shipper's request to explain those charges to us. Having had enough of the bait and switch policy with regard to the purchase and shipping we have filed a dispute with our credit card company which has credited our account. We too were on a private tour. Hopefully this post will prevent others from making the same mistake.

Sorry to hear this.

Keith

Eek! So sorry this has happened to you, but thank you so much for sharing!

I was on the cruise with Babs28, who is a neighbor of mine. Everything was written properly on the invoice and they assured her that it would sent to Miami at their cost. The statue was about 2 ft tall and probably weighed about 50 pounds. She never did get a refund from the credit card company, because she waited over 30 days to protest. The statue company told her it would take 6 weeks to get there, so there was no reason to protest the charge in the allowed time frame.

A credit card company might not be able to help you. I would only do it on a COD basis from a Vietnam company.

I was on the cruise with Babs28, who is a neighbor of mine. Everything was written properly on the invoice and they assured her that it would sent to Miami at their cost. The statue was about 2 ft tall and probably weighed about 50 pounds. She never did get a refund from the credit card company, because she waited over 30 days to protest. The statue company told her it would take 6 weeks to get there, so there was no reason to protest the charge in the allowed time frame.

 

A credit card company might not be able to help you. I would only do it on a COD basis from a Vietnam company.

I actually called our CC company last month before I paid our bill to check on what the rules were for disputing an international charge because I was ready to dispute it then as I had not heard anything about our purchase and that was six weeks after out purchase. Luckily for us our billing month had just closed before we made our purchase. I was told then that because it was an international purchase I had time to dispute it and to contact the merchant which I did. I received a lot of misinformation from Xuat Ahn and then an additional bill from the shipper. We were charged $100 for shipping and handling and were encouraged to buy more since the shipping cost for anything in an order was $100. Our piece weighed 300 pounds. I have all of the correspondence documented and when I just got fed up with the whole process called our CC company agin and disputed the charge this month (having paid it last month with the assurance that I had time to dispute it). Possibly the rules regarding disputing international charges has changed between now and when your friend made her purchase. We received the credit back on our CC the day I called.

I think either your guide or even the factory severely "overstepped" telling you the price included all shipping to Miami unless the piece was pretty small (although at $600, I don't think so).

 

When they said the pier, I truly believe someone meant West Coast ports. There is little ocean freight between the West Coast and Miami other than for very large, oversized, overweight equipment. It is much cheaper to ship anything brought into the West Coast ports via road or rail.

 

95% of container shipments from Vietnam go into the West Coast ports. Then all merchandise is cleared by Customs (and sometimes USDA or FDA), generally "drayed" in the original container to a warehouse someplace in the immediate area, and the container is stripped out.

 

At that point in time, it becomes the responsibility of the shipper, receiver or freight forwarder to get the shipment to it's ultimate USA "land" destination. Inexperienced/lazy shippers allow freight forwarders/common carriers to handle the final land portion. Generally a VERY expensive way to ship something. You have at least two middlemen making brokerage off a shipment which adds to the cost. Brokerage is a minimum of 15%, more commonly 25%. Coast to coast shipping SHOULD cost about $400 (or slightly less) per pallet (48 x 40 x 60 high)

 

Some manufacturers in Vietnam truly have NO idea what shipping costs are. Like a lot of things in Vietnam-capitalism/free trade/export to the Western world is a relatively new concept. A lot of companies are in the "learning stage".

Greatam, your explanation of the shipping process helped me understand the complexities of receiving something shipped from Vietnam. In looking through the emails and invoices I have been getting there are indeed two parties in addition to the vendor where our purchase was made. I am "almost" at the end of a rocky journey with this purchase. Xuat Anh has agreed to pay the invoice charges previously billed to me, apologizing for the miscommunication at the point of sale. I have been updating our CC company and expect that we will be releasing the dispute for our purchase as soon as we claim and inspect our purchase.

Greatam, your explanation of the shipping process helped me understand the complexities of receiving something shipped from Vietnam. In looking through the emails and invoices I have been getting there are indeed two parties in addition to the vendor where our purchase was made. I am "almost" at the end of a rocky journey with this purchase. Xuat Anh has agreed to pay the invoice charges previously billed to me, apologizing for the miscommunication at the point of sale. I have been updating our CC company and expect that we will be releasing the dispute for our purchase as soon as we claim and inspect our purchase.

When we picked up our purchase in Miami we went to US customs before going to the warehouse. I think it is important to note that we did not have to pay any duty at all as our invoice was from Xuat Anh Art and stone sculpture. We were hit with a $105 warehouse fee which we were never told about. Once we uncrated our purchase it was obvious that instead of giving the sculpture a final professional polishing as promised, lacquer was applied which greatly diminishes the natural appearance of the marble which would have been better left off.

When we picked up our purchase in Miami we went to US customs before going to the warehouse. I think it is important to note that we did not have to pay any duty at all as our invoice was from Xuat Anh Art and stone sculpture. We were hit with a $105 warehouse fee which we were never told about. Once we uncrated our purchase it was obvious that instead of giving the sculpture a final professional polishing as promised, lacquer was applied which greatly diminishes the natural appearance of the marble which would have been better left off.

Your whole experience sounds like a bad dream. Please let us know how it all turned out.

Its cautionary tales like this that put me off buying in port anything valuable (eg gold or gemstones) or anything that needs shipping.

And I'm afraid I hear it all too often. Not as-described, delays, extra costs, poorer quality than the item shown, damaged in transit, etc etc. And as the OP found out, time limitations negate any comeback on a credit card purchase.

No doubt most transactions complete satisfactorily, but the proportion of problematic purchases and the logistical problems in resolving them are too great for me to contemplate.

We visited a sculpture works at Marble Mountain. At the insistence of the driver, the guy is on a big commission. And the easiest way to say NO is to say YES. ;)

A fifteen minute stop was interesting & kept everyone happy. I bought a small figurine that was inexpensive, easy to carry & didn't give me a luggage weight problem.

Someone else on our cruise (but not our van) bought some massive marble furniture - and I do wonder whether that was as problematic as the OPs purchase.

We live & learn.

JB :)

Your whole experience sounds like a bad dream. Please let us know how it all turned out.

Its cautionary tales like this that put me off buying in port anything valuable (eg gold or gemstones) or anything that needs shipping.

And I'm afraid I hear it all too often. Not as-described, delays, extra costs, poorer quality than the item shown, damaged in transit, etc etc. And as the OP found out, time limitations negate any comeback on a credit card purchase.

 

No doubt most transactions complete satisfactorily, but the proportion of problematic purchases and the logistical problems in resolving them are too great for me to contemplate.

 

We visited a sculpture works at Marble Mountain. At the insistence of the driver, the guy is on a big commission. And the easiest way to say NO is to say YES. ;)

A fifteen minute stop was interesting & kept everyone happy. I bought a small figurine that was inexpensive, easy to carry & didn't give me a luggage weight problem.

Someone else on our cruise (but not our van) bought some massive marble furniture - and I do wonder whether that was as problematic as the OPs purchase.

 

We live & learn.

 

JB :)

Well, it has taken this long, but our dispute with Xuat Anh was closed yesterday, in our favor. The credit was made permanent yesterday.

Well, it has taken this long, but our dispute with Xuat Anh was closed yesterday, in our favor. The credit was made permanent yesterday.

Congratulations! good to hear.

When we picked up our purchase in Miami we went to US customs before going to the warehouse. I think it is important to note that we did not have to pay any duty at all as our invoice was from Xuat Anh Art and stone sculpture. We were hit with a $105 warehouse fee which we were never told about. Once we uncrated our purchase it was obvious that instead of giving the sculpture a final professional polishing as promised, lacquer was applied which greatly diminishes the natural appearance of the marble which would have been better left off.

Its cautionary tales like this that put me off buying in port anything valuable (eg gold or gemstones) or anything that needs shipping.

And I'm afraid I hear it all too often. Not as-described, delays, extra costs, poorer quality than the item shown, damaged in transit, etc etc. And as the OP found out, time limitations negate any comeback on a credit card purchase.

 

No doubt most transactions complete satisfactorily, but the proportion of problematic purchases and the logistical problems in resolving them are too great for me to contemplate.

 

We visited a sculpture works at Marble Mountain. At the insistence of the driver, the guy is on a big commission. And the easiest way to say NO is to say YES. ;)

A fifteen minute stop was interesting & kept everyone happy. I bought a small figurine that was inexpensive, easy to carry & didn't give me a luggage weight problem.

Someone else on our cruise (but not our van) bought some massive marble furniture - and I do wonder whether that was as problematic as the OPs purchase.

 

We live & learn.

 

JB :)

I think these posts should be read before anyone contemplates this type of purchase. Luckily for Mapu things worked out. Others were not so lucky.

Its cautionary tales like this that put me off buying in port anything valuable (eg gold or gemstones) or anything that needs shipping.

And I'm afraid I hear it all too often. Not as-described, delays, extra costs, poorer quality than the item shown, damaged in transit, etc etc. And as the OP found out, time limitations negate any comeback on a credit card purchase.

 

No doubt most transactions complete satisfactorily, but the proportion of problematic purchases and the logistical problems in resolving them are too great for me to contemplate.

 

We visited a sculpture works at Marble Mountain. At the insistence of the driver, the guy is on a big commission. And the easiest way to say NO is to say YES. ;)

A fifteen minute stop was interesting & kept everyone happy. I bought a small figurine that was inexpensive, easy to carry & didn't give me a luggage weight problem.

Someone else on our cruise (but not our van) bought some massive marble furniture - and I do wonder whether that was as problematic as the OPs purchase.

 

We live & learn.

 

JB :)

I read a post on Ripoff.com by someone who purchased a round table and stools (so maybe this is the person you are referring to) and the first shipment was poorly crated and unacceptable. A replacement was sent but the workmanship was poor. The poster tried to dispute his purchase with his credit card company but his credit card company claimed it did not understand the contract from Vietnam. My best advice is look but don't buy from Xuat Ahn.

Many private tours will stop at similar establishments on the way from the port to Marble Mountain. Had I read the OP original post I would have been forewarned. While things worked out for us, this was not the case for several others.

This reminds me of a purchase I made in Seoul. I saw a beautiful brass pair of giraffes. One about three feet tall and the other about two. They were standing beautifully outside.

I told owner I wanted to buy them, whereupon he brought them in the back to wrap up. I was handed a beautifully wrapped, including handle, package. When I arrived home, I unwrapped a different pair that would not stand as the back legs were too short and they would topple over. Of course, I did not watch them being wrapped. Lesson learned.

This reminds me of a purchase I made in Seoul. I saw a beautiful brass pair of giraffes. One about three feet tall and the other about two. They were standing beautifully outside.

I told owner I wanted to buy them, whereupon he brought them in the back to wrap up. I was handed a beautifully wrapped, including handle, package. When I arrived home, I unwrapped a different pair that would not stand as the back legs were too short and they would topple over. Of course, I did not watch them being wrapped. Lesson learned.

Wow! What will they think up next to keep visitors from buying?

Since Vietnam will be on several itineraries this season, I thought I would bump up this thread.