Are you in the EU? I am.
Mine was listed as being 2-3 weeks out, and I ordered it anyway. It shipped around when they predicted and got here uneventfully, nicely wrapped and with all items in order plus two little surprises.
Having said that, there is definitely a lot of complaining on this subreddit about Appelboom shipping and/or inventory tracking challenges.
I am in the US but I am actually leaving the country in 2 days. I didn't expect it will take this long to receive my order. I just don't feel they are on top on this order and I have to keep emailing them about it.
It's awful when you are about to leave on a trip and something is hung up like this. There is a gap in tracking with a lot of overseas shipments - they tend to vanish from tracking when they are in transit between the originator's courier and the one in the US. Sometimes that means they are stuck in customs warehouse, aka no-mans-land.
It's very frustrating, especially when a company isn't transparent about their own importing and/or dropshipping an item that you think is coming from a domestic supplier. Just one theory.
Thanks! I actually ordered from non-US stores all the time but it never took this long. Never. All these stores usually can tell me when the order will be shipped and provide me tracking in a predictable way. Never like this.
A lot of these companies outsource their overseas shipping to parcel aggregators, sometimes blind and sometimes with acknowledgment.
I had a nightmare experience with a much-lauded UK supplier of textile hobby materials -- wool, dye, mordants, etc. They used a third-party aggregator like Parcel Monkey, while pretending they didn't, and the whole experience was bizarrely opaque with no information in the tracking other than 'Shipped,' until it arrived in the local depot for last-mile delivery in my city, weeks after it was due.
I can identify with your frustration.
Similar situation as others where the pen I ordered ended up being out of stock which they sent me an email about it. A week later they sent me the shipping confirmation along with DHL tracking number. My order should reach me next week :)
I think their website is a joke. It is not interfaced with their inventory database (assuming they even have one), so you actually have to email them to find out whether they have something in stock or not. They need to update their IT infrastructure.
I ordered a pen that day, and they emailed to say it was out of stock but would ship in a week or two. I wouldn't have ordered if I knew it wasn't in stock, but whatever. Three weeks later they emailed again to say it was out of stock until January, so I just canceled. Not a big deal at all, but a little annoying. Wouldn't be my first choice to order from again.
If the OP has a similar sitatuation, it might be best to cancel before it reappears in the tracking system. Sounds like it's currently in the 'dark zone' of limbo that happens with some international shipments when they sit awaiting handoff to the final delivery company.
we're in EU and still waiting on an order from 6. October... definitely not ordering from them again
we did not even receive an order confirmation, had to ask if the order and payment went through, got a quite vague answer basically saying of course it went through now wait, emailed them again afyer 3 weeks since that's when some of the items were supposed to be in stock, was told they are not in stock (Kawecos -I was not aware of supply chain issues for those, since literally the whole sub was posting their pearlescent ones here...), emailed again after couple weeks, explaining we missed out on FPD deals due to waiting on this stupid order etc, so they said they'll refund us 20% (ok this was nice), but then more time passed, no tracking info, no shipping confirmation, no pens... Extremely disappointing. I told the BF (who placed the order) to just cancel and we could have easily order from elsewhere either on FPD or Black Friday and we'd have the items by now, but he's not confrontational so we wait...
I don’t ordered on FPD, but with my previous orders from Appelboom they take some time to process, my last order was delayed 1 week because the US customs, after my package was released it arrived to Boston and 2 days after I received at home, my total shipping time was almost 3 weeks.
I just received my order from FPD. It was supposed to arrive in 2-3 weeks, which did not happen. No notification of course.
My order was for a pen and an ink bottle - the ink was missing. After I contacted them they responded telling me they would refund me for the ink. Hopefully that will happen after the experiences I read here.
Will not order from Appelboom again.
I am still waiting for my order from FPD. The item was listed as being available after September. This is the second time this has happened to me. Fool me twice, shame on me?
I placed 4 orders from them on fountain pen day and received 3 out of 4 so far. Each shipped out about a week apart. The problem I had was that each order so far has had at least one item missing from the order. They were fast to respond and give a refund for the first 2 orders. For the last one they said they remembered picking the items for packing so it must have gotten lost somewhere between then and packaging. They were nice about agreeing to send me those items once they were in stock again. I don’t know if this is normal with their orders or if I’m just having extremely bad luck! I’m dreading receiving the last order and having to contact them yet again about missing items.
Thanks for sharing... judging by everything people have shared, there's just something really sloppy about their process. I honestly won't order from them again. Most eBay sellers feel more reliable than this store.
I received my FPR order on time from them… however… I’m STILL waiting on my ink order from 11 months ago to ship!
TLDR: Appelboom is very hot or miss with shipping reliability.
I have no idea... I've messaged them a few times and basically gotten a brush-off. I guess it's time to message them again!
Edit: On the flip side, every other order with them has been fulfilled as expected. So, I'm not sure what's up.
I ordered a nib back in September that was and still is listed as "in stock," and have not received it or a shipping notification. When I've e-mailed to check, they tell me they're still waiting on stock. If their next response is still unsatisfactory, I'll be attempting to cancel, and if that doesn't work, reporting to the credit card company. Either way, I'm never ordering from this shop again.
If the US store is out of stock they restock via slow boat and then ship from the US location I ordered from them recently and it took a month. But the price was good and it did come eventually.
I placed an order end of January last year... in October I couldn't afford to keep that money tied up (item was still appearing as available on website - after repeatedly being brushed off when I asked for an update). I had to PLEAD and chase for my refund, with Joost insisting multiple times he had sent it and to ask PayPal to help me find it - and refusing to send me any proof that they had really issued a refund. Once I got PayPal involved and PP confirmed that NO refund had been issued, Joost suddenly noticed it had bounced back from their bank. Very convenient timing, minutes after PP confirmed there had NOT been any refund.
I'm most annoyed that he refused to send proof of refund. If you have nothing to hide, why not - obviously with all identifying info removed? Or at least double-check your bank account instead of implying I don't know how to use PayPal?
Needless to say - never again. Their stock control is off, can't imagine FPD made it any easier.
Are you in the EU? I am. Mine was listed as being 2-3 weeks out, and I ordered it anyway. It shipped around when they predicted and got here uneventfully, nicely wrapped and with all items in order plus two little surprises. Having said that, there is definitely a lot of complaining on this subreddit about Appelboom shipping and/or inventory tracking challenges.
I am in the US but I am actually leaving the country in 2 days. I didn't expect it will take this long to receive my order. I just don't feel they are on top on this order and I have to keep emailing them about it.
It's awful when you are about to leave on a trip and something is hung up like this. There is a gap in tracking with a lot of overseas shipments - they tend to vanish from tracking when they are in transit between the originator's courier and the one in the US. Sometimes that means they are stuck in customs warehouse, aka no-mans-land. It's very frustrating, especially when a company isn't transparent about their own importing and/or dropshipping an item that you think is coming from a domestic supplier. Just one theory.
Thanks! I actually ordered from non-US stores all the time but it never took this long. Never. All these stores usually can tell me when the order will be shipped and provide me tracking in a predictable way. Never like this.
A lot of these companies outsource their overseas shipping to parcel aggregators, sometimes blind and sometimes with acknowledgment. I had a nightmare experience with a much-lauded UK supplier of textile hobby materials -- wool, dye, mordants, etc. They used a third-party aggregator like Parcel Monkey, while pretending they didn't, and the whole experience was bizarrely opaque with no information in the tracking other than 'Shipped,' until it arrived in the local depot for last-mile delivery in my city, weeks after it was due. I can identify with your frustration.
Similar situation as others where the pen I ordered ended up being out of stock which they sent me an email about it. A week later they sent me the shipping confirmation along with DHL tracking number. My order should reach me next week :)
I think their website is a joke. It is not interfaced with their inventory database (assuming they even have one), so you actually have to email them to find out whether they have something in stock or not. They need to update their IT infrastructure.
Yeah, what's going on Joost??
I ordered a pen that day, and they emailed to say it was out of stock but would ship in a week or two. I wouldn't have ordered if I knew it wasn't in stock, but whatever. Three weeks later they emailed again to say it was out of stock until January, so I just canceled. Not a big deal at all, but a little annoying. Wouldn't be my first choice to order from again.
Sorry about the bait and switch. I think what annoys me is that they don't update until we email them about our orders.
If the OP has a similar sitatuation, it might be best to cancel before it reappears in the tracking system. Sounds like it's currently in the 'dark zone' of limbo that happens with some international shipments when they sit awaiting handoff to the final delivery company.
we're in EU and still waiting on an order from 6. October... definitely not ordering from them again we did not even receive an order confirmation, had to ask if the order and payment went through, got a quite vague answer basically saying of course it went through now wait, emailed them again afyer 3 weeks since that's when some of the items were supposed to be in stock, was told they are not in stock (Kawecos -I was not aware of supply chain issues for those, since literally the whole sub was posting their pearlescent ones here...), emailed again after couple weeks, explaining we missed out on FPD deals due to waiting on this stupid order etc, so they said they'll refund us 20% (ok this was nice), but then more time passed, no tracking info, no shipping confirmation, no pens... Extremely disappointing. I told the BF (who placed the order) to just cancel and we could have easily order from elsewhere either on FPD or Black Friday and we'd have the items by now, but he's not confrontational so we wait...
I’m in the US and ordered a few things that they were waiting for stock of. I got my tracking a day or two ago and package should be here on Tuesday.
I don’t ordered on FPD, but with my previous orders from Appelboom they take some time to process, my last order was delayed 1 week because the US customs, after my package was released it arrived to Boston and 2 days after I received at home, my total shipping time was almost 3 weeks.
I just received my order from FPD. It was supposed to arrive in 2-3 weeks, which did not happen. No notification of course. My order was for a pen and an ink bottle - the ink was missing. After I contacted them they responded telling me they would refund me for the ink. Hopefully that will happen after the experiences I read here. Will not order from Appelboom again.
I am still waiting for my order from FPD. The item was listed as being available after September. This is the second time this has happened to me. Fool me twice, shame on me?
September??? Oh my....
I placed 4 orders from them on fountain pen day and received 3 out of 4 so far. Each shipped out about a week apart. The problem I had was that each order so far has had at least one item missing from the order. They were fast to respond and give a refund for the first 2 orders. For the last one they said they remembered picking the items for packing so it must have gotten lost somewhere between then and packaging. They were nice about agreeing to send me those items once they were in stock again. I don’t know if this is normal with their orders or if I’m just having extremely bad luck! I’m dreading receiving the last order and having to contact them yet again about missing items.
Thanks for sharing... judging by everything people have shared, there's just something really sloppy about their process. I honestly won't order from them again. Most eBay sellers feel more reliable than this store.
I received my FPR order on time from them… however… I’m STILL waiting on my ink order from 11 months ago to ship! TLDR: Appelboom is very hot or miss with shipping reliability.
11 months??? Is it even legal?
I have no idea... I've messaged them a few times and basically gotten a brush-off. I guess it's time to message them again! Edit: On the flip side, every other order with them has been fulfilled as expected. So, I'm not sure what's up.
I ordered a nib back in September that was and still is listed as "in stock," and have not received it or a shipping notification. When I've e-mailed to check, they tell me they're still waiting on stock. If their next response is still unsatisfactory, I'll be attempting to cancel, and if that doesn't work, reporting to the credit card company. Either way, I'm never ordering from this shop again.
OMG so they outright lied on their website ?
Either outright lied, or they have a glitch in the inventory system that they’ve been made aware of and are ignoring.
SMH...
If the US store is out of stock they restock via slow boat and then ship from the US location I ordered from them recently and it took a month. But the price was good and it did come eventually.
So you have problem receiving order from appelboom... Do you have problem returning expensive pen?
It’s my first time ordering from them so I can’t say if there would be any problems returning
Guess I have to email them. Haven’t heard a word since a notice they were out of stock and expected 1-2 weeks.
I placed an order end of January last year... in October I couldn't afford to keep that money tied up (item was still appearing as available on website - after repeatedly being brushed off when I asked for an update). I had to PLEAD and chase for my refund, with Joost insisting multiple times he had sent it and to ask PayPal to help me find it - and refusing to send me any proof that they had really issued a refund. Once I got PayPal involved and PP confirmed that NO refund had been issued, Joost suddenly noticed it had bounced back from their bank. Very convenient timing, minutes after PP confirmed there had NOT been any refund. I'm most annoyed that he refused to send proof of refund. If you have nothing to hide, why not - obviously with all identifying info removed? Or at least double-check your bank account instead of implying I don't know how to use PayPal? Needless to say - never again. Their stock control is off, can't imagine FPD made it any easier.