I have read this thread carefully and I don't know whether to laugh or cry seeing the absurd responses that have been made.
Let's get to the point: It's 2024 and I tried to pre-order the meta quest 3s from the Canary Islands (Spain) without success. After a strange user experience where it wouldn't let me continue with the purchase, I have been able to find (not without a good effort) that somewhere they say that they don't ship to the Canary Islands.
I would just like to comment that it is not true what the company's employees say that shipments to the Canary Islands are usually lost. In fact, these islands live basically from tourism and practically EVERYTHING has to be brought from outside. I have been ordering packages for decades from other regions of Spain and outside Spain and I have never had a problem. To give a couple of examples: a few months ago I received a 400 kg package from Germany with material to set up a home gym, and I get almost one package a week from Aliexpress. That is, when a package arrives anywhere in mainland Spain (which is usually where it arrives first) with an address in the Canary Islands, the parcel workers will know exactly what to do and will not lose the package as they suggest in this thread.
On the other hand, it is true that shipments to the Canary Islands must be made with certain special characteristics and require some care. For example, the taxes to be paid are different, the packages must include documentation easily accessible to customs personnel, and being a product of more than 150 euros, it must be made clear who will pay the taxes to be paid here.
How is this done? Well, it's organizational and requires a company person to spend much less than a working day getting information and then scheduling a protocol for these shipments. Once the protocol is established, there is no need to do it again and it is done forever. Trust the huge number of companies that ship to the Canary Islands: it's very simple.
Other companies subcontract the shipping service to external parcel companies, e.g. UPS, DHL, etc. that already have the experience. Although this means an increase in the cost to the customer from Canary Islands, it is not a lot of money (since, as logical if you think about it, they ship from the peninsula to the Canary Islands EVERY day) and most of the time we are willing to pay those extra 20-30 euros. It is not the optimal solution, but it is a solution.
Therefore, I find it (and excuse the expression) pathetic that a large company does not send to the Canary Islands, a territory of Spain and the European Union totally safe and where shipments are the day to day, because it is afraid or lazy to lose a couple of hours to establish a protocol.
Please, if someone in a position of responsibility reads this: tell an employee from that department to get their act together, spend two hours of their work figuring out how easy it is to ship to the Canary Islands, and understand that every minute they don't, you're losing money.
They also only ship to the mainland, which applies not only to the Canary Islands but also to other regions. The Isle of Man, for example, is also in Europe and Meta does not ship to.
One option to get a Quest, is to buy it from Amazon/Spain- it's an official retrailer.
However, if you do so, be aware that if you experience any issues with your Quest – possibly under warranty – you will need an address in Spain where replacement parts can be sent.
Thank you very much, Choleni, for your kind response. As I mentioned in my comment, I am aware that Meta does not ship to the Canary Islands. That is not the point. Keep in mind that the Canary Islands have a larger population (just under 2.5 million excluding tourists) than 15 European countries, so it is hard to understand why Meta does not make the small necessary effort to provide this service here. The Isle of Man, for example, which you mentioned, only has 80,000 inhabitants, so the lack of service there is more easily understandable. However, I was unaware that Amazon is an official distributor. I just checked, and they have it on pre-sale and do ship to the Canary Islands. They adjust the price to account for Canary Islands taxes and charge for shipping. In the end, the price comes out almost the same! That is definitely a satisfactory solution! Thank you so much for sharing this information. I hope it helps other users in the Canary Islands. Best regards, and thanks again
They also only ship to the mainland, which applies not only to the Canary Islands but also to other regions. The Isle of Man, for example, is also in Europe and Meta does not ship to.
One option to get a Quest, is to buy it from Amazon/Spain- it's an official retrailer.
However, if you do so, be aware that if you experience any issues with your Quest – possibly under warranty – you will need an address in Spain where replacement parts can be sent.
Thank you very much, Choleni, for your kind response. As I mentioned in my comment, I am aware that Meta does not ship to the Canary Islands. That is not the point. Keep in mind that the Canary Islands have a larger population (just under 2.5 million excluding tourists) than 15 European countries, so it is hard to understand why Meta does not make the small necessary effort to provide this service here. The Isle of Man, for example, which you mentioned, only has 80,000 inhabitants, so the lack of service there is more easily understandable. However, I was unaware that Amazon is an official distributor. I just checked, and they have it on pre-sale and do ship to the Canary Islands. They adjust the price to account for Canary Islands taxes and charge for shipping. In the end, the price comes out almost the same! That is definitely a satisfactory solution! Thank you so much for sharing this information. I hope it helps other users in the Canary Islands. Best regards, and thanks again
