Over the past few months, I have decided to build my own electric skateboard. I was really excited about this project, as I am a third-year mechanical engineering student that was eager to apply my knowledge from my studies. I started this project like every engineering problem should be started, and that is by doing research about the topic. I contacted friends, watched videos, read forums, and did some simple calculations to make sure everything will work properly.
Once that was all finished, I started to order my parts. (For context, I decided to go with a single motor belt-driven design). I ordered my parts from all over the place like Aliexpress, Amazon, McMaster Carr, MBoards, and tons of others. To preface, I am a Canadian citizen that lives in Ontario. This became really costly as most of the part suppliers were American and added a LOT of expenses such as currency exchange, expensive shipping, and customs fees.
I ordered all my parts around 2 and a half months ago, and have received everything except for my MBoards shipment which involved my battery (6s3p), and motor mounting solution. In the beginning, I was very understanding of the shipment being delayed as I understood the complications coming from COVID. Eventually, 2 months after I placed my order, they finally got to shipping my package. I was started to get excited as the build was starting to take shape. A few weeks ago I got the notification that the shipment failed due to incomplete paperwork. In addition, I got charged a very large customs fee ($105). I got in contact with MBoards and was really pissed about this at first. They showed me the shipping fine print that said that orders might be subjected to customs fees. I understood this was my fault and was ready to pay for the customs fees, but first I wanted to make sure that I would still receive the package, as the order tracking did say that it was being shipped back. I contacted the company again and was trying to determine what was going on, as I didnt want to spend the money on the customs fees and not receive my package. My package finally got returned to MBoards, and they told me that if I wanted to get it shipped out again, that I would have to pay another $50 for shipping fees.
I am now in the process of trying to get a refund from the company. I was very disappointed with the lack of communication with the company, and how long it took for the product to finally be shipped. I do not believe it is fair for MBoards to be charging me for shipping again when their incomplete shipping paperwork caused complications in the order, and lead it to being shipped back.
In hindsight, I should have done more research before ordering. Their products were listed at around $350 (USD) for both the battery and motor mount, but when adding currency exchange, shipping, and customs fees, these 2 items would cost me around $600 (CAD)
TLDR: I tried to do business with MBoards but now I DO NOT recommend ordering from this company. Most of their parts are just being resold with their company logo for a much greater price. If you are ordering from out of the country, you will be surprised by how much everything will add up to with the unexpected fees.
Does anyone have any other recommendations for alternative batteries?
you better be prepared to spend almost the double of the price in USD/Euro with shipping and customs and paypal that is being shady.
