Canadian orders?

**Roger M** · 03-27-2012, 07:39 PM

Why no Canadian orders?

**MarylandSpeed** · 03-29-2012, 10:38 PM

Because everyone gets mad when we will not ship USPS because they do not want to pay duties that UPS charges. Problem is, USPS is the least reliable way to ship anything.

**Cruisin1966** · 03-29-2012, 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by MarylandSpeed

Because everyone gets mad when we will not ship USPS because they do not want to pay duties that UPS charges. Problem is, USPS is the least reliable way to ship anything.

Now you have no excuses:

A Calgary man was charged after he found a way to get around an expensive brokerage fee that was applied on top of the shipping fee for goods he ordered online from the US.
Bryan Rowe often shops online on websites like eBay for hard to find items.
He was looking for a case for a spotting scope and says a store in the US was the only place he could find the $27 item.
Rowe was willing to pay the $20 UPS shipping cost but when the driver came to his door, he wanted another $19.31 in brokerage fees and taxes before he would hand over the box.
The additional charges were applied because UPS cleared the package through customs for him.
"I don't think its right to say you're gonna pay this amount before you get your item even though you've already paid the shipping and for the item itself," said Rowe.
Rowe refused to pay and UPS took the box back to its warehouse.
He did some research and found out that he could clear the item through customs himself at Calgary's Canada Border Services Agency office.
At the CBSA office, Rowe cleared the box by providing the seller's invoice and the UPS tracking number.
"This is something that any individual could've done for as long as I can remember," said Celine Bourgoin, from CBSA.
Rowe paid only $1.37 in tax and duty and was in and out in a few minutes.
"Once they're at the desk with the officer, it shouldn't take long, typically 10 minutes," said Bourgoin.
Rowe says he went to the UPS warehouse and gave the desk agent his receipt that showed he had cleared the package through customs himself.
He says that the agent gave him his package but then her supervisor demanded he pay the rest of UPS fee.
Rowe refused, took his package and left.
He says that UPS then called Calgary police and filed a theft charge against him.
"I sought legal advice because to be under investigation for theft, I was thinking, what if my employer found out?" said Rowe.
CTV Calgary Consumer Specialist Lea Williams-Doherty asked UPS why it filed the charge when Rowe had properly self-cleared his package.
UPS Vice President, Michel Vallee told Lea over the phone that the company has yet to implement internal procedures regarding self clearance and hasn't trained its staff on how to process these cases.
Vallee says the Calgary supervisor wasn't aware that Rowe had self-cleared the box when he called police. He also said UPS' claim for brokerage fees against Rowe has been dropped.
UPS says it just recently got approval for customers to self-clear outside the first point of arrival and needs another six weeks to implement internal procedures and train its staff on self-clearance.
Lea has some advice on how to avoid the same problems that Rowe experienced.

Ask the seller to write "self-clear" on the outside of the box so UPS knows your intent then track the box yourself
If the box comes to your door anyway, reject it and get the tracking number
Next go to the CBSA office at 27th St. and 25 Ave. N.E. and give them a copy of the invoice from the seller and the UPS tracking number
CBSA will decide if it needs to inspect your package or release it without inspection and will calculate the tax or duty owed
Take the receipt to the UPS warehouse at 22 Aero Dr. N.E., and claim your package.

For more information call the CBSA office at 1-800-461-9999 of visit their website.

**Roger M** · 03-30-2012, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by MarylandSpeed

Because everyone gets mad when we will not ship USPS because they do not want to pay duties that UPS charges. Problem is, USPS is the least reliable way to ship anything.

Would a better policy not be that all orders are shipped by UPS than none at all? I for one would be ok with that.

**Cruisin1966** · 03-30-2012, 07:48 PM

They won't even take orders from Canadian customers that have a US ship to address (Coutts, AB / Sweetgrass, MT). Their loss. Short-sighted. I'll purchase elsewhere.

**BlazeHemi** · 03-30-2012, 09:14 PM

There many other great shops that will ship to Canada, I have used Speedlogix many times without problem.

Greg

**MarylandSpeed** · 03-30-2012, 10:28 PM

We obviously would not have the process if it was not in response to an issues we had dealt with.

Let me tell you a few stories..maybe it will help you understand.

- Multiple times, ship items to Canadian address. UPS shows up wanting to collect brokerage, and customer refuses. Item gets sent back to us, and we lose shipping both ways. Most people would like to know what brokerage costs before we send it. So would we...UPS does not tell us up front.

- Multiple times, spend 20 minutes making a quote for someone only to lose the sale as soon as it comes down to shipping cost.

As for shipping to stateside addresses for Canadian's, this too has unforeseen pitfalls.

- Customer called from Canada, wanted a spoiler delivered while we he was in vacation in Florida. Guess he was going to get it installed on his car, and drive back home with it on. We ship it to his hotel, and spoiler showed up damaged. Now all the sudden, instead of being there 2 more weeks, he was leaving that very day, and wanted his money back asap. Never mind that UPS takes 8 days to do a damage investigation. We lost money on that one.

- Customer wants a Predator shipped to his stateside address. We send it..he got sot use it, and it's defective. Okay..not problem, we will pick it up and send a new one. Oh wait..customer has no intention of taking it back to his stateside address for us to pick it up. We are picking the defective one up, shipping the replacement to Canada, and we are gonna pay all the brokerage and taxes also..otherwise he will tell everyone how terrible we are.

There are more..no reason to continue though.

We obviously want to sell everything we can..however the list of situations like above go on and on. It's like people are down with a deal by buying parts from the states. However the second it costs more than expected, or something does not go as expected, we are the bag guys stuck holding the bag. We are now shipping to UPS stores for Canadian customers..and working to expand beyond that. However we also have to settle the issues mentioned above before we do.

**BlazeHemi** · 04-01-2012, 10:45 AM

And what are your issues with USPS? I have had a lot of items shipped with USPS/Canada Post and never had any issues. It may take a little longer then UPS or Fed ex but I know that going in and I am fine with it.

Greg