Wittner-Kinotechnik Report

[mattias]

it takes four business days to wire money to a german bank from sweden, and probably more from the states. it's not that odd considering it used to take up to three business days to transfer from one swedish bank to another until a few months ago when some consumer rights group finally made them change their routines, designed to earn interest for the sending bank.

i'm basically in the same seat right now by the way, since i'm waiting for a shipment coming in from kahl film in germany that was supposedly sent out last wednesday (it usually takes three days). if it doesn't arrive tomorrow... i don't know...

/matt

[Hanthx]

Dogstarman

Email Pedro, maybe he can help you. He lives in Germany, and is fluent in the language, maybe he can give you some advice or send them an email.

Scott

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[MovieStuff]

Indeed, I had a client here in the states wire money into my account and my bank would not release the funds for 5 days. Go figure. PayPal is faster than that!



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Roger Evans
MovieStuff
http://www.afterimagephoto.tv/moviestuff.html

[dogstarman]

My worst fears have come true...

Now somebody contradict me here, but isn't a money wire supposed to be instantaneous? I mean, my bank zaps money to your bank? Zap. Even if you bank is closed at the time, it sits there and waits till they open, like an obedient dog, just waiting to get in...

So it's been a week since I wired money to Wittner-Kinotechnik in Germany. I HAVE a confirmation # on the transfer. The transfer service says they've got it. And for three business days, I've been asking them (W-K) if they've recieved my payment. They were VERY helpful and communicative... UP TO THE POINT WHERE I SENT MY MONEY. Now, it's like pulling teeth to get any information from them at all. In the most recent exchange, they confirmed that they had recieved A transfer for X-ammount of German Marks, but wouldn't say if it was MY transfer. Looking at my payment, I can see "Yes, thats the ammount of USD dollars I sent, give or take a mark or two." so I tell them "The ammount of money is correct"

They thank me... and then nothing.

Am I being an asshole here? I guess I belive that if I directly deposited the money into your account... no money orders to screw with, no credit cards, no checks, etc... I should at least be able to expect you to say "Yes, we got your cash. Your camera will be shipped as soon as we can get to it..." I have had to initiate EVERY dialog I've had with them since my money was sent. That's not right, is it?

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[This message has been edited by dogstarman (edited November 06, 2001).]

[cameraguy]

It took them about three weeks to ship my Beaulieu after confirmation BUT I think they were testing it for accuracy prior to shipment, then it was another 2+ weeks for delivery. So I had to wait about 5 weeks to get mine and I would say it was worth it in the end.



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[dogstarman]

No, I WANT them to take their time testing and shipping it. And I know that given the current world situation, it's going to take a while to ship. But, man... just let me know you got the money...

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[#Pedro]

Hi Dogstarrman,
only my opinion:
I think, when everything worked well with the money transfer and Wittner really received the money, they WILL ship. Wittner is doing everything to establish a good name, to act as "the one-and-only-super-8-and-beaulieu-rescuer".
The problem is always that f=)"?%g international money transfer. Too bad that they don?t accept paypal or credit card, I like it much more.
Their delivery time even inside Germany sometimes is very hard to understand, for 2nd hand stuff, selling or purchasing, it may last some weeks. But I?m shure that they are trading correctly.
My bigger concern about Wittner is their competence concerning Beaulieu. I know what had happened to the German part of the Beaulieu company (Ritter) and to the Ritter know-how that not can be payed with money. And I watched how Wittner was trying to give the impression, that they were now in the Ritter footsteps, even knowing definitively, that it was NOT Wittner, who had taken all the specific repair equipment and not had been trained by the former Rittner specialists.
These are MY concerns about Wittner, but I think their negociations are handled correctly.

Dogstarrman, if you want that I enter in contact with them, mail me the transaction details, your name and adress.

Pedro

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[dogstarman]

F&%*#%@ international bank transfer is right!

What ended up happening is, when you do an international transfer from an American bank (as opposed to an INTERNATIONAL bank), your bank calls an independent international transfer service (one among many, I suspect) and THEY secure the funds from your bank, and do the transfer. In doing this, there is generated a confirmation number.

Well, whatever DING-BAT ratzin' fratzin' moron did my transfer DIDN'T give Wittner-Kinotechnik's bank THE TRANSFER NUMBER. So, THEY COULDN'T CONFIRM THE TRANSFER, OR THE AVAILABILITY OF THE FUNDS, nor could the people at W.K. locate my transfer in their account after I gave them the confirmation code.

"I'm a victim of circumstance..."

No but seriously, I feel like an ass, because I'm thinking "these guys are jerking me around..." while all the while it's some dizzy bimbo named Dotty answering phones in Witchita who is the culprit of my woes... thankfully, I never said anything nasty or made any accusations directly to the people at W.K., but I'm sure they think I'm another pushy, paranoid American...

Here's my first piece of advice for people who want to order from Wittner Kinotechnik:
SEND YOUR MONEY WESTERN UNION. It costs more, but at least you know it will be found when it gets there...

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