UPS and fees

[castaway]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

UPS are CROOKS when shipping cross border. It's Extortion, plane and simple, yet they are allowed to get away with it. USPS whenever possible, and they ship some pretty heavy items, so no worries on that

"Crook" is a good word
I had a package shipped UPS to me paid thier exhorbant fee they then contacted me a few months later asking for the money again. I had to send them a CC statement showing it had been paid.
UPS farms thier deliveries out to a local company here and even they don't like UPS.
Google "UPS" some real horror stories

[whatcaneyedo]

Originally Posted by castaway

"Crook" is a good word
I had a package shipped UPS to me paid thier exhorbant fee they then contacted me a few months later asking for the money again. I had to send them a CC statement showing it had been paid.
UPS farms thier deliveries out to a local company here and even they don't like UPS.
Google "UPS" some real horror stories

I've had that happen too. I just phoned them up and blew up over the phone: "How the $%^& did I get the item if I didnt pay the %^&* COD? You @#$% retards!" It worked, they dropped the charge without me having to send in any documentation. We had paid cash for the item and I think the driver just pocketed the money.

I've also had a $16 purchase re-assessed to $76 and new tax applied to it... I had to send in all of the forms and receipts to get my money back.

[Ron99]

Yes, definitely avoid UPS if you can. As for clearing it yourself, perhaps it can be done by fax? Can they fax you the documentation which you could take to the customs office at the airport and then fax back the customs forms to UPS? I'm not sure if they need originals or will take faxes but it might be worth asking.

[Leah]

Did I forget to mention that they make up stories like you would not believe.

[G1GY]

I buy tattoo supplies and equipment from the US and many other places all the time. Here's what I do that seems to work for me.

Allways use USPS because they are not only the shipping company, but more importantly they are also their own broker. UPS makes a killing on the brokerage fees.

If you can get the seller to send the item as a "gift" or a "promotional sample"....... the item will be duty exempt.

If a US seller refuses to ship an item to me through USPS, I won't deal with that seller no matter how badly I want the item.

I hope this helps someone.

[BlueAbyss]

Just for anyones interest... I have to shop for supplies online, so shipping is sort of a big deal... I compared the shipping cost of a 23K bucket of salt, from Ontario to Flin Flon. Shipping on a bucket through Canada Post (1 - 7 business days), ~$36.00, making a bucket of H2Ocean Pro around $113.00. Shipping using UPS (1 - 3 business days), ~130.00, about 1.5 times the cost of the salt mix. Quite the gouge...

[Samw]

One time, a shipper shipped me an item by UPS after we agreed to ship via USPS, I just refused to accept the delivery even after it had cleared customs. UPS had to ship it back to the sender at the sender's cost.

[Lydia]

My sister, who lives in the States, used to send gifts for my kids via UPS all the time, even though I told her we were the ones paying the brokerage fees. Finally I told her to stop sending gifts, cause I simply couldn't afford them anymore!! LOL She got the hint and starts sending USPS