Important Order & Shipping Updates 7/24

You MUST pay the required Duties or Taxes to RECEIVE your package!!! -- This applies mainly to INTERNATIONAL shipments. Please note the extended discussion added at the bottom of this page.

We will not accept orders that require Online Portal interfacing -- We apologize, but we are a very small company, and we do not have staff or time to set up and maintain Online Portal presences for orders that we receive from our institutional customers. We expect to be emailed a Purchase Order, and at shipment, we will email/mail the Invoice, and we expect payment directly from one of these two documents.

All International Sales are Final -- We apologize, but due to a recent attempt to scam UFI for hundreds of dollars from an international location where we had zero visibility and zero recourse, UFI management has decided that all international sales are final, with no refunds or exchanges. Please let our sales team help you make sure you are ordering the right item!

With all due respect to the people of China, their government has made business relationships too difficult for our small company. We apologize, but we will no longer sell our products to customers located in or companies based in this partiular country.


I Just Want That Gizmo!

Payment via Credit Card (MC/V only) is the fastest way to place your order if you already know what you want. This is the information we need:

If simplicity is your game, just copy the outline above, then paste it into an EMail. Of course you need to change it to show your details. Next, change the EMail 'Re:' field to say 'UFI Gizmo Order' or something similar. The EMail address needs to be mail@ufiservingscience.com and maybe double-check that!

Hit Send... boom... done!



How to Place an Order

We apologize, but our web site is currently NOT set up for on-line purchasing. Note however, that orders received via email, fax or phone generally begin processing no later than the next business day. Note also that we can't always have your gizmo in stock! Please be patient with us.

As a general rule, all sales must be paid for prior to shipment. The only exception is that we generally accept Purchase Orders from Universities and Schools, along with Corporations and Companies, as long as they are located in the continental US. All international orders must be paid for prior to shipment.

Our standard restocking fee for our USA customers is 25%, assuming the equipment is received back in pristine condition. If the equipment is damaged, accessories or instructions are missing, or the return process incurs additional fees, the overall restocking fee can be more. And we will not issue any restocking refund until after the equipment in question is returned to our USA office for evauation. As mentioned above, we will no longer accept returns from international customers.

And this is a suggestion. Here at UFI, we realize that research can be a stressful undertaking. And in spite of our best efforts, even UFI equipment may fail at an inopportune time. If your subject schedule or research protocol cannot accommodate the 'down-time' of returning UFI equipment for repair (typically 1-2 weeks), we recommend that you do yourself a favor, and order back-up equipment. The cost of this additional equipment is probably substantially lower than the costs of delaying your research! And this simple step can help minimize your frustration as well.


Please work through the steps below to place your order.


Step 1: Obtain price information


Step 2: Decide on your shipping method

(Please read our shipping philosophy below first!)


Step 3: Place Your Order


Step 4: Make your payment



Our Shipping Philosophy

All UFI products and repairs are shipped "FOB Factory / Ex Works" to our customers. Only this approach makes sense, since delivery across the county can cost dramatically less than across the ocean! But this also means that the customer is responsible for the actual shipping process and associated cost. As a courtesy, we generally arrange shipping for our customers, then add the shipping fees to the invoice. We do not ever mark up the shipping cost! We simply add our standard handling fee instead.

New UFI products leave our offices in top notch working condition looking brand new. Equipment we receive back for repair are often cleaned up as best as we can, but any operational problems are corrected. Of course our customers would be understandably unhappy if they did not receive the equipment just like we sent it, or if some of the items were missing. We agree that our customers should always receive what they pay for, and we approach our shipping with this in mind. Our preferred shipping partner has been UPS for many years. This carrier has consistently supplied reliable, timely service, even to our international customers. The use of a different carrier is always an option, should a customer request it. This hasn't happened often, and we evaluate each request on a case by case basis. This overall approach has served our customers well for many years.

The explosive growth of world-wide, on-line purchasing via well-known internet portals has forced regional government based postal services around the world to substantially improve the quality their service. Of course, there were a lot of 'lost' shipments early on, but the track record of 'the postal service' internationally, is slowly improving. In all likelihood, provincial governments are increasingly recognizing the financial value of this service. And as a government subsidized service, postal rates are fairly low. Yet as a free-market corporation, UPS has had to deal with increasing fuel costs and the like. UPS shipping rates, especially internationally, have had to increase over time too, even as the overall quality of their international service has improved substantially. All shippers book cargo space on the same daily international commercial airline flights for their items. But, besides that, the handling of the packages can be far different.

Still, if an international customer sends UFI equipment back to our office in California for repair, they might note the price disparity between the cost to ship the equipment to UFI via their local postal service, and our return shipment via UPS. The above discussion may help our customers understand why we prefer UPS. And we need to point out that there is a lot more at stake in the return trip for the repaired item; it is supposed to arrive fixed! However, it seems clear we need to provide our customers with a less expensive option, should they be willing to accept the risks involved.

Most UFI equipment includes sensitive electronics and fragile components. This is a lot different from a pair of shoes that can be stuffed into a thin plastic bag and be repeatedly thrown into large mailing bins without concern. And we should all want to avoid our $3,000 piece of equipment being left out on the front porch, and over night, over the weekend by a delivery employee. (This happens a lot...) Shipping involves risks, and we are trying to supply the best service that we can.

Our standard shipping carrier will remain UPS, for the reasons mentioned above. In addition, we will accept a customer request for shipment via Postal, FedEx, DHL etc., as long as our customer accepts full responsibility for the shipping process. If the equipment is damaged in shipment, we will handle it as a repair, and the equipment will need to be returned to UFI. Missing items will need to be purchased again separately. And our customer will need to address any claims process deemed necessary.

We hope our customers will understand!


Important Note about International Shipping

Once your package from UFI has arrived in your country, UPS does NOT originate any charges that you will need to pay. UPS ONLY seeks to collect duties or taxes REQUIRED by YOUR local government Customs agency. If you fail to pay these required duties or taxes to UPS, they will NOT deliver the package because your Customs agency will not release it UNTIL the required fees are paid. If you contest the required duties, via filings, etc., but UPS continues to require the taxes or duties to be paid, that is because YOUR local Customs agency still requires the duties or taxes to be paid first.

> Note that, in such cases, the disagreement lies solely between you and your local Customs agency. Neither UPS nor UFI have any role or responsibility in that disagreement.

> In addition, until your disagreement with your local Customs agency is cleared up, you should expect the same outcome regardless who the shipper is.

Should you fail to pay the taxes or duties your local Customs agency requires, UPS will usually then return your package to UFI, and charge UFI for approximately the same as it cost to ship the package to your country initially. Should this occur, once your package is returned to UFI, we will visually check then re-package it. After this is done, you will need to take the following steps to obtain it.

a. You will need to pay UFI for the added cost to return your package to our office via UPS. This is the same amount as the S&H shown on our original invoice. We will not clear your package for pick-up until this additional fee is paid.

b. You will need to arrange on your own for the package to be picked up from our USA office by the shipper of your choice, and then oversee shipping that package to your location. Note that you will need to have your shipper originate the Waybill and all required supporting documentation for this shipment.

All UFI sales are done on an FOB Factory / ExWorks basis. We perform our due diligence and arrange for international shipping with a reliable partner as a courtesy to our customers, but they need to carry that cost. Once the package arrives in your country, your due diligence is to make sure your local Customs agency is satisfied, or you will NOT receive your package.


Product Families:
Transducers
Electrodes
Bioamps/signal conditioners
Ambulatory data loggers
Hot Flash Recording
BAERCOM™ hearing tester
PC-based instruments
Multi-subject systems
Test instruments
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