Surprise Delivery!

[Danielle Smith]

Last Wednesday, I was fooling around on the website of a German hay seller (Bio Heu aus dem Allgäu) after it was recommended by someone on this forum, seeing how much their different products were. I was particularly interested in the lovely-looking second-cut bales (which I always hear the people from America talk about, but I don't know if we make that kind of differentiation in the UK).

I put in a query regarding the price of shipping to the UK, or so I thought... I arrived home today to a really rather lovely bale of soft, fragrant, green hay (which I of course paid for as soon as it came, with my profuse apologies for the delay)! It's a little more moist than I'm used to, but definitely not wet. It's also a lovely green (somewhere in-between B&M timothy and Oxbow timothy).

Rather serendipitous really, as I was about to run out of Ings... Or at least that's how I explained it to the other half . For 5kg hay, on the website they quoted €11.30 euro including delivery -- to get it sent to the UK the total cost of hay + delivery ended up €17.39 -- while this isn't the cheapest, the 20kg bale is €23.80 including delivery (so maybe €30 including shipping to the UK), which is much more palatable.

My pigs love it, including Tubs who hasn't eaten a strand of hay in days (see his medical thread for details) -- he's snuffling around this stuff a little more and having tiny munches so I'm pretty hopeful. I know we're always on the hunt for "perfect" hay, so if anyone would like a small sample let me know and I'll send some to you. Picture below, with mug for scale.

 

[Pawz]

And here was me thinking you were about to announce a surprise new piggie. Did you ask them in German or in English? Perhaps something was lost in translation.

I'm surprised a company would send anything before a payment. Not that anyone in this community would take advantage of that but it shows some tremendous good faith in the general human population.

 

[Danielle Smith]

And here was me thinking you were about to announce a surprise new piggie. Did you ask them in German or in English? Perhaps something was lost in translation.

I'm surprised a company would send anything before a payment. Not that anyone in this community would take advantage of that but it shows some tremendous good faith in the general human population.

Well, here's the thing about a pair of surprise new piggies...

I just filled in a form on their website that I thought was an enquiry form (using Google translate to understand what each field wanted); in any case, like you, I thought they would have invoiced me and not sent anything until they received payment.

 

[Swissgreys]

Actually it is quite common in many parts of Europe (particularly in Switzerland, Germany and Austria) to send goods before receiving payment.
Many companies just assume that people will pay, and this shows they trust and respect the customer, and they expect you to behave appropriately in return.
Because of this, people do.
For example I had only lived in Switzerland for a few weeks when one of my dogs had a major accident, which required emergency veterinary treatment (out of hours of course!). I did not speak any German, so called one of my husband's work colleagues to ask her to find an emergency vet for me to go to, and also explain the problem (de-gloving - don't Google it).
She called back with the address of a vet who would meet me at his practice.
I drove there, met the vet (who did speak some English thankfully), and I waited (his wife made me a coffee) while he operated on my dog.
After 2 hours he asked me to write my address on a piece of paper - that's it - no credit card, proof of address, etc.
The bill arrived a couple of months later.

In Switzerland in particular it is almost considered bad manners to discuss payment when you buy something online or a workman comes to your house.
If I need something done around my house, a professional will come and then send me an offer.
If I think it is ok I tell him, and he comes back and does the work.
The bill will be sent later.
It is all about trust and respect, and it really does work

 

[Swissgreys]

And thanks for the link - I have just ordered 20 kgs of hay from them.
I am super interested to see the difference between the 1st and 2nd cut.

 

[Pawz]

Actually it is quite common in many parts of Europe (particularly in Switzerland, Germany and Austria) to send goods before receiving payment.
Many companies just assume that people will pay, and this shows they trust and respect the customer, and they expect you to behave appropriately in return.
Because of this, people do

It's actually not common in my area at all unless you choose the payment on delivery option but that's not the same principal. I guess I'd come across it more if I was using smaller specialized companies but if I do order online I tend to use the bigger chain stores and those always want payment first.
And my vets, yeah didn't have to prove the address either just provide one.

 

[Danielle Smith]

@Swissgreys, what did you think of the hay you ordered from this company? I'm thinking of ordering the 20kg 2nd cut, but want to make sure the hay is somewhat consistently alright before I "invest"!

 

[Swissgreys]

@Swissgreys, what did you think of the hay you ordered from this company? I'm thinking of ordering the 20kg 2nd cut, but want to make sure the hay is somewhat consistently alright before I "invest"!

Sadly it was never delivered - the postage from Germany to Switzerland was too high.
Much higher than from Germany to the UK.
They were very friendly and kind and did look into it for me, but in the end it wasn't possible.