Robert D.

I purchase heaps of little things from Amazon, and have purchased over many years. Their customer product review system which allows buyers to write reviews and update them as time goes by is the main reason I use Amazon. I can research the quality and experiences of other buyers in a way that cannot be done on any other site I know of. I have made one customer service request and was blown away by the immediate response and rectification. They ship quickly as do their related suppliers. I pay for Prime membership and the freebies that come with that membership are well worth the subscription. Amazon is the greatest!

I am based in Australia. Their music cost is too expensive. Whilst I buy a few songs from them I purchase from cheaper sites after using iTunes to research what I want to buy.

My original review (4 stars) is below. I have now changed it to two star. Since being sold to some other company Myus.com has gone downhill on a number of fronts.
1. Customer service via email is poor and unresponsive. I have to follow up my emails with "chat" because I do not get a response other than the automated reply.
2. Packaging is no longer done using "nouse". They ship the original boxes without any attempt to consolidate items within a box resulting in higher freight charges (volume equivalent charges). I suspect that since they make their money fro freight it is to their benefit (in the short term) not to consolidate items within packages.

3, There is a increase in items requiring "special attention" This results in extra charges. Previously I have had the same items shipped without query. Also Amazon and UPS ship the same items to Australia without query. More money grabbing I expect.

This was my original review below.
I am based in Australia and have a permanent address with MyUS.com and have used them for a number of years (3 or more). I have had 100's of individual packages sent there from jewellery to large tractor parts. I will try and summarise my thoughts on them based on on my experience as a permanent address holder and as a shipper of 100's of items with many items included in the one shipment (to reduce the overall freight rate). I pay by American Express (you get discounts/freebies). Any expressed $ amounts are US dollars. Also keep in mind that companies like this generate their revenue/profit from the freight they ship and the rates they charge.

Good points:
1. If you pay by American Express them you get a "free" permanent address.

2. Receipt of a packages is notified to you by individual email within 24 hours of receipt by MyUS

3. The individual packages and their content and value are listed on receipt (as above) with the sender, content and value, and weight in an "inbox" which you can view at any time.

4. You can adjust "declared values", within limits, or by providing supporting documentation for another value, or sometimes by just using their "chat".

5. Using a "tick box" method you can select whichever packages you want sent or consolidated into a shipment from the items listed in your "inbox"

6. You can add your own notes to the individual items in the "inbox". These notes do not appear on any documentation.

7. Shipment from location has always been within 24 hours of by authorization and if you work in their time zone it is nearly always the same day, and I have seen my goods leave within three hours of my authorization.
Notification of shipment and tracking info sent as soon as shipment is despatched.

8. You can choose from three airfreght companies, DHL, Fedex, and...(?). (I just choose the cheapest and that alternates between Fedex and DHL).

9. Customer service is available by chat, email, telephone or letter. I have used all four and always had a response. (Email response same or next working day)

10. You can add the names of friends to your account for no additional charge. I don't think there is a limit (I have 8 included within my account umbrella). So friends can use your account but just use their name with your MyUS postal address.

11. They seem customer service orientated with *excellent computer systems. Even the person opening the packages on delivery will contact you if they think there is a problem with the package (damaged or incomplete). I have had a couple of these emails but after I have checked out things from my end all has been okay)

12. They have a personal shopper service which I have never used except for one time when I went to use it, but after I issued my instructions to purchase they came back to me and said most of what I was trying to buy was prohibited for air freight or would result in too much extra charges so I did not have the full experience.

13. They contact you first about any impending extra charges that may apply (dangerous goods etc). At least this gives you the opportunity to make a decision if you wish to incurr the charge or scrap the goods.

Bad Points.

1. An individual package will only be held for a maximum of 30 days free of charge. After that each package that fall outside the "free" parameter will incur a daily fee of $1 (or maybe its $2) storage fee so you have to be on top of your "shipments in progress". Therefore it becomes quite a management exercise to get all your packages to arrive within the time frame so you can receive the advantages of overall lower/ lb freight charge. (see (3) below.

2. This is subjective, but their freight rates may not be that great. Sometimes it is cheaper to ship direct with Amazon. Also, a few days ago, it was a lot cheaper to have a set of floor standing speakers shipped by the store direct.

3. Lightweight packages will be expensive to ship. Whilst I cannot tell you an exact number there is a base cost of $30 -$40 associated with every shipment so there is what works out to be a minimum charge. So, with packages weighing between 1 and 5lbs the shipping cost will be in the order of $40-$50

4. Their online shipping costs and *estimator are not transparent. Whilst they do have a shipping estimator it does not reflect any discount you get. There is an automatic discount of 30% if you pay by American Express. (however don't get excited by that as it is calculated with smoke and mirrors). However if you email them and ask, they will get back to you with an accurate freight quote based on the items you select.

5. For online chat or telephone customer service you must work within their Florida working hours (8am- 5 pm Mon- Sat). There is no "after hours" chat or telephone facility.

6. As with probably all freight consolidators and where you have multiple items to be shipped, you cannot know before your shipment is prepared if it is going to be charged on a cubic equivalent (volume) basis or actual weight. The 'inbox" could be improved so at least you could get a running total of volume, weight, and estimated freight charges.

Summary:
Good/excellent customer service, freight rates may not be the best available, short "free" holding time of goods.