[Mike T.]

.........deal with them especially if you live in Canada and you need goods from outside of the country.

About two months ago, a USA bike related company that I do a lot of business with e-mailed and said they were shipping me a gift for my past service/business. I was happy! A few days later a woman from UPS phoned to ask about this item, was it a gift, was I a business, what was my grandmother's maiden name, yada, yada.

I asked if I was going to be charged Customs fees and she couldn't (or wouldn't) answer.

As I've imported hundreds of shipments from the USA over the last 30+ years I'm a semi expert of who to deal with for shipping. I tell people on this forum "Deal through USPS and Canda Post ONLY". I've repeated that a zillion times.

But as this item was shipped without my knowledge I had no control over it. I figured that I was safe as I'd be able to refuse it at the door when the OOPS man delivered it if it was going to cost me a fortune.

The OOPS man arrived and handed over the package. Off he went. I was home free! No charges!

Ahem. That was about 6 weeks ago. Today a bill arrived.

This was on a declared $25 "Gift" -
Entry Prep Fee - $7.00
Disbursement Fee - $5.85
CA COD Surcharge (???) - $4.25
Duty - $0.00 (gifts under $60 aren't dutiable)
Customs GST - $0.90
Brokerage GST - $0.30
Total - $20.24

As I only got to know the charges about 6 weeks after the package arrived I had no chance to refuse it at the door. I'm sure UPS works that way for a very good reason.

Today I got bent over and shafted up the arse. Never again. Say NO to UPS.

By the way - I would imagine all the other private shippers (Fed-Up etc) are the same.

Edit - I just got off the horn with a UPS lady. Goods marked "gift" are not acceptable from a business. This is a Customs ruling. My package was a gift but it was marked "Sample" by the sender. I forgot that technicality. "Samples" are non Dutiable from businesses if valued under $20.

The lady waived my fees but only on a technicality - the account was marked "Fees COD" which would have allowed me the option of refusing the shipment at the door. The delivery man's paperwork wasn't marked COD. That's what the CA (Canada) COD charge of $4.45 was for.

USPS and Canada Post wouldn't have charged me anything for a $25 Sample. If any fees had been payable they would have charged me $5 for the service. UPS nipped me $20.24 for the same service. Buyer beware.

 

[loco-gringo]

I think it's more of a Canada thing.

 

[duff76]

I wouldn't pay them.
You aren't going to use them for any shipping anyways.

 

[Mike T.]

I think it's more of a Canada thing.

No, it's more of an imported goods thing. If you imported goods you would deal with the same issues, no matter where you live.

 

[Mike T.]

I wouldn't pay them.
You aren't going to use them for any shipping anyways.

I would imagine they would sell my account to a collection agency. See my "edit" in my original post.

 

[DiRt DeViL]

Show us the gift!

 

[nspace]

Never in my life as UPS made me pay at the door, its always been a bill sent in the mail about 2 weeks later, so unpredictable. Pretty much everything is like this for me (DHL, UPS, FedEx, Canada post). I have complained to UPS about the inconvience and they have in some cases chopped some money off the top. With DHL I refused to pay them after all the stuff I had to deal with through them.

I ordered some headphones once, and UPS just left the package for me. And about two weeks later a bill arrived with 67 dollars in fees!

My biggest pet peeve is Canada Post when they come and you are not there (i have a courier bin) and then I have to go out of my way to go pick it up from them (I am pretty sure I paid for shipping so that it would come to my door!).

 

[Mike T.]

Never in my life as UPS made me pay at the door, its always been a bill sent in the mail about 2 weeks later, so unpredictable. Pretty much everything is like this for me (DHL, UPS, FedEx, Canada post). I have complained to UPS about the inconvience and they have in some cases chopped some money off the top. With DHL I refused to pay them after all the stuff I had to deal with through them.

Mine (the account anyway) was marked "COD" and the $4.25 levied for that service so I would have had the chance to pay (or not pay) at the door.

I ordered some headphones once, and UPS just left the package for me. And about two weeks later a bill arrived with 67 dollars in fees!

Gulp.

My biggest pet peeve is Canada Post when they come and you are not there (i have a courier bin) and then I have to go out of my way to go pick it up from them (I am pretty sure I paid for shipping so that it would come to my door!).

I don't have a bin so they leave a card and I have to pick up from the PO the next day. I guess that's better than leaving it in my screen door for someone to steal. It still annoys me though and some times I'll swear that no-one ever knocked on my door to attempt a delivery. There's no way I can prove that.

 

[Mike T.]

Show us the gift!

NO! It was a top-secret, pre-production, one-of-a-kind prototype. I could show it but I'd have to kill y'all right after. And no-one would like that eh?

 

[Dmytro]

I've actually had good luck with Fedex (I'm in the GTA area) With them, I only get charged GST. I had a wheel shipped by USPS recently, and was charged GST+PST...

 

[AndrewTO]

Sorry to hear about it, Mike. I had a similar experience with FedEx, being that they sent me an invoice a few weeks after the fact ..... after I had to call THEM to get their asses in gear ..... and I had to do all the paperwork anyways ..... and I had to go pick up the item from a very inconvenient place, when it wasn't even there and then had to wait another week for it to be moved to a "convenient" location.

You know, sometimes I wonder if it would be worth it to open a receiving company of some sort to help people get around all this dictatorshipped BS?!?!?!??! Lousy bunch of fuggers! :madmax:

I'll call your BLUFF - wha'd'ya get????? It was something for the TRACK bike, wasn't it?!?!??!!? :eekster:

 

[bleu]

I believe the reason commercial shippers are charged excessive duties by Canadian Customs has something to do with them being private entities, and not exactly protected by the US government...You'd probably have to google it.

 

[Mike T.]

I'll call your BLUFF - wha'd'ya get?

Ok I can't hold back any longer. It's a new fangled car prop they tell me. They want me to test it. They mentioned something about Darwin's Theory of Revolution or something. It sounded important to me so I'm in! Here's me testing version 1 -

 

[AndrewTO]

I believe the reason commercial shippers are charged excessive duties by Canadian Customs has something to do with them being private entities, and not exactly protected by the US government...You'd probably have to google it.

Google not required. It's called greed.

Mike - BUWHWHAHAHAHHAAH! It's an old pic, but a good pic. :thumbsup:

 

[SuperNewb]

I avoid UPS for anything. Fedex with Jensonusa has been good so far along with Greenfishsports USPS. Fedex if you want fast and USPS if you want cheap seems the way to go.

 

[Udrija]

No, it's more of an imported goods thing. If you imported goods you would deal with the same issues, no matter where you live.

I think its a canada thing. I've received things from canada and never had to pay any extra fees

 

[MtlRider]

.........deal with them especially if you live in Canada and you need goods from outside of the country.

agree, it is an international scam. Got burned a couple of times with incredibly high brookerage fees.
exemple: 80$ for a 350$ order.... AND THAT IS ON TOP of shipping fees. They charge you even for loaning you the money to pay the customs (sale tax) in the morning, even if they collect it from you that same afternoon.

and all that is a flat 10$ fee with USPS.... :madmax:

UPS is a scam!!!!!

(but they do not do that domestically)

basically, you order from a US store, they list a flat brooking fee, and when the brown man is at your door, that comes up 3X or more. Phone back to the store, complain, and still their webpage list the wrong price. I think store managers are lied to by UPS people.

they really should be sued, or barred from Canada for illegal practices

UPS IS THE WORST SCAMMERS I EVER CAME ACROSS!!!!!!!!

 

[MtlRider]

I believe the reason commercial shippers are charged excessive duties by Canadian Customs

it is not the case, the custums only charge sale tax. UPS charges for brookage fees, and for leaning you the money to pay the sale tax (only a couple of hours). AND THEIR CHARGE IS VERY EXCESSIVE, AND YOU ARE NEVER INFORMED UNTILL IT IS TOO LATE, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO PAY.

 

[Finch Platte]

Sweeeeet!

Ok I can't hold back any longer. It's a new fangled car prop they tell me. They want me to test it. They mentioned something about Darwin's Theory of Revolution or something. It sounded important to me so I'm in! Here's me testing version 1 -

Is it Ti???

fp

 

[CraigH]

Fedex with Jensonusa has been good so far ....

Actually, Jenson uses Fed Ex International to ship to Canada, the shipping fee includes the brokerage fee so you know what you are paying in advance.

Regular Fed Ex doesn't include the brokerage, so you get a bill at a later date which can be huge.